Language as Power

Those of us in my group who have seen the movie Freedom Writers (yes I know it is based on a book based on a real teacher’s classroom) are reminded of the movie just by the title of our book, Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching about Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word. We have just read the introduction and part of the first chapter, but the book’s title is not the only thing to remind us of Freedom Writers. Both the movie and the book insist on giving power to the students and making connections by giving the students the power of language.

In the introduction, Christensen proposes that the “achievement gap” among races can be closed – or at least lessened – through literacy (VI). Reading and especially writing can give students voices and free them. Christensen encourages the students in her classroom to “rise up” through their words, showing them that language has power. Language has the power to connect people from different backgrounds, and language has the power to help people understand.

Christensen uses language and writing to create a community from her classroom. She fits her lesson plans to the class, adjusting writing and other assignments to fit the dynamics of her classroom. The students are bullying another student who is going blind. So she has them write and he writes a poem that opens the eyes of at least one other student. This relates to the reading from Hinchey, chapter one that explains that critical educators should remember who made the curriculum and lesson plans and who will gain from it. Our group believes that it is critical to adjust lesson plans to the needs of the classroom, which can vary.

The students in Christensen’s class shared stories of rape, gangs, and more controversial topics. Through these writings, the students are able to connect with each other and even empathize. We wonder, however, how the teacher knows where the boundaries are. My group came up with three essential questions in regards to creating a community through writing:

• What is a teacher’s role in a classroom, especially in a classroom where crime and life and death are being discussed?
• How does a teacher find the middle ground where he/she discusses sensitive topics while creating community without crossing a line?
• How does one mold the lesson plans to fit the classroom when standardized testing and common core govern education?

We will be finishing Chapter 1 for the next class.