Focus on Policy Focus on Policy David E. Kirkland Listening to Echoes: Teaching Young Black Men Literacy and the Distraction of ELA Standards
“Yet they must believe. They must believe, if only to free the mind, if not the body. Only when the mind is free has the body a chance to be free.” —Gaines, 1993 (p. 251)
For young Black males, the current standards rubbing salt into longstanding wounds that have movement in English language arts (ELA) is dis- historically distracted Black males from learning. tracting because it is rooted in a conception of According to CCS: ELA that fails to consider how Black males live and learn. Further, this movement should be seen Just as students must learn to communicate ef- as limiting because, as Ernest Gaines would have fectively in a variety of content areas, so too it, it has been less about inspiring belief as to free must the Standards specify the literacy skills and the mind so that the body can be free than about understandings required for eventual college and inspiring doubt as to cage the mind to the echoes career readiness in history, social studies, and of the past. In the process, the educational trea- science as well as ELA. By their structure, the tise on which “standards” are based seems bare Standards encourage curriculum makers to take and bound by the exclusive demands of tradi- a comprehensive approach that coordinates ELA tion and uniformity and the stale taste of the courses with courses in other subject areas in or- elite as opposed to the concerns and unique attri- der to help students acquire a wide range of ever butes of all people—particularly people of color. more sophisticated knowledge and skills through As long as ELA standards remain fettered to reading, writing, speaking, and listening. (CCS, the past and rooted in the narrow master narra- 2010, p. 1) tives of its “elite” citizens, the teaching of literacy will remain shackled there too. And young Black By leaving the question of means (or peda- men will continue to struggle to learn in ELA gogy) open and without speaking to those things classrooms. that make students unique, CCS’s suggestion for The recently released Core Curriculum Stan- “a wide range of ever more sophisticated knowl- dards (CCS) for ELA is just another iteration of edge and skills” could be interpreted narrowly educational “reform” that retraces the structural and theoretically loose as traditional print-based
injustices of the past. As progressive as it might literacies that would, predictably, tread back- Language Arts seem, CCS provides no antidote to the stubborn wards to conventions of “standard spoken as well inequities that plague schools. Simply put, it too as written English” (p. 2) as opposed to what staples academic conceptions of literacy to the Tatum (2008) sees as “a more anatomically com-
doorpost of yesterday—to those narrowly-con- plete model for literacy instruction.” Moreover, ●
ceived traditions of thought that fail to consider, since CCS—like most standards documents— for instance, how contemporary young Black men fails to consider (1) the uniquenesses of stu- Vol. 88 dents of color and (2) the need for differentiated
actually experience and learn literacy. Further,
and socially relevant instructional approaches to ●
CCS does not account for the ontological reali-
ties of young Black men who more often than not meet their pluralistic needs, I fear a “back to the No. 5 basics” approach to literacy. This approach would leave their school experiences wounded (Noguera,
essentially promise to reinforce scripted prac- ● 2008). Unless they are designed to heal, ELA standards, such as the newly released CCS, may tices, skill and drill on rules of traditional print- May 2011 not be helping teachers more effectively reach based literacy, isolated (and exclusive) readings their Black male students; they may in fact be of and writings on a narrow range of literatures, and so on—thus doubling down on conceptions
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A038-11_LA_May2011.indd 373 4/14/11 8:23 AM A038-11_LA_May2011.indd 374 Language Arts ● Vol. 88 ● No. 5 ● May 2011 Focus on Policy them. To illustratethispoint,Iinvite youtocon collective pulseof acommonheartbeatthatbinds pale ofeliteheuristics(Block, 2010),but onthe (Dyson, 2003). They practiceliteracy beyond the cerns oftheircollective realitiesasyoungmen and aboutasharedworld thatspeakstothecon and perhapsallyoungmen—readwritein 1981; Smitherman,1977). These youngmen— the culturalrootsofcallandresponse(Bakhtin, "esh but throughadialogicsystemexpressed in Black masculinity, notasamatterofmimicking another, asechoesinthescreechingchambers of they learnliteracy throughandinrelationtoone aligned withtheparticularsoftheirlives. Rather, are notguidedbyasequenceofsoundbitesmis Black men. Their principles for learningliteracy eracy deeplyandintimatelythroughotheryoung young Blackmenunderstandandexperience lit literacy. Black youth,malesinparticular, actuallypractice tural sensitivity anddo littletorecognizehow such approachestoliteracy lacksocialandcul in commonwiththembesidesskin.For Brown, forced toreadbooksbypeoplewhosharelittle where Blackyouthareencouragedandsometimes (2005) critiquesthekindofsurface matching turing literacy inBlackface. Inthisway, Brown from gravitating tootherextremes, suchaspos beyond thehegemonic past,but alsokeeps them literacy, thus,moves standards andinstruction experience onany given day. place thatmayintensifythesocialtraumamany from theacademicabyssoflow performance,a in thecontinuingeffort tohelpBlackmalesarise ples andinstructionalmodelsareneededtoassist culturally andsociallysensitive literacy princi erman (1997),forexample, have maintained that In addition,scholarssuchas Watson andSmith write (Kirkland&Jackson,2009; Tatum, 2008). rent knowledge ofhow youngBlackmenread and socially sensitive learningmodelsbasedoncur to pushfornew standardsandculturally activists hasinitiatedanintellectualcampaign worked foryoungBlackmeninthe!rstplace. to legislate aneducationalagendathathasnever the currentstandardsmovement istocontinue males (cf. Tatum, 2008).Sothebasiclogicof of literacy thatweknow donotwork with Black A culturallyandsociallysensitive framefor In recentyears,agrowing numberofscholar- As Ihopetoillustrateinthisarticle,certain ------374 Rashad talk about Damon made Damon seem more brother” was a best friend to him, but hearing brother, whom he adored. In his words, his “big erally quiet, Rashad would gladly boast about his become increasinglyquietafterDamonleft.Gen ing MBK when I arrived two years later, but had school, wherehebarelyattended. young menatMBK.Hehadsincemoved tohigh I arrived toconductastudyofliteracy amongthe attended MalcolmX Academy two yearsbefore !rst K–8 African-centered schools.Damon while atMalcolmX Academy, oneofDetroit’s which meansgreattoo.” all thetime.Damoneven madeupaword like anexciting way. Sonow Ibeusingthatword [the word] exuberant means. Itmeans.greatin Damon,” Rashadre"ected.“Hetaughtmewhat some ofDamon’s words. “Ilearnalotfrom sound like Damon. According tothem,heechoed and friends—allcommentedthatRashadbegan to be outtheredoingwhatever ittake tomake it.” love hisfamily justlike anybody elsedo,andhe “People justdon’t understand him,that’s all.He life mostlycamefromDamon. like a teacher. The lessons Rashad learned about tures in!uencedtheirsubjectivities. language andliteracy, aslargersocialandpoliticalstruc the youngmenofMBKviewedthemselvesinrelationto males inDetroit,MI.Thisworksoughttounderstandhow literacy, andidentityamongagroupofadolescentBlack guage andLiteracyProgram,exploredissuesoflanguage, with MichiganStateUniversity’s AfricanAmericanLan Smitherman, AustinJackson,and Jeffery Robinson. and life.Theprogramiscurrently directedbyDrs.Geneva intervention forBlackboys,preparing themforcollege of theprogramistoprovideearly socialandacademic Drs. Clifford Watson andGenevaSmitherman.Thepurpose ized Damon.DamonhadbeenamenteeinMBK for thatreason,theeleven-year-old Rashadidol Damon loved hisyoungerbrother, Rashad. And B sider thestoryRashad iii ii i D from alarger study consent ofthePrincipalMalcolmXAcademy. Malcolm XAcademyisprovidedwiththeexpressedwritten protect participantidentities.Thenameandlocationof Names ofallindividualinthisarticlearepseudonymsto The My Brother’s Keeperisamentoringprogramfounded by E AMON His youngerbrother, Rashadwas stillattend Everyone—Rashad’s mother, teacher, sister “He notasbadpeoplesay,” recallsRashad. H My Brother’s Keeper IN D
T AN H E D
E
R CH AS ii — andhisbrotherDamon. OES (MBK)project,inconjunction H i —a researchparticipant A : D T H E C ASE
OF exu
- - - - - iii
4/14/11 8:23 AM The word did not just exist in Rashad’s expla- for a while, didn’t nobody know where he was.” Focus on Policy nation; it survived in a crumbled note that Damon Damon wasn’t lost; he didn’t want to be found. had written and that Rashad had folded and tucked Damon’s story is like the stories of millions away in his pocket. “Here’s an example,” he said of young Black men, who read and write through as he dug into his front pocket to share the note each other’s whispers. I !rst learned about Damon, with me: reading Rashad’s notebook. “When I grow up, I Life is hard and then you die want to be like my brother,” Rashad would write. This singular sentiment appeared at least a dozen Tears don’t last, so how you cry times in the twenty or so writing assignments I gotta get through, it’s due, man Rashad completed while in the MBK program. Gotta get good, exu man When he mustered the courage and conviction Learning new lines, exuberant to write, Rashad usually wrote through Damon about Damon and the things Damon had taught Knowledge is the key, a new man him. Rashad’s standards for writing, thus, included So I’m getting my street degree, instant Damon; the ELA standards did not. Open up your mind Then we all get free CAPTURING ECHOES: THE QUIET Nigga on the grind NOTES OF A YOUNG BLACK MAN Don’t bother me Rashad’s notebook recorded the quiet notes of a Cause I ain’t got time young Black man, who was himself responding to the even quieter story of a not-to-be forgotten Can’t be a causalty . . . brother. Damon’s words seemed to whisper onto Pointing to the word “exu,” Rashad turned to those tragic pages that autumn, hoping to !nd an me, “See how it work.” There was a story in his ear beyond the unbearable conditions confronting pointing and articulation of the word. The story them (Smitherman, 1999). Indeed, social pressure was instructive and consistent with the tenor of points have propelled many young Black men into Damon’s rap—an urgent struggle that crossed over writing about a life that would be as opposed to a from brother to brother. Rashad wanted Damon’s life that truly is (Haddix, 2009; Kirkland, forth- words because they explained him, helped him coming; Smitherman, 1999). This type of rhetori- to make sense of life as brothers linked in a long cal maneuvering is equivalent to rewriting history chain of other brothers. While it still didn’t mean and sometimes used as a strategy for coping in much to me, the word “exu,” with its rich range order to preserve a fragile psychology under siege of possibilities, quite literally meant the world to (Kirkland, 2009). Rashad. He understood it because it represented Damon did not want Rashad to go where so the good in his life “like an exciting "ow.” It was many Black men, such as himself, have gone. He as if Damon had planted in him a word that would did not want his younger brother to grow up suf- grow and become part of Rashad’s own vocab- fering the pain he too well knew or be trapped by ulary: “My family went to the Detroit Zoo two the dark forces of street life (Fuller, 2003). Damon weeks ago. The animals at the zoo were exu, wanted something better for Rashad—a more pos- which means great in an exciting way. Another sible future. Rashad remembers, “Whenever I way to say it is exuberant. The animals were wanted to go with him . . . to make some money exuberant . . .” or something like that, he would never let me go. Rashad was sympathetic to Damon, who He always was on me about going to school [and] after leaving Malcolm X Academy picked up a doing something with my life. He wanted me to few bad habits. According to his former teacher, do good [in school] so that I didn’t have to be out Damon got caught up with the “wrong group of there like that doing wrong to get by.” boys.” “He’s a good kid,” his teacher remem- Damon was as complex as he was contradic- bered, “but you know how it is when you want to tory. Contrary to how some people labeled him, !t in—he quit school, started selling dope. I guess there was a direction of which Damon knew that he needed the money. His family is poor. But could lead one out of despair. It was a direction that
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A038-11_LA_May2011.indd 375 4/14/11 8:23 AM A038-11_LA_May2011.indd 376 Language Arts ● Vol. 88 ● No. 5 ● May 2011 Focus on Policy and writing. terms mostly de"ned by how Damon was reading Though he read and wrote, he only did so now on dards laced to them (Kirkland & Jackson, 2009). oppressive normsandstricturesofsocietystan it not cool to submit to anything, particularly the tural politics of his social location simply made to beindifferent toschool. Hewas "ndingthecul & Billson, 1993). It was “cool,” Rashad thought, pose Rashad was learning from Damon (cf. Majors ing of manhood, emblematic of the “mannish” nish.” Rashad’s teacherwas referringtoapostur his brother. He’s becomingmore andmoreman According to another teacher, “He want to be like 1993), mirrored in the eyes of his older brother. (Kirkland & Jackson, 2009; Majors & Billson, Damon inhabited. to beDamonandbegan toexist intheworld that a rapper, thoughhedidlove rap.Rashadwanted until Damonstartedcallinghimselfarapper.” complained. “Heain’t never want tobenorapper be like hisolderbrother. engagement inschoolon his increasingdesireto semester passed.Histeacherfaulted hisdeclining school andmorequietintheMBKprogramas than about"ve feethigh,becamelessengaged in becoming Rashad’s. Rashad,frailandnomore direction thathehimselfdecidedtopursue. Damon tried to push Rashad in, yet it was not a when he spoke, his words arose with such care and even moresilent. process, Rashadbecameincreasinglyreckless— did attendschool,hewasn’t very engaged. Inthe attending atall.Onthefew occasions,whenhe ing schoolsporadically, heeventually stopped school, becamemoreconstant.Insteadofattend program, like hisbrother’s absencesfromhigh His absencesfromschoolandthementoring attending thementoringprogramlessfrequently. ing on forties.” “new J’s” orhisdreamsof“CadillacEscaladesroll ing about his brother, he began writing about those ing thingshecouldnotafford. Inadditiontowrit As theschoolyearwaned, Rashadstartedwant Rashad’s demeanor was a causal cool pose It wasn’t cleartomethatRashadwanted tobe “He wants tobearappernow,” histeacher The contradictionofDamonwas clearly Rashad’s silence was always deafening, for He began skippingschoolandwritingless, ------376 They bewantingustogothesecolleges, taking learn onthestreet orwherever, but notinschool. need school toteach themhowtomake it. They too. The onethingthey gotincommon,they don’t the dudesthatbemakingmoney, they [are] pimps Bill Gates,they pimps;Jay-Z, heapimp;andall American dream .toget paid.See, peoplelike ’cause they sellers, andsellers get paid. That’s the sell . That’s whypeoplemyage like pimps. people sellandstillget sold.Butme, I’mgonna ting used,sellingtheirbodyforadollar. Some some peoplebeboth. You see, mostfolkare get Life isthisway:youeitherapimporho,and lated intotheeconomicsofworld. Hewrote: streets.” To Rashad,streeteconomicseasilytrans stood well what he called “the economics of the here.” Like amanwellbeyond hisyears,heunder or Alex Kotlowitz’s (1992) “there are no children Brown’s (1965) “manchild in the Promised Land” few young men his age shared. He was Claude and clarity. He had insight into the world that very ited aculturalandsocialsensitivity thatembraces cal action”(Abarry, 1990,p.123).Rashad exhib a scholarlymethodology, andamodel of practi It helpedhimuphold“ahumanisticphilosophy, here, ascentraltoRashad’s thinkingandbeing. acy asdogmaorliberalism goneawry, Iregard it, many intheacademywould dismisssuchliter ble ofresurrectinghisbrother’s voice. While literacy criticaloftheworld, aliteracy capa 1976; Gramsci,1971). and “aho”(cf. Althusser, 1969;Bowles &Gintis, for him,thedifference betweenbeing“apimp” dichotomy betweentherichandpoor, and, tocratic educationandeconomicprosperity, the acknowledging thecontradiction betweenmeri orists beforehim,joinedtheintellectualwork of Damon’s voice, Rashad,like somany socialthe Thompson, 2000;Noguera,2003). Appropriating ety, notexcluding youngBlackmen(Kindlon& italism anditsstrangleholdon American soci their realities,oftheexploitative natureofcap world. Suchviews werethesadtruthofboth perspective re!ectedDamon’s views ofthe prosperity mightbeoff puttingtosome,Rashad’s I ain’t gonnabenohoe. you gottwokindsofpeople, pimpsandhoes, out loans,soy’allcanpaypimps.See, inlife Writing throughDamon,Rashadoffered a While hisgraphicarticulationofpimpsand ------4/14/11 8:23 AM a logic of reason. In so doing, he seemed to have putting him on a path to doing nine to life (Ken- Focus on Policy both recognized and challenged the various con- nedy, 2001). structions and representations of injustice in our In spite of what some might see as Rashad’s world (McLaren, 2002; Morrell, 2009). downfall, he was getting a lot of help from the For Black males, such literacies live through system. It seemed reasonable that Rashad would others and in relation to real events. Rashad’s “crit- resist a system that shunned his brother and, in ical” literacy, for example, was a performance of so many ways, alienated him. Responding to a Damon’s life. Though incomplete and controver- prompt about the controversy of Jay-Z visiting sial, he acquired this practice of reading and writing Cass Tech High School as principal-for-a-day, through the whispers of beloved others (Stinson, Rashad wrote: “It’s only a controversy because 2008). His appropriation of their echoes, the traces he [Jay-Z] is Black. They don’t want you to see of sound that reverberated through the core of his powerful Black men in school because they don’t being, suggests a culturally and socially sensitive want Black men to believe that they can make it model for literacy that emphasizes the importance without school.” Again, Rashad read the contro- of the experiences of Black males that are shaped in versy of Jay-Z at Cass Tech through the eyes of the company of other, respected Black males. Such Damon. “Damon would go to school if Jay-Z was an approach to ELA borders on pedagogical ther- there.” His message declared a logic worth explor- apy, which centers on building awareness (Kirk- ing: if schools engaged them, would Black men land, 2010), or what Freirian-inspired scholars have do better in school? termed “critical literacy” (Jongsma, 1991; Morrell, I am uncertain whether or not having Jay-Z or 2008; Soares & Wood, 2010). any other rapper as principal for a day would sig- My articulation of critical literacy here, however, ni!cantly alter the fortunes of Black men in school. is limited to the franchise of possibilities that one However, it seems clear to me that the importance begins to own through culturally and socially sensi- of school diminishes in the face of other more tive literacy acts. It suggests something more than impressionable forces. It was through such forces political literacy. Critical literacy, as a culturally and (e.g., an older brother who wanted to be a rapper) socially sensitive practice, can be viewed as a pro- that Rashad learned wealth can be attained outside cess designed to promote healing, social awareness, hard honest work. This idea alone challenged the and understanding (Kirkland, 2010). This dimen- idea that one needed to do well in school in order sion of literacy includes therapy, and follows a sim- to make it. ilar process as Freire’s (1995) notion of praxis. It * * * seeks !rst to empower the individual to knowledge of self, other and one’s surroundings by introduc- Sometimes when talking to children as young ing the substances of those things from where they as Rashad (he was twelve when I ended the are best found. Had Rashad been given an opportu- study), you almost know when something bad is nity to interrogate his own texts and, thus, integrate about to happen. Words stand still out of the open his brother’s views in of!cial spaces, he might have mouths of children and drop like falling lumber risen above the injustice that spoke through his writ- into the unsettled laps of the comfortable. The ings. Nonetheless, he was fully aware of the world sound is all the same; though quiet, it is loud, that he was in, and he had Damon’s eyes to thank. louder than the squelch of weeping mothers cry- ing for their dying sons, and as tacit as the speech- “Damon understands how the game is played,” less accent of a deafening yell that precedes a cry. Rashad wrote. “He’s doing good for himself. He’s In the thunderous silence, you can hear the echoes an M.C. because going to school can only get you of diminished hopes, the sigh of uncertainty, and a nine to !ve.” Of course, Rashad’s naïveté in cel- the blistering beats of stopping hearts. The sounds ebrating the “wisdom” of his brother was doing fall upon us so quickly, and in the case of Black him little good. He was failing all his classes, males, too often. and his suspicion of school, which was lead- ing him to neglect it, would ensure that he too In the cold fall of November 2004, an alter- would succumb to the tragic stats that haunt too cation broke out at Rashad’s home. Rashad’s sis- many young Black men (Noguera, 2008). Instead ter was arguing with a friend or a boyfriend (I of doing a nine to !ve, some would argue that am unclear about this detail). Something hap- Rashad’s disregard for schooling was surely pened strange and wrong. I am listening to the
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A038-11_LA_May2011.indd 377 4/14/11 8:23 AM A038-11_LA_May2011.indd 378 Language Arts ● Vol. 88 ● No. 5 ● May 2011 Focus on Policy long loomedover ELA classroom.Rarelydosuch those fallow shadows ofconvention thathave do notexist there.CCSdoesnotextend beyond in theCCSto!ndyouthlike Rashadbecausethey not writtenwiththeminmind. There isnoplace are subsequentlycrippledbystandardslike CCS Black men, who attend our nation’s schools—who Rashad’s story is illustrative ofmillionsyoung M the echoesoftheirbrothers’voices. men arelinked inachainofothersandreside but Ilearnalessoninhisabsence:youngBlack we alsolostRashad.Inever saw Rashadagain, became cleartomethatthenightwelostDamon, some, oncesolid-as-a-rockface. At thatpoint,it the gunshotthatsplithisbrother’s once-hand death ofhisbrotherwould laceratehisheartlike gotten toknow Rashad, Isurelyknew thatthe ing inthememoryofhisslainbrother. Having Rashad’s absentyoungvoice echoingtears,spill hearing aboutthedeathofRashad.Icouldhear and inthechest.” themselves indarkharmony. body somedrugmoney.” the houseandconfrontedgirlthathithissister.” her brother.” his !rst.” can piecethemalltogether. testimonies. Itrymybesttohearthemsothat inventing acollectionofmythologiesandtragic of voices andperspectives rushingtoward me, the nightbeforealtercation. There isacascade met. There isRashad’s teacherwhowas withhim of whomheknew, andotherswhomhehadnever murmuring, includingRashad’s friends—some testimonies ofwhatsoundslike athousandpeople AKIN Hearing aboutthedeathofDamonwas like “Damon dead.” “Damon gotshot.” “Damon gotkilledbecauseofdope.” “Damon ranoutthehouse.Hegotshotinface At once, all the voices come together, arranging “Damon useddrugssothedopemangothim.” “Damon was runningbecauseheowed some The stories begin to converge. “Damon ran out “No, Rashad’s sisterranintothehousetoget “This mansmashedRashad’s sister’s face with G
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E CH OES - - - 378 needed. Can we write ELA standards that honor honor that standards ELA write we Can needed. must !rstgetthemreadyforlife. iness. Inordertogetthemreadyforcollege, we forces thatactuallylimitBlackmalecollege read in school,schoolsbecomecomplicitthestew of missing. Iwould addthatbecausewemissthem attach literacy learningbacktothemalsoseems and thesocialculturalsensitivity neededto beyond theclassroomarelostinstandards, variant socialforcesthatimpacttheBlackmale to understandandexplain theirlives. Hence,the not acquiringliteracy forcollege purposes,but but BlackmalessuchasDamonandRashadare eracy knowledge squarelytocollege readiness, ing inschools.CCS,forexample, connectslit Black malesandthestandardsthatgovern learn trate thedistancebetweenwhatweknow about Black menreadandwrite. Bakhtin, 1981)thatseemtoexplain how young conventions incorporatethetheoryofechoes(see egories andaregrosslyover-represented among near thebottomofallacademic achievement cat die before the age of 45 as a white male” (p. 10). group 15–24, and a Black male is twice as likely to death among African American males in the age therman (1997), “Homicide is the leading cause of homicide statistics. According to Watson and Smi incarceration process. Equally as bleak are the in three Black males will enter some phase of the and Western suggest that, as early as age 14, one either unemployed or incarcerated (pp. 7–9). Petit cent of working-age Black men are without jobs, (1994), forexample, reportsthatcloseto40per so. do to us require males Black surrounding crisis educational current The youth. of aspirations lives and imagined) the to opposed (as present towardthe students—and with do can teachers what limit that standards the move beyond to courage have the must we then males, Black educating about serious are we better. If the for education ELA reforming truly about serious are we answer,if to dare then and ourselves, ask must we questions the are These horizons? social youths’ expanding also while wounded, socially the heal to help that standards ELA write we Can readiness? social and rigor ing the echoesof American youth,whilealsofoster Therefore, a rethinking of ELA standards is is standards ELA of rethinking a Therefore, I have usedRashad’s narrative toillus In education,Blackmenare atthebottomor The Center for the Study of Social Policy ------4/14/11 8:23 AM school suspensions, dropouts, and special educa- References Focus on Policy tion tracks (Noguera, 2008). Given the unbeliev- Abarry, A. S. (1990). Afrocentricity: introduction. Journal of able scale of the problem (and I have only begun Black Studies, 21(2), 123–125. to scratch the surface) and the discouraging statis- Althusser, L. (1969). For Marx. New York: Vintage Books. tical picture it paints, we, in language and literacy Anderson, G. L. (1989). Critical Ethnography ni Education: Origins, Current Status, and New Directions. Review of studies, can no longer afford to ignore the crises Educational Research, 59(3), 249–270. confronting young Black men as CCS (and a lit- Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: Four any of other ELA standards) seems to do. essays. Austin, TX, University of Texas Press. * * * Block, A. A. (2010). For the sake of heaven: Locating stan- dards. Language Arts, 87 (5), 381–389. I haven’t spoken to Rashad since before Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist Damon passed. His teacher gave me the notebook America. New York: Basic Books. Rashad used when he was in the MBK program. Brown, A. F. (2005). Using Hip-Hop in Schools: Are We Of course, reading through Rashad’s notebook Appreciating Culture or Raping Rap? The Council Chroni- cle. Retrieved 24 Jan. 2008
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A038-11_LA_May2011.indd 379 4/14/11 8:23 AM A038-11_LA_May2011.indd 380 Language Arts ● Vol. 88 ● No. 5 ● May 2011 Focus on Policy American SociologicalReview, 69 life course:RaceandclassinequalityinU.S.incarceration. Pettit, B.,&Western, B.(2004).Massimprisonmentandthe education other re!ectionsonrace,equity, andthefutureofpublic Noguera, P. A.(2008). Education, 38 academic performancesofAfricanAmericanmales. and in!uenceofenvironmentalculturalfactorsonthe Noguera, P. A.(2003).ThetroublewithBlackboys: Therole 53 literacy education. Morrell, E.(2009).Criticalresearchandthefutureof ies ofaccess,dissent,andliberation Morrell, E.(2008). Longman. cal pedagogyinthefoundationsofeducation McLaren, P. (2002). of BlackmanhoodinAmerica. Majors, R.,&Billson,J.M.(1993). Anchor. of Two BoysGrowingUpintheOtherAmerica.NewYork, Kotlowitz, A.(1992).ThereAreNoChildrenHere:TheStory pp. 278–297. Black malesandliteracy. Kirkland, &Jackson,A.(2009).We realcool:Examining Education, Volume III. C. Tyson (Eds.), Black males,literacy, andteachereducation.InA.Ball,& Kirkland, D.(forthcoming).“Somethingtobragabout”: New York: PeterLang. Connecting Classrooms,Media,andParadigms nities. InD.Alvermann(Ed.), ate LivesofYoung BlackWomen inOnlineSocialCommu , 96–104. Questions? [email protected]. in theTeaching ofEnglish sent electronicallytoKurtAustin,PublicationsDirector, [email protected], orbymailtoKurtAustin, preparing forhisorher"rstissueinAugust2013.Theappointmentis "ve years.Applicationsshouldbe The applicantappointedbytheNCTEExecutiveCommittee inFebruary2012willeffect atransition, Do notsendbooks,monographs,orothermaterialsthat cannotbeeasilycopiedforthesearchcommittee. urged toexplorewiththeiradministratorsthefeasibility ofassumingtheresponsibilitiesajournaleditor. specifying "nancialsupportfromappropriateadministratorsatthe applicant’s institution. Applicantsare the journalandbeaccompaniedbyapplicant’s vita,onesampleofpublished writing,andtwoletters of applicationtobereceivednolaterthan editors, MarkDressman,SarahMcCarthey, and PaulPrior, willend.Interestedpersonsshouldsendaletter NCTE isseekinganeweditorof . NewYork: Jossey-Bass. , 431–459. Studying DiversityinTeaching andTeacher Critical literacyandurbanyouth:Pedagog S Journal ofAdolescent&AdultLiteracy, Life inschools:Anintroductiontocriti EAR Washington, DC:AERA. The troublewithBlackboys:And Reading ResearchQuarterly, 44 CH
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