Invisible Culture

"Thus in regard to both the structuring of attention and the allocation of turns at talk, Warm Springs Indiana children learn culturally distinctive systems for socially appropriate communication" (126)
As teachers it is very important that we understand our students and what they consider appropriate communication. It is very easy for miscommunications to happen, but the more we educate ourselves and creat open dialogue with our students, the better we will be at this.
Some of the issues include discourse, regulatiosn of talk, dialet differents, rules for discourse, and differences in cultural knowledge. In my own teaching, I have tried to learn more about the cultural backgrounds of my students so I can better understand their perspectives and incorporate those things into the class. This understanding of cultural knowledge has helped me appreciate their backgrounds more.
"even where teachers are well intentioned, the results are similar, because the minority students' efforts to communicate are often incomprehensible to the teacher and cannot be assimilated into the framework within which teh teacher operates. The teacher, then, must be seen as uncomprehending, just as the students are. And it is primarily by virtue of the teacher's position and authority that the students and not the teacher come to b defined as the \ones who do not understand" (129). I found this statement to be quite profound. So often in discussions, the conversation goes to what students need to do, when really we need to focus more broadly on how all parties can come together to communicate well. When we place a focused effort on understanding each other, then we will have better classrooms.

The one section I would have liked to see more fully developed was Agent of Change. I think she could have discussed more what she thought this information means in the grander scope of things, and how she sees each of these people - including administration and government.