Delpit and Smitherman Response

Nicholas Kollert

English 1510

Delpit and Smitherman Response

November 14, 2012

Delpit and Smitherman Response

After reading both articles in Readings on writings I was able to pull a few things away form both articles. First with the Smitherman article I found the article to be a difficult read because it is writing in “black language” and it didn’t make sense in some spots. Overall I thought the article was trying to bring to light how to interrupt different forms of dialect that may not be normal to us. I thought this was effective because it makes you go outside your comfort zone to take apart this article. The second article that we read was Delpit’s Article and I was also able to pull some main points away from this article as well. The very first thing I liked about the article was that she brings authors we have already read or talked about in class such as Hooks, Gee, and Rose. One of the quotes that stood out to me was Delpit states that “teachers must acknowledge and validate students' home language without using it to limit students' potential."  This pretty much means that teachers should not try to interfere with the language style that is taught in the home because if they do it could hold them back in the long run. I like this idea because she is pretty much saying not to take away from the home language, but add it to the students family discourse. Overall after reading these two articles I was able to pull some things away that could be useful and important to me later on in the future.