Teaching More Than Just Skills

1.Muhammad's critique of the education system is that we as educators must teach children more than just skills.  We must include all of our children in the curriculum.  We must be be more ""Historically Responsive".  She claims that skills are indeed important but they are not the only goal when it comes to teaching ELA.  Muhammad explains how there are standards or pursuit that must be met in order to be a successful educator: she list four, identity, skill development, intellectualism, and criticality. 

Gonzales asked Muhammad,"Why do you think the efforts that they have made to this point have not been successful?".

Muhammad then response,"They haven’t been successful because the efforts, the systems, the structures, the standards, the curriculum, the teacher evaluation, the assessments were never designed fully with black and brown students in mind. When you have something that was never designed for you, that wasn’t designed for your body to fit it, your spirit, your history. It wasn’t designed for your identities, it’s not going to fit".

Muhammad claims students of color do not do well on class because the curriculum is not written for them and so "it is not going to fit", instead what we should do is use her four "pursuits" in order to include our children of color into the curriculum.

2.

• Identity:  Children can write about who they are using a narrative/poem/ short story.
• Skill development: Children can apply the knowledge in skill they already know to any assignment given.
• Intellectualism: Children must be treated as scholars, they must be able to dig deeper into their knowledge.  When they make a point they must be able to back up that point with facts and discussions.
• Critically: Children are thinking in active ways.  Students would be able to read a text and read in between the lines and understand the bigger picture.