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After reading an article entitled “Five Easy Pieces: Steps toward Integrating AAVE into the Classroom”, I was very enlightened about the positive effects and importance that come along with incorporating AAVE into a classroom setting. The article showed how many teachers struggle to find a balance between AAVE and Standard English in the classroom. This particular article discussed a teacher contemplating over the fact should she herself be teaching her student AAVE and allow it to influence the students in her class. The author discusses how AAVE is a very controversial issue and remains an ongoing controversial issue to date. The author questions herself “what exactly is AAVE?”. The issue pending is whether or not this form of dialect should be taught and what are the advantages and disadvantages that would come along with that decision.
The key issue that is being faced here is that there is a major misconception over what AAVE actually is. The author gives a great example of how Bill Cosby, a prominent figure in the black community, is totally biased to the fact that students should be taught AAVE. The reason for such is that he, and many others, feel that it is overall just a sloppy, second rate way to speak Standard English. Bill Cosby and others alike feel that if one were to speak in this heinous language then they could never be a doctor or a lawyer or hold any type of prestigious career. The real problem here is that whole notion is a major misconception. AAVE is not a way to speak ‘sloppy’ what so ever. It is in fact another dialect. What teachers and supporters of AAVE are trying to do is allow students who speak this way to incorporate it in their school environment. They no longer want students to be seen being penalized for the way they would speak at home or in a comfortable setting. The article gives specific steps as to which a teacher should take if they choose to incorporate AAVE into their curriculum or school setting. The author strong believes that multicultural differences should be highlighted and enhanced in the classroom. This way of running the class will enrich the classrooms learning experience and depth. The strong point that is made is about the way that AAVE is actually talked about in the article. The article makes a clear point that AAVE is not slang and that misconception leads to a majority of the problems that give it a negative bias. AAVE should always be held in a positive light because of the benefits in diversity and enlightenment it gives to the classroom, and the real world. I really believe the main focus of this article was to show the importance of teaching students to use AAVE and to be supportive and caring through the process.
I believe that article made a strong argument about AAVE’s role in composition studies. It showed how some teachers are actually trying to incorporate AAVE , instead of totally dispelling it. The article allows us to see the importance of keeping a variety of dialects and languages as a backdrop of a classroom. This is because students get more experiences to the real world and diverse cultures. Overall this was article show the importance of incorporating AAVE in a school setting and the positive effects that it will have.