Reading Response 21: Delpit or Smitherman

For Friday (11/16), please read both Delpit and Smitherman (as we'll discuss both) but you may choose to do a reading response to either one. Whichever you choose, your response needs to include: 

• Summary 
• Synthesis: Think about Gee, Brandt, and the Flynn we just read, but what's really important here is that you to compare the reading you choose with the other assigned reading. E.g., if you choose to respond to Delpit, include a comparison of Smitherman in your synthesis. Think about the major differences in how these two authors respond to the same issue. 
• Personal Response

If you choose to write on Smitherman, respond to Questions 2 and 3 in QDJ:

1.     How is Smitherman using Black Idiom (BI) rhetorically?

2.     How does language promote power for specific races and classes?

If you choose to write on Delpit, respond to Questions 3 and 4 in QDJ:

1.     Do you agree with what Delpit is arguing? What are some effective parts of her argument? What are some weaknesses or shortcomings?

2.     Name the things that Delpit suggests teachers should do to help students "master the dominant discourses and to transform them?"