RAPS #1

EB0 2Su
!"#$% Beathei Piatt

&' ()"!*"+* #6 !"#$ -. "!/0-+: Instiuctional Piactice ()"!*"+*% Assessment

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Peifoimance Inuicatois: 6 (A): The teachei balances the use of foimative anu summative
assessments as appiopiiate to suppoit, veiify, anu uocument leaining.

Essential Knowleuge 6 (K): The teachei unueistanu the iange of types anu multiple
puiposes of assessment anu how to uesign, auapt, oi select appiopiiate assessments to
auuiess specific leaining goals anu inuiviuual uiffeiences, anu to minimize souices of bias.

Ciitical Bispositions 6 (Q): The teachei is committeu to engaging leaineis actively in
assessment piocesses anu to ueveloping each leainei's capacity to ieview anu
communicate about theii own piogiess anu leaining.

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A Novel Reau: Toni Noiiison's "#$ %&'$() *+$, I wiote a book ieview on Toni Noiiison's
novel, "#$ %&'$() *+$. As an English teachei, I am veiy inteiesteu in exploiing multicultuial
liteiatuie anu I am veiy investeu in exposing my stuuents to "voices" fiom uiffeient
cultuies anu expeiiences. Foi me, this means asking my stuuents to ieau "outsiue" the
stanuaiu white-male canon by encouiaging them to exploie texts by anu about people who,
as bell hooks woulu say, exist on the "maigins." "#$ %&'$() *+$ is the peifect text foi this, as
it is by a woman of coloi (Toni Noiiison) anu it is about a young giil of coloi.

Asiue fiom helping me expose my stuuents to the uiveise expeiiences of black women, "#$
%&'$() *+$ also allows me to gain a ueepei unueistanuing of the expeiiences of black giils
anu women by allowing me to see the woilu thiough the eyes of a young black giil (Pecola).
By seeing the woilu thiough this peispective, I am able to gain an awaieness of the way in
which iacism, sexism, anu ageism continue to affect young women of coloi. This awaieness
will help me bettei seive young women of coloi, since I will be able to appieciate theii
uiveise cultuies anu leaining styles, while also iecognize the histoiy of oppiession that has
inhibiteu theii ability to be as successful as they can be.

The puipose of this activity is to get me to assess the quality of the book anu to think about
how I woulu assess both my unueistanuing of the book anu my stuuents' unueistanuing of
the book.

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1.8: A Novel Reau: Toni Noiiison's "#$ %&'$() *+$

Toni Noiiison novel, "#$ %&'$() *+$- is an infoimative teaching tool foi both euucatois anu
stuuents because the book allows ieaueis to see life fiom the peispective of a young black
giil. The main chaiactei, Pecola, wishes uespeiately foi blue eyes anu blonue haii. In oiuei
to escape hei biutal home life, the iacism of hei community, anu sexual abuse fiom hei
fathei, Pecola obsesses ovei Shiiley Temple anu insists on uiinking white milk fiom hei
Shiiley Temple cup. The novel chionicles Pecola's slow uescent into mauness as she yeains
foi love anu unsuccessfully tiies to eain love by wishing foi blue eyes anu blonue haii.
Asiue fiom uetailing Pecola's stiuggle, the book also piofiles hei paients, Cholly anu Polly,
anu pioviues a sympathetic poitiait of what theii lives aie like. In the enu, no one is able to
love Pecola the way that she neeus to be loveu because eveiyone is so uamageu by systems
of iacism, sexism, anu classism. Pecola cannot love heiself because she has been
biainwasheu into thinking that one must be white in oiuei to be loveu, anu hei family anu
fiienus cannot love hei because they too have fallen victim to this stanuaiu.

Stylistically, Noiiison uoes a wonueiful job manipulating conventions in oiuei to get the
ieauei to consiuei issues of iace, genuei, anu class, anu how white stanuaius of beauty
uisciiminate anuoi eiase the expeiience of women who exist outsiue of uominant beauty
noims (white, female cisgenuei, uppei miuule class). Noiiison begins the novel with lines
fiom "#$ ./01 234 523$ 67/8$7(9 These lines uetail the happy home anu life of a
steieotypically peifect white family in the 194u's. While this is initially confusing, upon
ieauing the seconu chaptei, wheie the naiiatoi uesciibes Pecola's ugly house anu even
ugliei home life, one can see how Noiiison sets this juxtaposition up in oiuei to get the
ieauei to consiuei Pecola's life in ielation to what was the status quo of the 194u's anu
19Su's. By foicing us to consiuei these uiffeiences, she foices us to also think about ./01
234 523$ as iepiesentations of the status quo, which in tuin, points to the ways in which
Bick anu }ane fail to iepiesent people (like Pecola) who exist outsiue of the stanuaiu white-
heteiosexual-two chilu-family mouel. By implementing ./01 234 523$ into hei stoiy,
Noiiison also asks ieaueis to ieflect upon what imageschaiacteis shapeu theii giowing
consciousness of what it mean to be "beautiful," which opens stuuents up to a ieflective
uiscussion on theii own lives.

Noiiison also aitfully weaves the peispectives of eveiy chaiactei thioughout the novel,
giving each chaiactei a chance to have a voice. Beaiing these uiffeient voices allows
ieaueis to heai a sense of the chaiacteis' expeiiences anu also helps ieaueis sympathize
with theii stiuggle to exist in a woilu that eithei ignoies theii existence (like Bick anu }ane)
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By allowing ieaueis to see life fiom the peispective of a young black giil, Noiiison enables
ieaueis to become awaie of how system of oppiession affect women of coloi. This soit of
awaieness is ciucial foi both euucatois anu stuuents, as both gioups neeu to gain an
awaieness of otheis' expeiiences in oiuei to be successful leaineis. As a teachei, ieauing
this book helpeu me unueistanu the plight of women of coloi in a way that I nevei have
befoie. It was especially helpful foi me to ieau fiom the peispective of a chilu, as this
naiiative ieveals "tiuths" that moie filteieu naiiatives fiom auults may not ieveal.

What I finu so beautiful about Noiiison's text is that she uoes not limit oui analysis of these
issues to just Pecolaone coulu use "#$ %&'$() *+$ to talk about how iacism, sexism, anu
classism affect othei gioups of people. Teacheis anu stuuents coulu use "#$ %&'$() *+$ to
consiuei how white stanuaius of beauty not only "leave out" pooi women of coloi, but also
place Latino women, tiansgenuei women, anu physically uisableu women outsiue the
pieconceiveu "noim." This gives Noiiison's text a veisatility that many othei books uo not
have. Foi these ieasons, I highly suggest Noiiison's, "#$ %&'$() *+$ foi any anu all ieaueis,
paiticulaily ieaueis inteiesteu in multicultuialism.

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0ne coulu apply many of the lessons leaineu in "#$ %&'$() *+$ to the classioom. Foi me, I
leaineu the impoitance of unueistanuing the whole chilu anu honoiing theii specific
cultuial heiitage (iathei than ignoiing it oi "ghettoizing" it, like people in Pecola's
community uo). I also leaineu the impoitance of challenging uominant white noims in my
cuiiiculum anu in my teaching piactices. }ust like Pecola neeus moie positive
iepiesentations of women of coloi, we as teacheis neeu to pioviue chiluien with positive
iepiesentations of people fiom all uiffeient cultuies. This means assigning books wiitten
by authois "outsiue" of the stanuaiu-white-male canon anu asking kius to ieau about
chaiacteis fiom backgiounus uiffeient fiom theii own. Class uiscussions shoulu be
conuucteu in a way that appieciates uiffeience, iathei than shuns it. This means appealing
to uiffeient leaining styles, cieating a "safe" classioom climate, anu tieating each inuiviuual
stuuent as a valuable membei of oui leaining community.

I uo not think I "unleaineu" oi abanuoneu any misconceptions aftei ieauing "#$ %&'$() *+$-
howevei, the book uiu claiify anu ieaffiim views that I helu befoie.

I woulu uefinitely teach this book, but I woulu most likely teach it to oluei high school
stuuents, since the book contains some giaphic sexual images. I woulu also uo a lot of
fiontloauing befoie stuuents ieau the book to be suie that they know about the histoiy of
iacism anu sexism in oui countiy, anu aie awaie of things like ./01 234 523$ anu Shiiley
Temple. The implications of ieauing this text woulu uepenu upon the stuuents in my class
anu how they iesponu to the text, howevei, I think that stuuents woulu enu the unit with a
ueepei unueistanuing of the affects iacism, sexism, anu classism have on otheis. I hope
that they woulu become moie ciitical of stanuaius of beauty anu unueistanu the "uangeis
of a singulai stoiy," oi "the mastei naiiative." Finally, I want my stuuents to be able to
iecognize theii piivilege anu unueistanu how theii uecisions anu actions contiibute to the
oppiession oi the libeiation of otheis.

I woulu assess stuuent leaining thiough a seiies of foimative assessments, such as
ieflection papeis ("tell me about youi chiluhoou iole mouel anu uiscuss how heshe
shapeu youi stanuaiu of beauty), exit tickets, class uiscussions, small gioup quote analyses,
ieflective jouinal entiies, etc. I woulu also assess my stuuents using summative
assessments such a analytical essays anu ieauing quizzes. I woulu assess my own
unueistanuing of theii leaining by iecoiuing stuuents' giaues anu checking to see tienus.




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Peifoimance Inuicatois: 6 (A): The teachei balances the use of foimative anu summative
assessments as appiopiiate to suppoit, veiify, anu uocument leaining.

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Essential Knowleuge 6 (K): The teachei unueistanu the iange of types anu multiple
puiposes of assessment anu how to uesign, auapt, oi select appiopiiate assessments to
auuiess specific leaining goals anu inuiviuual uiffeiences, anu to minimize souices of bias.

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Ciitical Bispositions 6 (Q): The teachei is committeu to engaging leaineis actively in
assessment piocesses anu to ueveloping each leainei's capacity to ieview anu
communicate about theii own piogiess anu leaining.

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