Becoming something different

     As I was reading this article I was able to connect it to another reading we have discussed in class, and that is "The silenced dialogue". The reason I connected it to the silenced dialogue is because in that reading it talks about how students are silenced in classrooms. In the article Becoming something Different, Esme was a silenced student. In the sixth grade Esme wasn't too sure of her status as a student. She says that she paid attention in class and asked questions but still had difficulty understanding. Esme's voice is silenced here because the teachers didn't do much to help her understand questions and assignments. The teachers responsibility is to help students learn not make them more confused when they ask questions, because if they ask a questions it's because they don't understand but that doesn't mean that they have a learning problem. Instead of helping Esme the teachers positioned her as needing help with academic tasks, so instead of being helped she was silenced in a way. I think that this is one if the reasons Esme didn't have confidence in herself , that why she said that she wasn't too sure of her status as a student. Esme says " I really don't know if I'm good" I think the teachers job is to help students instead if making hen doubt themselves and think that they are not good. Esme was silenced In the sixth grade but as she went to other grades she was able to have teachers that didn't silence her , instead they helped her and that's when she began to enjoy school more because she actually had helpful teachers. Her teacher had different strategies so she was able to understand more. Esme then saw herself as a "a lot smarter"(1).

In The link below the first minute and ten seconds is a video of students who had similar situations with Esme because they would ask questions and class but the teachers didn't help. The rest if the video is strategies that teachers can do to help their students understand a little bit better. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-bWU238PymM