Holler if you can Hear
me,
by Gregory Michie inspired me in so many ways. This book was helpful for me as
a budding teacher to understand how to teach a multicultural class. It had
powerful stories and insights that taught me to appreciate the subtleties of
being a teacher as well as a friend to my students. There were three main themes that I saw
throughout the book, first was the influence of race and ethnicity, second the
power of personal values and finally the costs and benefits of culture.
Michie’s description of
his years in both Quincy Junior High and Ralph Ellison Education and Vocational
Guidance Center were enlightening experiences of multicultural education. A
major theme he discussed was the influence of race in these schools. One
important story that kept popping up was that the children were often confused
about their racial identities. Especially the Mexican-American kids at Quincy
Jr. The kids struggled between the two identities. Some said when they went
home to Mexico they were teased that they were “white.” But in the United States
they were treated as second class, trouble making Mexican students. They also
found it hard to do well in school because there was a racial stigma that if
they did well they were acting “too white.” Many students wanted to do well
though and found this stigma hard to get over. Reading these stories about the
students’ struggles with their identities made me realize that teachers have
such a big role in helping students find an identity they are comfortable with.
Kids may not have parents at home that help them and encourage them to figure
out their identity so it is our job as teachers to offer our students
opportunities to discover what they want to become. We need to encourage our
students to be brave and try new things and not to be held down by stereotypes
that they may hold. As a teacher we hold such weight on the development of our
students emotionally and perhaps even physically as well. Understanding their
struggles with identity can help us focus our efforts on helping our student
progress to be what they want to be.
I also noticed numerous
instances of teachers as agents of change in this book. Being an agent of
change is a personal value many teachers have high on their lists of values. In
many of the stories the kids were recorded to have involved some sort of
response to teachers they had in school. Many mentioned how specific teachers
would treat them as individuals and sought out what they could do to
specifically help them. Other times the kids would mention how they wanted
teachers to do things differently so that they could teach the kids and reach
out to them better. One girl, Ruby, wrote a letter to explain how both she and
a teacher she was struggling with could improve themselves so that they could
work together and learn better (115). Throughout the entire book Mr. Michie
tried to think of ways that he could help the kids have a better experience, which
would help them have a better life. He discussed how many teachers would just
give up on their students, but he didn’t; he wanted to see if he could change
the kids’ lives. I learned a lot from this particular theme of putting your
personal values in order and how teachers can help change students’ lives. As
teachers we have to be open to how we can help our students individually. But
we have to be aware enough to notice how we can help them. This will require a
great amount of interaction and getting to know our students. Teachers can be
those agents of change but they just have to be responsive enough to act on
those impressions that they get from their students. Be willing to break from
the norm to help your students. Be willing to think outside of the box so that
you can find what works best for all of yours students’ learning. Being an
agent of change is hard but a fulfilling process.
Finally the costs and
benefits of culture were an obvious theme in this book. There were examples of
discrimination, fundamental attribution errors, and social capital.
Discrimination was particularly relevant to Michie’s stories. Because he taught
in two schools which were ethnically diverse the students were treated
differently. The minority students were put in the lower level classes even
when they could do just fine in a normal class. They were also stereotyped in
numerous situations which led to discrimination. For example in one instance
the kids were patted down in school due to an outside circumstance of drug and
weapon violence (116). It was as if the faculty assumed that because they lived
in the same neighborhood where this happened, all the kids must be druggies and
gangbangers.
Part of this sad
commentary on discrimination is that this stereotyping often led to committing
the fundamental attribution error. In two different stories this occurred.
First a young girl named Diana accused Mr. Michie of a scandalous act and Mr.
Michie assumed it was because she was a brash and insecure girl. Later he found
out that the reason she’d accused him of scandal was because she couldn’t go to
the camp that everyone else was going to. Perhaps a better example is the story
of Reggie. Reggie, one of the only Black kids in Quincy Jr., was standing around
with a group of his friends, all Mexican, waiting for a bus to take them to a
basketball game. A police car drove up as they stood there and a cop jumped out
of the car and tackled Reggie and yelled at him. Just because Reggie was Black
the cop had assumed some shenanigan was being planned as the group huddled
there. The cop didn’t realize they were all friends and just waiting for a
basketball game. These two instances showed that one’s color or personality can
often be discriminated against and can be misinterpreted in different
situations.
One final theme I kept
seeing throughout was that of social capital. Mr. Michie learned the importance
of social capital in his first year teaching. Raynard, a group leader among the
students had to teach Mr. Michie what the students expected him to be like. Mr.
Michie found it helpful in gaining his footing his first year (12). Mr. Michie
also utilized his own social capital when he was trying to get the attention of
his classes. He claimed he knew Michael Jordan which immediately got the students
to pay attention (3). These stories taught me valuable lessons about how as a
teacher I can understand culture in my students a little better. The stories of
discrimination and committing the fundamental attribution error showed me that
you cannot “judge a book by its cover.” We need to actually learn the
circumstances behind a student’s actions before we lay judgment. As a teacher
we need to realize that there are going to be so many different backgrounds in
our classrooms that it is hard to make judgments based on current behavior or attitudes.
Also the stories of social capital remind me that as a teacher it is okay to
need help to adjust to new cultural situations. What better way to understand
at a grass roots level than turning to the students to be your social capital!
They know better than you will at the time how things “run” around there. Social
capital can be a great source to use as a teacher. These interesting costs and
benefits of culture are so crucial to understand as a teacher so that we do not
make mistakes that could hurt us or our students. This book did a great job of
seeing these principles up close.
In conclusion, Holler
if you can Hear me was stimulating book that taught me many important
lessons on how to teach in a multicultural classroom. I learned the power of a
teacher over racial identity, the importance of being an agent of change and
how the different costs and benefits of culture shape a teacher to know how to
act and react in different situations. Gregory Michie influenced me and the way
I look at multicultural teaching. He inspired me to do my best to be brave and
help all my students succeed no matter their background. I would highly suggest
this book to anyone who wants to learn what it takes to become a multicultural
teacher in this day and age.
