all of the comments that have been made on my blog are great. my fellow classmates gave me a lot of new insight on how to think about code switching and some ideas that might help me on this journey. i like how the comments that were made were not censored at all. i think that if i make a comment (like i always do) that just is not looking at the other side of things, i find it really hwlpful for people to call me out on that. maybe ask me a question that will make me think about other ways to approach the subject. i now think that maybe letting students use thier vernacular alot may be distracting and may not show how important standard english actually is, thanks to brittany. this along with a couple of other ways to look at the subject have been brought up by my classmates and it help me a lot. sometimes i also have problems looking outside the box. i still do think, however, that engaging our students and , making them feel comfortable by letting them use black english and latino english is very important. maybe there should only be a little inclusion of these languages and more inclusion of standard english, and focus on code-switching.

I was just conversing with a classmate (amanda) on the incorporation of "black english" into the classrooms of today. We talked about how incorporating or letting students use "black english" or "latino english" in the classroom may make them feel a little more comfortable in the class itself. We talked about how if students could use thier vernacular language in the class then they may be more interested than in a classroom where they would be corrected or repremanded. We think that if teachers let students talk how they want and write how they want, then mid way through the year "code switching" could be introduced and the students would be more likely and more willing to make an effort to learn when to use "standard english" and when to use "black english" or "latino english. " We aso were wondering how are teachers today incorporating "balck english" into their classrooms? Assuming they are at all. What do you think about these languages? Do you think they should be incorporated or not? And how should they be incorporated?

Making students feel comfortable in their classrooms is very important in the enterprise of education. One way to make our students feel comfortable is to support their use of Black English and Latino English. When dealing with incorrect uses of Standard English, we need to not just tell our students what they are doing wrong and to change it, but we need to show them what they are doing wrong and explain to them how to change it. We need to show them that it is alright to use Black English and Latino English, but there is a time and place for it, and the school setting is not that place. We need to inform them about "code switching" (changing from one language to the next depending on the setting), and when the right times are to use certain kinds of language. If we can show our students that we respect their heritage and who they are by respecting their languages, then we have taken the first step in making them feel more comfortable in our classroom. Another way to make our students feel comfortable is to engage them into the classroom and the material that is being presented. As teachers, we need to make sure that we do everything in our power to engage our students, because if we don't, well then what does that mean for those students who are left out. So, How else can we make our students feel comfortable in our classrooms? What do you think about these two ideas? Do they make sense or not? Do you think that it is really important to make our students feel comfortable or should that be something on the bottom of our list?

There are many challenges that come with teaching in an urban school setting. Two specific challenges of teaching in this setting are violence and the languages (such as Black English). Black English is being used in schools all over America on a regular basis, not just in the urban school setting. Although it is very important to support our student's vernacular, as teachers it is important that we teach our students when to use these vernacular languages and when Standard English is the more appropriate choice. This process is often referred to as "code switching." On top of this challenge of languages that are used in schools a lot of attention must be paid to violence, not just the act, but the reference to it in our student's writing. As teachers we need to know when to really address the situation of violence that comes into our student's writing and when we need to respect it as an artistic move on the part of the author. These two challenges are huge when it comes to urban schools. What do you think about these challenges? Would you encourage "code switching" or would you simply tell the student to get rid of his or her vernacular? And what about violence in our student's writings? How do we address it?

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