citation

My friend posted this about the #citationchallenge today.  I liked it.  (Both FB-style and in real life liked it.)

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A few years ago, another friend posted something on FB about citation from a piece he was reading.  I can't remember what and it would take me forever (and a lot of time on his page... which feels like a violation) to go back and find it, but he basic idea was that citing is like a way of saying a quick "thanks" before moving on.  Like, 

"A riot is the language of the unheard" (Thanks, Dr. King).  Moving forward...

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Last night at the prison, we were teaching in-text citation conventions, and one of the students, building on the direction to include page number, observed, "Oh, like when you're quoting the Bible.  Like Psalm 7, verse so and so..."  

YEAH.

It struck me as such a great example of connecting cultural resources, like the literacy practices involved in Bible study, to academic literacy practices.  The teacher leading the lesson affirmed the observation really sincerely, and it made me think about another potential thing that could come out of our work.

It made me wonder if it's easier for teachers to recognize and affirm students' cultural and linguistic resources when the students are grown ass people.  There may still be a racial divide between teacher and student in our context (and for now, that's what we're working with in public education -- lots of White lady teachers and increasing numbers of students of color), but the exacerbation of that power differential by age difference (i.e. adult teacher and little kid) isn't.  Maybe by studying how students get respected in this context, teachers can learn how to respect (and I mean meaningfully respect, like expecting brilliance, and seeing it in them all the time) students in other classroom contexts.