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Language Autobiography

Oscoda, MI. This is the place I’ve called home for 20 years of my life. It is a small, rural,

blink and you’ll pass through kind of town in what’s considered “Up North” Michigan. I have

come to realize more recently that Oscoda kept me in a bubble. It is all I have ever known.

People don’t really come and go, so my lack of cultural experiences growing up chalks up to

about maybe 2 or 3 foreign exchange students and this is something I have always struggled

with.

Within the last 3 years of living on my own, I have grown immensely in every which

way. My freshman year of college I went in blind and was placed with the most amazing friend.

She is a black woman named Angela and I could never thank her enough for pulling my head out

of the gutter. I learned a whole new culture through living with her before I even began exploring

my own and that was the beginning of my sweet, new journey out of my white-washed town. I

have discovered my love to learn and grow and help reciprocate this energy to others. After

multiple major changes, I finally found myself in a field I love: education. This is where my

strongest growth began. I was immersed into these classes that pushed harder topics. By harder, I

don’t mean Chemistry or Calculus, I mean real-world issues that I found I had never even

thought about. I was being pushed intellectually. Other students were much more advanced in the

mindset of knowing "all languages are good. Conceptually and linguistically speaking, there is

no such thing as a bad language per se. Languages are not inherently bad, improper, wrong, or

incorrect,” something I was not familiar with (Lanehart). I would blame this not only on myself,

but on the education system that conforms its students to a shallow scope and centered way they

view the educational system. I was robbed of proper and just education. I find that is hard for me

to think of language incidents or even what stands out about me especially when growing up I
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was only meant to be “proper.” Before, I wouldn’t have considered this corrupt, but now it

angers me to think I allowed myself to shape into that person. This allows me to realize the

privilege that I have grown up on… the white privilege. I can look on not only myself, but my

town as a whole.

I recognize that the couple children of color that did go to my school did not have proper

role models and did not learn in such away that allowed them to appreciate their culture. They

were forced “to be “American” and “normal”” which Milner states “are often equated with

Whiteness” (Milner 391). This makes me think upon my own privilege as these children were

forced to believe in this one, egotistical way to think and speak. At the time, I never thought

anything of it. I was taught that there is only “one right way…” the white way. This ties directly

into how “when we talk about building inclusive communities in which all students can learn, we

must also examine how our policies and practices continue to shame and exclude students in

ways that may not be readily apparent” (Christensen 95). The idea for all students to learn

equally may be present, but the bigger picture is that the policies and practices are not meeting

all the identifiable cultures, only the ones that are deemed worthy. Again, this may be

unintentional, however, as an education system, my previous school along with many others

provide “the domination of one language at the expense of others” when they must examine to

whom they are teaching and the relevance of its contents (Martinez 182). As a school, the white

supremacy was overwhelming and I can now admit I never realized this until I got to Michigan

State University.

I can dedicate my most life changing experience to my Kindergarten class in the heart of

Lansing, Michigan. I was immersed in children of all cultures, not only that, but my mentor was

also a mixed woman. Being able to observe this setting was absolutely remarkable for me. I had
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never stepped foot into a school where I was a minority and never want to step foot into my

white washed school back home ever again after enriching myself as I did. Each day came with

something new especially with the age group. I was constantly put into situations that allowed

me to grow as a person along with educating my students. One thing in particular that will

always stick out to me is a question I was asked by a little girl that had grown close to me. She

constantly wanted to be by me or holding my hand and one day she whispered to me

“Why is your hair so different from mine?”

I of course replied with “What do you mean sweetie, we all have different hair?”

and her reply threw me coming from a small, kindergartener. She said,

“No, ours is spiky and dark, yours is yellow and soft.”

It shocked me that at such a young age she was already beginning to notice differences and

distinctions between us, but none the less had that radical love. I was working and growing

alongside with these kindergarteners and that is when I found my strong will to continue in this

field. I love learning from them as much as I love to give.

As spoken about in discussion, I found that I never knew what AAV was, let alone that it

was its own language. Milner states that “education often requires unlearning the misinformation

and stereotypes we have internalized not only about others, but also about ourselves.” This is

something I learned from classes that were mandatory for my major. Again, this is troubling.

Why just for the College of Education? I find myself wondering why it is not mandatory for all

majors. There are students out there much like the past me who will never come to the

realizations that I have and that is scary. Language is the centrality of connections and

communication, so why is it not made mandatory for every student. This is something I would
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like to bring to the table as I work towards my future. Incorporating classes that delve into topics

such as culture and language would make a huge turn around going forward.

Language is something I didn’t come across looking into until recently. As I continue my

growth, I realize that finding myself and where I belong in the world with best regards to others

around me is of the utmost importance. In other words, “self-reflection on your cultural and

linguistic background is essential in understanding your students cultural and linguistic

backgrounds” (Haddix 259). I was never given these opportunities and chances to look deeper

into myself in the past. My schooling was strictly based off my whiteness and shaped me into a

person who was so closed off until I escaped and made it to where I am today. For these reasons,

I find myself putting focus on individualism. My pedagogy will continue on to be to explore

yourself in correlation to others in this world with a full and open heart and that is what I plan to

strive for moving forward.

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Works Cited

Boutte G. S., & Johnson Jr. G. L. (2013). Funga Alafia : Toward Welcoming, Understanding,

and Respecting African American Speakers' Bilingualism and Biliteracy, Equity &

Excellence in Education, 46(3), 300-314.

Christensen, L. Putting Out the Linguistics Welcome Mat. Rethinking Multicultural Education,

Chapter 9, 89-96.

Haddix, M. (2008). Beyond Sociolinguistics: Towards a Critical Approach to Cultural and

Linguistic Diversity in Teacher Education. Language and Education, 22(5), 254-268.

Lanehart, S. L. (2015). The Oxford handbook of African American language. New York, NY:

Oxford University. Press.

Martinez, C. D. (2017). Imagining a Language of Solidarity for Black and Latinx Youth in

English Language Arts Classroom. English Education, 49(2), 179-196.

Milner, H. R. (2007). Race, Culture, and Researcher Positionality: Working Through Dangers

Seen, Unseen, and Unforeseen. American Educational Research Association, 36(7), 388-

400.