No Time For Disrespect

"We can give you some respect, because we know what it takes" (Lamott, 153).  Lamott said it here, and that is what I view as Routman's point in ch. 9's Conference with Students, "When I confer with you about your writing, you are more important than the writing - Don Graves" (205).  This is also what I took to be Fox's main point in ch. 7's Teaching English Language Learners and Children at Risk, that teachers must learn from students what valuable knowledge they already have as individuals and build new literacy learning directly on that.  Maybe I just had respect on the brain, but it is very logical that respect is necessary for effective communication (literacy) to happen.  Just as in when I respect a speaker or a writer I will better understand what they are trying to communicate to me, similarly, if I respect my listener or reader they will better understand the meaning I am attempting to convey to them.

Plus, really, we don't have the time to waste on not being respectful.  Lamott says, "And I don't think you have that kind of time either.  I don't think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won't be good enough at it, and I don't think you have time to waste on someone who does not respond to you with kindness and respect" (170).  Routman, again absolutely supports this by demonstrating "teacher talk" that invariably is focused on supporting the writer by assisting them communicate their message and in not wasting time or disrespecting a student's capabilities by doing editing that they are capable of themselves.  Fox, as well, emphasizes that the most plausible way to help any student advance their literacy skills is to teach letter-sound recognition and understanding as well as word identification strategies,  that there isn't the time to waste in skipping over these basic structures in literacy and there isn't the time to waste in not respecting each student enough to make sure this learning happens.

Because literacy is meaningful communication, it inherently necessitates respect, with no time to lose.