SOLON, Ohio – Author Susan Stack offers an approach to learning that she hopes can improve the lives of students in and out of the classroom.
In The Philosophy of Dot: Standardizing Standard English in Schools, a 55-page book released this month by Tate Publishing and Enterprises, Stack proposes a model she developed during her 25 years teaching students in Cleveland.
“I’ve more or less pixilated the entire world, and every dot represents somebody’s small community and affiliations,” Stack, a Solon resident, said.
In Stack’s paradigm, students are asked to picture where they live as a small point that is part of a larger world. How they speak, act and dress in their homes or with their friends are referred to as “dots.” When they move into shared spaces, such as the classroom, workplace, public transportation, malls and other areas, a different approach is needed to meet societal expectations.
“The philosophy has really stretched beyond standard English. I consider it to include dress, behavior and body language,” Stack said.
“In their dot place, you speak and dress a certain way and it’s OK, because it’s expected and acceptable there. But if you move outside that area, outside your dot to common areas where people come together, you have to change your mode to standardization,” she said.
By “dropping their dot,” students adopt standard English, standard manners and appropriate attire to adapt to “dot-free zones,” where they can adapt to expectations in ways that will benefit them in terms of how they are perceived, according to Stack’s model.
“The kids I teach have a tough time with subject-verb agreement… At home, we all do our comfort thing and it becomes so ingrained that when they hear it correctly it sounds wrong, like a foreign language,” she said.
Martin DeLeo, who along with Stack teaches sixth grade at Cleveland School of the Arts, said that in the four years he has known Stack he has witnessed the effect the dot approach has had on students.
“You wouldn’t think it would make that much of a difference,” DeLeo said.
“It’s like they morph from the typical child into a leader. It kind of transforms them to somebody who is taking ownership of themselves and their behavior, and they try to influence others,” he said.
As a former student of Stack’s who now attends high school at Cleveland School of the Arts, Jaylon Wright, 16, said the two years he was taught by Stack during sixth and seventh grade changed his life.
“It helped me see the way to write, which was not the way I talk to my family or to my friends on the street,” Wright said.
As a result, Wright began writing poetry and now is planning a career as a writer, he said.
“It also started affecting, that year, how I was. I started to dress more properly. I tucked my shirt in. I wore a tie… It was very useful, not a critical perspective, not trying to change how we talk with our friends and our families. She was just showing us the techniques of proper language,” Wright said.
Although she plans to retire at the end of this school year, Stack hopes sharing her experience through the publication of, “The Philosophy of Dot,” the model will be adopted by other teachers at other schools.
“I never advocate getting rid of the way you talk. That’s not my place,” Stack said.
“A lot of the students that I work with, that’s their survival mechanism and the language itself is kind of cool. It’s spicy, but it’s not appropriate for so many places, along with their dress, their manner, their attitude. I try to bring it into the real world,” she said.
For more information, go online to www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore.