“No one enters a classroom without a personal history; thus no one enters a classroom completely free of bias.”
When I first started my VIPS tutoring I didn’t know what to expect. I walked into the classroom wondering what the children were like and if they were going to like me. At Stonewell Elementary* the students are all very friendly and welcoming. I did notice that the school is very diverse. I wondered if I was going to be able to relate to the students and be able to help them succeed. I went to a high school that was also very diverse so I knew some things about how to react in an educational setting. When entering the classroom I remembered reading Alan Johnson’s article “Our House is on Fire” and his theory about white privilege. “The problem of race, for example, is commonly believed to result from what happens when some people encounter those who don’t look like them. Supposedly, the strange and unfamiliar bring out some innate human tendency toward fear of the unknown and intolerance of difference. The solution, then, is to champion diversity, promote tolerance, and celebrate difference.” I wondered if the students would fear me. When I got to know some of the children I realized that they didn’t think of me any differently as anyone else. In my kindergarten class I am a reading buddy for six different students. I notice that a lot of times the children will make comments about each other’s race. One Hispanic girl said to an African American boy “you’re black.” I wondered why she had said that and if it was supposed to be taken as an insult. Another time I overheard two African American boys saying “you’re dark chocolate and I’m milk chocolate.” I had no idea what I should have said to them because it must have been something they heard at home. I feel like this might be some of the challenges I will face as a teacher in this classroom. Another challenge I feel that I will face might be teaching students to accept social difference. I feel that in this classroom setting we must follow Johnson’s solutions by promoting diversity and tolerance and to celebrate difference. I think that this experience will help me become a better teacher because I am able to learn how to teach in such a diverse classroom and I will be able to help encourage students to promote diversity.
*Names have been changed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hey Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI could definitely see how the comments of those children identifying another student's skin color might give you a feeling uncertainty, not knowing what to say or how to react. That can be an uncomfortable situation that I'm sure happens more than we realize.
As future teachers, I'm sure this will be something that you and I both experience in the classroom. You mentioned that this will be one of the challenges you will face. I couldn't agree more, but as I thought about it, I realized that we have an opportunity to react in one of two ways.
The first is to ignore it. I'm sure it's quite easy to sweep comments like that under the rug, distract students and move on. But does that benefit the children and provide a learning experience for them? I would venture to say no.
Instead, I hope that I'll have the ability to address comments like these. In Megan Boler's article "All Speech is Not Free," she proposes an affirmative action pedagogy, where the classroom acts as a place to critically analyze comments rooted in racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism, ableism, and classism. Students should be accountable for opinions they express in the classroom. I feel that it is our job as teachers to create an environment where marginalized voices can respond to the ignorant ideas of others. Boler suggests that challenging dominant voices is a way to represent silenced, or minority ones.
Obviously, the children you tutor are quite young, and perhaps they repeated things they overheard at home. But this can serve as an example of how we must create a space where the unheard can be heard.
Lisa it's great that you had experience in a diverse classroom before you started VIPS. I did not having experience in a diverse classroom and it made it harder for me. I agree that it was probably uncomfortable when the kids said those comments. Unfortunately I feel like more and more children make those kinds of comments. Since the kids you are working with are so young, it is hard to know how to react or what to say to them. I agree with you, i also think that this will be one of the most challenging things about being a teacher. I think dealing with comments like these will be a challenge we will face on a daily basis. I would keep the leason of Boler in mind. We do not want this kind of speech in our classroom, the students need to know it is not ok to say things like that. And also getting to the root of it, where did they hear that it was acceptable to say things like that. I think it may be hard to apply this in your classroom now because of the age of your students, but i would keep it in mind for when you are teacher. I think it's great that you were able to learn from this experience. The VIPS experience really has invaluable lessons that will help us in our teaching careers
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI would like for you to re-read the section the Johnson that you quoted. His point here is that although it is often said that we fear the unfamiliar, the reality is that it is not the unfamiliar that we fear. Rather, we fear what we think we know about those unfamiliar to us. Difference is not the problem, privilege is.
Keep thinking on these things,
Dr. August