The concept that became most apparent while reading this chapter
was the idea that race and ethnicity are seen as a choice for individuals. This
is especially true when you ask individuals to identify themselves within a
particular group according to race. Within the text there was an example of a
male who had a hard time identifying with one race or the other based on skin
color alone. To some people, race means more than just the color of one’s skin.
I think as teachers, we need to be sure to understand what our students think
of themselves.
Closely related to race is a person’s ethnicity. Some may
confuse the two or use them synonymously. To me ethnicity is more about the
culture of a particular race, if that makes sense. Along with ethnicity and
race comes a sense of stereotypes. This includes the importance, ability, knowledge,
etc of a particular person according to their race/ethnicity.
As teachers, especially those of younger students, it is
important to help students understand who they are and why they may be “categorized”
a certain way. When questions arise, it is important to answer them with
accuracy and not allow students to fall into society’s downfall of racist
ideas.
Ch. 6 Question:
How does race/ethnicity play a role in your own classroom? Positive or
Negative? How do you address it?
In response to your questions, I have a classroom full of only White students. This is difficult for me because helping them to branch out of their comfort zones and appreciate another culture/ethnicity is a little difficult to facilitate. Only 6% of the entire school is a different race/ethnicity, and this community is sterotyped by outsiders to be somewhat racist. I have found that the people in this community have good hearts and they love other people, and they usually only make racist-like comments because they are uneducated and underexposed. I do activities during Black History month to help open their understanding and appreciate another race, but this class has challenged me to think about other cultures and help the students to understand more ethnicities. Good question!
ReplyDeleteMy classroom is the opposite! I didn't have a single white student in my class. Exposing my kiddos to a different race or ethnicity often meant sharing from my own personal life. There were things that we talked about that they couldn't get their heads around. Around the holidays, we talked about the different ethnic celebrations. I had several Mexican students in my class, and they offered up differing opinions too. I think it is really easy for my students to assume I don't understand because I'm not the same race as they are. This is true; I'm not. But I try to ask them questions, engage them in discussions so that they know I see them as more than just their race.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the contributory factors in dealing with race and ethnicity is the defacto segregated society we live in. Though there are no laws saying who can live where, we as a people and motivated by our own biases chose to live, for the most part in neighborhoods comprised of people that look like us. Employment decisions are made in pretty much the same fashion, otherwise you'd see the representative ethnic demographic in administrations and in the classrooms. It's hard to teach what we don't live. It's hard to teach in absence of authenticity. This is not an indictment on anyone but rather an attempt to explain why tackling race and ethnicity are tough areas to tackle. It takes us out of our comfort zone.
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