- Race has no barring on student achievement and should not be discussed in the context of what a student is capable of doing “Knowing the race of a specific child offers no information whatsoever about that child’s current or potential achievement”
- “There’s no shortcut to getting to know the student as an individual. The teacher must interact with the child and his or her family to gain the information needed to tailor the provision of learning opportunities for the student”
- " In those quintessential moments of teaching and learning, race means nothing. In contrast, biography, culture, and relations of power may mean everything."
- Race may be considered in the context to student experiences (how they have been treated by others based on race). Students may have negative self-perceptions about their ability to succeed as a result of those experiences that need to be addressed by the teacher.
Devika, JWallace, MP, Rohini
Chapter 40 – Interrogating Students’ Silences
ReplyDeleteWe discussed a lot about the power of silences, and how to find ways to ‘break’ the silences to better understand our students:
- there was acknowledge that recognising silences could have multiple meanings that teachers may not be aware of
- wanted to understand/learn how to ask the right questions to discover actually question the silences? (E.g. direct, through journaling, etc.?)
- look at participation structures within the classroom – how to ensure that students do have opportunities to participate in whatever manner they feel comfortable
- didn’t know/recognise (until this chapter, discussion) silences could be racially motivated
- looking a various levels of questionings to learn more behind the silences, to help to students ‘break out’ of the silences
- need to really stop entering the classroom with preconceived notions, e.g. try to avoid the assumptions based on body language, that rapid discussions go over the ‘heads’ of students
- need to privately discuss silences with students that are routinely silent
Enza, DT, LM
Creating safe spaces for students of colour
ReplyDeleteRuthie and I discussed situations that arose in our classrooms/teaching experience where interactions with students may have been interpreted racially even when not intended.
- we both acknowledged that students can create multiple meanings of comments and behaviours in classrooms based on their individual realities. As teachers, we must be careful about the sensitivities of our students.
- we also had a number of questions regarding the case study/chapter (a teacher calls out a student for disruption and causes the student to interpret the call-out as racially fuelled). Do we notice the disruptions of students of colour more than white students? How may these perceptions change depending on student make-up in classes (ie. Who stands out? and for what reasons?)
Ruthie, Praboda