What will I bring to our presentation? This is what I've been thinking about regarding our skits/presentation about race/ethnicity in the classroom:
I've had some more time to reflect on race/ethnicity/difference in the classroom. I was first thinking about how to best approach multi-culturalism in the classroom from the perspective of the teacher. One example I had was when teaching Romeo and Juliet to a group of ninth graders, I made some comment about how there were many things we could no longer relate to from that period in time. I said something like "really--who here has grown up with servants and nannies?", and one of my Haitian students, who rarely spoke without prompting, raised his hand and said "I did." And he proceeded to share how his family had been quite well off in Haiti before the earthquake and they lived in a big house with a whole staff of servants. Abiola further clarified for me that because wages are so low, it was very common for even families of modest means to have servants and nannies. So-- I learned that day that I can't make assumptions about other people's backgrounds--even though the place I live and work are working class areas, it doesn't mean that everyone has the same experience.
But-- I also don't feel like I should beat myself up for not knowing that. I can't know every detail of every culture BUT I am happy to learn from anyone willing to share their culture. I think the key is that I can say, as the teacher, thank you for sharing that--I learned something today--I see that you have great things to share with us and I hope you will share again. I think that is ok. Just mutual respect.
This led me to think about an experience that I had as a student in kindergarten--something I didn't share with anyone until this past year. When I was five, we were having a conversation in my kindergarten class about New York, and I raised my hand to say something (I always had something to say...) about my grandmother who lived in Brooklyn. My family is Ukrainian and we call our grandmothers Baba so I started my sentence by saying "My Baba..." and my teacher immediately interrupted me to say "What kind of baby talk is that?! 'My Baba..??'" and then she continued to berate me by saying "you are supposed to be so smart--you can read--and yet you use a word like Baba!" so I never finished that sentence. On reflection as an adult, I think she thought I using baby talk for a bottle or blanket or something? I don't know... but the point is she never found out what I was trying to say and I felt completely humiliated. I never told my parents or anyone until this past year when my four younger kids were telling me how kindergarten was just fun and games (they never went to kindergarten...) and I told them, no, it was in kindergarten that I learned to not share anything about my family, culture, language or religion because it was not ok to be different from everyone else. I know I was the only Eastern European person in my school, so even without knowing anything about my culture, she needed to listen to me finish my sentence so she would have figured out who I was speaking about. It was just a general lack of respect for me as a person and anything that was different... (Sorry for that cathartic rant... really I felt so much better when I told my kids about it and they said they totally understood how I felt because maybe to most people it doesn't sound like a big deal but at least they could relate...)
In general, I think that we need to continue to promote understanding of each other as much as we can...really listening to what other people have to say even if that hasn't been our experience. At my last job (FedEx in Newark), my black and Hispanic male co-workers finally convinced me that the reason they got tickets when I didn't was because I am white, not because I'm cute. Conversations at that job were eye-opening to me because I didn't have to deal with racism on a daily basis as they did. However, those conversations (like our skits) have to be for the purpose of both sides trying to hear the other, assuming good intent on both sides, which sometimes seems impossible .
Another thing that is impossible in the current climate: altering the standards that I have been hired to teach. The days when teachers could close the door and do our own thing are over. My lesson plans are posted on-line for all administrators to view and they can walk in at any time to see that I am focusing on the Common Core State Standards. I know that teachers take the blame for many educational problems, including the imposition of a particular discourse in writing and speaking. But the common core standard for language states that students must "demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking." (CCCS 11-12.LS.1) There are many things I don't agree with in public education--the focus on "control" and the lack of individualized education and the focus on one-size-fits-all standards and tests--and that is why I homeschooled my kids for 10 years. But homeschooling doesn't pay very well and I believe the only way I can make a difference for my students is to work within the system and keep my job.
Finally, what is the way our presentation can be more connected? I think we would like to have a panel of teachers, administrators and students share things that work in multi-cultural classrooms. That could definitely include video chatting during the presentation so that we could include a larger range of experiences. Or we could tweet out questions during our presentation. It would definitely enrich our presentation to get as many perspectives as possible. Looking forward to working with the group on this.
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