Question.503 - Chapter 8: You realize the teacher is treating you differently and Reading Reaction #8 The first page is a self-reflection, a response to a prompt or “chapter title” I provide in which you write one or more stories from your educational journey (that you are comfortable writing about). This week's chapter title is: "You realize the teacher is treating you differently". The overall topic for next class is: Bias...in attention, discipline, teacher-student relationships, the curriculum and grading. The second page is a reaction to the readings that week (which might include somethings to read or watch or listen to). The goal of these Reading Reactions is to help further your understanding and thoughts related to the ideas addressed in the readings. These should include quotes you found significant, questions the readings raised for you, lists of words perhaps that convey your reactions, responses or questions you might have for the authors and how the reading connects to the topic for the week as well as the guiding questions for the semester.
Answer Below:
Chapter 8 Assignment Student Name University Name EDUC 417 School and Society Professor Name Date You realize the teacher is treating you differently Well, inequality is everywhere, including in schools and classrooms. Sometimes few children feel that their parents treat them differently than their siblings or their cousins spend most of the time with him/her compared to the others. But if we see, it is not intentional and this applies to the teacher-student relationship. For instance, if a teacher finds a child smart, brave, or good at learning things quickly, the teacher gets influenced to give him/her some extra knowledge to make the child all perfect. Also, this same applies to when a teacher finds a student with less ability to learn things in the classroom. The teacher gives more attention to that student and teaches everything from scratch. These are two kinds of attention that a teacher gives and some teacher follows and some do not. When I was in fourth grade, I used to be very quiet. I neither answered any questions nor participated or interacted actively in other activities in the class. So, definitely, teachers understand that I am not good at studying. Some teachers were friendly and encouraged me to participate more in class. Others made me sit in separate places and gave me separate work or more homework, thinking that I could get better at studying. But I never did improve at that time because at that time, I really needed some emotional support from anyone, whether it could be from parents, friends, or teachers. Each teacher has their own way of teaching. I had a teacher who used to teach mathematics. He was professional, interactive with everyone equally, and used to treat everyone equally. But the whole class had a fear feeling when he used to come to class. Because he used to punish us if we did not answer his questions in the class, no matter whether it was a girl or boy or smart or weak at learning. On the other hand, he always encouraged the student to ask him any doubts and never got tired of explaining them multiple times. But as time passed, I worked on my emotional condition and tried to interact with my friends. One way that I found to attract friends towards me was to make them laugh more at my jokes or talk. I started reading books before I came to class so that I could answer the teachers questions or interact more with them. This gave me confidence at an extreme level and I saw how teachers loved me and they wanted me to learn more things. They even suggested some books for me to read. I was so happy that I made it because once upon a time, I thought I was an abnormal student compared to other students. This was all during the end time of grade school. I put effort into creating a connection with teachers and friends. I never made a best friend but I was close with everyone. Since I knew how a student who is weak at studying feels when he/she sees someone is getting treated better in the class. I always tried to talk to them and made them feel they were as capable as everyone else. Also, most of the teachers I had in my school days were really nice. I think they knew whats their ideal role as a teacher. They always tried to create a positive culture within the class by treating everyone equally. They used to give the same attention to a student who is weak at a subject as they focused on building a talented student in that class. When someone scored less in a test, they used to talk to them personally. That was a great experience to be around such great teachers and thanks to them for helping me from basic to build my career and personality. Madeline Will considers any discrimination or inequality shown by teachers as common as they are also human beings as others. On the other hand, Will (2020) writes, But as Americans work to confront racism in society, educators need to acknowledge that they play an ongoing role in perpetuating racial inequality in schools, experts say. I definitely agree here because mistake happens to everyone, which most of the time is not intentional, but the situation or beliefs make people choose that way. So, Madeline Will stresses the point that teachers should be more careful while teaching, interacting, and building a connection with students because how a student will grow up in the future all depends on that teaching. While Madeline Will talks about the issues at school, Nimah Gobir brings culture as a solution to this problem. She states, There are ways to have those conversations in a way that is engaged and productive in one of the institutions that need it most: schools (Gobir, 2021). Here, the conversation phrase is referring to talking about race as the central concept of inequality in public. Isnt the thought agreeable? She chooses school because all beliefs and ideas start set up from there as a core. In the article, For Some Black Students, Remote Learning has Offered a Chance to Thrive Miller talks about how the virtual classroom system brought advantages to a student who was black. She mentions that the new culture of the education system kept Josh (a black student) away from all the social awkwardness and made him to more focused on his studies (Miller, 2021). So, she thinks a virtual classroom is beneficial for such students. But does this remove discrimination from society? But even when parents or peers demotivate about the fact, it impacts on the self-esteem of students who are facing such inequality issues (Miller, 2021). Also, inequality is simply not about race but it is also about gender, region, financial background, etc. After seeing all these issues, I feel like educational institutions forget their real role in society. Instead of helping to escalate any societal issues, they are becoming the part to encourage such discrimination cases. Alber (2017) talks about gender bias in the classrooms and she tells a fact and that really surprised me - There is a change that starts around seventh grade: Female students are much quieter and less outspoken than they were in primary grades. The first question that swooped into my head when I read this statement was, Really? I never observed this! ?Also, it was more interesting when she talked about the reason behind it. Girls, after puberty, start getting influenced by social norms, It means they start becoming like how they think the society has defined them to be a girl. I feel this is definitely humiliating because growing as per the definition created by someone else will make the person lose herself behind reality. So, this shows stereotyping in the school environment. It also doesnt mean that only a girl can do this thing in class and a male student cannot. Treating both males and females equally shows no inequality or discrimination. Well, this assignment leaves me with some questions like - What are the ways to remove such discriminating culture from school? Should there be a special program? If yes, whether it should be for students or teachers or both? References Gobir, N. (2021). A Framework for Conversations About Race in Schools. KQED. Retrieved from, https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58551/a-framework-for-conversations-about-race-in-schoolsMiller, E. (2021). For Some Black Students, Remote Learning Has Offered A Chance To Thrive. NPR. Retrieved from, https://www.npr.org/2021/03/01/963282430/for-some-black-students-remote-learning-has-offered-a-chance-to-thriveAlber, R. (2017). Gender Equity in the Classroom. Edutopia. Retrieved from, https://www.edutopia.org/blog/gender-equity-classroom-rebecca-alberWill, M. (2020). Teachers Are as Racially Biased as Everybody Else, Study Shows. Education Week. Retrieved from, https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teachers-are-as-racially-biased-as-everybody-else-study-shows/2020/06More Articles From Education_Teaching
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