How do we talk about issues that matter
Talking about issues and topics that aren't school related is so important for all students. Recently, in my classes, we have been talking about being inclusive and about real-life issues in the classroom and their effects on the students. One of the most important ones being that representation still matters even in school. Last year in my class we were asked to draw what scientists looked like. Even though there we were in a classroom full of females everyone drew males for their scientist. This just goes to prove that showing your students male scientists over and over does have an effect.
Now we can talk about why we should talk about important topics in classrooms, but how should we talk about them? One way I see suggested a lot is to have an inclusive classroom library. The way to make an inclusive library is to have variations in authors, characters, and family life. When you do your Christmas readings in the classroom add in the religious traditions happening around the same time. Another way is to get to know your students' background and incorporate it into the classroom. One way to incorporate the background is to add it into math problems somehow. If you have lots of students who celebrate day of the dead instead of Halloween do a Dead of the dead math problem instead of Halloween. Having all this inclusive material will make it so much easier to talk to your students about topics like someone in class having two moms, someone being a different race, etc.
Hey Sadie, I really enjoyed reading your blog. As I was reading, I noticed you talking about a class where the professor asked the class to draw what scientists looked like. I am currently in that class, and we recently had to do the same thing. As one of the only males in the class I also noticed almost everyone in the class drew a similar male scientist. Now onto your next paragraph and point I do agree with what you said about talking about important topics in the classroom. I also like your idea of the inclusive library and at first thought about how there are kids from all sorts of backgrounds and that it is important for them to be able to inform and feel a part of their own traditions. Now after reading your blog, I think that it is important to make relationships with the students first so that they feel comfortable to share their differences with their peers.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of an inclusive library but do you ever feel maybe some things go too far? For example, I work in a school and everything gets decorated for Christmas every year, but nothing is ever said about Hanukah or Kwanza. I think having an open inclusivity like the examples you suggested with Halloween and Dia de los Muertos both being given an option, but would that also include All Saints' Day or Ghost Festival, which is a "Chinese Halloween"? After all these are different holidays overall than the previous two listed. Why would we promote Easter in the school, but not Passover? Sometimes I really feel that "inclusive" is used very lightly to appease the majority.
ReplyDeleteHello Sadie! I really enjoyed reading your post! I also really loved the idea of an inclusive library in our classrooms. In my own experience, just letting students of different backgrounds sit and talk to each other can do wonders, and even teaches them more about something than we would be able too. I work with 4-7 year olds in an after-school program, and the other day one of my students was trying to tell his friends that he left something at his moms house. This student has two moms, and calls them "mom" and "mommy" respectively. Some of the other students didn't know this, and were trying to clarify by asking him "do you mean your step mom?" Seeing my students so genuinely interested in understanding their friend really touched me, as well as watching my 4 year old try and explain to his friends what he meant.
ReplyDeleteHello Sadie! I enjoyed reading your blog post. I think the one thing that really stood out to me was the activity where the students were asked to draw a scientist and everyone drew a male scientist. I am in a course for social studies in elementary and middle school education. During the first week of school, my professor asked us to list influential people in history and the vast majority listed a white male. To have inclusivity in our schools at a young age is so incredibly important. It isn’t our fault that we think of a man first because that was the way we were brought up and the way it is ingrained. But if we want a better life for future generations we have to include different aspects in our learning. To have an inclusive library is such a fun idea. There are so many new books with representation and by exposing kids to the books they will be educated on the issues that matter.
ReplyDeleteHi Sadie! You did a great job discussing important ways to make every student feel welcome in a classroom. It’s important for teachers to make students feel comfortable and for them to know about different holidays, cultures, etc. through teaching. Even though it can be hard having difficult conversations about respecting everyone’s beliefs and opinions, it has to be done. I am currently taking a class where the professor asks us to draw a scientist. As you said, my class almost all drew the exact same thing, a male scientist. We all had that same stereotypical drawing, not realizing it until we showed it to each other. Looking back on our last module where we read a book and discussed it, it really showed how different everyone is. We don’t all have the same opinions on things, but we all showed respect in our discussion posts when talking about our books.
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ReplyDeleteHi Sadie! I have also seen the example relating to scientists that you mentioned at the beginning of your post. It is so interesting, and scary, to think of how things in our childhood have effected us throughout life and how what we teach students can have a direct impact on how they see themselves and others in the future. I agree with you that having a wide variety of people in all representations in your classroom can make a huge difference. I love the idea of an inclusive classroom library. I think you could mesh this idea with your second suggestion of getting to know your students backgrounds by asking students families to bring in books important to their culture/ their child's life. This way the child would have a piece of home with the, feel represented in the classroom, and give their peers an opportunity to learn more about their classmates culture.
Hi Emily! I am so glad you also knew about the scientist situation I explained. I agree it is really interesting to see how things in our early life affected us in the long run. I love your idea of meshing the ideas together. I really hope to have a piece of home in my classroom. I really enjoyed your response.
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ReplyDeleteHi Sadie! I really like that you mentioned different ways to make students comfortable and welcome in the classroom. I think that it is important to include things that students believe/are interested in when creating content for each lesson because it allows them to feel more included in the class but also in the course they are learning. I can imagine it being difficult for students to do tasks that talk about things they have not experienced/do not believe in (such as Christmas) because they could feel left out or not welcomed in the class. I also really like how you mentioned the scientist example because it is a different example of marginalization than what has been commonly discussed in others blogs. Although it is important to bring up how races, other than white, are marginalized in school, i really think it is important to bring up how gender can be an aspect of marginalized students as well.