Thing #23

As with many of the Things, I was overwhelmed by the wealth of information on the Ning and Classroom 2.0 websites. It didn't take me long, though, to find the "Search" bar and narrow my topics.

The first thing I thought of when reading Thing 23 was, "I wonder if there's a group out there that discusses ideas on and about teaching students of another ethnicity [than the teacher's]?" I searched, but didn't really find anything. I'll admit I may not have entered the right phrase (and couldn't find an advanced search option), and that the results were so numerous I couldn't look through all of them. But it seems to me someone has to have something out there about this topic. Given that the vast majority of teachers are white, and a large portion of our students are not, there needs to be some discussion/training on this topic. I believe that the lack of knowledge (and/or appreciation) of other ethnic groups is what causes a great deal of discipline problems in classrooms today.

In my search of "classroom management", I came across this link, in which the Dean of a Bronx middle school is asking for suggestions for several of her teachers that are having difficulties with their classroom discipline. My first thought was, "What ethnicity is she, and what ethnicities are they?" I realize this may sound a bit controversial, but we all tend to view things from our own upbringing and experiences, which, across ethnic groups, are vastly different. If a teacher has no idea "where his/her students are coming from", they have no idea or tools with which to relate to them. This, in turn, increases the "distance" between them and creates an environment in which the students mentally "check out" and no longer care whether or not they learn or get in trouble.

I will now get off of my soapbox and say this: Maybe I'll start a discussion on Classroom 2.0 that deals with this very topic.