Entry 2

My plan was to blog about a new program I am initiating tomorrow (Saturday) called "Milk and Muffins."  However, I had an interesting learning/teaching opportunity today that I want to share this week instead--more on "Milk and Muffins" at a later date...

Today I was observing one of my student interns. Her placement is in a Kindergarten classroom in a suburban school. The population is predominantly White and it is a mid-high socio-economic neighborhood, with some students being bused from neighborhoods outside of this community.

The only African American child in this Kindergarten class is working on his self-control, his behaviors are within a developmentally-appropriate range, but look different than the other children in the classroom.  Throughout the 2 hours I was in the classroom, this child was consistently called out by my intern for his "misbehavior."  Although she did not use language which would be considered inappropriate, I was feeling uncomfortable by the interactions I was observing.

Afterwards, I met with the intern and shared other strategies for supporting a child's development of self-control, reminding her of what she has learned in her courses and helping her to come up with a plan to work with this child.  Then, I shared with her the responsibility she has to ensure that the other children in the class do not view this child as "bad." I then wondered (aloud) whether she thought there might be more of a responsibility with this child for any reason. At first she thought that perhaps, since he had a bit of a chaotic home life that she needed to be more patient with him--true, but not where I wanted her to stop her thinking.  As we continued to talk, my intern realized that this student, because he looks different than the other students, was then placed in a situation that he not only looked different, but he acted different, and the teacher was frustrated with him.  Kindergarteners care most about their teachers approval, and it was possible that the students interpreted (not incorrectly), that the teacher was frustrated with this student.

I also pointed out that her reactions to him would become the other students' reality about African American boys. Although I was able to transfer some of my knowledge to my intern, it was a good opportunity to wonder when the intern had ever been given the opportunity in her professional preparation to explore her own realities and perceptions.

A good opportunity for met to reflect on my content teaching with my pre-service teachers and to focus on a more explicit approach to teaching with race and culture in mind.