After looking through the sea of
information provided on the Teaching Tolerance website, I came upon an edition
of their Teaching Tolerance magazine, focused on civil rights. I began to
reflect on my methods for teaching tolerance in the classroom. How have I
encouraged my students to see past the stereotypes that society has ingrained
in them? How have I created an environment where students feel comfortable
talking about how discrimination not only existed in the past, but how it
applies to their lives?
I immediately thought of my most
recent activity I did with my students. In the previous classes we had defined
microaggressions and looked at how they existed in the book, Black Like Me. As we learned,
microaggressions are statements that may not have been intended to be
offensive, but indeed are discriminatory based on race, religion, gender,
sexual orientation, hair color, disability, etc. We read an article,
“Microaggressions in Everyday Life,” to further extend their learning and
understanding of the topic, but I wanted to take it to the next step. I wanted
to make it personal.
In the article “Not From Around
Here,” Carrie Kilman discusses what teachers can do to incorporate the
discussions of stereotypes in the classroom. Kilman suggests that teachers
must, “encourage students to examine their own biases every time they crop up.”
By doing this, Kilman suggests that students will become aware of how
discrimination impacts them and those around them on a daily basis.
After having my students look at
microaggressions in the book, I challenged them to look at how these
stereotypes have occurred in their lives. We looked at a photo campaign from
African American Harvard students. In the photos, students wrote either
messages that have offended them or responses to insulting comments they have
heard. My students were asked to model their own photos after these. The result
was powerful. Students shared their stories and their own experiences of
discrimination. Multiple students shared with me that they spent hours on this
assignment because it sparked a conversation with family members.
As I began this unit, I was
concerned that students would not be accepting of the ideas and the content we
would be covering. Just as they have in many other cases, they surprised me.
Not only did they learn from this experience, but they also taught me so much
about their lives. What is important is extending this into their everyday
lives. How do we get students to take these personal experiences and grow and
learn from them? How do we inspire our students to continue to learn about
others and their perspectives?
Wow. That is powerful stuff. I love that you delved deeper into your lesson based on what you learned. I had never really thought about microaggressions in relation to literature units. I have always associated it with harassment policies and required job training videos. It would also fit into any lesson plans related to job skills or student habits that many teachers at North use at least once in the year. I love the photo assignment. That is an amazing activity to allow them to connect content with their own lives and their classmates' lives. Brilliant! I think I would create an activity like this with a short story and complete their photo assignments before a unit that requires group or class discussion or debate over sensitive topics. Most of my students have been great, accepting, and open during our novel Bless Me, Ultima but there were several inappropriate comments about "because they're Mexican." Perhaps this sort of activity would have helped them think before they spoke. You come up with the fantastic ideas!
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