A white teacher taking on white privilege

[Deleted]

She sounds incredible.

Themes are universal, and I when I was teaching I always tried to find contemporary literature from diverse authors to use alongside the "dead white guys."

One of my best lessons when I taught high school ESL was playing the national anthems of the countries my students came from, and then analyzing their lyrics to look at what each country valued. I'll never forget how excited they were to hear these songs again and tell stories about where these songs were played back home. Their excitement was palpable and they eagerly analyzed this "poetry," whereas Robert Frost (who I dearly love) would have put them to sleep.

On a somewhat related note, lessons like these also really helped with classroom management! When they were engaged and could that see that I respect them, they didn't act up.

[compassrose]

She sounds like an amazing teacher!

[RoxMonster]

Awesome!

I teach in a very non-diverse school district. And, unfortunately, many of my students (HS) just believe what their parents believe and many have said racist, bigoted things (always addressed by me). But for our article of the week this week, we discussed a piece about "microaggression," racial snubs and slights and why they are offensive. We discussed xenophobia (many were unfamiliar with the term), etc. I *think* it got through to some of them and made a difference. I hope. I feel like I am trying the best I can to make my students socially aware and responsible citizens. It is difficult, but necessary.

[Pom]

How inspiring and wonderful for her students. I hope it can be contagious.

[WOT?*]

I saw this come down the feed a few times, read it, said "what an awesome teacher" and then went on. I just shared it thanks to this post. A friend who teaches in a very diverse (I think something like 52 languages are spoken at the school), low-income high school (teaches the life skills and teens-at-risk programs) just commented that her student teacher had that moment not long ago.

I've met her student teacher on several occasions. She's darling and enthusiastic and loves working with the students. And young and sheltered. She was discussing how many sheets people needed for their beds and one of the students responded that she wouldn't understand as a white person. This is a classroom of teenage parents who do not have stable home lives.  I know the goal is to get them to see beyond the borders where they're growing up, but they're worried about food and a roof over their heads, and providing for their families (and in several cases their babies.)

Breaks my heart. I'd like to see those days go away. But I'm very sure her student teacher learned a big lesson from her students.

[thejackpot]

She sounds great but really you planned to teach in an urban area and it didn't occur to you to spice it up?! English is one of the easier subjects to inert some color into the curriculum. I find it disheartening that she wasn't exposed to this concept during her teacher training. I am an English teacher and we were pretty much mandated to include a wide gamut of writers and experiences.