The way Milner begins his book is by describing "five interconnected areas that are critical in helping educators bridge and shed light on opportunity gaps" (pg 13) These five are listed and described under the following headings:
1. Color blindness
2. Cultural conflicts
3. Myth of meritocracy
4. Low expectations and deficit mind-sets
5. Context-neutral mind-sets
As he expands and explains each of these five areas, I was able to relate on some level to every one of the five areas. These sections included strong reminders of my role as a teacher, and the importance that lies in my personal understanding of my students, their cultures, and how best to motivate them.
But this week, I want to talk through with all of you about this idea of being color blind. In the past, I have worked with students with varying disabilities, blindness being one of them. These students must work to find alternate ways to complete daily tasks that I do naturally using my vision. With hard work and dedication, these students are able to overcome this great obstacle of blindness and achieve their goals. But if they had the decision of whether or not to put this obstacle in front of them, in many cases I would argue they would choose to avoid the obstacle if possible.
Now what does this mean in the context of Milner's writing? On page 16, he says "when teachers ignore the racial component of students' identity, they are in effect treating their students as incomplete beings, and student performance can suffer as a result." It is at this point that I take a step back and analyze the situation. As a teacher, why would I voluntarily choose to put the obstacle of blindness between me and my students? As with physical blindness, it is not impossible to survive and teach when viewing students with a color blind attitude. But it is important here to understand that this is a hindrance, one that does not need to be present.
I then look at this idea in my current teaching placement for the semester. I am placed in a predominantly Caucasian classroom with some diverse students included in each classroom. I have to admit that at the beginning of my time in this school, I fell prey to Milner's so called "color-blindness." One student in particular comes to mind. I thought to myself that I needed to take care to treat him in the same way as I treated every other student in the classroom. While this is true in some sense, it was not until I had a personal one on one conversation with this student until I realized how wrong my thinking was. My blindness to his cultural background was causing me, as Milner says, to see this student as an "incomplete being" (pg 16). This golden piece to the puzzle of himself was missing, and I was being the one to stop it from being added.
Color blindness will continue to be a concept that I need to remind myself about. Seemingly, it has become second nature for me to approach each diverse situation with the idea of equality in every aspect. When it comes to backgrounds and life stories, everyone has their own story. I need to work to not deprive my students of this part of their being. For it is my calling to train and teach the whole child, not just the part I can see at first glance.
I really like the fact that your author uses the phrase 'color-blindness'. How it's used is even more intriguing because it is not to be taken literally. I feel that the author of my book would completely agree with this idea. Through reading Howards, We can't teach what We don't know book, I have found that he recognizes that teachers have a hard time relating to students of different enthnic backgrounds than themselves. He tries to give us strategies to create a whole classroom. Whole meaning completely equal. Howards, like Milner, wants to diminish "color blindness" in the classroom. Not only between teachers and students but students to students as well. I feel that they would both agree on the following statement; We are all pink inside, so the outside shouldn't matter.
ReplyDeleteThe book I read was titled Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. The author of this book would agree with what was said in your book. In your book, it discusses the problems faced with those who are colorblind. In the book I’m reading it discusses the differences seen in African American students. For example, the students discussed in my book struggle in school, because the teacher’s do not understand the differences in cultures. People from different cultures read differently, ask questions differently, have a different form of dialect, and learn differently. When it discussed teaching African American students how to write, many Caucasian teachers focus on teaching fluency, but do not realize that the students are already fluent. The example they use is that many of the students in the classroom can write rap songs with fluency, but this is ignored. The African American teachers realize that the students are fluent, but need to be taught skills. The Caucasian teachers do not understand the fluency that African Americans have so in turn they stick to the same teaching style that has been constantly failing for the students. Although are books deal with two different types of people, I believe that teachers of both of types of students can learn from everyone. Every background and culture has something different that they can contribute to help the students that are being taught. With this in mind, I believe diversity makes the classroom stronger, and should not be ignored. When discussing strategies and styles of teaching, we can learn from everyone to help every student become successful in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe book I am reading is called "Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom" by Lisa Delpit. I agree with Jon's comment that Delpit would agree with what your book is saying concerning color blindess. Although Delpit does not actually refer to this term, she does talk about the importance of getting to know your students and seeing diversity as a positive thing in classrooms. Many teachers do not realize how important it is to know your students' cultures and background so that you can connect with them and also teach them more effectively because you know more how they think and most probably will react to situations. Teachers that think that being color blind is going to help their students because they will feel that they are being treated equally to every other student, will soon be surprised because their students will lose interest much quicker if nothing that they learn applies to their own lives, ethnicity, or culture. By getting to know students for who they are and acknowledging that they are different from everyone else, but special because of it, will encourage them to become more confidant in who they are and be proud of their culture. Trust me, I am from a different country, have a different culture than most Americans, and have been living in the United States for over three years, and still I feel proud and happy whenever I just hear a phrase with the words South Africa in it. Most students love to share about their culture, and when you treat them as if they are just like everyone else with nothing new to offer, then you are stealing a little of their joy each day that they are in your classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe author of the book I am reading, Lisa Delpit, would most likely agree with what your book describes as color blindness. Delpit explains how it is so important to get to know your students and to see them for who they really are. As teachers, we cannot make judgements toward students before we know and understand who they are as a person. Diversity in the classroom can be a positive thing if it is dealt with the right way. Teachers need to embrace the differences among students so that we can all learn from each other. We do not all have to be the same person. We need to be ourselves and promote individuality in students. In the book I am reading, the teachers struggle with accepting diversity, and they expect their students to all learn the same way, think the same way, and do the same things. This is not the case, however, and the teachers need to realize that each and every student is different. Every student has come from a different background, and this causes differences in learning styles. The teachers need to embrace the differences, and find a way to reach out to each student. When it comes to diversity in the classroom, teachers need to understand that every student is different, and that we can all learn a lot from each other.
ReplyDeleteSarah Pearce, author of You Wouldn't Understand: White Teachers in Multiethnic Classrooms, also talks about being colorblind. In the school she taught at, many students were from racially diverse backgrounds. When she first began teaching, she thought it was best just to ignore the fact that there were so many different races and ethnicities represented in her classroom. She believed she should treat everyone the same. She also made a point throughout the first few chapters that she believed it may be promoting racism if she talked about racial differences in her class. As she grew to understand, it is not being racist to acknowledge racial diversity and to talk about it. Those racially diverse backgrounds that students come from are to be celebrated, not ignored. If everyone in our classrooms were the same, that would be pretty boring. It is the differences like race that make our classrooms richer and fuller. I agree with Mel that teachers should embrace the differences in order to get to know the students better. We have learned several times throughout our teacher education that good teachers find ways to get to know their students. Getting to know our students ethnic background is just one of the first steps we as teachers should take in order to know our students better.
ReplyDeleteMy author of my book, Pedro Nuguera, would most definitely agree with your author. I like how your author uses the term colorblindness to define teachers who walk into a classroom saying that everyone is equal. I think that it is a societal issue that we focus more on tolerance then personal experience and knowledge. Noguera makes the claim that the reason why there is such a large achievement gap because educators are spending too much time ignoring that students are different, and that students may have struggles beyond academic ones. He also brings up that we shouldn`t isolate diverse students by having culture days or have them separate in groups on their own. Students should be integrated, and culture should be imbedded in the curriculum not be put on display in a isolated lesson.
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