As future teachers, we’ll encounter students from many different backgrounds. Most of the students we’ll encounter will have backgrounds that are far different than from our own. It is up to us to develop lesson plans and learning experiences that can help students from all sorts of different backgrounds maximize their learning potential.
One difference that I’ve encountered down at my Observation and Practicum in Beloit is students who come from low or working class families. This is rough on the students because their families cannot afford the basic needs for their education. Their parents might also be focused more on paying the rent, putting food on the table, and other more important things that what their child needs for school. One way that my cooperating teacher tries to counteract this issue is by buying basic school supplies (pencils, notebooks, etc.) for those students. He also ties in a behaviorist aspect to these supplies. By that I mean, he allows other students to grab some of these supplies only if they have remained on task or have not disturbed class.
The School District of Beloit also tries to counteract this issue by providing a free breakfast and lunch to all students. This way the students of parents who struggle to keep a good source of food on the table can get something to eat on a consistent basis. Students may decline to take breakfast at any time but the option is always there.
As a future history teacher, I hope to maintain open communication about racial differences in my classroom. Not only may there be barriers and tensions between different racial and ethnic groups but maintaining open communication provides a valuable learning experience when it comes to history. Throughout history there have been countless examples of tensions between people of different races and ethnicities; and that is just in the United States alone. I could try a similar activity to Jane Elliott’s discrimination activity (Weber, 2017), although that could have some unwanted backlash.
Not only could the racial differences in my classroom be a beneficial learning opportunity when it comes to history but it could help the students better understand what their fellow students experience on a daily basis (Munniksma, Scheepers, Stark, Tolsma, 26). Open communication could help them empathize better with their fellow students and, who knows, they may find some common ground.
References:
- Munniksma, A., Scheepers, P., Stark, T. H., & Tolsma, J. (2017). The Impact of Adolescents’ Classroom and Neighborhood Ethnic Diversity on Same- and Cross-Ethnic Friendships Within Classrooms. Journal Of Research On Adolescence (Wiley-Blackwell), 27(1), 20-33.
- Nicole Weber Lecture, “Learner Diversity”, 3/28/2017.
It sounds like your cooperating teacher has some great ideas for combating the school supplies problem for families with a low socioeconomic status! I noticed another teacher who uses a similar strategy, except she requires that the students offer her “collateral” (shoes, cell phones, headphones, sweatshirts… pretty much anything) in exchange for the supplies to insure she gets them back. This helped students get the supplies they needed in class, but also prevented her from spending a lot of her own money on supplies.
Hey Brandon great post! I completely agree that most of the students we have will not come from the same background we have. I also did O & P in the same school you were at and experienced the same thing. I enjoyed the eye opening experience as much as you. This is something that we need to take into consideration when we become teachers and how other outside factors could impact students’ learning. Really enjoyed reading your blog!
-Graham Hevel