Race Barrier
As an instructor, how do I get my students to get beyond the race barrier?
Let time bring them togather. Plain more group projects
Hi Nathan,
That is all you can be. You are being honest and genuine in your desire to help make all students successful. In some cases you simply can break through the barriers that students put up. These barriers often times are the result of a life time of problems and basic survival. Having such a student for a few hours a week for one quarter of their lives doesn't give you enough time to bring those barriers down. You work as hard as you can with all students and feel good that you have given them your best professional effort.
Gary
Great topic! I haven't had many students that I've had trouble with but historically the ones that I did have trouble reaching were always older, female, and black. It would seem that in these few cases that there was a barrier that I simply couldn't break through, this is horribly unfortunate because I want all of my students to be successful and without the personal attention offered to my students I feel like the information isn't fully absorbed. If anyone has some advice for breaking through predispositions I'm all ears. What more can I be then genuine?
Hi Heather,
Good strategies. Thanks for sharing them with us. I know they are going to be helpful to other instructors facing the same situation.
Gary
As an instructor I have also come across situations where this has been a problem. I've started breaking my classes up into learning groups which encourages them to work with students who are typically not in their "clique". I've done this with all of my classes and have found that this definitely helps promote friendships within the cohorts. They tend to love the educational games and a little healthy competition helps build team skills!
I grew up in a place where a great deal of racial tension existed. I don't know how you can get people to see something that they don't want to see. However, looking back on it there was an experience that helped me get beyond the traditional stereotypes I heard when around certain people. The experience I had was the time I made friends with a classmate from another race, and began to learn about him. Once he was humanized, I learned that stereotypes did not describe my friend and could not be trusted to describe his race.
Hi Regina,
Thank you for sharing your experience of being able to convince your students that you had the knowledge, experience and ability to teach them what they needed to know.
Keep up the good work.
Gary
Hi Regina,
Thank you for sharing your experience of being able to convince your students that you had the knowledge, experience and ability to teach them what they needed to know.
Keep up the good work.
Gary
I am a caucasian cosmetology instructor with 90% of the classes black. My response from the students is what is this white lady going to teach me about hair. After talking to some of the other instructors that teach other subject matter, they tell me that they get the same feedback from their students. It took between 4 to 6 weeks to convince them that I capable of teaching them about doing hair of all races.
is this in regards to each other as students or for the barrier between students and instructor. we are down south, (should not make a difference), but this should be mentioned. our school is about 50/50 caucasian other ethnic backing. Honestly this should not be an issue any more(2011), it is unfair to place students in groups against their wishes, i allow students to pick seats and sit where and with whomever they please. As the instructor it is your responsibility to maintain the peace and keep it a positive learning environment. I personally feel there are more difficulties with age then with race. You have to be up to date on all the other factors that go with the ethnic backing and try to be sensitive to them. I am terribly sorry this is an issue at your institution.
Hi Regina,
Not an easy answer here. In situations like this I create learning groups where students need to work together to accomplish certain tasks which lead to passing the course. By working together they start to develop respect for each other and the contributions that each group member makes. They start to see the other groups members as contributors rather that being different. In all cases this is a slow process.
Gary
