Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: White Intern in a Black inner-city school My sister, Gina, who is a young White girl, started her student teaching in a predominantly Black school in inner-city America. She initially approached her job with optimism and purpose. However, she began to experience her first doubts with the presentation of an emotionally charged poetry reading at an all-school assembly. The poem painted a picture of the oppression of the African Americans by the European American majority. My sister was moved by the poem and accepted the historical truth of its message. At the same, she said she wondered what educational effects of the poem were and whether it would affect her legitimacy as a White teacher in a Black school. She talked to me about her experience. I am an experienced teacher, but I could not answer whether poems like that have any educational value, and whether or not my sister should worry about her legitimacy as a White teacher. I don't what she should do in this specific situation. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) At the end of the day educators must decide individually as to his or her educational philosophy. My personal philosophy is that I am at the school to my students and meet each one at his or her point of need. In order to more fully understand the community and students body, this type of reading provides insight into the climate and community. Your sister cannot worry about her legitimacy; otherwise, she will be fighting a battle that is not hers to fight. In my opinion, it is her job to go in there every day and provide a safe, consistent environment where students are respected. I am a Caucasian female whose friends laugh and nod when I say, "I love my thugs!" I do. I really, really do. When kids of any color know that you are there for them and have their best interests at heart, you can talk about just about anything in their class. There is not any subject that is school appropriate that is off-limits, but that type of atmosphere is cultivated through the fire of consistency and respect especially when your buttons are pushed and respect is the last thing you want to give. I have found that knowing my kids is the most important thing I can do for their education and my self-respect. Sometimes it means going in early or staying late. Sometimes it means late nights at football games, soccer games, basketball games and various competitions. Kids know if you are there and they know if you care. You can't fake that stuff! Your sister may be the only white teacher these kids ever have that shift their paradigm of the European American majority. She can be a voice of change, but it's not a trumpet. The voice is a whisper that speaks to every individual student providing dignity and respect on his or her level. This voice is not a once a year occasion, but it is a daily whisper saying, "I see you. I like you. I will do whatever it takes to see you win, but I will not do it for you. Now, what can I do?" At the end of the day the poem, poems like the one you mentioned provide insight into the culture of the school; however, until one establishes his or her voice in the whisper of the classroom, he or she cannot blow the trumpet of protest at the first sign of trouble. Wait and see where that poem leads. Get a copy of the poem and bide your time until you've paid for the respect you already should have. When that time comes, you will know and you can re-visit that poem in order to bring about a healthy conversation about race that is so desperately needed in increasingly polarized nation.                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: I love this comment. This is so true. Rated On: March 19, 2015 9:38 pm Rated By: Selena Robbins                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: Good Rated On: October 3, 2017 6:11 pm Rated By: NuXepy