Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: I Wish I Were Black! As a teacher of 5th grade students, I try to make sure that my students have a good sense of all the people and cultures that make up this country. Last couple weeks, I paid special attention to the African American people who have made significant contributions to the US. We read a book written by Walter Dean Myers. We have studied scientists, writers, and political figures. Students were very engaged and interested in the content. Yesterday something happened that puzzled me. Three of my White students told me that they wished they were Black. This was not my intention when I planned all my lessons on contributions of African Americans. How should I address this issue? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) In our classrooms, we must be careful to give the same amount of attention to all the ethnics that we teach. Doing this can be difficult since we tend to use one week or month on one ethnic group, and during this time, our students may lose their attention on what they have learned about other ethnic groups. We must pay close attention to emphasize the accomplishments of all ethnic groups that we teach our students evenly, so as one group does not seem better than the others. By doing this, we will teach our students to be proud of their own heritage and learn to value other ethnic groups as well.