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  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!)
I think that it is appropriate for Gina to read poems of this nature whether it is mostly black or not. As teachers we have to follow state objectives and standards and this type of poetry may be part of the curriculum. We have to teach kids to be aware of different genres and sometimes students may take offense, but it is not meant to be taught or read for that purpose. It is important that teachers make students aware that things were written to portray how things were many years ago and that it is a part of history.