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 this situation, if the comment was not loaded with sarcasm, then I would address the students with probing questions on why? I would then build my lessons to focus on other ethnicities in order to avoid any racial tension from the group of students. For example, the teacher could explore Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, etc. Perhaps the teacher could assign a project where a student picks a famous person of a different ethnicity in order to highlight their qualities and successes. This would help students see that all ethnicities have successful humans within their races.