Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Lost Atmosphere When I engaged my 10th graders in discussions about racism and discrimination in society, I was really happy to see the heated debates. Although I did not like the fact that Black students were defending the "Black side" of the issues and the White students were defending the "White side" of the issues, I thought exchanging ideas and perspectives was a move in the right direction. My purpose was to promote a critical view on social issues in my students. What I did not expect was that days and weeks following this lesson, my Black and White students refused to work together. I could not have them cooperate in group assignments. If I let the students choose their own groups, Black students chose Blacks and White students chose Whites. Working together had never been an issue among my students prior to the lesson on racism and discrimination. I do not know how to bring back what was lost because of this lesson. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) What I would do, is to have the same assignment but in reverse. You mentioned that the black students defended the black side of things and the white students defended the white sides, but if they were both forced to defend the other, then they could see that there is more than one side to every story. Tell the students to have the same debates but you have to defend the other side.                 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 really like this idea of the reverse it is clever and would be successful. I also think it would allow students to think outside their comfort zones. Rated On: October 17, 2016 2:48 am Rated By: Raven B