Identity in the Classroom

Through their respective articles, both Garcia (2002) and Bang (2002) share their thoughts on how their cultural and racial identities have impacted their teaching practices, including how to address these issues in the classroom. MyHyun Bang explains how sharing her own identity struggles in the classroom can ease the journey for students who are experiencing similar problems. Her thoughts on staying rooted in one’s native identity while simultaneously having to manage perceptions from others that was really interesting because it highlights the identity paradox that many must face. Garcia discusses how teachers can address issues of diversity in the classroom and how we should avoid making assumptions about our students. The classroom is an excellent platform for teachers to plant the seeds of social change and to foster positive attitudes towards individual characteristics, instead of perpetuating stereotypes. This reminded me of Gutek’s (2004) work on a similar subject, which I read in my Philosophical Foundations class. Gutek discusses the critical theory of education, which is concerned with who has the power in education and how it is used. This theory says the goal of education is to empower groups who have no power so that they can have control of their own future instead of staying subordinate. Education should be used to promote equality and to raise awareness of the groups who have always been cast aside. Garcia touches upon the idea of empowering students when she mentions how the “blind application of prejudices can continue to encourage the empowerment of certain students over others” (p.28). It’s important to view our students as individuals and not as part of a larger stereotype because this can make them feel less valued than others. Teachers have to think about their teaching practices and critically reflect on whether or not they are guilty of having categorized or stereotyped their students.

With regards to my own life, I definitely know I’ve made assumptions about others and I know people have made assumptions about me. I also think it’s quite utopic to think that everybody could one day live together without judging others subconsciously or even consciously. However, I do recognize that teaching is one of the professions in which we have to be very careful about doing this because it can affect our students in an unfair and extremely negative way. The assumptions that people make about me frustrate me very much, and so I can only start to imagine how people who belong to underrepresented and discriminated groups must feel when this happens to them on a daily basis.

While I don’t think I’ve fully learned how to address multiculturalism in the classroom, seeing as how I haven’t had enough experience, I’m starting to understand how to do so. Reading literature that explores this topic as well as reflecting critically upon what I read is helping me to develop the first professional competency. This competency asks teachers to transform the class into an open, safe, and cultural space to discuss different perspectives. It also requires us to look at our own cultural practices and the role we play in the class. With regards to the Professional Competency 1, I’m learning more and more how to stay aware of culture in the classroom, and how to make links between the students’ culture and the content I teach, which will deepen the learning experiences. Competency 12 is also at play here because being culturally responsible and ethical are both essential to the topic Garcia and Bang discuss. I think this is one of the most important competencies because teachers must model ethical behaviours for their students, but they also have to maintain a professional reputation, which means treating all students fairly.

The most important idea I can take from these readings is to be aware of how multiculturalism is represented in my classroom and how I convey positive attitudes of diversity to my students. It’s really easy to make assumptions but the fair thing to do is to be judgment free. I’ve been reflecting a lot about how I would go about discussing multiculturalism with my students, and I know it’s going to be quite a challenge. I think it’s really important to address diversity consistently instead of having “Multicultural Week” which highlights the issue for a short period, telling students that it isn’t worth more time. The articles reinforce the need to have culturally diverse literature in the classroom in order to ensure that all students feel represented and included without feeling singled out, which should be a priority for all teachers.

Garcia, K. (2002). Swimming against the mainstream: Examining cultural assumptions in the classroom. In L. Darling-Hammond, J. French & S. Paloma Garcia-Lopez (Eds.),Learning to teach social justice (pp. 22-29). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

MyHyun Bang, G. (2002). Watching words and multiple identities. In L. Darling-Hammond, J.French & S. Paloma Garcia-Lopez (Eds.), Learning to teach for social justice (pp. 71-78). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

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