Values, values, values.
That is what my students are learning about right now. They are learning how to
understand the values of other people, the value of others, the value of
education and the education of others. Their whole unit is on values and how to
value other people. Their unit uses the history of Native Americans and their
culture to teach values to our students. Going into this unit, my CT and I both
knew that this could be a tricky unit to teach. We knew we had to teach
carefully on how we taught these lessons, because we did not want to offend
anyone.
On the first day of our unit, my CT and I decided to
have the students to an “Agree, Disagree, Unsure” activity with our students. The
premise was very similar to a value line, except we used areas in the room
instead of a straight line (constraints in the classroom made an actual value
line almost impossible). Some of the questions were meant to challenge the minds
of our students and get them to really think about how they would answer the
question. We posed questions like “Should students be made to recite the “Pledge
of Allegiance” in school?” or “Should parents monitor the activity of their
children on the internet?” As we began
asking our students questions, some of our students were trying to answer the
questions the way that they wanted to answer them. Unfortunately, the longer
the activity went, the more the students actually started siding with their
friends instead of answering for themselves. The students were then asked to
look over a list of items that they could value: family, friends, money,
sports, etc. They were to pick the top ten items off of the list, and put a
heart next to one of the items that they believed to be the item that they
valued most. We decided that we were not actually going to grade this
assignment, but just note if the student completed it or not.
The next day in class, the students were asked to
read a short story and compare and contrast the values of the protagonist and
antagonist. My CT and I decided to model a few of the values from our
protagonist so the students knew what we were looking for. We aimed for an “I
do, We do, You do” approach, and that really seemed to get the students ideas’
going. They really seemed to understand how to find in the text what we were
asking for.
The
hardest part of what we are teaching to the students is trying to get them to
understand other’s values without actually teaching them values. How are we as
teachers to teach something in our classroom that parents and guardians could
say should be taught at home? How do we, as teachers, guide our students into
learning the value of other’s culture and the value of other people without
crossing a line to offend others? As a future teacher, I want to be able to
teach my students about other cultures by using literature from that specific
culture. I also want to be able to be aware of values of culture of my students
to be able to incorporate those into the classroom as well. I want to be able
to teach my students with a variety of texts, a variety of cultures, a variety
of genres, so that each and every one of my students could be exposed to
something new. If I have the opportunity, should I send home (maybe at
enrollment, or the first week of school) a survey to the students and their
parents on what topics and themes they would like to see in the classroom?
I really liked one point you made in particular from this post: "The hardest part of what we are teaching to the students is trying to get them to understand other’s values without actually teaching them values." This is a problem my cooperating teacher and I have had to deal with, especially in light of the current unit we are covering in class, which requires the students to write a "This I Believe" Essay. Essentially the purpose of the project is to get the students to reflect on various beliefs they have about life and what it means to be a human being, and then examine in greater detail one in particular. And while beliefs are not necessarily the same thing as values, my cooperating teacher and I have to be careful that the suggestions we make during group discussions and brainstorming exercises do not venture into the area of impressing upon our students our own personal ideologies. Something I have found in my experiences, however, is that just because you teach literature of a given culture, or cultures, that does not necessarily mean that the values of said culture(s) do not translate into other cultures as well. There are some values/beliefs (ex: murder is wrong) that are largely, if not universally, held. Perhaps, as future English Teachers, it would be more applicable, at least in the public school setting, if we focused primarily on said universal values instead of the culture-specific values? Might doing so minimize the possibility of parental disapproval? These are just my thoughts, and I would love to hear what you have to say concerning this issue.
ReplyDeleteMr. Regier, I thank you for your response. It was enlightening for me to think about. I do have to point out something that I neglected to mention (or state clearly). The unit that I am currently teaching my students is not just about values, but the value of education as well. The main educational belief/distinction is the way that the English impressed their educational beliefs upon the Native Americans in the late 1700s to even as the latest in the mid 1980s. It would be easy to just skim over the top of the parts of values that were not easy to teach. With the way that the instructional sequencing guide is set up, we are supposed to follow the districts lessons. Thank you again. It does give me other ways to look what different ways of teaching these lessons to students.
Delete“How do we, as teachers, guide our students into learning the value of other’s culture and the value of other people without crossing a line to offend others?”
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting that you posed this question in your post this week. In fact, my wife and I were discussing this same topic at dinner tonight. Our discussion centered on the differences between what we remember as children and what we observe and try to teach our students now. In regard to the English classroom I believe that we must teach without prejudice towards one culture or another. Additionally, I don’t find it to be our job to teach a particular text from the point of view of one culture or another. For example, my CT is teaching Camus’s The Stranger and one could form negative viewpoints about Arabs based on the first half of the book. Furthermore, one could just as easily form negative opinions about Meursault as well as other characters in the book. However, instead of teaching the text this way my CT has rightly opted, in my opinion, to teach it from 2 different but equally important ways. First, he teaches it from the absurdist point of view, as Camus intended it to be read, and secondly he teaches it from a place of positive or negative morality. That being said, he doesn’t focus on the characters culture at all. The students don’t bring it up and if they did I am absolutely sure he would not entertain their ideas.
When teaching a unit concerned with valuing others culture I would not introduce or allow anything intolerant or negative to come into the classroom. I would teach the text in such a way that only magnifies how the cultures could coexist together. That isn’t to say that there won’t be differences brought to light but I would counter the texts differences with the differences of the classroom students and teach coexistence without regard for intolerance.
With an eye towards the survey that you might give at the beginning of the year; I think that doing so might open you up for unnecessary criticism from parents, but that is just my opinion.
Mr. Martin,
DeleteThank you for your response to my questions. You stated that you would not introduce or allow anything intolerant or negative. I like the idea of the way that would make the teaching process, however I believe that I did not clarify my unit as well as I wished I should have. My unit compares the English beliefs of education and the Native American beliefs of education from the late 1700s to the mid 1980s. One of the main focuses is to teach the students about the two cultures and how their views of "education" differ.
I find that you teach what you think to be right. Having a person that is above you (principal) know what you intend to do is helpful. That way you have covered yourself. Also why not ask parents ideas on this? Knowing what they value will help you get their support and you would be less likely to offend. Are you getting into touchy literature during your unit? Have you also considered sending home letters about what involved? I like the idea of themes important to them. The parent will feel involved and less likely to get offended by something your doing. My CT last year sent notes home to parents often if she were stepping into territory that may come across as offensive. I remember when we were in school people were not so easy offended or tender to things. It interesting because I believe the children coming up today have less problems with issues related to racism and other things related to culture. They embrace the idea of learning about others, there just needs to be an interesting book or activity involved.
ReplyDeleteI like with "Diary of Ann Frank" having students write an additional page in her journal. It's creative but they also understand more about the Jewish people and what they went through.
ReplyDelete