Classroom Management Response - What do I have to say about last class?

                This past week in class we talked a lot about classroom management. We also had a classroom management panel of teachers talk to us about their philosophies on the topic. Anyone watching or participating in our class discussion would quickly learn that we are not a quiet bunch about our views. The questionable language that the teacher panel was using struck a heated, yet very interesting, discussion in the class. What do the teachers really mean by “these” students? Throughout the week I have been trying to figure out what I want to write about, but I think I want to comment on these stereotypes that the teachers were expressing and where new teacher’s opinions could be established.

               Like I had previously mentioned in class, I went into CF with only the biased opinions that my friends had told me about the school and the community, and all of their views had been negative. Is this what it is like for teachers coming into CF? They only have the biased opinions from coworkers they meet in the summer, research they have done which would include learning about what happened in 2010, or only general statistics about the community and comparing it to other cities. The teachers build these stereotypes in their heads before actually meeting the students in the school. I also think that the teachers extend their views that they establish one year onto the next year when the students are completely different. As the year changes and a teacher gets new students in their classes, the new students deserve a different view from the teacher than their previously established views of their previous students. 

               If the veteran teachers are telling the pre-service teachers (like my class!) that “these students” do this or do that, then they are already contributing to the construction of negative stereotypes. Luckily, my class recognized this and had the chance to discuss what the teachers were actually trying to tell us. One thing that I picked out of our classroom discussion after the teacher panel was “racism [exists] under the disguise of words”. I think that is highly accurate. The veteran teachers were contributing to this stereotyping by classifying the students as “these students” or by classifying the students in CF as all Hispanic or all sub-par students. I may be talking in a circle now, but from the teachers classifying the students they are adding to a negative stereotype about students. Teachers shouldn't be stereotyping students like this, and they should not be adding to the stereotype!

               Even though the language of the panel was a bit questionable, I thought that they had some good advice about classroom management for future teachers. Establishing a relationship with your students, establishing the non-negotiables early and being consistent with the rules were all pieces of good advice that I picked up from the talk, outside of the language confusion.