Michelle Kinney in her article "Of Mice and Marginalization" talks about her decision to teach Steinbeck's classic Of Mice and Men to her 10th grade ELA class. Similarly, I am in the midst of teaching the novel to my 9th grade students, so I was excited to get her perspectives on the book and her unit. As I continued to read Kinney's article, I began to become aware of some of our other similarities. She also teaches in a middle/upper middle class high school where many parents are educated and invested in their children's educations. Kinney explains, "Like many of the parents at Madison's Back to School Night, Meredith's mother was white, middle class, and well educated. Back at Marshall, where many parents were bogged down by making ends meet and other obligations, we were lucky to see a handful of parents show up at Back to School Night. At Madison the room was packed. I wasn't used to this kind of crowd." She then goes on to discuss the fact that she was "persuaded" by parents to stop teaching A Long Way Gone, a memoir of a boy's experience as a child slave during the civil war in Sierra Leone, because it was "too violent." This type of parental pressure is all too common in schools. Many times we as teachers feel pressured by parents to change grades/curriculum/practices and many times the administration backs these parents. While most parents have good intentions and their children's best interests at heart; occasionally, there are parents who don't value teachers nor trust them to do the job they've been trained to do.
While teaching Of Mice and Men, Kinney found that many of the Latino and black students in her class had "checked out" due to stereotypical roles portrayed in the novel. After reflecting on her experience in caving under parental pressure and teaching a novel she wasn't necessarily 100% comfortable with, Kinney asks, "Do I teach books that a narrow but vocal segment of the community promotes, or do I return to teaching equally challenging novels, plays, poems, and nonfiction works that speak to all students in terms of the themes and characters they introduce? I began the year prepared to have conversations about the suitability of the literature some parents expect to see on my syllabus. I decided to trust myself, my education, and my own experiences when making critical decisions about what will work for everyone in our increasingly diverse school, not just those whose parents are able to show up for Back to School Night." Essentially, Kinney decides to stand up to parents and trust her own experience and expertise. I think it is vitally important that we do this as educators. As long as we are coming from a place of sincerity and preparedness, we should never simply teach or do what parents "suggest" we do. WE are the educators. WE are the experts in our fields. I would never think of telling a doctor how to perform surgery or what test to give to a patient, nor would I expect anyone to tell me how to differentiate instruction or manage a class. I think sometimes people have the mentality that...Oh, she's just a teacher...I could do that job. I resoundingly answer...NO! You could not do my job without the necessary skill, training and (hopefully) passion that I have! We educators need to stand up for ourselves and our fellow colleagues and not let certain (and it's not a ton of people but definitely a few) individuals dictate what we teach or don't teach in the classroom.
**Interesting link to an article about the sometimes difficult "dicey" relationship between teachers and parents.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/the-dicey-parent-teacher-duet/?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3As%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A17%22%7D.
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ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting read, Melissa. My article (Teaching the N-Word) was also written by Kenney...I want to meet this woman! She seems to encompass my thoughts, fears, and beliefs so eloquently in her writings. I agree, the pressure from parents is sometimes very suffocating. (Sometimes I want to scream at them, "Yes! Yes, I know I'm young and if I dressed like your child, I would look like a high-schooler too! I know! But I'm not!" God, I worked so hard to get through school so I could become a teacher as soon as possible, and I feel like that makes parents trust my abilities LESS. How absurd. I know I'm not experienced, but that will take time.) Like you said, WE are the educators and the experts in our fields. I like that you point out that, like Kenney, we need to come from a place of sincerity and preparedness. In "Teaching the N-Word," she recognizes how much work it takes to prepare such a unit, delving into topics and conversations with students that most people outside our field don't think they (or we) can handle.
ReplyDeleteCaving under pressure is such a slippery slope as a teacher. Do you compromise if a parent gives legitimate reasons for their opposition to a topic, book, or activity? What if you are a non-tenured teacher, and it is your administrator/evaluator who suggests you pursue another avenue in class? What about the student who sits quietly and gives honest effort, never causing classroom disruption, but struggles to comprehend the work? Do they receive higher grades than the discipline problem, who clearly understands the material, but is removed from your class twice a week for behavior? Teaching involves making judgement calls, often times in areas where you were not exposed in educational studies. Compromise or Hold Firm? If you have been thoughtful in your approach, and have taken into consideration the types of concerns people might offer to your curriculum, grading policies, and classroom rules, you can feel confident in either holding to your policy, or compromising to accommodate the best interest of the student. Whereas if you are given a curriculum you haven't developed, or are using material you haven't considered mindfully, it is easier to become defensive, and not be open to change. Which reminds me of Delpit. Here we go again!
ReplyDeleteMelissa - Like Brian said, teaching involves so many judgement calls that you are necessarily trained for. There isn't a manual that says, "If this, then do that." It comes back to your philosophy and being able to articulate WHY you are doing what you are doing. But, especially as a young person, I can be intimidated by someone with a more assertive personality. One of my reasons for wanting to go to grad school is to further clarify my philosophy and be more prepared to speak up for what is best for students (in all areas - curriculum, emotional support, etc.)
ReplyDeleteThe importance of speaking up also reminded me of this Taylor Mali video: "What Teachers Make" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I_JK6tTGKo. As a teacher himself, he gets it pretty well :)