Kids I find it easy to like: kids who are engaged, bright, excited about being in the classroom - basically, kids from whom I get the feeling that they are just as passionate as I am about the subject matter. Also, kids who are clowns - what can I say, I like it when kids can have a good time.
Kids I find it hard to like: kids who are openly hateful towards others (those who use language that I find unacceptable towards other groups, or just those who use the language without thinking); kids who are openly disrespectful, towards me or others.
Kids I am sorry for: kids who are struggling; kids who are too shy to speak out in class; kids who I think have a socio-economic disadvantage.
Kids I feel threatened by: I'm not sure? I don't know that I have felt threatened by a student before...
Kids I identify with: probably the kids I find it easy to like - the ones who are bright and engaged and in upper level classes, the ones who are like I was in high school.
Kids I gravitate towards: again, the kids I find it easy to like: engaged, and/or the jokers.
Kids I feel inadequate around: students who are minorities - I care deeply about equity and social justice, but I will always feel inadequate around students who are actually, personally affected by inequality because my own life situation has always been so privileged.
Kids I probably don't even notice: the ones who do average work, speak out sometimes but never are dazzling. I DO notice the really quiet kids, because I feel compelled to draw them out, but the ones who are right smack dab in the middle don't always register with me.
So important to be aware of our biases for or against students. I can appreciate your feelings about students who are minorities. Having had a pretty privileged life, I have difficulty appreciating the life experience of people who have been affected by inequality as well.
ReplyDeleteIt is so easy to gravitate towards those kids that are eager learners. You're right about the kids whose life experiences have been not as fortunate as our own. This class has helped make me so much more aware of this. The fact that you are aware now of not noticing the kids in the middle will help you be more aware from now on.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that we gravitate towards kids that either act like we did at that age or are dealing with the same problems we dealt with at a certain age. My question would be, as a teacher, what are you going to do to try to draw those 'middle of the road' kids out of the middle? Do you think there is something we can do to bump them up to the dazzling state?
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