Racism in the Classroom

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Racism in the Classroom

• By Latoria Doss
• 10-31-07

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Introduction

• It is important for teachers to do everything
  possible to prevent racism in their classrooms.
  I chose this topic so that I could help educate
  my classmates on ways to combat racism in the
  classroom. On top of all the other duties
  teaches are required to do, this is not an easy
  task. Students need to be taught at an early age
  about being anti-racist.

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Overview

• It is the duty of the teachers to attempt to
  eliminate racism. In this presentation, I will
  be giving ways to help combat racism in the
  classroom.
• I will be giving useful websites that have lesson
  plans and other ideas teachers can use to help
  students to become anti-racist.

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Summary

• Racism is not going to be eliminated all at once.
  Teachers can come one step closer by using
  preventative strategies in the classroom.
• One strategy that a teacher can use to combat
  racism is to take a good look at the materials
  and text used in the classroom. Many texts use
  only one culture when presenting information.
  This may send messages of inferiority of some and
  superiority of others. For example, texts that
  use pictures of predominantly white males
  contribute to the problem of racism by promoting
  stereotypes and prejudices.

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Summary Contiuned

• Texts instead should use a variety of books that
  represent various cultural and racial groups.
• Texts should also promote equality of people with
  mental and physical disabilities, the gifted, the
  elderly and between the genders.

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Summary Continued

• Another strategy that can be used to combat
  racism is cooperative learning groups.
• Group work exposes individual attitudes, ideas,
  experiences, and beliefs that are used to achieve
  a common goal.
• Group work also opens the lines of communication
  between different group members despite race,
  sex, age or religion.

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Summary Continued

• A variety of active learning strategies can also
  be done to help eliminate racism.
• Posters can be made condemning racism. There are
  also some posters that can be printed off some of
  the websites that follow.
• Students can make up anti-racist songs.
• Students can participate in plays that
  demonstrate how terrible racism is.

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Summary Continued

• Teachers need to make sure they are not being
  racist in their classrooms. Sometimes they might
  do it and not even realize it.
• One way to prevent this is to respect students
  language. Teachers need to make sure they do not
  criticize or humiliate students who speak another
  language or do not speak English well.
• Teachers could use the languages of the students
  to connect to their cultures.

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Summary Continued

• Teachers also need to recognize cultural
  diversity.
• This could be done in many ways. One way can be
  to have multicultural days exploring different
  cultures, religions, and the history of different
  races.

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Summary continued

• Teachers also need to acknowledge background
  knowledge and experiences of the students.
• Teachers need to have a desire to learn as much
  as they can about their students in order to be
  able to teach them better.
• Some teachers tend to use the students life
  experiences as explanations for behavioral
  problems instead of to teach them better.

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Summary Continued

• There are many other activities teachers can use
  to combat racism.
• Teachers can start using these strategies as
  early as Kindergarten and maybe even earlier.
• For more activities, lesson plans, and ideas
  about combating racism, you can explore the
  following websites.

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Website One

• Racism, No Way!
• http//www.racismnoway.com.au
• This website is an anti-racism education
  initiative managed by the Department of Education
  and Training on behave of education systems
  nationally.
• This website is aimed at grades 4th-12th.

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What can be found on this website?

• Lesson ideas that support existing curriculum and
  anti-racism education initiatives.
• Posters that can be printed
• Games, quizzes, and puzzles for students (mainly
  for junior high and high school students)
• This website will be useful for teachers and
  students.

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Website Two

• Edchange
• http//www.edchange.org
• This website is made from educators dedicated to
  equity, diversity, multiculturalism, and social
  justice.
• This website contributes to change in ourselves,
  our schools, and our society.
• This will be a good website for everyone.
• I found this website very helpful. I want to
  encourage everyone to navigate around the
  website.

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What can be found on this website?

• Lesson plans
• Printable handouts
• Multicultural activities
• Diversity awareness quiz
• Multicultural song index
• Ice Breakers
• Here are examples of what this site has to offer
• http//www.edchange.org/multicultural/activityarch
  .html

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Website Three

• Find Articles
• http//www.findarticles.com
• On this website you can type in any topic and get
  free articles about that topic.
• Anyone can benefit from this site.
• Here is an example of what can be found
• http//findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NQM/is_3_4
  2/ai_108442647

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Website Four

• Eric Digests
• http//www.ericdigests.org
• Eric digests are short reports on topics of prime
  current interest in education.
• It is useful for teachers, administrators, policy
  makers, and anyone else in the educational
  community.
• Topics such as teaching, learning, special
  education, home schooling, racism, and many more
  can be found here.

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Website 5

• Prejudice, no way
• http//www.prejudicenoway.com.au
• This website aims to assist students in grades
  K-3 develop knowledge and skills needed for
  anti-prejudice and anti-racism understandings.
• This will be a good website for parents and
  teachers.
• I found this website the most helpful of all.
• This website gives stages students can go through
  for each grade.

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What can be found on this website?

• For each stage, there are activities that
  teachers can do with their students. There are
  also worksheets that can be printed off that go
  with the activities.
• For example, in Kindergarten, stage two is
  recognizing similarities and differences. There
  are five activities to do with this stage. One of
  the activities is called my family. Here is
  an example of that activity http//www.prejudice
  noway.com.au/activities/2120.html

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Print Resource One

• This is a paper by Richard Morgan from the
  edchange website.
• It gives methods and strategies to attempt to
  eliminate racism in the classroom.
• It will be most useful for teachers
• http//www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/racis
  m_morgan.html

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Print Resource Two

• This is an article by Izzy C. Kalman (who is a
  nationally certified school psychologist).
• It will be useful for teachers, students,
  parents, and psychologists.
• It is about insulting stereotypes and how to
  turn enemies into friends.
• http//www.pacificnet.net/mandel/TopicoftheWeek.h
  tml
• This is found on a free, non-profit website to
  help teachers. There is a link at the bottom of
  this article if you want to look at the website.

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Conclusion

• Combating racism in the classroom is not going
  to be easy. It will be much easier if students
  start learning in Kindergarten that everyone is
  valued and one person is not superior to another
  because of his or her race. I thought my website
  five, prejudice no way, was the most helpful. It
  had some wonderful ideas. I want to encourage
  everyone to take a good look at that website.

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Reference Page

• Cross, Beverly E. (2003). Learning or
  unlearning racism transferring teacher
  education curriculum to classroom practices.
  Retrieved October 30, 2007, from Find Articles
  Web site http//findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m
  0NQMP/is_3_42/
• ai_108442647
• Mitchell, Vernay. (2000). Curriculum and
  instruction to reduce racial conflict. New York,
  NY Eric Clearinghouse on Urban Education.
  (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED
  322274)
• Morgan, Richard. (n.d.) Eliminating racism in
  the classroom. Retrieved October 30, 2007, from
  Ed Change Web site http//www.edchange.org/multi
  cultural/
• papers/racism_morgan.html