Reflection #4: Stereotypes

     I believe that teachers have a tendency to stereotype on a daily basis. We unknowingly make little comments or subconsciously use body language to reveal our prejudices, whether through race, gender, religion, or otherwise. The secondary classroom can be worse than elementary programs when it comes to stereotyping students; their personal feelings are beginning to emerge in a new way as they become independent and their parents give them freedom in a way they have not experienced before. Even secondary students have a fragile sense of self-esteem, and they need someone mature enough to overlook behavior, attitude, and appearance. I noticed this tendency in myself from the beginning of the year. With students who looked Hispanic, I tended to assume they spoke Spanish. I was surprised when I would connect a grammar concept to Spanish grammar with little response from the students, and I began to realize that they did not speak the language simply because it was associated with their appearance. I never showed my surprise to my students, but it did teach me to be on the lookout for “hidden stereotypes” I have that I might not even recognize yet. I have seen teachers assume that students who came from a different continent work harder than students from the U.S. Such stereotypes take place without teachers even realizing it. I believe that if most teachers knew how often they were stereotyping students, they would quickly change their minds and interactions with students. It is a difficult challenge to overcome.

     Treating each day as a new day is one of the most successful ways to avoid stereotyping students. If I enter the classroom with none but the highest expectations for my students and myself, I have noticed I treat them as equals. The days I am dissatisfied with events from the day before or allow personal troubles and worries to shadow me into my classroom are the days I struggle to see students outside of stereotypes and social perceptions. I must choose to focus on the content I want the student to master rather than the opinion they have of things outside of academics. My role as a teacher does not include judgement. Even grading is assessment instead of judgement. My students need unconditional love if they are to listen and learn. This semester, I have worked at walking into the classroom each day with a smile, regardless of the events transpiring in my own life, outside of the building walls. For a teacher, each day has to be a new day, as if you have never met each student, or anyone like him or her, before. As I have started to begin each day anew, I have really learned that it helps me work with students for that day instead of becoming frustrated over a buildup of past “failures” and frustrations.