Mary Anne Raywid's article, A Teacher's Awesome Power, is both immensely inspirational and also a bit frightening. She sheds light on the many ways in which teachers are powerful, despite the legal and professional hiearchy of control over the classroom. It is very refreshing to hear someone speak positively on the power of teachers, especially after enduring an entire quarter of hearing about the lack thereof.
I guess Raywid's insight is not so much a surprise, but more of a breath of fresh air-- a kind of realization of "good, other people do feel the same way as I do." I believe that teachers do maintain conciderable power within the classroom. Yes, there are a million other head-haunchos limiting what is allowed to enter the classroom-- but once it enters the classroom, the teacher is given a lot of room to exercise his/her own powers. I'm not sure "power" is always the appropriate word choice, it's not like teachers are really the power-hungry individuals among our society. But, for lack of a better word, I will continue with Raywid's word choice.
I like that she highlighted the basic power structure within the classroom. From the way the class is expected to act (neat and orderally vs. collaborative and friendly) to the control of conversation (what is discussed and what is rewarded as good responses), the teacher does have incredible power in the classroom. Put on top of that the adult to child power ratio already in place in our society, and the teacher is seen as almost a god among most students. What the teacher values can and often is taken as truths in the "real world" among many students. Casual bias peeping through class discussion may be taken as gospel to student who adore their teacher.
Now, all this can seem very exciting. I mean, who doesn't want to feel like they have the most important and impressionable career on the face of the planet?! But, it keeps me thinking, "Goodness, I hope we allowing good people to be teachers." And then I look at myself-- I concider myself a good person. Am I capable of maintaining this much power? I am very bias on many issues, and I am cautious of this when teaching. But, am I concious of every moment that my bias towards or against a particular issue may cause me to act in a certain way? If a student mentions George W. Bush does my teacher-cheery smile slightly fade for a moment? When a student blames a late metro bus for his tardiness, do I excuse him more easily than the student who was late becuase his mom couldn't find her car keys? It is the subtle bias that fear in my own teaching.
This article has definately opened my eyes to the emmense power we as teachers hold, without actually knowing it. I have always understood teachers control classroom dynamics-- how students are seated, how they participate in discussion, whether or not there is disucssion for that matter. I have also understood how teachers control issues discussed in class-- I spent an entire year studying the Holocaust, another with a rigious routine of country reports. But, it is the intense power of subtle bias that made me think. I feel that as human beings we can never be completely seperate from our bias on a broad range of issues, but as teachers this is the one thing we must do. Raywid's writing has reminded me that our power of being a teacher compells us to be even more aware of our bias. I don't particularly think she wants us to always combat the bias in attempts to provide a completely neutral, unemotional education. Yet, I do understand that the awareness of our bias is vital to preventing it from potentially portraying a false truth.
In some cases, I believe it is okay for teachers to state their bias. Issues like saving the whales, buying locally and riding the bus are the sort of issues teachers are expected to promote. If teachers arn't going to shed light on the loss of tribal lands in Africa, how are the youngsters going to ever know of the issue's existance. Again, as a teacher, the other side should always be presented. But, seriously? Not being allowed to say, "I support green living" is like educating robots. It's the way you go about it, aknowledging your bias and presenting all the facts.
I guess Raywid's insight is not so much a surprise, but more of a breath of fresh air-- a kind of realization of "good, other people do feel the same way as I do." I believe that teachers do maintain conciderable power within the classroom. Yes, there are a million other head-haunchos limiting what is allowed to enter the classroom-- but once it enters the classroom, the teacher is given a lot of room to exercise his/her own powers. I'm not sure "power" is always the appropriate word choice, it's not like teachers are really the power-hungry individuals among our society. But, for lack of a better word, I will continue with Raywid's word choice.
I like that she highlighted the basic power structure within the classroom. From the way the class is expected to act (neat and orderally vs. collaborative and friendly) to the control of conversation (what is discussed and what is rewarded as good responses), the teacher does have incredible power in the classroom. Put on top of that the adult to child power ratio already in place in our society, and the teacher is seen as almost a god among most students. What the teacher values can and often is taken as truths in the "real world" among many students. Casual bias peeping through class discussion may be taken as gospel to student who adore their teacher.
Now, all this can seem very exciting. I mean, who doesn't want to feel like they have the most important and impressionable career on the face of the planet?! But, it keeps me thinking, "Goodness, I hope we allowing good people to be teachers." And then I look at myself-- I concider myself a good person. Am I capable of maintaining this much power? I am very bias on many issues, and I am cautious of this when teaching. But, am I concious of every moment that my bias towards or against a particular issue may cause me to act in a certain way? If a student mentions George W. Bush does my teacher-cheery smile slightly fade for a moment? When a student blames a late metro bus for his tardiness, do I excuse him more easily than the student who was late becuase his mom couldn't find her car keys? It is the subtle bias that fear in my own teaching.
This article has definately opened my eyes to the emmense power we as teachers hold, without actually knowing it. I have always understood teachers control classroom dynamics-- how students are seated, how they participate in discussion, whether or not there is disucssion for that matter. I have also understood how teachers control issues discussed in class-- I spent an entire year studying the Holocaust, another with a rigious routine of country reports. But, it is the intense power of subtle bias that made me think. I feel that as human beings we can never be completely seperate from our bias on a broad range of issues, but as teachers this is the one thing we must do. Raywid's writing has reminded me that our power of being a teacher compells us to be even more aware of our bias. I don't particularly think she wants us to always combat the bias in attempts to provide a completely neutral, unemotional education. Yet, I do understand that the awareness of our bias is vital to preventing it from potentially portraying a false truth.
In some cases, I believe it is okay for teachers to state their bias. Issues like saving the whales, buying locally and riding the bus are the sort of issues teachers are expected to promote. If teachers arn't going to shed light on the loss of tribal lands in Africa, how are the youngsters going to ever know of the issue's existance. Again, as a teacher, the other side should always be presented. But, seriously? Not being allowed to say, "I support green living" is like educating robots. It's the way you go about it, aknowledging your bias and presenting all the facts.
Tina,
ReplyDeleteI sure don't mind your bias in my children's classrooms... as long as I agree with you. As soon as I don't then it is stepping over the line; no doubt about it. The Dr. Seuss book The Lorax was banned in certain communities because it portrayed loggers as heartless greedy capitalist folk who were wrecking the earth. Oh, and we were all going to die because of them. Well, I may be exagerating. A little
The Lorax didn't go over too well in many parts of Washington, as you can imagine.
Can we really be aware of our own bias? Or are we proud of certain strong beliefs that we have and only claim these bias'?
What if I claim as my bias that we should not wipe out the whales (even though it's in my lipstick, my body lotion... who knows what else) but refuse to acknowledge that I am baised against the most popular kid in class due to my own upbringing?
You said in some cases it is okay; but do the parents get to vote on what is okay to be biased for? Is that political correctness as it has evolved?
Kristen
There are political positions, and there are biases against particular children (or kinds of children) that we might not even be aware of, and I think that that's what you (and I) find most frustrating.
ReplyDeleteSo, a number of our readings have talked about how we can't fight (or even be aware of) how those latter biases are playing out in our classrooms if we're working in isolation. We haven't always had clear direction about what the alternatives may look like, though. So who will you trust to say "Tina, here's what I'm hearing and seeing....".
(and we've heard this quarter about teachers often not stepping into the power that they might wield in policy making and even in the operations of classrooms... not that they inherently have been excluded from having voice in those areas. It's not always clear what might be different if teachers did more often speak up.)