Firing Up Issues of Diversity

[Izzy Charlton]

The most prevalent aspect of diversity in the classroom I am observing has been gender differences among students. According to the textbook, teachers interact with male students about 10-30% more than female students. I have noticed this trend in Mr. Wiebe’s interactions with his students. There are many different reasons this can occur, but I think the main reason is that he is trying to keep them focused on the task at hand. Whether male students are actually more mischievous and easily distracted, I don’t know, but they certainly seemed to be perceived that way. For the most part, Mr. Wiebe is great at keeping the struggling male students focused and engaged in class. But this engagement with those few male students can neglect other students, especially the female students. Additionally, I have also noticed the differences in public vs. private talk when watching the teacher talk with students. Private talk, which is quiet and private conversation, is used with all of his students. However, public talk, which is louder and often a shout across the classroom, has been used exclusively for male students in this classroom. This week, I noticed a burst of public talk towards a male student who usually neglects his lab work; he hangs around the lab tables, watching the experiments, but does not write anything in his lab journal. Seeing that he had no lab journal, Mr. Wiebe, who was a few lab tables away, raised his voice and told him to start writing stuff down or he wasn’t getting any credit. Rather than being motivated to do his work, the student immediately withdrew from the lab and sat at his desk for the rest of the hour. I don’t know whether this public talk was necessary, as it certainly did not help the situation. I have seen instances where it’s been helpful, but this was not one of them.

In terms of racial diversity, the class is fairly homogeneous. There are a few students of color, but otherwise the class is entirely white. Thus, I’m not sure if the readings about racial diversity are that applicable. However, I have noticed that in the Landsman reading, a urban school teacher, Mr. Simmons, talks about the importance of student relationships in creating culturally relevant pedagogy. While I am far from an urban school district like the author’s experiences in Detroit, I think this idea of prioritizing student-teacher relationships is important. I see Mr. Wiebe’s emphasis on creating relationships with students, reaching out to them, getting to know their interests, talking about their sports games, etc. I have noticed that students respond positively to these kinds of interactions; it’s good to see that your teacher cares about you more than your performance. I think this relationship helps motivate students who would normally disengage from school. In Mr. Simmon’s experience, these students are students of color

The new student I mentioned in the previous post has been slowly adjusting to being in a new class. I think she is getting a good handle on the content, but tends to be isolated when students are allowed to work together. Whenever she is left working by herself, I often walk over to help her out. She seems to be responding well to my presence, as she will come up to me for help whenever she needs it. She approaches me much more easily than Mr. Wiebe, which I think is because of our similar ages and shared gender. While Mr. Wiebe is great at engaging with his struggling male students, the female students do not seem to have the same relationship. They rarely interact with Mr. Wiebe, only talking to him when absolutely necessary. I think my presence has been a welcome one, as female students tend to be more comfortable asking me for help.

The lab that the students worked on this week was a flame test. Each lab station was set up with salts of a different element: sodium, copper, strontium, potassium, etc. Each of these elements exhibits a different color when put in flame. My personal favorite, copper, gives off a green flame:

The students responded well to this lab. I remember doing a similar lab in high school, and it definitely is one of the more interesting labs. It is pretty simple, but setting stuff on fire is still fun, especially when the flames change colors. I think this was a great lab to engage students but also connect to the concepts of electron shells they were learning about. It required them to be able to explain why each element gives off a different color, which was related to the changing energy levels of the electrons, while also giving them a fun activity to engage in. This lab reminded a few students of packets that you can buy to change the color of your fireplace, thus synthesizing their real world experience with a deeper understanding of chemistry. Mr. Wiebe didn’t even prompt them to make this connection, they did it themselves. It is always rewarding to be able to take concepts you learn in class, especially those as exciting as green flames, and connect them to real world experiences.

[Allegra Pihlaja]

I have also noticed that the teacher interacts a lot more with the boys in my class since they tend to act out more. My teacher also does more public talk with them, but it is with the same students over and over, so I wonder if the other students begin to get annoyed by that or tune it out. Would it be more productive as private talk? I have rarely seen private talk with my teacher; she generally addresses students in front of each other.

 

I really like this sentence: “it’s good to see that your teacher cares about you more than your performance.” As we read for class, there is more to a student than their academic performance. I feel like I have not always felt this from teachers in the past, and I wish I had. It has such a strong impact on the student and how they feel and perform.

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