Student Diversity and Engagement

[Hannah Piper]

In Jaclyn’s class, I have noticed issues of racial student diversity that seem to get in the way of students’ participation in class.  As I have elaborated in previous blog entires, students in my observed class sit in what appears to be largely racially-decided seating.  The class is largely white, and a small group of Hispanic boys sit by themselves, quieter than the rest and seem to be excluded from the mingling of the rest of the students.

The patterns of these students reflect some of the tendencies to self-selection which we have read about and discussed in class.  After all, as Dr. Appleman said, “why wouldn’t students sit with those who look like you, share cultural experiences, and speak the same languages as you?”  While the group of Hispanic boys sit with each other, however, they still don’t seem to get the same amount of social interaction as their more vocal white peers.  This group sits quietly with each other, and doesn’t chat like the others in the class.  They are diligent, not spending as much time surfing the web on their iPads (or are exceptionally adroit at changing their tabs as I walk past them) as the more boisterous 4-person groupings of mostly white students.  However, I have yet to see them participate openly in class discussions; this group of three students sits quietly at their desks when other students are invited to speak.

It is hard not to conclude that this group of Hispanic male students are so quiet and, at first glance, disengaged from the social aspects of the classroom — however, it is not so clear what causes their exclusion from a classroom management point of view.  Jaclyn makes rounds of the classroom, engaging this group of students herself during quiet or group work periods.  Jaclyn prompts questions from them about their work, and makes sure to praise them.  However, I have to hypothesize that a large degree of these students’ disengagement is due to external factors of racism and racist expectations which have been forced on them throughout schooling, extracurriculars, and everyday life.

I am not sure what Jaclyn could do to effectively combat these students’ past experiences in the classroom and the world.  It is possible that shaking up the class seating and groupings could help — Jaclyn keeps her students in the same groups of three-to-four every class period — but we have concluded that separating students from familiar friends representative of themselves can also come with its own downsides.  The more boisterous white 9th graders, who might not be aware of their own biases and ability to cause harm, might exclude one of these students even more by only interacting with their own white friends if the groups were shaken up.

 

 

Still, there are other students of color outside of this group of Hispanic students in the class who appear to get along a bit better with their peers.  There are a couple of Hispanic girls in the “girl” friend groups, who seem (on the outside) to carry themselves just fine.  There is also a Black boy in one of the “boy” groups who I haven’t been able to read well enough to see how he feels within the group.  This boy spends most of his class time playing Terraria on his iPad, and doesn’t engage all that much with his white peers during group discussions.  However, I have seen him interacting and having fun during a group project that involved drawing, and I have also seen him teasing some others in the group, as well as them asking him for advice.  His place in the friend group seems secure, even though he is the only Black student in the group (and the class), though he also spends a lot of time disengaged with his peers.

I do wonder if the shier group of three Hispanic boys might have the chance to be more engaged with the social aspects of first period 9th grade English if they were in a larger group which included a white student who is well-established in the social web of the class.  From observing them, I think that they might have experienced enough judgement from adults and peers that they need someone to engage with them before they choose to come out and engage on their own.

 

 

• This topic was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by Hannah Piper.

[Author]

Posts