Teaching Tolerance

White Teachers at the Crossroads

-In this article Joyce King and Gary Howard reflected about White teachers in America. Joyce King focused on how no matter a teacher’s race, it is simply imperative that one’s point of view on the world is in check and that teachers are actively working to broaden their view to be more inclusive. Gary Howard writes similarly and highlights how teachers must “grow beyond our ignorance, denial and guilt.”

-My main question is what can I do now to prepare my self for a diverse classroom before I am I am teaching for a living.

-A big AHA moment is that it is a process to be inclusive but the important thing is making big strides to change and be more aware.

'I Don't Think I am Biased'

Pat Clark

• In this article, Pat Clark examines the various reactions people have when faced with the reality that they have bias. The reactions are: Dismissal, disbelief, acceptance, discomfort and disclosure. The most interesting of those are acceptance, where the person just accepts that they have a bias but that they cannot do anything about it. The other interesting one is disclosure where the person outwardly admits to their bias and is already moving towards working on how go from what they have learned about themselves.
• This article was very interesting, especially since we had done IMPLICIT tests early in the semester. It reminds me of the Sociology study about how people respond to recieving their test results back when they are surrounded by other students that also just received test results back. After finding out that we are not perfect and are biased, we cope in one of these ways.
• Questions I have are what next? How can we respond to our responses to learning that we have a bias?