It makes me so mad to read the article "The Silenced Dialogue" due to the whole idea that comes across in the article of blacks being all the same and whites being all the same.
"Black children expect an authority figure to act with authority. When the teacher instead acts as a "chum," the message sent is that this adult has no authority, and the children react accordingly."
Yes the homes of some black children and some white children are somewhat different but when they are in the classroom it is a time where they have to deviate from their norm in order to adapt to the classroom. A white teacher should not have to act differently toward black students and just the other way around. The second that they teacher does act differently and treat students diffrently then the whole notion of racism comes into play and children feel that they are discriminated against because they are being treated differently..What do you think?
Sorry it is so long

I think that each teacher has his or her own teaching style that each student must adapt to. This does not mean, however, that white and black students are to be treated differently. I plan to teach all my students in the same way exposing them to different learning styles and methods. Each student will have the same opportunity to learn, but the fact that Charlie is black and Bobby is white does not matter to me. Everyone has to adapt to changing situations; in fact the only constant in life is that change is constant. Thus, the student must change for every teacher and so this may be a change from home life. However, it is only a step in making the transition to becoming a functional adult in our society.

I agree with Travis. The color of the student's skin should not lead the teacher to teach differently. We have learned that there are different learning styles for different students. This is the only way that a teacher needs to adapt their teaching to student's learning. As an educator, we should try to find how each of our student's learn and then adapt our lessons to encompass all the different learning styles within our classroom.

I totally agree with both travis and brittany. A teacher should not have to teach two different methods and that children should just adapt to the teachers teaching style but maybe gayle you can answer this...Why does the article suggest that there are different ways to teach white children compared to black children?

Hi Blair (and everyone):

I'm not going to weigh in on this one yet. I really appreciate your exploration of the topic, and want to encourage you all to flesh it out further.

Blair:
I didn't mean that the students should adapt to my teaching, but that my lessons should adapt to the student's learning styles. I just wanted to make that clear.

In an ideal world, we shouldn't have to consider race as a factor in how we teach. However, here is a story...

My friend took a job, after she completed her master's degree. teaching English in a suburb of Atlanta, GA in a predominately black school. She is white. For the first few months, she would come home crying. She had been used to teaching at ASU in a very open, progressive type atmosphere. Her methods of eliciting independence and critical thinking were not working. There was chaos in the classroom. (This surprised me because she was a big woman who enjoyed shooting guns as a hobby. Her husband is a cop). Anyway, she sought help from her colleagues, and within a few months, things started to improve. The most helpful thing an experienced black teacher told her was to vary her intonation as she talked and lectured, like a black preacher would do. She practiced this at home, and it worked. They started listening, taking notes and improving.

Now, we can't assume that all black people learn better this way, but in this case it worked. If something is not clicking in your classroom with a particular student and you ruled out learning disabilities, emotional problems, problems at home, it might be beneficial to explore race. Maybe he or she isn't connecting to your teaching style because of the way he/she was raised and has been socialized to react to authority? This doesn't mean change your whole pedagogy, but see if something else will work with that particular child.

(I realize this goes against an earlier post, but I have been thinking about this and remembered this antecdote, which made me reconsider an earlier question).

I really believe that we as teachers have to take many things into mind when teach other people children. We must understand that we are there to help and not discourage them. We must also know that direct directions are good as well as indrect but just make sure that the students are getting what we want them to?

I really believe that we as teachers have to take many things into mind when teach other people children. We must understand that we are there to help and not discourage them. We must also know that direct directions are good as well as indrect but just make sure that the students are getting what we want them to?