Everyone has prejudices the most
common of them run along the lines of race. I think that one of the
most important aspects of teaching is knowing how you teach your
students. There are all types of students in a classroom and whether
intentional or not educators can treat students differently based on
prejudices.
Attending the anti-racism seminar was
really a great addition to the racism conversations that we had
already had in class. I think the idea of self and understanding
where each individual is coming from is more valuable than just
saying that there is no such thing as race or trying to ignore it.
Regina brought up points about self awareness as well as the cultural
construct that has shaped our ideals on what is acceptable; because
we all come from unique cultural situations we are all slightly
different and approach the idea of race differently.
I feel like the main point I walked
away with from the seminar was that we all deal with race differently
and that is alright so long as we all understand that it is there, it
is an issue, and it is shaped by society and our culture. To address
this in my personal life I feel like I need to stop trying to be
color blind and learn to look past people and learn to see
individuals personalities. In the classroom this would look slightly
different because my goal would be to not only know each student's
“self” but to also model and teach this philosophy for
interaction so that the students could implement it on a peer level.
I want to live my life in a way I'd be proud to have my students know
about and copy. With this in mind I approach the idea of race.
