Entry #6: On the Things We Implicitly Teach Students (CG)

A commonality I found in this week's readings had to do with what we as teachers implicitly teach students. Early on, teachers are taught how to manage a classroom, different classroom arrangements, and purposeful classroom routines. All of this is to help a teacher and students stay afloat, functional, and attentive to the learning. Nevertheless, nonverbal communication or "the invisible," which is to say that which is left unspoken, in the classroom can have long-term and detrimental effects on students, and I am left thinking, once again, about my own practices.

Sometimes it's hard running a classroom without being spontaneous; there is never a script even when there is a plan or objective in place, so there is bound to be things, spaces and areas, in between that misinterpret a teacher's intention vs. a student's reality. I think about Rose's study between the "blockers" and those who weren't facing writer's block. The most notable was the student who was unable to break from the algorithmic rules learned in high school and how she had over-outlined her essay so much that she could not formulate her essay. Presumably, what Martha's teacher wanted her to learn was how to write an essay effectively, but what Martha took away was the complete opposite. I then connected this study to infrastructural analysis discussed in Trainor's research of an all-white high school. I was shocked at the opening lines of her essay, and I was no sooner impressed and astounded at her approach towards the blatant racism exuded by these students. Trainor explores the undetones of the classroom and how even the most subtle aspect of a teacher's classroom management plan can have undertones of racist implications. As Trainor explores, the school's culture and message of "Anyone can do anything if they try" aims to promote success and achievement, but ironically, students misinterpret (whether intentional or not) what should be an "anti-racist" and "neutral" statement as being a reason to dismiss Angelou's experiences because she's "whiny" and wants to complain to have others feel sorry for her (their thoughts, not mine). Bringing it back to the teacher-student classroom, the case study conducted by Hodges affirms and reaffirms that, regarding teacher feedback, it's not always about what we (teachers) say but how we say it. Our teacher intentions may all be similar, but as Hodges points out, very few of us are aware how we confuse or belittle our students when we approach them along the margins of their writing with numerous different voices. 

Above all, I think about the word "awareness" and "conscious" when communicating with students both off and on the page. As a side note, the Hodges reading is really inspiring me to conduct a similar type of research in the future. More to come.