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From: Crystal_McFall@advantica-dine.com
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:452] Re: Students Fare Better With Minority Teachers
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To Catherine,
I understanding the concept you describe here as "spontaneous identity
matches." It goes without saying that personal comfort lends itself to an
ease in just about any social or learning situation. African Americans
have advocated for this very thing in urban schools where many of our
children are tracked as low achievers and learning disabled.
Tracking, as many of you know, is often a result of the cultural mismatch
between teachers and their students. If a teacher encounters a student who
she/he can't seem to reach, that student may be labeled as a "problem"
student, which would influence the kind of classes in which he would be
placed throughout his secondary school experience, unless some kind of
intervention occurs. I speak from personally experience. I was tracked in
low level courses in my first year of junior high school until a teacher
advocated in my behalf to have me placed in more challenging courses.
Historically, this practice has plagued African American students,
particularly boys in grades K-3. (Read anything by Jawanza Kunjufu.) It
is also likely that students whose primary language is not English face
similar issues.
The article which Mary Ann Corley referenced stated that ALL students
scored higher on standardized tests if they had teachers who were not
Anglo. I simply asked for details in the form of measurable evidence
produced by the study.
"Catherine King" <cb.king@verizon.net>@nifl.gov on 03/28/2001 17:43:17
Please respond to nifl-povracelit@nifl.gov
Sent by: nifl-povracelit@nifl.gov
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov>
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Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:449] Re: Students Fare Better With Minority
Teachers
To Crystal, who asked:
"I'd like to know if the researchers in this study could
identify what, specifically, the "minority" instructors did
that enhanced the learning of their students. (Minority
is in quotes here because we need to be specific about
who we are talking about. It's not enough to classify
people who are not white as minorities, because, heck,
we are not the minority in this country anymore. Please
be specific.) Were the instructors in this study largely
African American, Asian, and Latino?"
Briefly, it isn't what the "minority" instructors did, but rather
**from the point of view of the student,** what spontaneous
"identity matches" could they make from whatever
self-interpretive identity matrixes they bring to the
classroom? If this is true, it doesn't matter what race,
class, gender, color, etc., a teacher is. What matters
is spontaneous identity and how that is worked out in
groups and individuals.
For the young (undifferentiated) student these identity
matches are not reflective, or even conscious, but rather
are **spontaneous** and may be triggered by merely
seeing a similar skin color, etc., or hearing a similar
familiar dialectic, and may be a mixture of these and
gender identity, or familiar clothing style, etc. In all
children, spontaneous identity matches forge the way
for initial comfort **in the child**, and therefore, when
present, make all learning easier for them. When
comfortable on the social-identity level first, the learning
level becomes an "in-the-loop" exercise for them, full
of trust, hope, and a spontaneous desire to be involved.
Many things can interfere with this spontaneous identity-
match situation, including the specific psychology of the
child, for instance, whose identity orders of thought are
clouded with bad feelings and negatives where, though
there is a spontaneous identity, that identity is fraught
with tension, or if the child has had another experience
where, for instance, a Black child has already had an
extraordinarily positive experience with a White person.
In this case, a White teacher may be a quite comfortable
correspondent, whereas in another situation, an "other"
fear may be the "first-ground" to emerge in the learning
situation making it more difficult for the child to learn.
Prior individual and exceptional experience will, of
course, feed into class situations. This is human, and
not related to any history, race, gender, etc. And it
is human, and not natural science--where human
consciousness, history, context, story and anecdote are
essential and authentic sources of data which explain,
if not predict, the variable and malleable outcomes of
studies.
This point does not mean, of course, that only Black,
Latino, White, etc., teachers can teach "matched"
students. It only means that identity-matches do make
a difference, especially with young students who have
no or little reflective powers.
But from what I can tell from my own studies of
consciousness, and when administrations suspect there
may be an identity-mis-match situation for an entire
classroom, it may be a good method to have a "same-identity"
teacher introduce the "other-relational" teacher to the group,
creating a "comfort bridge" and paving the way for the social
trust to be transferred from the same-identity teacher to the
"other-relational" teacher.
If I am right on the effectiveness of this method, this could
be done by a different-identity teacher who is already
familiar with the group--fundamentally, someone the students
already trust, regardless of color, race, gender, etc. What is
important is familiarity and trust of the person by the student
in particular situations.
As far as adults are concerned, it would seem what matters
**for some,** especially for those who are initially afraid, or who
have severe "self-regard" problems--like battered women, etc.,
is the comfort of identity that will often, if not always, spontaneously
create an openness in a teacher-learner situation that cannot be
there in a spontaneous "different-other" situation.
So, though the method or the content of the teaching is not the
important first-point in multi-cultural situations, but rather the personal
spontaneous identity that is extant in the classroom when the
student first meets the teacher, whatever color, ethnicity, gender,
etc., either may be is what counts, notwithstanding individual
circumstances which may vary the student's sense of identity-
comfort.
All in all, teaching is a mysterious thing.
Best to all,
Catherine King
----- Original Message -----
From: <Crystal_McFall@advantica-dine.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 8:28 AM
Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:446] Re: Students Fare Better With Minority
Teachers
>
> I have a barrelful of questions about this study. I'd like to know if
the
> researchers in this study could identify what, specifically, the
"minority"
> instructors did that enhanced the learning of their students. (Minority
is
> in quotes here because we need to be specific about who we are talking
> about. It's not enough to classify people who are not white as
minorities,
> because, heck, we are notthe minority in this country anymore. Please be
> specific.) Were the instructors in this study largely African American,
> Asian, and Latino? What kinds of gains did students achieve academically
> as a result of being taught by people whose racial/ethnic backgrounds are
> different from theirs? Were students interviewed for this study? If so,
> what did they say about the quality of their instruction?
>
> Here's the big wammy: Are there any plans to conduct a similar study on
> the secondary school level? What would be the implications of adult
> continuing education? Anyone care to venture answers?
>
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