The Unraveling the Model Minority book got me thinking about dynamics in the Asian cultures that I had not thought of before. I had honestly never thought that there were such deep and varied separations within the Asian student bodies.
While The idea that Asians would prefer to stick with their own ethnicity, such as was shown to be the case with the Korean students in the book, I never really considered that multiple other groups of "Asian" existed within the broad label. It was interesting to see that there were multiple distinct groups depending on if they identified as Asian, Asian-American, or "new wave."
In terms of teaching, the biggest concern that this book brought up to me is that if Asian students have a stereotype following them that says "you are good at school," I worry that approaching a struggling student may feel as though I think that they can perform better "because I see them as Asian" rather than believe that they as an individual can perform better. Worse, how can I get them to seek out the extra help when some are carrying the perception that needing the help in the first place is something to be ashamed of?
I'm totally on board with in terms of how shocked I was to learn that there were subcategories that Asian-American students place themselves into. The one thing that we have to do as teachers is to not lump students into a stereotype because that will cheapen our assessment of them as students. We need to assess each student on an individual basis so that they get the most out of our teaching. Making yourself available before, after, and even during school to talk to your students is something you can do to allow them to get help and will hopefully show those students that there are other kids who need the help, too.
ReplyDeleteMatthew, I am very impressed that you are already thinking how you can help weaker students. I agree with John's suggestions. Also, the Asians are ashamed to ask for help at Academic High school as it is a highly competitive school which tracks the students and has the ranking system. The town I live also has a huge Asian population. It is true that Asian students want to well academically, but they are definitely not ashamed to ask for help.
ReplyDeleteMatt,
ReplyDeleteI like your comments. I apreciate that you are being sensitive towards Asian American students' feeling. The way I look at is, WE all are ashamed to ask for help. It is a very AMERICAN thing to be independent in everything, be self-reliant as much as we can. But I feel, as a teacher one has to develope communication skills, or work on proper usage of words (which I need to work on myself)and make sure that we offer help in ways that the students don't feel bad about. We can leave the decision making up to the students. I had been announcing in my classroom that, "I stay back after school on three days of the week. I also come before school everyday". And truly, I had students come for help, they were the majority as well as the minority group. But I do feel that the adolescents in general are reluctant to come for extra help. Do you think it is against their self esteem? Are they considered not-smart if they didn't get things in the first attempt, during lecture time?
Neeti I agree with you that not asking for help is a very American thing. Personally when I was younger I felt that I had to understand in class or I was never going to get it because going to the teacher for help was out of the question. Now I have learned that you can gain so much by meeting with a teacher. Most of all you create a relationship with the teacher where they can learn to understand you better and how you learn. If the teacher knows that about their students they can make sure to implement those things into the lecture as well as make the student feel comfortable going to them. I think it would be beneficial in the beginning of the year to have every student stay after or meet at another time to get to know them one on one. In this time you can assure them that you are always there when they need help and they also know that they are not the only student required to see you so they dont feel stupid. Little things that connect you as a teacher to your students and helps build a positive relationship will open them up to ask for help if they need it.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the "model minority" stereotype, I like how you brought to the fore a potentially problematic situation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the commentors, here. I particularly think about the point John made regarding individual perspectives.
I once was in a classroom where I relayed some information about myself as well as the fact that even the most studious professor is, indeed, ignorant since "no-one can know everything." The idea here is that the basis for "deep knowledge" or intelligence is one of choice to a degree.
It was strangely instructive when another collegue, overhearing my class, said, "You chose to share some personal information." Wouldn't this help? Hmmmm.