Middle School Student Indian Female Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I like having things in common with my teachers. When I was India I had three things in common with all my teachers in each grade. All my teachers were Indian just like me, they spoke the same language as me, and they were all female like me. There are very few male teachers in India, most of then are female. Also one more thing I had in common with my teachers in India was that they were the same race as me. In India I had a lot of things in common with all of my teachers. But in America now I have very few things in common with my teachers. At my elementary school, I had one thing common with my art teacher. We both liked art. I was always excited when we had art. My teacher appreciated me, and we could talk about art. I was sad when I didn't have her as my teacher the next year. I always enjoyed art. What I had learned was that the more you have in common with your teachers the more you pay attention in class with them. You do not goof up, and get in trouble. You have fun being in their class. That is what happened to me. I had fun being in my art teacher’s class. This year in middle school, I had one thing common with my French teacher. We both liked French. Since I had this thing in common with her, I really like French class. I pay more attention, which helps learn French better. The more I understood French better, the better my French grade was. What I learned was that the more you like your teacher, the more you would try to get a good grade in that class. If you do not have anything in common with your teachers then you will probably not like your teachers. In addition, this year I had one more thing in common with my International Studies, we liked human geography. Every time I had International Studies, I would be excited to learn. I also understood better. When I learned that in 2nd semester I was not going to have her, I was sad. Now I have a new International Studies teacher. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes, it definitely matters that students and teachers have things in common. When teachers and students have things in common, they interact more with each. They get to know each other. Students pay more attention, they like their teacher. If you have nothing in common with your teacher, then you probably will not like the class. You also will not be able to focus in class much. There are kids who do not have anything in common with some of their teachers or maybe all of them, and it is hard for them to focus in school. Some students try to find things they have in common with their teachers, and they find it. Then they can start to know their teachers better. Students and teachers can talk about the same thing if they have things in common. The thing is that students can get in trouble if they do not have things in common. What happens is that they will not like their teacher because they do not have anything in common with them. They will goof in class, and not pay attention. This is why it does matter for students and teachers to have things in common. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong
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Middle School Student Japanese Female Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: “You follow MY rules in MY room.” First, it is not your room. It is the school's room. Second, why even have rules? Third, why should I even listen to you? Fourth, I really hate that voice of yours. These are my first four thought that come to mind when the teacher says the rules. I am Asian. I am female. I am tall. I have glasses. I do not follow the rules. In fact, I hate the rules. I never have had much in common with my teachers. I have had a few things in common, like gender, or family, or what I favor. However, one thing I had never had in common with my teachers was having an all-Asian teacher. In addition, I have never met or had a teacher with as much opposition towards rules as much as me. I remember that back in 5th grade, I had a Norwegian female teacher, who was very strict and expected a lot out of us. She was the bane of my fifth grade school life. And since our class was so boisterous, she was a pain. For all of us. I think that the biggest reason that I disliked her was because she had a chart of rules. And I always broke them. In addition, for some reason the teacher disliked me so I was punished. If some of the teacher’s pets broke the rules, they were not punished. For an example, I broke the rule, “No talking in class while the teacher was talking.” I was punished by staying in for my recess. The other kid who was talking to me should have been punished too. But she wasn't, since she was favored. My teacher obviously did not like me. I was fine with her not liking me, because I did not like her. From having this teacher, I learned that rules are rules and if I do not follow them, the teacher will dislike me and I will have a terrible year. I want to be who I truly am so I won’t change how I act in front of teachers or other people. Because I do not want to. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes, I think that having things in common with your teacher is very important. When we have things in common with our teachers, we can solve problems easier and we can have fewer problems. Though it is important to have things in common, we cannot always have things in common, and if we do, we must cherish them. For me, it is very important to have someone who I can rely on and relate to. Whether that is a friend, or a family member, or a teacher, it is very important to have someone to relate to. I honestly do not like counselors. It seems like they understand you. However, humans cannot understand everyone’s feelings. We are humans. So we tend to take sides. It's human nature and we cannot deny it. I really felt this when I was involved in a problem with a fellow classmate in 5th grade. She had misunderstood what I said and was hurt and had started crying. I tried to explain but the teacher and the counselor took sides with the crying one. So I couldn’t really do anything. I am not sure if being Asian effects any of this, but one thing for sure is that in my family, I am taught not to keep all of my emotions in and stress over them. Therefore, if it is appropriate, I will say what is on my mind. However, teachers on the other hand want "school-appropriate conversations" and they want people to feel comfortable. Not saying that I disagree, but we should be able to express our feeling and not be punished. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong Middle School Student Chinese Female Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I had a few connections with my first grade teacher. When I was six, in first grade, I had just moved from China. My parents already knew a lot about English. On my first day of school, my head was still full of Mandarin dialects. I knew little English during that period of my life. I had to take a class with others my age and that class would help me learn English more fluently. I would always ask my first grade teacher what others had asked her. For example, a student near me asked her how to spell a word. Then I would ask the teacher how to spell a word as well, but a word I already knew how to spell so I could make sure that the answer was what I thought it was. My teacher knew that I was learning a lot and starting to understand English more. It did not impact me a lot with my teachers being from a different area than me. I loved their personalities. In addition, my fifth grade teacher and I had a very strong bond when we would do writing with our class. When we had conferences, each time I would get to know her a bit more personally. I honestly feel like having a race connection with your teacher does not matter at all, personality matters more. If you know each other personally, it helps you have a stronger bond. That is much more important than where you are from and what language you speak. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: It might have been easier for me if some of my teachers were Chinese too. Mostly, I think being from different areas is what makes us unique. I think that one of the most important things in school is to have a bond with a certain teacher you know personally. It feels like you and the teacher have a special link. Just like a friend. The first step to becoming a friend with another person is knowing more about them. If you never knew that person, you will not be friends. It is the same with knowing teachers. That is why a bond with a teacher is important. Another thing is that when you are connected to a teacher, you are more likely to give attention to their lessons, and that way you have a larger learning opportunity. A bond like that is important becuase not all students are very engaged in what teachers have to say. Sometimes when you know more about your teacher than your classmates, you feel special since it is like a secret no one else knows about. That is another reason why having a bond with your teacher is significant. You might be more willing to talk to that teacher if you have a stronger connection with them. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong Middle School Student White Half-Canadian Male Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: Teachers have always been socially and emotionally distant from us, the students. Especially in my earlier days in school. Now I can find more things in common with my teachers. One main example of this was when I was in fifth grade. Throughout all my years in elementary school, everybody looked forward to fifth grade. The teachers were nice and relatable to the kids. They wanted to make school fun instead of just get their job done. The first thing is that there were only two fifth grade teachers at my elementary school, making it more personal. Also, not only were those two teachers very close friends, but they also ran a blog about their classes, both as an educational tool and for fun. One of the teachers published vlogs each day. Looking back, the main reason I liked them so much is because we shared common interests. They shared memes in class and whenever there was a new tend one of the teachers would bring it to our class and make a vlog about it, like lip sinking lyrics to popular songs, or having a March Madness basketball game. Because they were so relatable, they were fun. But that was just one year. Every other year in my school career all of my teachers have been female. I feel that these teachers weren’t relatable, not because of their gender, but because of their personalities. They wanted to get stuff done the right way, and that is not a bad thing, but they just didn't make it fun along the way. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Well at first, I would say no. We should not go out of our way to find a teacher that is the same gender or race as the students. Yes, it may be helpful, but unless there is a language gap, it seems inconvenient to choose teachers based on gender or race. You should not discriminate, but you should not chose a teacher only for those aspects. However, a good teacher should be emotionally relatable. Not just a figure of power forcing their students to do boring things, they should be like a close friend. Keeping them on track academically but not being afraid to have fun. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong Middle School Student Indian Female Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I moved to America when I was three so I was brought up here, even though I was born in India. Most of my teachers have been American. I only had one Indian teacher and that was in preschool. I did not have a larger understanding of race culture and religion back then so it did not make a great impact in my life. If I had an Indian teacher now or in elementary school, it would have been different because my parents and the teacher could talk it over and have more in common. So there is not much I had in common with my teachers other than being female. For some people, teachers of the same gender can understand them better. However, that was not the case for me. I never really connected with my teachers most of the time. I was an average student who didn't have any problems. I never had too many personal or exiting things to share with my teachers. The only difficult thing was probably was being of a different race and religion. My family has a special way to do things. There are also some things in my religion that we do. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes, I does matter because teachers need to connect with students to help with any problem they are facing. When students connect with teachers, teachers can understand the student and figure out a way to help them. That is why teachers are here, they guide students to become great successful people. Sometimes kids are afraid to talk to teachers because they worry they might be judged because they do not have that necessary bond. The student can end up in lots of pain. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong Middle School Student African African American Female First Generation American Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I have moved to various different schools in three different school districts and most of my teachers did not relate to me by where I came from. I had mostly girl teachers. I had one teacher that was a male in the first grade. However, all of my teachers were white. While I was born in America, my mom and dad were born in Kenya and they moved to America for work. Now I can tell you that none of my teachers were African so it was hard to relate to them culture-wise. Although some teachers I could get something in common with. For example, my fourth grade teacher loved to read and write and get creative, so I could talk with her about books and poets and get to know her and create a bond. But then I moved to a new school and that bond had been mostly broken and I had to create another bond with another teacher in a new school. All my teachers had various personalities so it was hard to pick out every piece of myself to understand how to talk and relate to them. None of my teachers really tried to get to know me better, or to ask me question about myself or childhood or anything, and they didn’t really take much care in telling about themselves and showing me a side of them. There were even times when I could not talk to my friends or I could not make friends so easily partly because I moved a lot and partly because I did not relate to other kids. What I had with my teachers was not much but I seemed to connect to the other staff much more. The office assistant was an African American so sometimes I would like talking to her and have help from her. Another thing that helped is that my mom was mostly in the school I went to so I could talk to her but sometimes you might want to get away from your mom and talk to someone new. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: I think it is very important for teachers to have something in common with their students. Coming from a person who has moved to many schools, for me, I think it would have been easier to learn from my teachers if I did connect to them. Although having differences with my teachers did start up conversations about my different experiences. Also, I got to learn a little more about their culture and what they liked and how it even related to my experiences even though we are from two different places. The only thing that bothered me a little is that my teachers were usually all from the same place and the same culture so when I kept moving I was thinking maybe I would learn something new and I didn’t. But I learned their likes and hobbies. I had one teacher who was a little tough on the kids and I thought to myself, maybe if I started a conversation with her I can get her perspective, but I never found anything in common with her. Later on that made me realize the importance of having something in common with someone. Middle School Student White Male Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I unsurprisingly don’t have much in common with my current teachers. I mean, obviously everyone has some things in common with their teachers--we're all human, right? However, things like being human, and being alive, those really broad and abstract things really do not matter. For nearly all of my teachers I have not been able to connect on a personal level to find out things we may have in common. I am male and I have only had three non-substitute teachers who were male. I am also white and nearly all of my teachers have been white from grades K-6. I cant quite grasp how much that interferes with the education of my friends of color. So the two teachers I think Identify with the most would be my 4th and 5th grade teachers. Both of them are male and Caucasian, like me, but there are other things that connect me to those teachers too. One of the best memories I have that bonds me to my 4th grade teacher was when everybody was sharing what they had done over a three-day weekend and once the people who wanted to share had finished, my teacher said, “Who spent the whole weekend playing Halo the Master Chief Collection?” He raised his hand and obviously expected nobody else to raise their hand. And nobody did. Not one single hand was in the air out of the 48 hands in our class, except my teacher's, and of course mine. This small memory seems kind of small and unimportant, but this has meant a lot to me because at that moment I just felt so connected to my teacher and it really helped me pay attention and just realize class is actually worthwhile. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: I personally think that having things In common with your teachers in absolutely critical. Words cannot explain how important I think this is. I definitely believe that the teachers who have things in common with their students are the ones who have the biggest impact on students' education and, just as importantly, who the students turn out to be. I also think that it is way easier to teach somebody who you are able to identify with them. One thing that I think is the reason that having things in common with your teachers enhances your education (and basically your life) is that having things in common with somebody helps you humanize them. Instead of seeing them as just another random person you see them as an actual human. Instead of seeing your teacher as just another person trying to tell you stuff, you see them as a human with human qualities and an interesting personality. If you are able to see the humanity in your teachers it will help you understand them so much more. There is so much to say about this but it’s hard to put it into words. As somebody who has had many teachers I have not related to, I really think this needs to change. There are a LOT of students who have their education and life limited by the fact that their teachers/mentors don’t seem even that human. Middle School Student Chinese + Caucasian Female Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: As a mixed race student, not many teachers reflect my cultural background. When my teachers and I can relate in other ways, I feel as if being a minority doesn’t matter because we connect in other, more important ways. You don’t need to have the same race or gender to understand another person, and even a small commonality can mean the world. I had an amazing 4th grade teacher; she was always extremely enthusiastic and loved teaching. Near the end of the school year, my class had an assignment to write about an important keepsake. Although at the time I had no idea what a keepsake was, I had known for a while that I wanted to write about my cello. I had never really struggled with writing before, but I was very apprehensive about how to put the connection I felt with my instrument into words. I knew it was just a hollow block of wood, but it meant so much more to me. Not many of my peers understood, and the thought that I had to funnel a tornado of thoughts into just five paragraphs was maddening. No words I knew could express my feelings. When it was time to present my essay, I was scared that my teacher wouldn’t understand exactly how I felt, and that I wasn’t precise enough in my explanation. Luckily for me, she had played the violin since she was a kid, and knew exactly what I meant. My teacher understood, and she helped me make my writing clearer. She helped me concentrate and explain my tornado of thoughts coherently. That similarity with music helped me with my education. And although my writing is nowhere near perfect, the fact that I had something in common with my teacher helped me build my skill. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Absolutely! I believe the most important part of student teacher relationships is empathy. The ability to see others point of view, and feel with them. If a student understands that their teacher respects them and knows what they’re going through, they are much more likely to respect and understand them back. Although students and teachers can be different, even the smallest commonality can make the biggest impact. Middle School Student Korean Female First Daughter Middle Child Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I have nothing really in common with my teachers. Almost all of them are female. I am also female. Some of them are Asian like me. Some of them have the same hobbies, play the same instruments, and some of them taught or teach my brother so I guess we both know my brother. I have a male teacher who is my only male teacher. And we do not have anything in common. He teaches my brother. But there is nothing we have in common. I don’t think I have ever had a teacher that I had a lot in common with. But maybe I just do not know. My kindergarten teacher was Korean. And my principal too. But they couldn’t speak Korean, like me. They were my only teachers that were Korean. One of my fourth grade teachers had a small collection of fossils on his desk. I also have some fossils. One of my teachers has died hair and I also die my hair from time to time. Some of them wear glasses. But only a few. I used to wear glasses too. But now I wear contacts. A lot of them have dark hair and dark eyes. I have really dark hair and eyes so it seems like black. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: I do not think it matters that students and teachers have anything in common with each other. I have nothing really in common with my teachers but I get along with them just fine. I think that if a student has a lot of things in common with the teacher, maybe they could be closer. I don’t see anyone in any of my classes get along more with the teacher because they have things in common than if they didn’t. I am pretty sure that teachers treat their students equally. I had a friend who was born in the same hospital and liked the same baseball team as our teacher. Once in a while they would talk about it but I did not think the teacher was treating her better or liked her more or anything. Also, I do not think that if you and the teacher have things in common there will be a special bond between the two of you. I just think that they have something in common. A teacher is still a teacher. If you need his or her help, you can just ask. He or she will still be there for you. Similarities could start a bond between the teacher and the student but I just don’t think it matters. I think that if I actually had teachers with a lot in common, I would think differently. But I never had any teacher with anything big in common, big enough to start a bond. Even if I did have a teacher with lots in common, I would not really care. I have gone to school for years without having a special connection with the teacher and I still think that teachers are a good teachers. Middle School Student Caucasian Female Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I do not have a race. All of my friends have different races though, which has made me learn so much. My best friend Laura is Asian and my other best friend Megan is Filipino. Because I am a white female like many public school teachers, I have had things in common with teachers. It is good I have things in common with my teachers, but they are not diverse, like all of my friends. I would also like my friends to have things in common with their teachers. Also, my parents are divorced, and my brother has moved away to Utah, so my family is somewhat broken apart, but we make it work. I rarely see my dad, only every other weekend. I am with my mom during the weekdays, and every other weekend. None of the teachers I know have had divorced parents, or at least don't speak of it. Students are so diverse. Teachers are not diverse. It is not fair for the kids to not have any teachers like themselves. Teachers and students need to be equally diverse. People should have things in common with the people they spend the most time with and learn from. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes. Very, very, very much. Even though few students may have things in common with teachers, very many do not. Kids have to have someone to look up to, and teachers can have an impact on that. If teachers were more diverse and kids had things in common with them, then kids would look up to their teachers more, and trust them. If a kid is going through a tough time, the teacher could help a lot more if they had things in common and they went through the same experiences. You have things in common with your friends, which is why you are friends, right? I think that may be why kids do not like school, because they have nothing in common with their teachers. It is easier to learn with a teacher that you have things in common with. There are so many people on this earth that are diverse and most public school teachers in America are white women and public school students in America are diverse. I find that something is wrong there, and we need to fix it so more kids can have things in common with their teachers. |
ROLL CALLHumanizing the gaps separating teachers and students. Archives
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