High School Student Hispanic Straight Male Will be the first in his family to graduate from college Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: Growing up, I never had anything in common with my teachers. Being a Mexican-American is tough, especially because a lot of us come from families who immigrated to the U.S. We always had to do the extra set of work and help our parents at their work, and it was that struggle that your teachers didn't understand. It wasn’t until I reached high school, for the first time I had a teacher who was Mexican. As soon as he introduced himself to me I knew we were going to get along. Then we began to share the common problems that Mexican children have, the foods that we liked and we even shared the same taste in music, and that's what made me trust him and rely on him whenever I had a question or a problem and that’s when I realized that when you share something in common with someone, especially share the same race, you don’t feel alone, you don't feel outnumbered, you feel relieved that someone finally understands you and your struggles. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: When sharing a common interest, especially cultural background, it makes you trust that person, so when students and teachers share the same struggle or same taste in music it helps create a connection and that connection turns into trust and trust turns into a friendship. That said, I believe it's beautiful that teachers and students share common interests, but does it matter? No, because although there's no commonality, there is that respect that makes you interact with that person. Roberto plans to study science and engineering in college and start his own software company that will help make sure all children have access to computers. To hear more about Roberto's journey, watch this video of Kristin Leong's opening talk for Town Hall Seattle's #EducationSoWhite event. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong
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High School Student Black Heterosexual Female Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: Appearance wise I don't have much in common with my teachers. Majority of them aren't of color but half of them are women so we do relate there. Something that I do have in common with my teachers though is probably a shared mentality towards work ethic. I naturally have a mature mindset so it is easy for me to relate to my teachers. For example, it would be easier for me to talk to my teachers about the meaning of life and working after high school rather than my peers because my teachers and I just have a common perspective on things. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Absolutely! There are so many benefits for not only the students but for the teachers as well. When students and teachers have things in common, teachers can understand why a student is choosing their actions. For students, it's important to have things in common with the teachers because you can relate about struggles and stereotypes, and it just creates a good feeling to know that someone can relate to you about certain things. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong High School Student Filipino Middle Child Male Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I have never been a talker. I usually just listen to what my teachers have to say and then do my work. But every now and then my teachers and I have a small chit chat in the middle of class. Just yesterday me and my math teacher had a conversation about how weird and funny our pets are. Since I'm not a big talker I mostly learn about my teachers through my peers. They tell me about another teacher being a 'straight up savage' and we laugh and joke about it. I've also learned that some of the teachers like and play the same video games me and my friends like to play! I feel like I really started to connect with my teachers in high school. In elementary school and middle school I felt I never got to really know my teachers--not because they were mostly White Women and I am a Filipino Male--but because I didn't get to know them as a person; a human being. I feel as if I lost that opportunity to get to know them and for them to get to know me. But it's hard to get to know a person when all the talk is focused on what's going in our textbooks or about a test that's going to be taken the next week or at the end of the school year. There is one teacher that I will never forget from elementary school (especially with a name like hers how can you forget!). Her name was Ms.Star. She was my 4th grade teacher. At the time I was just starting to love art! I remember I would draw all the posters on my cousin's walls and she would show me all the drawings she drew. She inspired me to also start drawing and I fell in love with it! Ms.Starr loved arts and crafts a lot, unlike the other teachers. She was really into making handwritten and custom-made cards. She would tell us stories of how her and her friends would meet up and create together as well show us her cards in class. I felt like I could understand her love for making those cards and I could connect with her on that personal level. Although I have never shared the same culture or race with my teachers I feel like that it doesn't matter because all of my teachers have always treated me with respect despite our race and culture differences. Being able to say that must be very lucky for me compared to what other kids across the country and around the world have to go through. Especially for one of my friends who I talk to who lives across the country. Her relationship with her teachers aren't good and it doesn’t only affect her in school but also at home as well. I wish I could say the same for her. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: I strongly believe that it is important for students and teachers to have things in common. Getting to know your students and teachers is not only the first step to becoming a better learner but also creating good connections. Because at the end of the day (and it's been said many times and sometimes we forget) we are all human. It doesn’t matter if the setting is within classroom walls or it's out in the grocery store, we are all still human no matter what. And being human is being able to communicate and communication plays a huge role in education as well as the path of life. Getting to know your teachers creates the trust needed between a student and teacher and vice versa. If you get to know your teacher as if they were a friend you start to respect them more and become more engaged in topics they bring in class. I believe that this special bond is important in order to keep students engaged and interested in the curriculum they are learning about. It's part of the teacher's job to connect with the students. It's their job to keep our ideas running and to show us that our thoughts and dreams are not impossible to achieve! But it's also their job to be second parents for the student, because students spend most of the day with their teachers rather than their parents, especially if both of the parents work long hours. The teacher should be someone who students can talk to and trust if they don’t feel okay at home or at school. And as of right now, in the world we live in today it's really important for someone to be there for them. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong High School Student Somali Straight Male Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: As an African and a Muslim, I don't have anything in common with my teachers. Even though we might not have anything in common, we still respect each other and not let that divide us. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes, it does matter that students have things in common with their teachers because they can relate to their teachers and open up with them more. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong |
ROLL CALLHumanizing the gaps separating teachers and students. Archives
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