I remember on the
second week of class I asked a student to not wear his sunglasses in class and he laughed it off saying that they were prescription, ignoring the request and adjusting them.
Another student on the first day of class when we were playing the name game
introduced himself as “R@*#ey Royce” to the class which made many of the men in
class laugh while many of the women visibly uncomfortable. They continued
this for days afterwards even after my requests for them and the student in
question to stop. I didn’t know how to gain their respect. I
remember feeling awful about this but I looked at it as having two choices: being incredibly strict on them or being myself.
Went with the later in the end. This situation would overall suck but at least I would be genuine. A few times in
class I remember my accent would come out in class and I would disclose that I
was Latina and spoke Spanish. I would comment on a student’s shirt who would
have an anime character on it and ask them if they liked the show. A student
specifically would draw on every handout given or a paper they turned in, I told them
to continue doing this because their art style was dope. I remember when giving
out the impromptu speech of my favorite video game, a few students asked afterwards if I battled the
gym outside the environmental science building yet, and the class would even quiet down when I was trying to speak up during the class discussions. There were so
many things that I could’ve done to have them respect my identity but am glad
that they responded well to me being genuinely myself. Small things but they’re still a win. #SucksYes!
Hello Jen,
ReplyDeleteThis is a wild story. Even though I heard about this incident from you in passing, my mouth still gaped after you mentioned this again here in your blog. I wonder why this student was wearing sunglasses to class. Did you ever find out why? Was he under the influence of something? This is pretty uncomfortable to read, so I cannot imagine how that must have been in person, especially when being the one in charge who has to facilitate and mediate those sorts of events/tensions. I find hope in hearing that you were able to gain respect and even relate to your students through your interests and being authentic. I feel that I did not take the time to relate to my students through those same means. Did you have any reservations with showing your interests/identity in new ways with them? Did being real with your students ever backfire?