Issues of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Identity

Blog 3: As teachers, how should we be prepared to deal with issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and identity in our classrooms and in our one-on-one interactions with students? How can we create teaching units that help students explore these issues?

This discussion again emphasized for me that our diverse student population is even broader than I first thought. As composition teachers we have to take into account that we have native speakers of English, generation 1.5 and international students as well as students of different races, ethnicities, genders and dialects. It is a tall order to be prepared and deal with all of these issues, but for me the key factor was communication. It is important for teachers not to label students and establishing report with our students may avoid this. I like how group 1 suggested teachers have as much one-on-one contact with their students as possible. This will enable teachers to realize and understand the issues such as racism, sexism and ageism that many students face.

I think it is important for composition teachers to allow their students to express their identities and the dialects they use in classroom activities. This is another opportunity for instructors to show students that academic English is a different dialect that can be learned like any other and that their own dialects are just as important. I also like the ideas of introducing students to all the different dialects that are in the class. This could be done through readings, discussions and dispelling myths.