Beliefs and Attitudes Influencing Teaching

A teacher's own beliefs, attitudes, and values can influence their teaching whether they notice it or not. These things are so built in to the person already, that they may not even notice how they come out in their teaching or actions. As a teacher, it is important to be constantly aware of what you are saying and how it can affect your students. In order to be aware, you need to first become aware of your own beliefs, attitudes, and values. In the article, "With New Eyes," Kelly explains that we must be willing to consider our own biases, including beliefs about social class (Kelly, 1999). Kelly (1999) states that "often erroneous assumptions about single-parent families, welfare, and conditions in the homes and neighborhoods of communities often translate into reduced expectations for the students who live there" (p. 2). Therefore, teachers should take time to reflect and become aware of there own biases so that they do not let them come out in their teaching. If you find you are bias of something, you can take the time to ask yourself, why do I feel this way? Determine why and for what reason you have those feelings. After that, look into that particular idea more and find our more about it. You may not feel the same way anymore. A lot of time things are assumed just from society and people around us, when we really just might not know enough. It is impossible to know everything about every culture and background. The key is to just be aware. A teacher might be confused about why a student does something the way they do or how they react to a certain situation. This could be a result of the student's own background and the teacher's unfamiliarity with it. For example, eye contact is a big one. In other countries, children learn not to give direct eye contact. It can be seen as aggressive or rude. If I found myself in a situation something like this, where I was unsure why a student was responding in a particular way, I think I would first talk with fellow teacher to see if they knew something more or a reason for it and then do my own research on that child's background to see if I could come to some kind of conclusion. I agree with Nieto (2008) that we should also be aware of beliefs that we have that "may be based on spurious assumptions or stereotypes" (p. 4). Stereotypes, I believe are a big issue. People are quick to assume things about groups of people who they really have know idea about. When working with diverse populations, I want to take the time to try and familiarize myself with as much as I possibly can about their backgrounds. This will help me be able to understand my students better and be more effective as a teacher.

References:

Kelly, Kathy. (1999). With new eyes. (Vol. 2, No. 7) Classroom Leadership, 3 pgs.

Nieto, Sonia & Bode, Patty. (2008). Affirming diversity. Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.