Going into this discussion I knew my 10th graders would struggle with the content. We were talking about “How and to what extent did African people and their descendants keep their culture in Latin America?” At the core of this discussion were concepts like resistance, and editing and blending cultures. I knew this content was more complex and nuanced than concepts we previously covered. I was concerned that if I did not solidify their knowledge from an earlier lesson, fewer students would participate. I could tell only a few students understood the differences between these key concepts. I could have students jot down ideas, discuss the concepts with a partner, or just jump into the discussion and hope for the best. I felt it was my responsibility as a teacher to check and make sure everyone had accurate content to discuss, but I worried that if I harped on the concepts, students would get bogged down and not want to participate. I also did not have a lot of time allotted for the discussion.
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Maya
10th Grade
African American History
Second Year Teaching
- What is the teacher's dilemma? Consider the teacher's goals, possible actions, beliefs about the situation and the students, and their own self-perceptions.
- Complete or modify the following sentence in a way that captures the teacher's central tension in the situation: "While on the one hand, the teacher believed/wanted/felt/did __________, on the other hand, they believed/wanted/felt/did __________."
- Thinking about your own classroom, how do you decide when to check students’ understanding about content from previous lessons versus pressing forward with the discussion as planned, even though students may lack foundational knowledge about the topic of the discussion?