Now, it would be disingenuous to declare that no concept of intellectual supremacy exists, because every school has A, B, C, and D students. Students are going to compare grades and then feel either better or worse than each other based on these unfortunate, but necessary, measurements of academic skill.
This concept can become fuel for delinquency, however, when there is elitism. Elitism is when there becomes a pecking order due to academic skill in the classroom. If you would like to review my first post, "How to Teach Kindness," this might be a good time to do so. It's at the bottom of the page.
Elitism runs completely against kindness AND equality. Surely a D-student can do some things that an A-student cannot do. As a teacher, it is up to you to find out what these things are and to reassure your struggling students. Whether they can play guitar, or sew, or draw really well, it is up to you to find out what makes the D-student an equal with the A-student and to display that. This will help build high self-esteem in the D-student and may raise the poorer student's grades in the long term.
Consider giving a classroom grade for kindness, hard work and participation. This will boost morale for the students who don't naturally do as well.
Naturally, an A-student is going to get a lot of postitive attention, because they know all the answers to all the questions, but a C-student in math might be the next Mother Theresa or Hillary Clinton with the right encouragement from the right teacher. (Not to say that either one of these fine women was bad at math, but the point's been made.)
The potential achievement of a child is limted only by their own self-conception and you as a teacher or parent have a lot to do with how a child sees himself or herself.
In short, don't fall prey to elitism in the classroom. Look for ways to let all your children shine.
No comments:
Post a Comment