I read an online journal article that I accessed through the Queen’s library server called “Fostering Positive Race, Class, and Gender Dynamics in the Classroom” by Lynn Weber Cannon in a 1990 issue of Women’s Studies Quarterly. Though the article is more than a decade old, I found that it provided some good entry points for me to consider the experiences of my first practicum as they relate to group dynamics. While the discussion in the article identifies race, class and gender explicitly, I have considered differences in broader terms in my analysis below. I used quotes from the article to start off reflection on my experiences.
Resource:
“Fostering Positive Race, Class, and Gender Dynamics in the Classroom”, Lynn Weber Cannon, Women's Studies Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 1/2, Curricular and Institutional Change (Spring - Summer, 1990), pp. 126-134
Published by: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40004032
“When I started teaching, I was reluctant to address the emotionally laden content of the classroom. But over time, I gave more and more attention to classroom interaction, which, like all group interactions, is structured by inequalities of power among the participants. They are not random, haphazard, or out of the control of the teacher. Our behaviour as faculty members and the way we structure our courses play major roles in the nature of classroom interactions as they unfold throughout the semester: they mimic, reproduce, and with creative management can interrupt, the normal hierarchies of society.”
The importance of understanding the classroom dynamic was made very clear to me the first time I tried to do some group work with the Grade 12 College Math students. I had assumed a feeling of community that just wasn’t there. A random grouping method was met with violent opposition, revealing deep divides between the groups of students who sit in different corners of the classroom working together during regular class periods. Some students didn’t know each others’ names even though they had been sharing a space with each other every weekday for over an hour since the start of semester. They had been used to coming in as separate individuals, working alone or with their friend beside them, and leaving the class (as quick as they could, because this was not a class they seemed to look forward to in any way).
I now feel very strongly that the start of the semester should include dedicated time for a series of community-building activities among class members (and the teacher). I want to teach in a learning community, I don’t want students to have to try to learn in a war zone.
“I believe that an ability to critique the social environment should be at the core of what all of the social sciences convey to their students. It is through this type of analysis that students will learn to act intelligently to shape their own future.”
I spent my first practicum in a math classroom not a social science one, but I think the above statement applies to any learning environment. To think critically- about the social environment, about the materials we are using in class, about the way they are being assessed, about the type of activities we engage in – makes for an engaged student who is being allowed to mature and grow emotionally and intellectually in a supportive environment. By shutting down these types of important discussions - something I experienced with associate teacher – I think something vitally important was lost for the sake of “quiet and getting back on task”. What task could be more important? I think that as teachers, we need to make an effort to learn how to guide these discussions rather than shut them down. Not an easy task! But a worthy challenge.
“I make a special effort to encourage and reward students for working together to accomplish assignments, including preparation for graded tests. This is done to reinforce the working-class and racial ethnic value typically places on group cooperation for group gain, and to contradict the value placed on individual competitiveness in the “normative” classroom environment.”
It is very rewarding to see students working harmoniously with their peers, helping each other to learn, and encouraging each other with the material. I saw a lot of this occurring naturally in my first practicum. The challenge was how to make sure that each student was benefitting to make their group work something more than what they could come up with on their own, and to not use it as an opportunity to copy word for word each others’ answers. This process happened easily with some students, while others seemed happy to copy answers that they did not understand for the sake of getting it done.
I think that group work skills are something that needs to be taught explicitly in classrooms. It cannot be assumed that the social interaction in a group will be constructive and enhance learning, without the proper detailed guidance.
“The process of critical thinking begins by recognizing that as the teacher in the classroom I am a key actor in the classroom dynamics that evolve. I must recognize who I am, where I teach, and whom I teach.”
Effective teaching starts with thorough self reflection. I would like to make it a point from now on to deeply consider my identity, the identity of each of my students, and consider the factors at play when we are working together in a learning community. This will be different for each group of students, and even each day in the class, possibly even each moment! It is an ongoing process of widening my awareness of the different ways people can work together.
“The social structure of the classroom defines the balance of power within it. Structural dimensions that strongly influence classroom interaction include: the number of students; the physical organization of the classroom and seating arrangements; the class distribution across gender, race, religion, ethnicity, age, national origin, physical ability, social class background, and sexual orientation; and the teacher’s characteristics on these same dimensions. As teachers, we should take stock of these factors and consider how they will shape each class from the first day. The distribution of power in the classroom will affect which teaching strategies may be most effective.”
I would like to further research the effects of the structural elements of classrooms and how to use them to assist with learning- What seating arrangements work best for which activities? What else in the physical organization of the classroom could affect the mood as students walk in, work alone, work together, interact with the teacher?
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