- Race: Some Teachable and Unteachable Moments by Heidi Tolentino left me with mixed feelings for both Carlen and Jessie. On one hand, I get Carlen’s point that Jessie would not know what it is like to be Back. Can a white person understand the Black Experience? How is Jessie to understand what Carlen has experienced when there is so much pain and hurt that Carlen cannot express herself. And is it up to Carlen to have to open up and teach Jessie? What does Jessie do? Is it her right to request this information from Carlen? Or should she wait until someone else is willing to open up? How will Jessie or any white person know about the Black experience?
- So what did Carlen want from Jessie and the other students? Clearly, she does not want to be the voice to represent the “whole” Black Experience, but she wants to be understood and unapologetically Black.
- It was quite admirable that Jessie wanted to take the test within the 10 minute time span. I am curious about the test myself. It would have been a great discussion for students to analyze the tricky questions on the test. Taking the test would not have given Jessie the full experience of what it means to be Black as Carlen knows it, but it would have given her a glimpse into understanding history. Perhaps through thoughtful conversations and discussions students may have been able to come to some conclusions of how this test was used as a tool.
- In Pyschology Today, the author Monnica T. Wiiliams writes about the layers of pain, mistrust and taboos that keep people divided along the racial lines. As we have read, this is true of Carlen and Jessie. These conversations are difficult and uncomfortable to have especially in a classroom where you are in the minority. I am sure Carlen did not feel safe to open up and share her true feelings being that she was outnumbered.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/culturally-speaking/201408/can-white-person-understand-the-black-experience
- I did not think it was fair for the teacher to have asked to read Carlen’s letter aloud to the class. i believe that by her doing so, she put Carlen on the spot in front of her whole class. The letter was a way for her to reflect on her feelings about what had transpired in class. She used her student Carlen as a teachable moment, because she was not prepared to discuss such a sensitive topic with her students. She's making Carlen do the hard work.
Hi Dena, I agree with all your comments in regards to your reactions after reading the Some Teachable and Unteachable Moments article. I think that one of the biggest problems with racism is that it is hard to talk about openly and honestly without feeling uncomfortable at times. I just appreciated the teachers' willingness to have that dialouge take to place in the classroom as well as her students show of empathy towards each other.
ReplyDeleteHi Dena, I'm thinking a lot about that sense of ambivalence that you walked away with. So often when reading about teacher practice/ discussions of racism, we're shown "model moments" or breakthroughs. The teacher is up on a pedestal as "savior" or "expert" and even if things get messy, they are beautifully resolved. I like that in this article we get a sense of the different perspectives/ needs/ ambivalences/ challenges of Carlen, Jessie, and Heidi. We see the ways their actions, words, and hopes for the classroom space fell short, the ways they were incommensurable, the mistakes they made. And crucially, Heidi brings us into her own ambivalence and the things she wished she'd done differently.
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