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Mrs. Drello, a resource room teacher, was having difficulty with Tyree,
a 14-year-old African-American male in her classroom. Tyree came to Mrs. Drello's class 45 minutes a day, 5 days
a week, for math instruction.
Mrs. Drello's problem's with Tyree:
- Rude
- Had a bad attitude
- Would not look at her when she spoke to him
- Looked away when she was teaching
- When she tried to talk to him he would shrug and walk off
- When a student took a piece of paper from his folder without asking,
Tyree completely overreacted
- Black students can touch his things, but not white students
- Sends him to the principal for noncompliance
- Tries calling home to speak to a parent about his attitude and grades, but
the person who calls back is an aunt
Mrs. Drello was in the teacher's lounge telling her tale of woe to her fellow teachers.
Soon, she and Mr. Jones were the only teachers left in the lounge. Mrs. Drello, feeling guilty that maybe there was something
she could/should do to help Tyree, asked Mr. Jones his opinion. Mr. Jones, an African-American, asked Mrs. Drello if she honestly
wanted the truth to help Tyree or if she just wanted to feel better about herself. She chose Tyree.
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Mr. Jones explained:
- Teachers have lower expectations for poor African-Americans
- Teacher praise them less and punish them more
- For African-Americans to look away while someone is talking isn't meant
to be rude, it's cultural
- Many African-Americans have a large extended family, a network of the
extended family
- It wasn't a parent who called back, it was a family member who cared
- Tyree may have acted out because it was a white male who opened his notebook
and took the paper without asking
- If it had been another black male, Tyree would have shared with his brother
without a problem.
Mrs. Drello decided to call Tyree's home number and leave a message asking for
an adult to please call in regard to Tyree. Tyree's aunt, Mrs. Jones, called back and Mrs. Drello set up a conference
with her. Mrs. Drello started the conference by apologizing for not realizing that Mrs. Jones was, indeed, Tyree's guardian.
Because Mrs. Drello decided to learn about the culture and the worldview of one
of her students, she was able to rethink how she treated the student and his family and became a more effective teacher.
- African-American parents/guardians develop passive attitudes in regard to schools
- Passivity can seem negative
- Treated as clients rather than participants in school
- Contact family for reasons other that discipline problems
- Know what the culture defines as a family
- Kinship of sisterhood and brotherhood
- Recognize the issues of race and racism and how they affect students
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