Andrea Bearman11/17/2008

How Teachers Know Their Classrooms: A Cross- Cultural Study of Teachers’ Understanding of Classroom Situations

By Miriam Ben- Peretz and Rob Halkes Anthropology &Education Quarterly, Vol. 18 No. 1 (Mar.,

1987), pp. 17-32http://www.jstor.org/stable/3216337 When Race Matters: Teachers’ Evaluations of Students’

Classroom BehaviorBy Douglas B. Downey and Shana PribeshSociology of Education, Vol. 77 No. 4 (Oct., 2004), pp. 267-282http://www.jstor.org/stable/3649390 Learning to Work: The Hidden Curriculum of the ClassroomBy Margaret LeCompteAnthropology & Education Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Spring,

1978), pp 22-37http://www.jstor.org/stable/3216617

This article allows teachers from other cultures to look at the teaching styles of other teaching styles from other cultures. It allows these teachers to view teaching in another classroom without the verbal cues that most would expect but with only the facial expressions and body language from the students and the teachers in the classroom.

these teachers from Israel and the Netherlands allowed cameras in their classrooms and also viewed each others videos to see if they can see the “cues” that teachers use to teach within their classrooms from different cultures.

I was amazed to see that these classrooms were similar even though they were from two very different parts of the world.

Teachers could see the social cues from the students and the teachers that they to have done in their own classrooms and recognized them in others teaching styles and could interpret what was going on in these rooms even though they could not hear or even know what was going on in the room.

The author notes that “the feeling of familiarity seemed to be comforting to the responding teachers”( Ben- Peretz, Halkes, 28). I found it amazing that even though these teachers had no idea what subject was being taught on these videos, what language was being spoken, they could see that children in other classrooms and the teachers in those classrooms were similar and had that sense of “familiarity” to them. It is just proof that children are children no matter what part of the world you are in!

This article shows how teachers in classrooms view their black students and rate them on their behavior in the classroom. The authors follow different students through different classrooms with different teachers to see if these children are getting a bad rap about their behavior or if it is true that these kids are just worse in classroom than their white counterparts.

It is interesting to note that these students were looked at from kindergarten to high school. The Author notes that some students who are from higher SES situations were looked at differently then those who come from a lowers SES even though they were African- American as well. The article shows that these students do get lower scores for their behavior from their white and black teachers while in the classroom and they feel that it is because of the cultural differences between the white teachers and the black students and because the black teachers felt that these students should be held to a high standard so that they do well.

I found it interesting that the authors felt that the reason that white teachers felt that they found their black students to be worse in behavior was because that they were culturally different because of “behavior that is ignored or rewarded at home is viewed as disruptive in the classroom”(Downey, Pribesh,268).

I also find it interesting that the black teachers in these classrooms are holding their black students to a higher standard, a standard to do better so they are also pushed to the limit to do better in the classroom.

The findings in this article also struck me as interesting, in the fact that it was still found that the African-American students were still found to have bad behavior in the classroom rather it being solely the bias of the teacher that hinders the student.

I hope that in my classroom I don’t have this problem with my students of color. I also hope that though I am sure that though these teachers don’t intentionally mean to have a negative bias to these students in their classrooms. Teachers need to be able to find a way to get around these negative aspects and focus on the betterment of their students.

This article focuses on the fact that the classroom, though it is a place to learn the basics of reading, writing and math, it is also a place that students learn how to act in the work place as well. The classroom is a work place for the teacher and the tone that is set by the teacher in the classroom is the “hidden curriculum” that teaches these children what is important in the work world that they will one day, most likely enter into.

The author notes that “the socialization process is training children for the world of work” (LeCompte, 22). LeCompte notes that whatever the task is that the teacher puts in front of these students, the teacher needs to require and receive serious work from their students (23). “The “hidden curriculum” in the classrooms were universal for the most part and consisted of Do what the teacher says. Live up to the teachers expectations for proper behavior. Keep busy. Keep quiet and don’t move too much. Stick to the schedule” (LeCompte, 29).

I found it amazing that this was studied. I never thought about the classroom in this way. I guess on some level that I knew that the classroom was used in this sense but like the article suggests, I never put this to the forefront of what the classroom should be used or is used for.

The “hidden curriculum” that she speaks of is there and when you think of it as a basis for what is expected of us in a working situation it is true and we do learn these basic things in a classroom though not just from the classroom.

I also found it interesting that the students in these classrooms that were studied found that grades were important and that the grades that were given to them were appropriate for their work and that the teacher, for the most part, was correct in the assessment of their work and the grade that he or she had given to them.

I as a future teacher can only hope that I can pass along the good work ethics that are needed for the future workers and students that come through my classroom. I can only hope that they too will accept the grades that I give them and find those grades to be a good reflection of the work that they have done for me and for themselves.

These articles for me show to me the role of the teacher in the classroom on different levels. It shows teachers taking cues from their students. It shows teachers and how they perceive students of different races and cultures in their classrooms. It also shows how the teachers in those classrooms aren’t just their to teach their students the basics or a specific subject but also their to teach them life skills that they will use throughout their lives.

I find that these articles show how important in influential teachers are in the lives of their students and how preconceived notions about students, cues that they give their students and the way they run their classrooms will have an impact on the lives of their students for a long time.

These articles show how important someone who is a teacher is.

The End