Mindwork:
· Emic Stance:
o In terms of my interest in students’ development of empathy and socially appropriate responses, I have to consider several factors concerning my own upbringing. First, I was raised in a white, suburban neighborhood. My classmates, along with myself, were all raised under similar cultural circumstances: generally upper middle class, parents educated beyond a bachelor’s degree, probably Republican for the most part, etc. What was considered “appropriate behavior” was established without the need to consider cultural diversity, because really there wasn’t much to consider. The same was true for SES. That is not the same situation for many of my students in Columbia. Their academic experience is much more diverse than mine was. There are a lot of cultural codes at play in the typical Columbia classroom, and sometimes I wonder if imposing my ideas of “appropriate behaviors” is really the correct thing to do. What is the best way to build empathy? By addressing is directly when students are young, or dancing around it until maturity kicks in? My academic experience more or less danced around it, but I don’t always believe that was the best way to do it.
· Etic Stance
o As an outsider looking into the school that I would study, I would see that on the outside (usually led by the administration) there is a careful system in place and vocabulary used to talk about how to develop empathy and other socially appropriate behaviors in students. Teachers are to say this phrase several times today, and model this behavior in this situation, etc. But then when I observe in the classroom, what a teacher is able to do/say realistically is much more unorganized and chaotic, sometimes impulsive, and usually privately explained. I feel as though a typical teacher is so afraid of addressing a topic that might be sensitive or uncomfortable, such as why a student speaks a certain way or acts a certain way, because that teacher fears retribution. When students are sent to school, I feel that parents and administration need to understand that teachers must be allowed a certain degree of freedom of judgment to react accordingly to inappropriate behaviors. Is it not possible to freely point out differences as simply fact, and then tackle and mold inappropriate responses head on? Is it not possible to actually ask parents: what does empathy look like in an African American, Asian American, or Caucasian household? What does empathy look like in a lower or higher SES household?
Mindwork:
· What surprises you (chapter 1 lookback)
o Looking back, I think my biggest surprise is that I find my own school experiences to be so different from the students I work with today, maybe not so much in terms of academics, but socially and culturally. Most of my classmates back in middle and high school were white, middle to upper class, white collar families. It seemed, anyway, that the typical student came from a fairly stable and safe household. Some of us had jobs, mostly for experience, and most of us had nice cars and nice clothes. Obviously there were many among us who did not fit that description, but they seemed to do their best to try to blend in. Columbia has a wider array of cultural, social, and economic situations all combined into each school.
· What intrigues you?
o I’m intrigued by the social and psychological development of students, especially through the lens of the arts. I always had an interest in psychology and biology, and I think that interest drives my research topic today. Many of my research brainstorm ideas revolved around behaviors, and it’s behavior management that I fear the most when it comes to teaching. Perhaps I feel that the most I come to understand it, the less fearful I will be when I approach it.
· What disturbs you?
o I think my fear of parental and administrative retribution, or general lack of support, disturbs me. Maybe that comes from my simple lack of experience, or the few somewhat alarming stories I’ve heard from other teachers about a student’s home life. It’s disturbing to me that I sometimes feel that when I get started, I will have no support behind me.
· What surprises you about the emic/etic questions?
o I’m surprised by how I view behavior “teaching strategies” in the classroom: messy, chaotic, and unorganized. I guess I get this viewpoint from the younger elementary classes. Many of the students are simply not old enough to understand their behaviors, and as such, sometimes a teacher must address 2-3 behavior instances at a time. It can feel very overwhelming. I think that by my very nature I seek structure and organization, and I’m probably seeking that possibility through this research.
· What intrigues you about the emic/etic questions?
o I’m intrigued by my own lack of a diverse experience in my middle and high school years (honestly, I can’t remember the elementary years, but they were probably the same). At the same time, it’s likely that I was looking at everyone else’s experience through the lens of my own experience, and as such, I was blind to different experiences of my classmates. For example, when I think harder and look closer, I can remember several students whose situations were very different from my own, filled with struggle and worry. Perhaps that simple blindness to the experience of others is something that needs to be openly addressed in schools.
· What disturbs you about the emic/etic questions?
o I’m disturbed by how much race seems to play a part in my concern for the appropriate social development of students. When I think of examples of “unempathetic” students that I’ve dealt with, I often think of students of color. However, I understand that this is a biased point of view that comes not only from my own upbringing and experiences as a teacher, but also from the literature I’ve read and the media I’ve consumed, etc. When I think objectively about “unempathetic” student, I realistically can come up with about every race, religion, ethnicity, etc. It’s that initial bias that I must overcome.
Mindwork
· Code of Ethics
o It is the goal of this research project to maintain ethical and professional standards to protect participants’ rights to privacy and confidentiality. Three principles create the foundation of conduct in this research project: respect, beneficence, and justice…
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