The use of ELA Instruction blog #3

 Instruction in the ELA classroom is a stance where an educator can ask themselves is what I’m teaching antibias? Ebarvia mentions on page 204 in her book Get Free “that no matter what race you are, it’s true that readers often try to find themselves in literature”.  It goes to show that in the classroom just simply having literature where the authors are not mainly white men can provide the first step in an antibias classroom. Typically, one uses the textbook that is required of the curriculum, but every now and then the teacher/educator get the chance to pick their own stories, articles, novels to read in the classroom. We have to pick our non-texts with such pristine so that the students can demonstrate their understanding. Having poems, videos, and articles is a great way to establish resistance against white male authors and include authors of color, and indigenous authors.

Including inclusive texts in the classroom we first have to look at the fact that most schools don’t teach students equally and that is shown with the curriculum. One look and you can see that its not a neutral way of teaching but has always been ideological. I can say that until I reached college I never once read a story in the classroom that had a different author than being a white male. Including diversity even if one can’t find a novel to read a short poem or even a few can give students the inside look in how an author that isn’t a white male gives on their past, their ancestors, and even the present world from their eyes.

We have to consider that biases are built into everyday life. “The more that we normalize seeking multiple perspectives and ways of seeing, interpreting in the classrooms then the more students will seek those multiple perspectives outside the classroom” (pg. 216). That’s why having our students engage in questions about identity, diversity, justice, and action is highly important for their own development of antibias in the classroom. Introducing students to the framing effect in a way that when introducing a text(s) the way they interpret that information will be in a positive format where they question the subsequent information about the topic or issue. The way we introduce the text is the most critical of our decisions as a teacher/educator in the school.

On page 227 of Ebarvia’s book is a quote that says students need to identify and engage with biases that too often impede our ability to reason, because an important skill a teacher can give their students is the power of reasoning and how to do it well. One way to do that is have the student(s) research the bias, provide examples of the bias, and give solutions. That way other students can look at that bias and go they’ve got great solutions on how not to let that bias affect myself in the classroom. It is also a great tool for the teacher/educator to use as well. Considering that we are human not perfect beings it is nearly impossible to completely take out biases in the classroom. It’s how we manage ours and our students biases that make the classroom antibias.