Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Suggested Teaching Strategies


Teaching Strategy #1: Rethink the Asian American's Silence

Silence can mean numerous things from a student. It could mean: resistance to teachers, lack of understanding of concepts, thoughtful engagement, concept consideration, insecurity in speaking English, insecurity in their grasp of understanding content and many others. A teacher must decipher the reason behind the silence by interacting with the students individually.


Teaching Strategy #2: Highlight ways Asian American's challenge racism and stereotypes

A teacher must stand against the Asian stereotypes of them being convenience store owners, terrorists, kung fu fighting mobsters, super-nerds, and having submissive women. To do this a teacher can introduce the entire class to examples of organizations and people who defy the stereotypes. By giving these examples, a teacher will show all students how they can be proactive in challenging the issues that are affecting their communities and demonstrates to them that they do not need to be silent as the stereotype specifies.



Teaching Strategy #3: Do Not Automatically Assume Asian Americans are "Good" Students

A teacher must personally get to know all of her students and should not accept stereotypes. By researching, visiting their communities, or many other things, a teacher can get to know their students on a deeper level and therefore better understand them. Another way to better get to know Asian American students is to ask them to reflect and write about their home lives and experiences and how that intersects with their school lives. By not automatically assuming all Asian Americans are "good" students, you will also help students get over their feelings of pressure to do well in school. By getting rid of the pressure students will be able to reach a higher and deeper potential than possible before.


Strategies taken from Rethinking Multicultural Education in the chapter "You're Asian. How Could You Fail Math?" on pages 213- 215.

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