Think of Teaching Tolerance as a running conversation. We do. Thanks to the Internet, our magazine, our blog, and our Facebook posts all give us a chance to talk back and forth with educators.
Helpful as that is, there’s nothing quite like a face-to-face conversation. That’s why last weekend, 20 educators visited personally with the Teaching Tolerance staff. We shared lunch and had a great conversation about how to better help them in the classroom.
Perhaps the most interesting thing, from our point of view, was the different needs teachers expressed. For instance, one of the teachers dealt daily with immigrant students from Pakistan, India, and Korea. She said she struggles to find literature about Muslim-American teens, and that she relies on Teaching Tolerance to explore the challenges of teaching immigrants and teaching about immigrants.
For many other teachers though, immigration barely appeared on their radar. One pointed out honestly that she’d given very little thought to Muslim students, aside from the impact of 9/11, because there were almost none at her school. These teachers tended to express more concerns about bullies and strategies for dealing with them. Overwhelmingly, they turned to the anti-bullying article we’d done in a recent issue and said it was the most useful.
Like most people, we like to hear praise. But many of the most valuable comments were criticisms. This article about STEM education really didn’t grab me. That sidebar about Muslim women didn’t really tell the whole story. This art really doesn’t belong with that story. Why don’t you have something about teachers being bullied?
The Teaching Tolerance staff is always looking for feedback. That’s why this workshop was just the first of many to come. We’d like to remind all our readers that we love to hear from them, no matter what’s on their minds. Keep your eye out for future workshops like this one, and always feel free to let us know what you think at editor@tolerance.org.
Price is managing editor at Teaching Tolerance.
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As an educator who
As an educator who participated in the focus group perusing a Teaching Tolerance Magazine, I enjoyed the opportunity to converse with educators, professionals and Teaching Tolerance Staff candidly and without criticism. The synergy that stimulated and elicited heartfelt convictions across the room was interwoven with comments of critque that came out of the group's experience,opinion, belief, best instructional practice and reading appeal preference. Editors listened, asked questions and responded to comments of members of the group with genuine interest.
That kind of trusting collaboration among a "family" of diverse individuals who share the passion for making the world a better place with respect, tolerance and kindness is what most crave in the everyday workplace. Good, honest, open conversation reinforced by the understanding that in working together through our differences we can bring about postive, informed growth toward a common unity..