I teach writing and drama for seventh- through 12th-grade students who are home-schooled, financially secure and white.
Racial and religious stereotyping issues frequently come up in the classroom. The students seem to forget that I’m a minority (African American) when they say things like, “Why don’t Mexicans ever take showers?” or, “A lot of Muslims are terrorists.”
I used to challenge the stereotypes and chastise the student. A year ago I decided to use my character development and dialogue teaching sessions as an opportunity to explore and discuss these beliefs.
I give each student a different index card with a simple character description: friendly convict, angry mom, playful toddler. Then I tell them to develop this character in a race, culture or ethnicity that’s different from their own.
I give examples: a Jewish, friendly convict; an Italian angry mother; an impoverished playful toddler. Next I hand out a character development sheet for them to complete on their character. The students answer questions like:
What motivates this character?
How does the character deal with emotions?
What are social and intimate relationships like?
What spiritual elements does the character exhibit? How?
What does the character do for fun?
What failures does the character have?
What biases or prejudices motivate his or her behavior?
What bugs you about the character?
What makes the character endearing?
Then they write a physical description of their character.
The students invariably respond with basic stereotypical behavior. The Jewish convict is motivated by money. The Italian mother is demonstrative with her hands. The impoverished toddler is dirty and disrespectful. We discuss these briefly, but then I take the exercise a step further.
I place the character in an environment. For example, the students write about the toddler facing a fear. Or they act out the convict getting a speeding ticket (another student plays the police officer). I ask the students questions about why they portrayed their character as they did.
They start to realize that the media, their parents, their peers and their limited experiences shape the way they view other races, ethnicities and religions. I suggest that their views are incomplete. Maybe family motivates the Jewish convict, or the Italian mother cries and withdraws when she’s angry. During the discussion students begin to consider the danger of stereotyping based on limited information. More than that, they see the importance of meeting a variety of people who are different from them so they can experience more of the world.
Angela Dion
College of Southern Maryland
La Plata, Md.
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