Labels- What's in the bottle?
What's in the bottle above? Is it soda? It looks like maybe it could be chocolate milk, or perhaps it's just dirty water. There's only one way to find out- taste it.
We have no idea what's in the bottle! Based on our past experiences with liquids of this color, we will judge it to be whatever we think it is, most likely before we ever chance to taste it. We'll put a label on it, whatever we think it is. It looks like dirty water to me, therefore it is dirty water.
Do we do this with people? Someone's behaviors may paint them a certain color to us, and we label that color to fit in our minds with what we have understood it to be in the past, based on our past experiences, and our culture. Take for instance a teacher who as a student that never comments in a class, never participates, never looks the teacher in the eye. That student could be labeled by the teacher as standoffish, rude, maybe even dumb because they don't respond the way other students do. But if we taste what's inside that bottle, or get to know the student, we might find that student is merely trying to be respectful to the teacher.
As a teacher in the diverse TESOL classroom, we will be dealing with students that have certain behaviors that we may not be used to. It might take us a while to get used to them, but we shouldn't judge them immediately as negative behaviors, when we don't know the behavior's purpose. John J. Ivers, professor at BYU-Idaho in his lecture on cross-cultural students in the classroom tells us,"Whenever a student is from a different place or ethnic group or something does anything weird, you have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Even though you may be interpreting it negatively, it may not be meant negatively." As teachers one of the best things we can do is to hold off on our assumptions about a student. Because whether we realize it or not, it could change the way we treat them, even with little things. The little things add up, and may jeopardize the student's entire learning experience.
It seems to me the biggest culprit to misunderstandings among diverse groups of people is the labels, or impressions we place on others.Just one simple gesture from another person, can paint them an entirely different color, even if their intentions are pure. The bottle of soda could turn into dirty water with a blink of an eye if we don't take the time to open up the bottle and taste it. (Don't literally taste your student, you could get arrested.) Metaphorically speaking, I think it's critical we make a genuine effort to understand our students, as well as anyone else we know, before we wrongly label them in our minds. It would be a sad thing to miss out on a wonderful relationship with someone because of a simple misjudgment.
Have any of you been in a situation where you had to reevaluate your presumption of someone? Did you end up learning something interesting about them?
Sources:
https://video.byui.edu/media/06+Cross-Cultural+Students+in+the+Classroom/0_r2lcaswt
Wow Hannah. I loved how you approached this topic with the example of the bottle, you made your publication very interesting to read and that you can easily remember it. Well done!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Hanna! In order to understand others better, we need to step out of our comfort zone and "taste what is in the bottle". We might be surprised to find our initial opinions to be completely wrong.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Hannah! I have labeled my 2nd grade son's entire class as "difficult". But maybe instead of looking at the class as a whole, I should look at each student and try to figure each one out individually to determine why he or she acts the way they do. It could be a very enlightening experience!
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