The people of color
The people of color were rendered invisible in the 1950s by the progressive North, while the south segregated themselves with an ugly history. These traits are now seen in today’s urban classrooms. In schools being on time and ready for the class has different perceptions depending on either it’s the teacher’s or the student’s point of view. This question about being on time and ready for has no clear answer. Truth being a teacher will consider the ones that act like them and perceive who don’t as inferior and different. Urban educators mostly don’t live in nearby communities, which makes it hard for them to have a connection with the students. The civic education has a context that dismisses students’ lives and experiences yet talks of advocating for equity improving schools. As long as the white folks teaching in the hood belief that urban youth require “cleaning up” shows that they are dirty and “getting a better life” indicates their present state has little or no value. This can only be curbed by the educator knowing the urban youth by being in touch with their places, which, to many, is not a viable option.
Know the community not just through stories, visit them physically. They may be overcrowded apartment buildings or housing projects, but this is what Kelly Oliver, a philosopher, termed as psychic. Emotions and life experiences are shared both outside and within the school building. They are transcending the geographical place with what is felt by being in that particular location. Some of these areas cause students to suffer from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). These make the student feel powerless around others that send a message that doesn’t matter subjecting them to symbolic and physical violence because of their race. Failure to prepare the educator to appreciate the youths’ psychic space tends to limit their effectiveness. Teachers need to endure the complexity of place, space, and their impact on the psychic of the student. Those who understand where the students come from can acknowledge the effects of these places on the students, and they’re psychic. Educators who are interested to transform schools and meet the needs of urban youth of color must create a safe and trusting environment that favors the culture of the student.
Learning and teaching through reality pedagogy, whose main goal is meeting each student on their own cultural and emotional turf. The teacher and student co-construct the classroom, and it creates a context where the role is reversed. The student tends to take the role of the expert while the educator as a learner. With these, the educator can understand the student, not equal to their cultural identity, but reality pedagogue sees them as individuals influenced by their cultural identity. It helps the teacher develop different modes of teaching that meets the need of the students.
Teaching without fear is essential for both students and teachers in urban communities. Some stories about a hood may influence the way of teaching and what it means, rather than approach it confidently with the joy of being placed in a school to fulfill your mission. The categorizing of students by their color from teachers distracts the initial goal to affect change. The student of color argues that some of them ‘act white’ when they perform well in school, the issue not being that they see academic success as limited to whites. Rather they white educators as enforces of rules and not the actual teaching and learning part hence the defiance. To be a useful color teacher to the urban students, you have to forget about your past and render significant pieces. Teachers need to ally themselves with the students by fighting their fears even when it calls to alter the structure. These needs to be an approach that favors the students and teachers and their rights. Teachers should know they are biased against the brilliance of their own and start to teach truly. Hence the institutions also shouldn’t rob an educator of their responsibilities. Instead, they should recognize how their actions impact their teaching ways.