Branding Bad Boys. Teachers' Perceptions of Behaviour and How to Tackle Stereotyping Black Males

Academic Paper from the year 2007 in the subject Didactics - Common Didactics, Educational Objectives, Methods, grade: A, Southern Illinois University Carbondale (Curriculum & Instruction), language: English, abstract: Teachers' attitudes towards black male students are still an under-discussed topic. But do we educators furnish them with equal learning opportunities as our white male students? Frankly, teachers of third track classes filled with black boys, can you claim for yourself never to use easy reader texts for your audience while providing the same literature in its original, sophisticated version to top track classes abundant with white students? In the following, let us explore current teachers' perceptions of their black male students, in order to find ways for instructors to identify possible forms of stereotyping and labeling, and to make suggestions for a change in perspective for teaching a diverse classroom.