Keegan Kennedy by Keegan Kennedy

Samantha

slmski — 2016-01-06 23:44:03 UTC

I think within a discussion, it could be okay as long as you focus on your students' responses. I'm certain there's research on how students benefit from hearing their teacher's perspective as it could help build community within your class.

Matt

matthewhuot09 — 2016-01-06 23:49:46 UTC

Sam M.

scram_sm — 2016-01-06 23:51:24 UTC

Strong beliefs and passion are why we all love you so much Mr. Kennedy! I really enjoy this question because it deals with the reality of the baggage we bring as educators and how to properly facilitate our views and the views of our students. I know Ross has written a few articles about this topic so check them out if you have not yet.

alexisderos — 2016-01-06 23:54:53 UTC

A great teacher of mine once told me that he admits his own biases to his class when facilitating discussion, in hopes that they will also recognize their own and take on new perspectives. I think that its okay to have your own views, as we all do, but to be aware of them! :)

Aman

a_parhar — 2016-01-06 23:58:37 UTC

I have the same kind of concern regarding my practice.. I feel the best way would be to ensure that your students don't feel like you are forcing your beliefs onto them but just allowing a space for dialogue!

Dominique

bautista_dominique — 2016-01-07 00:25:24 UTC

I appreciate the honesty! This is such a Keegan question. I think it's important that you recognize what your opinions are and to admit to them openly to your class about your biases. Perhaps have a conversation about biases or privilege with your students, and turn your thinking and experiences into a teachable moment?

Hermano

halves — 2016-01-07 03:51:30 UTC

I think that you will be a great teacher by bringing in your personality into the classroom. A lot of students have excellent BS meters and will see that you are not be authentic. Be yourself, but remember you are teaching and learning so sometimes great to challenge those strong beliefs by looking at the other side....ok will get off my soap box now.

Mike Rosse

mikerosse54 — 2016-01-07 04:17:05 UTC

Allowing your students to form their own opinions and creating classroom where different voice can be heard is essential for this question. Through a respectful classroom environment, you as educators should not fear being biased as long as you acknowledge it.

Michael GD

DunkTrunk — 2016-01-08 16:16:37 UTC

I've been thinking about this question and I think I've wrapped my head around two important distinctions in what bias means that might be fruitful in your problem. The first is the idea of bias as a systematic source of error. This sort of bias is like material biases or instrumentation bias that makes the reality appear different then it actually is. These sorts of bias I believe covers your expectation bias and teaching bias that systematically distorts the reality of your students within the classroom (I could be misunderstanding what you mean here sorry). The personal bias (which I believe to be the one you are struggling the most with) falls under the second sense of bias which is a personal leaning or predilection towards a certain stance, either political, moral, aesthetic et cetera. These are not exactly correctable biases in the strong sense because a political stance for example falls under the unanswerable realities of the world. They aren't like the weight of a chair that can be measured or improperly measured. So the problem for personal biases becomes should or should not your own political stance dictate the lesson teaching. Put differently does your aesthetic preference for a particular fashion of chairs inform a lesson or detract from a class on how to design a chair. In this case your preference of chair does inform but it does not universally inform chair design. So it is correct to use your aesthetic stance in the class but incorrect to only allow your aesthetic stance.

Julia

j_mills3 — 2016-01-12 21:31:02 UTC

Did you change you question? Anyway, I think that everyone has a bias, and that is okay. You need to be able to acknowledge tat to yourself, so you are aware of that while you are teaching. I think that having opinions and biases is apart of life, and even though we may try to teach neutrally, sometimes that can be hard with particular issues. I think you could address this with your students, and get them to understand that everyone has a bias, and it is okay to express your opinion (as long as it it not morally offensive to the class) and also that it is okay to disagree. Emphasize that you are disagreeing with an opinion, not with the person, to avoid personalizing opinions.