Blog Post #1

Prompt: How do personal experiences and identities impact one’s professional role as a teacher? How do names and labels influence perceptions and one's educational experience? Are labels helpful or harmful in educational settings?

Personal experiences and identities influence everything from the attitude an educator has when presenting subjects to the type of information they choose to share. Race, gender, sex, sexuality, socio-economic status, and political affiliation are just a few of the things that can shape a teacher’s beliefs and biases, especially regarding the labels given to their students. 

With the potential to aid in the cultivation of individuality in the classroom, labels and names that we gather throughout our lives aid in helping us define ourselves with loose terms. A teacher can utilize these identities and allow students to celebrate their differences. Additionally, in schools with large class sizes where it becomes more difficult for a teacher to focus on each individual student, labels may be the reason why children with learning disabilities receive the accommodations and extra support they may need. 

However, labels can have both limiting and reducing qualities, reinforcing negative and untrue stereotypes. For example, when a child with a learning disability enters the classroom, if a teacher’s perception of them is immediately negative, it impacts their learning experience. Labels may also trigger a teacher’s implicit bias, causing them to group certain students based on discriminatory stereotypes. This could lead to disproportionately labeling different students as ‘problems’ in the classroom based on a student’s identity, especially when it comes to race.

Also, labeling a child as “disruptive” or “insubordinate” could stunt a child’s academic growth if the teacher feels as if they are beyond help. In addition, this could ostracize the student from their classmates, impacting the student’s self-esteem and willingness to learn. On the flip side, giving children the label of “gifted” may put unnecessary pressure on them as they move forward in life, giving them the feeling that they must outperform. 

(Source:https://twitter.com/MikeHynes5/status/1572169283941064705/photo/1)

In a tweet by Michael Hynes, a school superintendent, he highlights Editorial Cartoonist Joel Pett’s take on labels in schooling. He draws attention to the idea that teachers should focus on a student’s potential rather than forcing labels onto them. While labels have the potential to be both helpful and harmful, it is very easy for them to be used in a way that is harmful to the students and the environment of a classroom.