Overall, Ms. Dixon did a good job responding to this incident, keeping the class engaged, and maintaining her standards for acceptable classroom behavior.
Conversation Goals
Goal 1: Keep the Class Engaged and Focused
Dixon earned a green check mark. She did a great job maintaining her class’s focus and engagement. By quickly addressing the biased language and drawing on the community agreements she made previously, she was able to address this incident and smoothly get back to the rest of her test preparation.
Goal 2: Communicate Acceptable Behavior
Dixon earned a green check mark. She did a great job letting Victoria immediately know that biased language was not acceptable in her classroom. And she followed up right away by reminding her students that their community agreements show this is important to them too.
Effective Techniques
Dixon made a few great choices when dealing with this incident:
Setting Limits
“Victoria, that kind of talk is not acceptable.”
Responding clearly and immediately showed the class that she won’t tolerate biased language, without taking much time away from a crucial lesson.
Stating Classroom Rules
“Would someone remind us about the community agreements we made at the beginning of the year?”
Engaging a student to read the community agreements was a great way to encourage them to take an active role in opposing bias in their own community.
Common Pitfalls
For this type of incident, be sure to avoid:
Ignoring or Minimizing: Dixon did a great job! She resisted the temptation to ignore or minimize Victoria’s behavior.
Putting Aggressor on the Spot: In an opportunity to review the community agreements of your class, ask any student to read them aloud but don’t put the aggressor on the spot.
Getting Confrontational: Clearly and immediately address biased language, but don’t get confrontational with the aggressor.
Putting Target on the Spot: Dixon did a good job. She chose not to put Gabriel on the spot, which helped him recover more quickly.
Recommendations
When dealing with incidents like this in real life, the key to an effective response is to:
Respond immediately: Address the incident in that moment.
Have clear standards: Use a community agreement or strong, specific statements to make clear that biased language is unacceptable.
Do not involve the target: Keep your focus on stopping the aggressor, don’t call additional attention to the target.
Engage bystanders: Whenever possible, call on other students to speak out against aggressive behavior.
