Today I introduced one of the main themes of The Outsiders, stereotype. The class began with brainstorming how we form first impression of someone. Students came up with several ideas, such as race, fashion, speech, etc. Then I handed out a worksheet for them to reflect on how they judge people. They were so sincere and honest. I saw many of them really thought about the questions, and a few girls were not shy away from circling “I judge others based on appearance”. It was interesting for grade 8s could be so opened to share their thoughts with others. Afterwards, we had a little discussion, which I guided them to think about stereotypes. I prepared seven pictures for the class to go around and to write down the first words which came to their mind. Stereotypes were so ingrained within our society that students had no trouble with this activity. However, that was the nightmare began.

For the morning class, after I asked students to reflect on this activity, a student quickly became defensive and asked me, “are you trying to make us feel bad?” I said no. The purpose of this activity was for us to reflect on how we normally judge and label people and how we can change that. He replied, “it is human nature to judge. We cannot help to form first impressions by stereotyping.” I told him I understood; however, I still wanted all of us to think about making the extra step to strike up a conversation to really know that person instead of judging the book based on its cover. I simplified the heated conversation we had. He asked me how I picked the pictures and how I judged these people based on stereotypes. During this conversation, I could hear some girls just snared and sighed. I felt kind of bad because I felt like this activity was a failure. Now I think about it – yes, it might have been a failure; at least now I know how to deal with this situation anymore. I can just stop conversing with him and ask him to talk to me after class if he has questions about the activity. I thought his “questioning” was quite disruptive to the class environment, and with me engaging in it, the atmosphere became quite intense. At one point, I wanted to cry. I felt attacked. I felt as if my activity was a big mistake. I was glad the class was over, and I could move on from there.

I quickly took a deep breath and had a sip of water to refresh myself. I thought of what I could have changed for the second class, but my mind was still stuck in that scenario. I told myself to calm down because both of my FA and SA would be observing this class. I quickly prepared new sheets for students to write on for the picture activity. The students in this class were a lot more cheerful and energetic which helped me to instantly pick up a new mood. I did everything exactly the same. I also asked students to reflect on the activity, and this time nothing from the previous class happened. The students gave me answers that I wanted, such as taking the extra step to know people around. I was glad. I was thankful for such mature students. One thing I did poorly in this class was the activity at the end. Each student got a slip of paper and they were supposed to write a sentence that did not reflect the stereotype that was imposed on them. For instance, I am Chinese, but I am not good at math. I had trouble explaining the activity because the students kept on asking me questions. At some point, my SA just raised her hand and asked me a question for clarification. Then she further elaborated on it to provide a better understanding. I had mixed feeling on that. I knew part of me was thankful that she explained it for me, but another part of me was disappointed that she did not let me try to handle this on my own. I think at some point I would be able to get the students on the same page. It was the learning curve. I knew I needed to be better at giving out instructions.

My FA and SA were not too harsh on me. My FA was actually surprised I talked about stereotype that early on because that was a sensitive topic. The class could go south very easily. Considering that, I guess both of my classes did go pretty well.