See what bias looks like
Teachers’ uniquely important role
Teachers have a unique ability influence our society in the classroom communities that they create and the individual relationships they build with students. This also means they are uniquely positioned to model equity and awareness of potential bias.
Here are some ways that bias might surface in teaching. These are a starting point for creating interactive case studies that can be used as part of teacher preparation programs.
We’d love your feedback. And if you have stories of your own experience as a student or teacher, please get in touch so that we can include your experience here.
Within the classroom
- your decision to refer a student to the office
- how you respond to students that are not engaged or avoiding tasks
- how you respond to students that engage in verbal insults or verbal aggression
- how you respond to students that engage in destruction or physical aggression
- the words you choose when praising a student's work or effort
- your voice tone and body language when giving feedback on their work
- how you monitor and interact with students during independent work
- how you monitor and interact with students during group work
- how you intervene when two students are arguing
- how long you wait for a student to respond to a question
- how you assign credit or blame in group work
- how you intervene when a student makes subtly discriminatory comments
- how you intervene when a student makes overtly discriminatory comments
- which real-world examples you use to relate ideas to students
- how much background knowledge you assume when introducing concepts
- which students you call on during group discussions
- how you follow-up when you notice a student struggling in class
- what kind of personal stories you share with a student
- how you relate with and talk about a student's life outside of school
- how you interpret a student's understanding during group discussion
- how you view a student's communication and collaboration skills
Outside the classroom
- how you engage with a student's family about their schoolwork
- how you engage with a student's community outside of school
- how willing you are to write letter of recommendation
- the words and tone you choose when writing letters of recommendations
- how you given written feedback on assignments or projects
- how you evaluate participation in class
- how you talk about a student to other educators
- how well your lesson and unit plans align to the student's cultural strengths
- how you prioritize competing academic, social, emotional and vocational goals within your classroom
- how you approach differentiation and personalization in lesson and unit plans
- which students you refer for gifted-and-talented testing
- which students you refer for special needs testing