Blog Post 3

I have never taught a Chinese student until this semester, but I can't speak about their writing because my students have not turned in their first paper yet. Over the summer, I did teach an international student from Sweeden. During our discussions of Americana, the student struggled to understand American racial dynamics. Most of my students don't understand the nuances of race in America, so I do a fair amount of presentations that present new ideas like misogynoir and intersectionality. Still, the other students had a very basic understanding of the civil rights movement that this student lacked. During class, he said, "I didn't know much about the history of African Americans before reading this book. I was reading yesterday about civil rights, but I'm still having trouble." I talked to the student a little more about the history of African American's in America and told him if you wanted to talk more, he was more than welcomed to come to office hours and just talk through historical context.

Once, in class, the student expressed that some of the instances in the book seemed more coincidental than racist. Because he lacked experience with Black people and an American context. I tried to explain to him that book is making the point that racism is this very confusing thing with no clear-cut criteria, it is an absurd, nonsensical system that is harming folks every day. This confusion showed up in the student's writing.

In the Tutors Guide, a tutor discussed helping a student understand the difference between suburbia and nature. Those two things, unlike race, are concrete. I'm struggling to find better strategies for giving context about race because confusion over historical context reflects in student writing.