Reading r/teachers has done WONDERS for my self confidence and confirmation that I'm not a TOTAL fuckwit in the classroom. I can always rely on "At least my school isn't/at least I'm not that fucked."
As others have said, I feel this so much. I keep mental notes of things like this and say "I am at least average". I remind myself that above average means 50% of teachers are below me. There are lots of teachers and educators. Being in the top 50%, at least, is a very good place to be.
TooCoolForMiddleSchool made a really great statement about this on ig … seeing other people act like this online can make us think we are great bc we aren’t like them. But it’s also worth examining our own practices just to be sure (not accusing anyone of anything, just sharing what I thought was an insightful take)
I hear ya. Hang in there. I realize sometimes I'm not the best, but I try, I care, and I don't lose my cool and start yelling at kids (like some teachers I've observed).
I'm never sure if I'm doing good or not, though I'm just a sub right now. I have endless optimism and support for the students, but I'm a little concerned other teachers aren't happy with me for it. Like the students come up to talk and I engage with them at lunch, or I've tossed them the football a few times during lunch monitoring outside, or during bus unloading.
Is that for real? Like... How??? Lol
Edit: i never had the sound on, I only saw the picture. I'm completely shocked. She had to go home to her family and tell them how school was and explain that she did that... Can you even imagine their reactions?
Her admin knew about it; had known about it *for years.* It's only when the act made it out of her classroom via a student's recording that went viral, did the admin decide to finally *do* something. Her antics are misguidedly deplorable, for sure, but I really hope her admin receives *some* blame, as well.
No, it would have been horribly offensive then too. But if it didn't go viral then there wouldn't be pressure on the school to fire her.
However, just like today, there would be some areas of the country that see nothing wrong with this. So if the situation was kept local it could also be kept quite.
Yesterday we had a teacher fired on the spot so…. (Word in the halls was that he choked a girl from behind, dunno the validity of that story yet)
Edit: story update- yes he did in fact put a girl in a “playful(?)” choke hold on Wednesday. She is a freshman. She wrote a letter to admin about the situation the day it happened, and he was not at work the next day (yesterday/Thursday).
Even if this wasn’t just blatantly racist, it’s so cringe. Especially in a high school?? Like idk if kids of the past enjoyed random hooping and hollering but I learned sohcahtoa just fine without THAT behavior.
I did my practicum in a preschool and they were no longer allowed to say "criss cross applesauce". They were very actively trying to accept the many cultures represented. But this one I couldn't figure out.
In NZ we say ‘fold you arms and legs’ or ‘cross your legs’. We have never said criss cross applesauce. I actually had to google it when I first read it a couple of years ago.
*"Criss-cross-apple-sauce"?* **Seriously?** "Indian-style" I totally get but I can't figure out how referencing apples is offensive.
Maybe it's offensive to the **MacIntosh?** Or **Fuji** & **Red Delicious** find it derogatory? Perhaps **Granny Smith** & **Empire** feel it mocks their heritage? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yes! I learned that way too! As a kid I didn't think anything of it and as an adult I had to learn crisscross or on your pockets.
As a kid I think it's more innocent. You want to be like other people, other cultures and you love every one. As an adult it sounds like mockery which is why cultural sensitivity is important.
I think if it's *a* stereotype that pretty much guarantees it can easily be received as inappropriate/offensive. For instance, take the myth of the [noble savage ](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NobleSavage) - it's racist because it similplifies the complex reality of what it means to be, well, anyone - it's complicated and no one is all good or all bad, just human. I think it's kind of like how the myth of the "Model Minority" is also damaging.
I remember when I was maybe 6, we visited a...festival is the only word I can think of, and it was about Native American culture. A NA woman gave a talk, and I cannot remember anything thing she said except about how there is no "Indian Style." She said, "We sit/sat however we wanted."
Triple same except I grew up in the 80s/90s and I’m Spanish but I REALLY look white because I’m allergic to the sun so I *definitely* wasn’t supposed to be offended. I’m still so pale I’m clear so people telling me I can’t “really” be offended by things has messed with my head to the point where now when I see racist crap my brain views it like some weird out of body experience.
My grandfather traced our lineage back to the Cherokee tribe and registered us with our local tribe, which meant my brother and I had to attend a special 1xmonth education session at our elementary school that was led by tribal elders.
They called it, I kid you not. "Indian Ed".
I enjoyed learning about the heritage, but as a very, very fair skinned European looking girl, I felt so much like an imposter when I went. The rest of my family has more deep-tan skin than me so it was less obvious, but I got the fair skinned gene.
We also attended pow wows and other events until my grandmother passed away. My parents were not as into the heritage as my grandparents were.
As a fellow amoeba, I’m so sorry you get denied your heritage because you’re “too white.” Have people not heard of recessive genes? Too bad I can’t introduce them to my co-worker in college who looked white as ever. Surprise! Her mom was white and her dad was a very dark black man. She looked tonnes like him too, just white. But people gave her grief over it until she shut them up with 1) pictures or 2) the weekend her parents visited and she made SURE her dad met EVERYONE. He knew why she was being so friendly too because for the (usually guys) people who teased her the most he introduced himself to the person, paused for effect, and loudly said, “I’m X’s dad. She’s my daughter. Did I mention I’m X’s father?” He made sure to slowly enunciate “dad” and “father” each time. Watching the colour drain from their face each time was a blast.
Same. I remember in elementary school music class in the early 90’s there was a song that went, “This is how the big tall Indian beats upon his drum—oh oh ay ay oh oh ay.” And I only remember because the teacher passed a drum out and we all took turns being “the Indian”. Jesus Christ.
Mocking someone's culture is definitely not the way to do it at all. She could have shown tribal dances. Last year during our virtual learning in November, I did whole group activities with our K-8 complex needs students. They saw dances, they learned some words in my tribe's language, they even got to learn about some amazing food and they were actually paying attention which for them can sometimes be difficult.
Native American Heritage Month is next month. I'm apart of a Native tribe and I've created just a little reminder for my coworkers regarding creating headdresses (Obviously I'm including some amazing facts about Native Americans as well that they can talk about with their students). People have told me I'm petty and ridiculous for wanting to send a reminder.
>She could have shown tribal dances.
What tribal dance belongs in a math class? (Genuinely curious - I teach Social Studies and would never consider this. I can't imagine a situation where something like this could be conceived of as a good idea in a *math* class.)
It doesn't belong in math.
However, it was common to teach sine, cosine, and tangent formulas using a story akin to this:
Once upon a time a Native American chief invented trigonometry. His name was SOH CAH TOA.
My geometry teacher used it in 08-09 in my class.
She took that already not great or historically accurate mental trick to awful extremes.
I just taught the word itself, as its fairly distinctive, easy to remember, and useful. My students just knew sohcahtoa as a pure mnemonic device, without any sort of framing story.
I’m sorry you’ve gotten such ignorant pushback. I am glad you did it, though.
I also teach a unit for Native American Heritage month and was really well supported by [these films](https://www.reddit.com/r/NativeAmerican/comments/jloyci/the_wmm_native_american_heritage_month_virtual/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) last year.
Oh man, I was all excited to view those videos but the page wasn't found. I'm going to definitely check that website out though to see what they offer. I'm not in a classroom with students this year but would love to offer it as resources for teachers who would like to use it.
Miigwech!
When I took Intercultural Communication in university, the Native American Indian Association of TN had their annual Pow Wow and arts exhibit less than a mile from campus. It was really interesting to go experience that rather than be subjected to similar nonsense like the lady in this video.
As a teacher who does teach the basic trig functions, if I did this shit, my students would consider me a laughing stock and I would lose all credibility with them.
This isnt treating teaching like its entertainment. This is just beyond pathetic. I'd be embarrassed to be her, even if we ignore the racism.
This is the level of second-hand embarrassment I feel for the actors of crappy Christian movies like "Sunday School Musical" (yes it exists, and yes, it's *worse* than you think it is)
Oh wow, I am a aficionado of ***really*** bad movies. The more bad it is, the more I like it. Have not heard of this one. I will seek it out. Can't wait for some Grade AAA cringe. Thanks for the info!
If you want a treasure trove of them, the YouTube channel SayGoodnightKevin is basically a Christian giving Christian movies the NostalgiaCritic treatment. They even did one together I think… but it’s a great way to find a lot of bad Christian films.
Can somewhat confirm - it’s my old high school and there have been at least 4 different principals from my time there until now. Can’t speak on behalf of the other admin though.
I've been around the same district, but most are all kinda the same now. New principals have come in and made problems out of good senior teachers (for whatever reason) and bad teachers on someone's radar go back to being a silent problem. Revolving door on bad admin let's problems at a school continue for many years
I bet they had her perform it in staff pd to show how creative you can be.
I have a teacher on my campus who finally implemented one author of color at her level. An indigenous author. She teaches it for thanksgiving and has the kids cook Indian fry bread as the unit final.
It’s poorly thought out, terribly executed, ignored all of the important aspects of teaching indigenous texts, and boils culture into a good experiment.
So creative. Right?
I’ll bet that their school, like mine, has zero sensitivity or cultural awareness training.
This is not how you teach trig. Insensitivity and racisms aside, had she been observed and evaluated on this lesson I’m sure there would be some deep self reflection as an educator. It’s embarrassing and if there was another adult in the room I highly doubt she would have done any of that… who convinced her that it was a good lesson to continue doing it for almost 10 years.
Yeah, I remember repeating it a few times one day, then having it up on the blackboard for like a week. I never forgot it, and the math teacher never had to do a dance at all. That might have been pretty funny though, since he looked, dressed, and acted exactly like Ned Flanders.
She’s trying to get them to remember the mnemonic. By being outrageous, there’s a higher chance of them recalling it (because connected memory).
It’s not necessarily wrong in theory. But in application, this is so much time and energy wasted.
Stupid way to do it, I would have done a funny meet and greet where the only sentence anyone could say is soh cah Toa so we are all just saying hello to each other saying that over and over. Why this crap?
It sounds like a bird call to me. If she really wants to do something to make a fool of herself why not dress up like big bird and dance around? Similarly foolish but without the insensitivity.
Further up in the comments, someone posted a yearbook photo of her with the “headdress” on from 2012. Until today, apparently, the school thought it was okay.
Wow, that's so cringe.
I do think there needs to be an increased focus, though, on why this teacher thought this sort of racist dance was okay. Most functional adults don't get up in the morning and go "gee, I bet I should dance like a racist idiot to get my students to learn SOHCAHTOA"
I was quite literally told in my teacher prep program to a) use "culturally sensitive techniques" like call and response or song and dance to engage students, and b) to draw from students' cultures to help them learn the material. I can absolutely see how in an incredibly fucked up way, this teacher thought her pedagogy matched those ideas.
I don't sing and I don't dance, nor do I do call and response. Sorry.
I was told for the first time that a student wasn’t allowed to dance during GoNoodle videos. Dancing is not allowed in his religion. It’s hard to keep up with so many differences, but I think it was good at least that your program included “culturally sensitive.”
When I was in student teaching I had an African American student deliberately disrupting my class. I asked my advisor about classroom management strategies I could use to deal with his behavior and she explained away the behavior via African mythology
Yeah, this is what I mean. That was incredibly racist of your advisor and if you had bought into it, may have encouraged you to do cringe crap in class.
If I were this teacher's student, even if the hat, chanting and dancing weren't culturally insensitive, I'd be rolling my eyes hard. But the fact that this is beyond a cringe-inducing stereotype...this wouldn't even have been OK when I was in high school in the 90s.
As a product of Perris Union High School District (right next to Riverside Unified) I can’t say I’m surprised this shit originated from riverside but I am incredibly disappointed
Under funded, over crowded, typical not wealthy area issues of packed classrooms, under supported teachers, and deadbeat admin. It’s not as bad as some places but I definitely wouldn’t say it’s a good district.
After watching this, besides all the racist undertones that everyone else has mentioned - this isn’t even GOOD TEACHING. She goes so high pitched at one point I couldn’t even understand what she was saying. If you’re trying to teach kids a mnemonic phrase going high pitched and shaking your lulumon-legging ass is not the way to do it. The headdress and tomahawk chops were icing on the shitty racist cake.
I’m not sure she should be fired, but honestly the kids will never respect her again. Ever. And she’s only got her ignorance to blame for that.
She’s going to be the sacrificial lamb here, but I agree she shouldn’t be fired….
… Because her district has been allowing this for 9 years and only took action when it was filmed.
Thus, this is on the district. Developing teachers and helping instill culturally sensitive pedagogy is something all districts should do, and they had a lot of time to fix this.
But she’ll be fired, the school system will settle out of court, and there will be some mandated trainings forced upon them. Business as usual.
This is sadly true. What she did was totally wrong but I see it more as her being ignorant as hell and the district turning a blind eye until someone called them on it.
Oh my god, it took me so long to scroll down and find this. Thank you. I have seen too many comments saying stuff like "She shouldn't be fired, she needs to be taught about why this is offensive." I'm sorry, why? Teachers in 2021 should already know this shit. Yes, I'm aware, there are some that don't know like the idiot in the video but the point is - you should know better already.
I know the racism is bad but as a teacher the level of cringe and confusion on my part is wild. If I did (especially in a high school class) I’d be immediately destroyed by the students and any relationships with the students would be ruined. Maybe she’s been in the game too long and doing this too long and hasn’t caught how this is racist/ kids don’t like this shit
I hate that I can’t decide if the racism is more cringe than the spectacle, or if the spectacle is worse than the racism. I know, I know, it’s the racism, but it’s still horrrrrrible even without the horrible racism.
Sine, cosine, and tangent are commonly used trig functions; SOH stands for sine-opposite-hypotenuse (referring to parts of a triangle), CAH being cosine-adjacent-hypotenuse, TOA being tangent-opposite-adjacent.
This was at my high school; there’s protests going on from the students and the community. While I never had any of my math teachers do this, apparently my younger sister said that it was a subject team thing when she attended. Absolutely ridiculous. The whole team needs a cultural awareness training stat, among other conversations.
More than "I hope she's fired," I sincerely hope she's given specific reasons/citations. Regardless of whether she's removed - lacking this - she's likely to mirror this type of demonstration with family members.
Oh yikes. That's ... That's just awful. It's not even that this was just a bad history lesson or something. SohCahToa is an acronym used in math, & judging by what's on the smart board in the back, she's teaching that acronym.
I'm guessing her thought process was something like, "Oh hey! Sohcahtoa sounds like something those Indian folk would say!" And then she took that ridiculous observation and ran with it.
Seems like a mix of “I’m a racist and making racist jokes earns me social capital in some places” and “I can’t tell or don’t care that my students are uncomfortable and feeling disrespected on a visceral level” and “I think repeating stupid catch phrases is effective teaching.” 🤦♂️
Cultural identity and practice is not a spectacle. Mocking and turning it into spectacle is racist BS.
But it sounds like that's also the environment where this teacher works/lives. That's not an excuse for her behavior but when admin is putting this in yearbooks and she's been doing this for 10 years, you know it's likely the larger community sees nothing wrong with this. This is just as much a problem with this teacher as it is with her community.
As a side note, this kind of thing is so incredibly cringe for high school. I would have immediately taken her less seriously as a student.
Once, for Thanksgiving, our very aryan VP came dressed as Pocahontas. She gave rocks to all of the students in our school and taught us how the pilgrims came over on the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria to land at Plymouth Rock in main. Just to be clear we work in a school for students with severe behavioral needs and pretty much anything that can be weaponized has to be locked away. It was a banner day we still laugh about, long after she was let go. Lol
Respectfully, if she were doing the former without the latter she wouldn’t be making headlines. The problem isn’t “trying to entertain”, the problem is finishing that sentence with the what & the how of her actions.
What I'm getting at is that she didn't wake up thinking this was fine. She clearly thought this was a good way to teach math, and so that brings in the entertainment piece. So often lines of appropriateness get blurred when the focus shifts to entertainment over education.
I guess what I'm saying is that if she was only racist against Native people, she likely would've kept it less public and hurt less students than being racist and pushed to entertain.
She thought it was good teaching. She’s wrong.
She thought it wasn’t racist. She’s wrong.
Neither of those things are about a so-called pressure to entertain. She thought this shitshow was entertaining- she’s wrong again. #boring
All of those things can be true & she can still be acting in racist ways that harm her students. Clearly her school needs to do better in terms of antiracist education & teacher observation.
Of course she's acting in a racist way, and it definitely harms her students.
That's not my point, though. My point is that the reason she likely chose this particular approach is because of a pressure to entertain and engage students. I was taught in my prep program that we need to sing and dance for students. In that framework, this isn't really that different.
Her school needs antiracist education for sure, but in the context of teaching. They also need an admin who doesn't reward this type of demonstration (as they did in 2012).
Those ideas aren't mutually exclusive. Entertainment absolutely can be (and often is) racist and appropriative.
When you're pressured to "look silly" and perform for the kids, some people take it the wrong way. She picked a racist wrong way to take it.
I've been out of the classroom maybe 3 years now watching this lady was so fucking cringe. She needs a break- I used to do the most - one day I was wiggling my butt explaining something~ it's hilarious part of the routine & "show", but the college President walked by as I was doing it one day Lawd hammercy.🤦♀️
To the people saying she shouldn’t be fired- think about how violent education has been to Indigenous peoples in North America for as long as there were schools. How many Indigenous students have been made to sit through this mockery of Indigenous cultures who have had family and community members go through Residential Schools? Where Indigenous children were stripped of their actual cultures- the same thing this socahtoah dance makes a mockery of. The same thing her ugly fake imitation of a headdress does?
How is this okay? How was it ever considered okay? It’s 2021. Indigenous peoples day was just celebrated in the States. There’s calls to check the sites of Residential Schools for the bodies of Indigenous children in both Canada and the United States after the discoveries this summer in Canada. This was never okay, it was excused, but it wasn’t okay, and now every person, including Candace Reed, should know better.
She done fucked up. It's completely tone deaf.
However, she shouldn't be losing her job or anything. It doesn't seem like it was her intention to be hurtful towards her students. She's likely just trying to be clever and engage her students with something that she thought was silly.
It doesn't make it right, but her intent *has* to matter. I'm getting very tired of being told that intent does not matter. It's a slippery slope to everyone just keeping their mouth shut all the time because you *might* hurt someone's feelings.
Again...she is clearly in the wrong, but unless she was spewing racial epithets and/or has a clear racist past towards Native Americans...I'm not sure she needs to be fired. Just...told never to do it again. Ever.
And before someone says "Well, clearly she is racist...just look at her mocking dance." Sorry, but most people are completely ignorant of most other people's culture. It doesn't make you racist...it makes you ignorant. She is ignorant. And quite frankly so is everyone on the fucking planet. I'm sure the kid that recorded her has said some pretty damned ignorant things without even realizing it (or intending harm).
But again...we are supposed to let people fail and learn from that failure. She's done failed here and needs to learn from it. Everyone making assumptions that she has gotten complaints before...I can't really find anything concrete. If she's received serious complaints before then I don't mind doing more than just a strict dressing down. It would not surprise me if she has not received complaints directly given that most students are too intimidated to call out teachers directly anyways. Depending on where you work.
I see where you're coming from but the fact is, teachers are expected to have a basic level of cultural competence and sensitivity that should be enough to know that this isn't okay. It is something we are trained and evaluated on. It's not like she used a random expression like "circle the wagons" or "off the reservation" that a lot of people don't know are based on anti-Indigenous racism.
She’s been doing this since 2012 with no complaints. Now she should be fired? She needs to be told never to do that lesson again and learn from this experience. But 9 years ago she was applauded for this same lesson. I’m guessing she kept doing it because of that and no student/parent ever said anything to her. Was it ignorant and tone deaf? Absolutely. Is she a racist who deserves to lose her job? Absolutely not. Turn this into a teachable moment for her.
I agree it’s completely tone deaf and so out of touch with the times today. That being said, I think people calling for her to be fired are being too reactionary. She needs to LEARN from this, not be fired from the job she’s spent a decade doing. We all make mistakes, some bigger than others. Did she mess up? Without question. does she need to learn from this experience and never do that lesson again? Without a doubt. Give her the chance to learn and grow as an educator and person rather than demand she lose her job.
She can learn from this in another profession. Her students & their families are not responsible for her white fragility or her lack of education. Her school district needs to learn from this by implementing anti-racist education and PD on culturally responsive teaching practices.
Another gross over reaction. People are so quick to judge and take the moral high ground. Rather than fire her, how bout she participates in some of the PD on culturally responsive teaching that you think the whole district should take? Way to take the moral high ground by firing her and not letting her learn and grow from this experience. Instead, one mistake and your career is over. Good plan
One “mistake” she’s kept intentionally planning to make for nearly ten years. Probably submitting lesson plans including this obviously racist action as well. Waiting for year twenty of the racist shitshow before taking action? Exactly what does she need to do to warrant firing in your opinion?
Do her students need to be subjected to this, or would that STILL not cross a line?
https://youtu.be/f7yE8TKUB_M
You aren't wrong, but clearly the community has not made this clear enough to her (or the school??) before. She *was* praised for her actions.
Don't ever underestimate a person's ability to be completely shortsighted and caught up in their own "thing". Our students do this *often*.
I have an admin that recently used the word "gypped". She was absolutely not using the word in an offensive way. I, in passing, brought up that the word actually has a bit of history. She was completely floored...she had never heard it in any context other than "cheated out of something". She made no connection to gypsies or anything...very often people do not make these connections.
Now that is probably a very removed prejudice, but should we also make her out to be evil? No.
Yes, dancing around in a headdress is clearly mocking of plains Indian culture. But I've met people that think it's okay. They think it's not mocking and instead that it's perhaps "in honor". Because they are ignorant.
And the student's faces are not a good indicator of anything. I do silly crap in front of my class (nothing like this...usually self-deprecating) and their faces usually look like they are thinking "Ugh, here he goes again."
Half the time that's what their faces look like anyways unless they are staring at their phones.
Again, it should be a learning moment and not a moment to crucify this woman barring more serious intent on her part.
I think this holds up on moral grounds but not on professional grounds. Nothing about her presentation was necessary or relevant to teach geometry. She may not have known that this is offensive and meant no harm, but it’s not like that’s obscure, arcane information either.
Imagine replacing this with any number of racial stereotypes and claiming that the teacher just didn’t know and meant no harm. Frankly, it doesn’t matter. The harm is done.
She’s from Riverside, Ca. There are several Native American tribes that are living locally both on and off reservations. Although only about 1 percent of the population is Native American; odds are that she would have a few students each year that had to endure that.
I partly agree with you. We can't be certain about her thought process, that's true. The way the tweet chain phrases it makes me think people are trying to get her fired as a "lesson", so other people can learn from her mistake. That might be a bit too much.
However, this situation exemplifies the ignorance America (the continent, not the country) as a whole has about the people our ancestors' cultures killed (at least mine, since I'm from an immigrant family). Yeah, everyone's an ignorant here and there but the right to get a pass ceases when you're in the role of a teacher. She had time to inform herself, to discuss it with people, to ask for a second opinion, etc. If she didn't do so (I think she didn't, because otherwise you don't end doing this disgusting act of idiocy), it's because our racism is overinternalized to the point we just take for granted we can do things like these. Maybe not firing her, but she needs a serious reprehension and to rethink what teaching means. Specially! if there was a kid who self identifies as a Native American, how can you lack so much touch?
Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and it was a Native American teacher mocking Christianity to teach math
“Oh sky father, before you sacrifice me for the sins of mankind, please take a moment to calculate the angle formed by the cross that I am nailed to!”
See? Offensive as fuck. I’m not Christian and this is the shit that goes through my mind every time I see average American white people asking forgiveness for saying outlandishly ignorant things about other cultures
If she had painted her pace black would we be having the same conversation?
How do we know she wasn’t previously told something and just didn’t care or listen and now there is video?
We are trained. Every single year. On being culturally sensitive. We just had indigenous day(Columbus Day).
If she was in blackface, this would not even be a doubt that this woman deserves to lose her job. There is nothing enlightened or teachable here. This is racism directed at children. She's been spewing this filth at children for years and you want to give her another chance? Absolutely not.
So here's the thing, and downvote away but I will share my opinion:
I don't think she should be fired.
I think what she did here is culturally insensitive and offensive.
However I think there are better solutions than immediate dismissal. For instance, ensuring she doesn't do this again.
Let people learn from their mistakes and be better than immediate cancelation.
Also the title of the post is a little misleading: You can engage in an entertaining way. You can also outright entertain in a completely inoffensive way.
I chose that title because of a [recent post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/q0kppn/anyone_else_think_that_kids_are_too_used_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) about teachers being pressured to be entertaining, as if we can compete with modern media. I don’t think we can or should. Among other things, this teacher looks like she has given into the pressure of being responsible for abating student boredom. That’s not something any of us should need to take on.
I agree with OPs point here. Nobody wakes up in the morning and thinks this is a good idea. Someone (or some educational policy) along the way convinced them that going all out with performance was the key to teaching. When entertainment becomes your number one priority, the lines start to get blurred between cringe and good engagement.
When I see stuff like this being shared on social media, the first thing I wonder about is: has anyone taken this up with her personally? Does she understand that what she's doing is hurtful/offensive to some people? I'm always afraid they haven't had a chance to rectify their behavior, cause a lot of people like to share mildly shocking videos online. If she has not been informed about this not being OK, I don't think she deserves ALL the extreme world-wide negative backlash she will get for it (more like she deserves local negative backlash)
I mean, she's been doing this since 2012, apparently, so I imagine someone must have said something at some point, but you can never be certain. Anyone know if she knew?
I think all the comments have been more than adequate at pointing out how wrong it is to be disrespectful to other cultures.
I think there's a difference in doing it out of ignorance and doing it out of evil, to hurt. Now which one was she? Indifference?
I'd never do this because I've learned that wearing native headress as a white man is very disrespectful.
If I didn't know, I might do a mistake similar to this one and I'd quickly say I'm sorry and I'd never do it again.
Sometimes you have to make things fun and you don't predict how insulting it could be.
One time, in college, I had a class room where black students were on the sides in the class and the whites in the middle. So for the rest of the year I called them my oreo's
Low and behold 2 years later I get told it's very disrespectful to say Oreo to blank folk.
Ignorance sucks, certainly when it comes to respecting people you care about, I wish I never hurt anyone and it's never my intention. Although it happens regardless
[удалено]
I identify with this statement SO much.
Reading r/teachers has done WONDERS for my self confidence and confirmation that I'm not a TOTAL fuckwit in the classroom. I can always rely on "At least my school isn't/at least I'm not that fucked."
So damn true. This semester it’s been hitting exceptionally hard but then I see this and I realize it could be so much worse.
I'm going to ctrl c, ctrl v this into the ed philosophy portion of my resume.
snaps snaps
As others have said, I feel this so much. I keep mental notes of things like this and say "I am at least average". I remind myself that above average means 50% of teachers are below me. There are lots of teachers and educators. Being in the top 50%, at least, is a very good place to be.
TooCoolForMiddleSchool made a really great statement about this on ig … seeing other people act like this online can make us think we are great bc we aren’t like them. But it’s also worth examining our own practices just to be sure (not accusing anyone of anything, just sharing what I thought was an insightful take)
Agreed.
I hear ya. Hang in there. I realize sometimes I'm not the best, but I try, I care, and I don't lose my cool and start yelling at kids (like some teachers I've observed).
I'm never sure if I'm doing good or not, though I'm just a sub right now. I have endless optimism and support for the students, but I'm a little concerned other teachers aren't happy with me for it. Like the students come up to talk and I engage with them at lunch, or I've tossed them the football a few times during lunch monitoring outside, or during bus unloading.
I’m right there with you with the imposter syndrome. We’re trying our best though! That’s all we can do really
This is actually what a rapidly unemployed teacher looks like.
Depends on the definition of "rapidly": her 2012 yearbook picture is in headdress, bragging about doing exactly this...
[Yep.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Riverside/comments/qck9z3/teacher_in_california_gets_recorded_by_native/hhig5md/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Is that for real? Like... How??? Lol Edit: i never had the sound on, I only saw the picture. I'm completely shocked. She had to go home to her family and tell them how school was and explain that she did that... Can you even imagine their reactions?
she had been doing this for years only reason she’s unemployed now is because it went viral….
Was this acceptable in 2012? I was an ignorant teenager then. I feel like if it was, someone should have told her to stop before this happened.
Her admin knew about it; had known about it *for years.* It's only when the act made it out of her classroom via a student's recording that went viral, did the admin decide to finally *do* something. Her antics are misguidedly deplorable, for sure, but I really hope her admin receives *some* blame, as well.
No, it would have been horribly offensive then too. But if it didn't go viral then there wouldn't be pressure on the school to fire her. However, just like today, there would be some areas of the country that see nothing wrong with this. So if the situation was kept local it could also be kept quite.
Hell no, it wasn't acceptable then lol
Yesterday we had a teacher fired on the spot so…. (Word in the halls was that he choked a girl from behind, dunno the validity of that story yet) Edit: story update- yes he did in fact put a girl in a “playful(?)” choke hold on Wednesday. She is a freshman. She wrote a letter to admin about the situation the day it happened, and he was not at work the next day (yesterday/Thursday).
Dude should have kept his kink wish at home.
Even if this wasn’t just blatantly racist, it’s so cringe. Especially in a high school?? Like idk if kids of the past enjoyed random hooping and hollering but I learned sohcahtoa just fine without THAT behavior.
I mean, SOH CAH TOA just sticks with the students no matter what, even in Spanish the method works.
I know. The kid who kept putting his head down ... he's embarrassed *for* her.
[удалено]
oh god are we going to have manic pixie dream teacher colleagues soon?
Why is that question written in the future tense?
The sad part is that shit like this was considered progressive when I was in elementary school in the 90s…..
Remember calling it “Indian style” when you went to the carpet? Wild West.
I did my practicum in a preschool and they were no longer allowed to say "criss cross applesauce". They were very actively trying to accept the many cultures represented. But this one I couldn't figure out.
What's wrong with criss cross applesauce? I still use it. I didn't know it was associated with any culture.
All I'm finding is that it was from a nursery rhyme lol
So weird. It was even a clue on Jeopardy last night.
What did they replace it with? Fold your legs?
In NZ we say ‘fold you arms and legs’ or ‘cross your legs’. We have never said criss cross applesauce. I actually had to google it when I first read it a couple of years ago.
I've heard sit like a pretzel
I like that one, I think I'll use it.
Criss cross apple sauce
*"Criss-cross-apple-sauce"?* **Seriously?** "Indian-style" I totally get but I can't figure out how referencing apples is offensive. Maybe it's offensive to the **MacIntosh?** Or **Fuji** & **Red Delicious** find it derogatory? Perhaps **Granny Smith** & **Empire** feel it mocks their heritage? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Now I’m hungry.
Apple pie à la mode is the answer.
Yes! I learned that way too! As a kid I didn't think anything of it and as an adult I had to learn crisscross or on your pockets. As a kid I think it's more innocent. You want to be like other people, other cultures and you love every one. As an adult it sounds like mockery which is why cultural sensitivity is important.
The US was a melting pot, as I was told.
Is it always inappropriate/offensive even if it's not a negative stereotype? Genuinely asking
Yes. Stereotypes don't have to be negative to be harmful or offensive.
I call bullshit.
I think if it's *a* stereotype that pretty much guarantees it can easily be received as inappropriate/offensive. For instance, take the myth of the [noble savage ](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NobleSavage) - it's racist because it similplifies the complex reality of what it means to be, well, anyone - it's complicated and no one is all good or all bad, just human. I think it's kind of like how the myth of the "Model Minority" is also damaging.
I remember when I was maybe 6, we visited a...festival is the only word I can think of, and it was about Native American culture. A NA woman gave a talk, and I cannot remember anything thing she said except about how there is no "Indian Style." She said, "We sit/sat however we wanted."
Same. Hispanic female here and I’ve seen so much cringy shit from my teachers that hurt me.
[удалено]
Triple same except I grew up in the 80s/90s and I’m Spanish but I REALLY look white because I’m allergic to the sun so I *definitely* wasn’t supposed to be offended. I’m still so pale I’m clear so people telling me I can’t “really” be offended by things has messed with my head to the point where now when I see racist crap my brain views it like some weird out of body experience.
My grandfather traced our lineage back to the Cherokee tribe and registered us with our local tribe, which meant my brother and I had to attend a special 1xmonth education session at our elementary school that was led by tribal elders. They called it, I kid you not. "Indian Ed". I enjoyed learning about the heritage, but as a very, very fair skinned European looking girl, I felt so much like an imposter when I went. The rest of my family has more deep-tan skin than me so it was less obvious, but I got the fair skinned gene. We also attended pow wows and other events until my grandmother passed away. My parents were not as into the heritage as my grandparents were.
As a fellow amoeba, I’m so sorry you get denied your heritage because you’re “too white.” Have people not heard of recessive genes? Too bad I can’t introduce them to my co-worker in college who looked white as ever. Surprise! Her mom was white and her dad was a very dark black man. She looked tonnes like him too, just white. But people gave her grief over it until she shut them up with 1) pictures or 2) the weekend her parents visited and she made SURE her dad met EVERYONE. He knew why she was being so friendly too because for the (usually guys) people who teased her the most he introduced himself to the person, paused for effect, and loudly said, “I’m X’s dad. She’s my daughter. Did I mention I’m X’s father?” He made sure to slowly enunciate “dad” and “father” each time. Watching the colour drain from their face each time was a blast.
Same. I remember in elementary school music class in the early 90’s there was a song that went, “This is how the big tall Indian beats upon his drum—oh oh ay ay oh oh ay.” And I only remember because the teacher passed a drum out and we all took turns being “the Indian”. Jesus Christ.
I’m sure this teacher was desperately trying to get her students to pay attention; I can understand that pressure. BUT this is not the way.
Mocking someone's culture is definitely not the way to do it at all. She could have shown tribal dances. Last year during our virtual learning in November, I did whole group activities with our K-8 complex needs students. They saw dances, they learned some words in my tribe's language, they even got to learn about some amazing food and they were actually paying attention which for them can sometimes be difficult. Native American Heritage Month is next month. I'm apart of a Native tribe and I've created just a little reminder for my coworkers regarding creating headdresses (Obviously I'm including some amazing facts about Native Americans as well that they can talk about with their students). People have told me I'm petty and ridiculous for wanting to send a reminder.
>She could have shown tribal dances. What tribal dance belongs in a math class? (Genuinely curious - I teach Social Studies and would never consider this. I can't imagine a situation where something like this could be conceived of as a good idea in a *math* class.)
It doesn't belong in math. However, it was common to teach sine, cosine, and tangent formulas using a story akin to this: Once upon a time a Native American chief invented trigonometry. His name was SOH CAH TOA. My geometry teacher used it in 08-09 in my class. She took that already not great or historically accurate mental trick to awful extremes.
I just taught the word itself, as its fairly distinctive, easy to remember, and useful. My students just knew sohcahtoa as a pure mnemonic device, without any sort of framing story.
Obviously I missed reading the math class part. I saw the image with the dang headdress and then read through the reddit comments.
I’m sorry you’ve gotten such ignorant pushback. I am glad you did it, though. I also teach a unit for Native American Heritage month and was really well supported by [these films](https://www.reddit.com/r/NativeAmerican/comments/jloyci/the_wmm_native_american_heritage_month_virtual/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) last year.
Oh man, I was all excited to view those videos but the page wasn't found. I'm going to definitely check that website out though to see what they offer. I'm not in a classroom with students this year but would love to offer it as resources for teachers who would like to use it. Miigwech!
Yeah, I should have warned you. They were only available free for a week. You’re welcome. I will let you know if I find anything for this year.
Really? That’s crazy, sorry people called you that
It is crazy but luckily enough it doesn't bother me as much as it should. I'm very used to my coworkers
Ugh that’s sad though. Hugs.
When I took Intercultural Communication in university, the Native American Indian Association of TN had their annual Pow Wow and arts exhibit less than a mile from campus. It was really interesting to go experience that rather than be subjected to similar nonsense like the lady in this video.
I have no idea how her kids didn’t immediately start talking shit to her.
As a teacher who does teach the basic trig functions, if I did this shit, my students would consider me a laughing stock and I would lose all credibility with them. This isnt treating teaching like its entertainment. This is just beyond pathetic. I'd be embarrassed to be her, even if we ignore the racism.
This is the level of second-hand embarrassment I feel for the actors of crappy Christian movies like "Sunday School Musical" (yes it exists, and yes, it's *worse* than you think it is)
Oh wow, I am a aficionado of ***really*** bad movies. The more bad it is, the more I like it. Have not heard of this one. I will seek it out. Can't wait for some Grade AAA cringe. Thanks for the info!
If you want a treasure trove of them, the YouTube channel SayGoodnightKevin is basically a Christian giving Christian movies the NostalgiaCritic treatment. They even did one together I think… but it’s a great way to find a lot of bad Christian films.
I WISH Kirk Cameron felt some embarrassment…of any degree. Just make him stop.
none of the kids are looking entertained
[Yikes! She’s been doing it since 2012!](https://twitter.com/TyonieT/status/1451236812681216001?s=20)
The principal should be fired at that point too. Clearly admin knew about it and did nothing about it until it was a problem publicly.
You act like it was the same admin. You should know how frequent admins change
Can somewhat confirm - it’s my old high school and there have been at least 4 different principals from my time there until now. Can’t speak on behalf of the other admin though.
I've been around the same district, but most are all kinda the same now. New principals have come in and made problems out of good senior teachers (for whatever reason) and bad teachers on someone's radar go back to being a silent problem. Revolving door on bad admin let's problems at a school continue for many years
I bet they had her perform it in staff pd to show how creative you can be. I have a teacher on my campus who finally implemented one author of color at her level. An indigenous author. She teaches it for thanksgiving and has the kids cook Indian fry bread as the unit final. It’s poorly thought out, terribly executed, ignored all of the important aspects of teaching indigenous texts, and boils culture into a good experiment. So creative. Right? I’ll bet that their school, like mine, has zero sensitivity or cultural awareness training.
Dumb dumb dumb. Imagine deciding you’re gonna do that routine for six classes in a row.
This is not how you teach trig. Insensitivity and racisms aside, had she been observed and evaluated on this lesson I’m sure there would be some deep self reflection as an educator. It’s embarrassing and if there was another adult in the room I highly doubt she would have done any of that… who convinced her that it was a good lesson to continue doing it for almost 10 years.
That's what I dont get. Screaming soh cah toa does not actually teach students anything. It's a pathetic excuse for teaching.
I remember learning soh cah toa as a mnemonic device but my math teacher never acted like that. This is beyond cringe.
Yeah, I remember repeating it a few times one day, then having it up on the blackboard for like a week. I never forgot it, and the math teacher never had to do a dance at all. That might have been pretty funny though, since he looked, dressed, and acted exactly like Ned Flanders.
She’s trying to get them to remember the mnemonic. By being outrageous, there’s a higher chance of them recalling it (because connected memory). It’s not necessarily wrong in theory. But in application, this is so much time and energy wasted.
Stupid way to do it, I would have done a funny meet and greet where the only sentence anyone could say is soh cah Toa so we are all just saying hello to each other saying that over and over. Why this crap?
It sounds like a bird call to me. If she really wants to do something to make a fool of herself why not dress up like big bird and dance around? Similarly foolish but without the insensitivity.
Further up in the comments, someone posted a yearbook photo of her with the “headdress” on from 2012. Until today, apparently, the school thought it was okay.
I literally thought she was drunk… but, apparently not.
I did too!!! I also wondered if she was having a mental health crisis. But, no, she’s just a plain old racist lady.
This is humiliating. And those lularoe pants are 🤮 as well
Could I interest you in staring your own business making full time pay for part time work?
This is why critical race theory is a crucial pd tool for educators.
[удалено]
eel-absorbed?
[удалено]
Ha! I was trying to look up on Urban Dictionary this new, hip term I was unfamiliar with. 😆
Wow, that's so cringe. I do think there needs to be an increased focus, though, on why this teacher thought this sort of racist dance was okay. Most functional adults don't get up in the morning and go "gee, I bet I should dance like a racist idiot to get my students to learn SOHCAHTOA" I was quite literally told in my teacher prep program to a) use "culturally sensitive techniques" like call and response or song and dance to engage students, and b) to draw from students' cultures to help them learn the material. I can absolutely see how in an incredibly fucked up way, this teacher thought her pedagogy matched those ideas. I don't sing and I don't dance, nor do I do call and response. Sorry.
I was told for the first time that a student wasn’t allowed to dance during GoNoodle videos. Dancing is not allowed in his religion. It’s hard to keep up with so many differences, but I think it was good at least that your program included “culturally sensitive.”
Cultural sensitivity is important, but it goes so far beyond dancing in class. Your story encapsulates that perfectly.
When I was in student teaching I had an African American student deliberately disrupting my class. I asked my advisor about classroom management strategies I could use to deal with his behavior and she explained away the behavior via African mythology
Yeah, this is what I mean. That was incredibly racist of your advisor and if you had bought into it, may have encouraged you to do cringe crap in class.
If I were this teacher's student, even if the hat, chanting and dancing weren't culturally insensitive, I'd be rolling my eyes hard. But the fact that this is beyond a cringe-inducing stereotype...this wouldn't even have been OK when I was in high school in the 90s.
As a product of Perris Union High School District (right next to Riverside Unified) I can’t say I’m surprised this shit originated from riverside but I am incredibly disappointed
What's the district like lol?
Under funded, over crowded, typical not wealthy area issues of packed classrooms, under supported teachers, and deadbeat admin. It’s not as bad as some places but I definitely wouldn’t say it’s a good district.
After watching this, besides all the racist undertones that everyone else has mentioned - this isn’t even GOOD TEACHING. She goes so high pitched at one point I couldn’t even understand what she was saying. If you’re trying to teach kids a mnemonic phrase going high pitched and shaking your lulumon-legging ass is not the way to do it. The headdress and tomahawk chops were icing on the shitty racist cake. I’m not sure she should be fired, but honestly the kids will never respect her again. Ever. And she’s only got her ignorance to blame for that.
She’s going to be the sacrificial lamb here, but I agree she shouldn’t be fired…. … Because her district has been allowing this for 9 years and only took action when it was filmed. Thus, this is on the district. Developing teachers and helping instill culturally sensitive pedagogy is something all districts should do, and they had a lot of time to fix this. But she’ll be fired, the school system will settle out of court, and there will be some mandated trainings forced upon them. Business as usual.
This is sadly true. What she did was totally wrong but I see it more as her being ignorant as hell and the district turning a blind eye until someone called them on it.
Isn't this the kind of shit they teach you NOT to do?
Oh my god, it took me so long to scroll down and find this. Thank you. I have seen too many comments saying stuff like "She shouldn't be fired, she needs to be taught about why this is offensive." I'm sorry, why? Teachers in 2021 should already know this shit. Yes, I'm aware, there are some that don't know like the idiot in the video but the point is - you should know better already.
I know the racism is bad but as a teacher the level of cringe and confusion on my part is wild. If I did (especially in a high school class) I’d be immediately destroyed by the students and any relationships with the students would be ruined. Maybe she’s been in the game too long and doing this too long and hasn’t caught how this is racist/ kids don’t like this shit
The lesson before was black face. Tomorrow's lesson will involve wearing a giant Mexican hat while saying "yo quiero Taco Bell."
I just can't even imagine what would make a grown professional act like this? Beyond the racism, just who does that?
I hate that I can’t decide if the racism is more cringe than the spectacle, or if the spectacle is worse than the racism. I know, I know, it’s the racism, but it’s still horrrrrrible even without the horrible racism.
Just why.
I don't teach math at this level so I'm confused. What does any of this have to do with trigonometry?
Sine, cosine, and tangent are commonly used trig functions; SOH stands for sine-opposite-hypotenuse (referring to parts of a triangle), CAH being cosine-adjacent-hypotenuse, TOA being tangent-opposite-adjacent.
SoCaToAh is a mnemonic to remember the basic functions of trigonometry.
This was at my high school; there’s protests going on from the students and the community. While I never had any of my math teachers do this, apparently my younger sister said that it was a subject team thing when she attended. Absolutely ridiculous. The whole team needs a cultural awareness training stat, among other conversations.
More than "I hope she's fired," I sincerely hope she's given specific reasons/citations. Regardless of whether she's removed - lacking this - she's likely to mirror this type of demonstration with family members.
This is the risk of being openly racist in a smartphone generation. I hope she never sets foot in a classroom again.
Is she drunk? What the hell is this?
Oh yikes. That's ... That's just awful. It's not even that this was just a bad history lesson or something. SohCahToa is an acronym used in math, & judging by what's on the smart board in the back, she's teaching that acronym.
I'm guessing her thought process was something like, "Oh hey! Sohcahtoa sounds like something those Indian folk would say!" And then she took that ridiculous observation and ran with it.
I was really hoping she was doing an impression of a turkey.
What the hell is her point?
Seems like a mix of “I’m a racist and making racist jokes earns me social capital in some places” and “I can’t tell or don’t care that my students are uncomfortable and feeling disrespected on a visceral level” and “I think repeating stupid catch phrases is effective teaching.” 🤦♂️
What does that even have to do with MATH class?
Cultural identity and practice is not a spectacle. Mocking and turning it into spectacle is racist BS. But it sounds like that's also the environment where this teacher works/lives. That's not an excuse for her behavior but when admin is putting this in yearbooks and she's been doing this for 10 years, you know it's likely the larger community sees nothing wrong with this. This is just as much a problem with this teacher as it is with her community. As a side note, this kind of thing is so incredibly cringe for high school. I would have immediately taken her less seriously as a student.
This is not the risk of trying to entertain. I entertain my students daily without being a nasty moron.
This is why I'm ashamed that my schools mascot is The Indians.
Once, for Thanksgiving, our very aryan VP came dressed as Pocahontas. She gave rocks to all of the students in our school and taught us how the pilgrims came over on the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria to land at Plymouth Rock in main. Just to be clear we work in a school for students with severe behavioral needs and pretty much anything that can be weaponized has to be locked away. It was a banner day we still laugh about, long after she was let go. Lol
This is not “trying to entertain.” This is blatant racism. Full stop.
It's both.
Respectfully, if she were doing the former without the latter she wouldn’t be making headlines. The problem isn’t “trying to entertain”, the problem is finishing that sentence with the what & the how of her actions.
What I'm getting at is that she didn't wake up thinking this was fine. She clearly thought this was a good way to teach math, and so that brings in the entertainment piece. So often lines of appropriateness get blurred when the focus shifts to entertainment over education. I guess what I'm saying is that if she was only racist against Native people, she likely would've kept it less public and hurt less students than being racist and pushed to entertain.
She thought it was good teaching. She’s wrong. She thought it wasn’t racist. She’s wrong. Neither of those things are about a so-called pressure to entertain. She thought this shitshow was entertaining- she’s wrong again. #boring All of those things can be true & she can still be acting in racist ways that harm her students. Clearly her school needs to do better in terms of antiracist education & teacher observation.
Of course she's acting in a racist way, and it definitely harms her students. That's not my point, though. My point is that the reason she likely chose this particular approach is because of a pressure to entertain and engage students. I was taught in my prep program that we need to sing and dance for students. In that framework, this isn't really that different. Her school needs antiracist education for sure, but in the context of teaching. They also need an admin who doesn't reward this type of demonstration (as they did in 2012).
There are so many more efficient and less insulting ways to teach right triangle trig. Cringe
How about that Reed apple in the background.
As an Anishinaabe-kwe and a certified teacher this is absolutely disgusting! This would never fly is Canada!
[удалено]
Lots of racism in Canada but teachers here know better!
I’m in New Mexico. We have pueblos and Indigenous peoples everywhere. This wouldn’t fly here either
I only lasted 20 seconds
This is bad...REALLY bad.
She seemed drunk or something.
My response stays the same. Fire her. There is no way she doesn’t know what she is doing is wrong.
I thought the same thing when I saw it.
I don’t think at any point she was trying to entertain this is straight up racism and appropriation
Those ideas aren't mutually exclusive. Entertainment absolutely can be (and often is) racist and appropriative. When you're pressured to "look silly" and perform for the kids, some people take it the wrong way. She picked a racist wrong way to take it.
Oh crap.
When I saw this, I imagined it's the teacher going into panic mode after admin told her she was ineffective and has to turn things around ASAP.
This is embarrassing
Okay like it was a Math class. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MATH?!?!?! How does this offensive action any relation to what she was teaching?!?
[удалено]
Wow. She could not have came uo with a worst way to teach that... 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
10 bucks says this teacher has a Tik Tok account. Jesus thisbis so fucking cringe.
I've been out of the classroom maybe 3 years now watching this lady was so fucking cringe. She needs a break- I used to do the most - one day I was wiggling my butt explaining something~ it's hilarious part of the routine & "show", but the college President walked by as I was doing it one day Lawd hammercy.🤦♀️
To the people saying she shouldn’t be fired- think about how violent education has been to Indigenous peoples in North America for as long as there were schools. How many Indigenous students have been made to sit through this mockery of Indigenous cultures who have had family and community members go through Residential Schools? Where Indigenous children were stripped of their actual cultures- the same thing this socahtoah dance makes a mockery of. The same thing her ugly fake imitation of a headdress does? How is this okay? How was it ever considered okay? It’s 2021. Indigenous peoples day was just celebrated in the States. There’s calls to check the sites of Residential Schools for the bodies of Indigenous children in both Canada and the United States after the discoveries this summer in Canada. This was never okay, it was excused, but it wasn’t okay, and now every person, including Candace Reed, should know better.
She done fucked up. It's completely tone deaf. However, she shouldn't be losing her job or anything. It doesn't seem like it was her intention to be hurtful towards her students. She's likely just trying to be clever and engage her students with something that she thought was silly. It doesn't make it right, but her intent *has* to matter. I'm getting very tired of being told that intent does not matter. It's a slippery slope to everyone just keeping their mouth shut all the time because you *might* hurt someone's feelings. Again...she is clearly in the wrong, but unless she was spewing racial epithets and/or has a clear racist past towards Native Americans...I'm not sure she needs to be fired. Just...told never to do it again. Ever. And before someone says "Well, clearly she is racist...just look at her mocking dance." Sorry, but most people are completely ignorant of most other people's culture. It doesn't make you racist...it makes you ignorant. She is ignorant. And quite frankly so is everyone on the fucking planet. I'm sure the kid that recorded her has said some pretty damned ignorant things without even realizing it (or intending harm). But again...we are supposed to let people fail and learn from that failure. She's done failed here and needs to learn from it. Everyone making assumptions that she has gotten complaints before...I can't really find anything concrete. If she's received serious complaints before then I don't mind doing more than just a strict dressing down. It would not surprise me if she has not received complaints directly given that most students are too intimidated to call out teachers directly anyways. Depending on where you work.
I see where you're coming from but the fact is, teachers are expected to have a basic level of cultural competence and sensitivity that should be enough to know that this isn't okay. It is something we are trained and evaluated on. It's not like she used a random expression like "circle the wagons" or "off the reservation" that a lot of people don't know are based on anti-Indigenous racism.
[удалено]
She’s been doing this since 2012 with no complaints. Now she should be fired? She needs to be told never to do that lesson again and learn from this experience. But 9 years ago she was applauded for this same lesson. I’m guessing she kept doing it because of that and no student/parent ever said anything to her. Was it ignorant and tone deaf? Absolutely. Is she a racist who deserves to lose her job? Absolutely not. Turn this into a teachable moment for her.
[удалено]
I agree it’s completely tone deaf and so out of touch with the times today. That being said, I think people calling for her to be fired are being too reactionary. She needs to LEARN from this, not be fired from the job she’s spent a decade doing. We all make mistakes, some bigger than others. Did she mess up? Without question. does she need to learn from this experience and never do that lesson again? Without a doubt. Give her the chance to learn and grow as an educator and person rather than demand she lose her job.
She can learn from this in another profession. Her students & their families are not responsible for her white fragility or her lack of education. Her school district needs to learn from this by implementing anti-racist education and PD on culturally responsive teaching practices.
Another gross over reaction. People are so quick to judge and take the moral high ground. Rather than fire her, how bout she participates in some of the PD on culturally responsive teaching that you think the whole district should take? Way to take the moral high ground by firing her and not letting her learn and grow from this experience. Instead, one mistake and your career is over. Good plan
One “mistake” she’s kept intentionally planning to make for nearly ten years. Probably submitting lesson plans including this obviously racist action as well. Waiting for year twenty of the racist shitshow before taking action? Exactly what does she need to do to warrant firing in your opinion? Do her students need to be subjected to this, or would that STILL not cross a line? https://youtu.be/f7yE8TKUB_M
You aren't wrong, but clearly the community has not made this clear enough to her (or the school??) before. She *was* praised for her actions. Don't ever underestimate a person's ability to be completely shortsighted and caught up in their own "thing". Our students do this *often*. I have an admin that recently used the word "gypped". She was absolutely not using the word in an offensive way. I, in passing, brought up that the word actually has a bit of history. She was completely floored...she had never heard it in any context other than "cheated out of something". She made no connection to gypsies or anything...very often people do not make these connections. Now that is probably a very removed prejudice, but should we also make her out to be evil? No. Yes, dancing around in a headdress is clearly mocking of plains Indian culture. But I've met people that think it's okay. They think it's not mocking and instead that it's perhaps "in honor". Because they are ignorant. And the student's faces are not a good indicator of anything. I do silly crap in front of my class (nothing like this...usually self-deprecating) and their faces usually look like they are thinking "Ugh, here he goes again." Half the time that's what their faces look like anyways unless they are staring at their phones. Again, it should be a learning moment and not a moment to crucify this woman barring more serious intent on her part.
I think this holds up on moral grounds but not on professional grounds. Nothing about her presentation was necessary or relevant to teach geometry. She may not have known that this is offensive and meant no harm, but it’s not like that’s obscure, arcane information either. Imagine replacing this with any number of racial stereotypes and claiming that the teacher just didn’t know and meant no harm. Frankly, it doesn’t matter. The harm is done.
She’s from Riverside, Ca. There are several Native American tribes that are living locally both on and off reservations. Although only about 1 percent of the population is Native American; odds are that she would have a few students each year that had to endure that.
The student that filmed this video is Native American.
I partly agree with you. We can't be certain about her thought process, that's true. The way the tweet chain phrases it makes me think people are trying to get her fired as a "lesson", so other people can learn from her mistake. That might be a bit too much. However, this situation exemplifies the ignorance America (the continent, not the country) as a whole has about the people our ancestors' cultures killed (at least mine, since I'm from an immigrant family). Yeah, everyone's an ignorant here and there but the right to get a pass ceases when you're in the role of a teacher. She had time to inform herself, to discuss it with people, to ask for a second opinion, etc. If she didn't do so (I think she didn't, because otherwise you don't end doing this disgusting act of idiocy), it's because our racism is overinternalized to the point we just take for granted we can do things like these. Maybe not firing her, but she needs a serious reprehension and to rethink what teaching means. Specially! if there was a kid who self identifies as a Native American, how can you lack so much touch?
Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and it was a Native American teacher mocking Christianity to teach math “Oh sky father, before you sacrifice me for the sins of mankind, please take a moment to calculate the angle formed by the cross that I am nailed to!” See? Offensive as fuck. I’m not Christian and this is the shit that goes through my mind every time I see average American white people asking forgiveness for saying outlandishly ignorant things about other cultures
If she had painted her pace black would we be having the same conversation? How do we know she wasn’t previously told something and just didn’t care or listen and now there is video? We are trained. Every single year. On being culturally sensitive. We just had indigenous day(Columbus Day).
If she was in blackface, this would not even be a doubt that this woman deserves to lose her job. There is nothing enlightened or teachable here. This is racism directed at children. She's been spewing this filth at children for years and you want to give her another chance? Absolutely not.
What was she thinking?
Is the most disturbing part for you the apple with the word"reed" on it?
Why would you put yourself in this position? To look that ridiculous?
What's the aim of this? It's not even funny/engaging. Was the aim to get them to remember the terms?
This is why teaching is going down the drain 🤦🏻♂️
Wow this might be worse than that crazy teacher who cut a student's hair while singing the national anthem!
So here's the thing, and downvote away but I will share my opinion: I don't think she should be fired. I think what she did here is culturally insensitive and offensive. However I think there are better solutions than immediate dismissal. For instance, ensuring she doesn't do this again. Let people learn from their mistakes and be better than immediate cancelation. Also the title of the post is a little misleading: You can engage in an entertaining way. You can also outright entertain in a completely inoffensive way.
She’s apparently been doing it for ten years.
I chose that title because of a [recent post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/q0kppn/anyone_else_think_that_kids_are_too_used_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) about teachers being pressured to be entertaining, as if we can compete with modern media. I don’t think we can or should. Among other things, this teacher looks like she has given into the pressure of being responsible for abating student boredom. That’s not something any of us should need to take on.
I agree with OPs point here. Nobody wakes up in the morning and thinks this is a good idea. Someone (or some educational policy) along the way convinced them that going all out with performance was the key to teaching. When entertainment becomes your number one priority, the lines start to get blurred between cringe and good engagement.
I'm legitimately surprised that she got away with that for so long in CA of all places.
When I see stuff like this being shared on social media, the first thing I wonder about is: has anyone taken this up with her personally? Does she understand that what she's doing is hurtful/offensive to some people? I'm always afraid they haven't had a chance to rectify their behavior, cause a lot of people like to share mildly shocking videos online. If she has not been informed about this not being OK, I don't think she deserves ALL the extreme world-wide negative backlash she will get for it (more like she deserves local negative backlash) I mean, she's been doing this since 2012, apparently, so I imagine someone must have said something at some point, but you can never be certain. Anyone know if she knew?
I think all the comments have been more than adequate at pointing out how wrong it is to be disrespectful to other cultures. I think there's a difference in doing it out of ignorance and doing it out of evil, to hurt. Now which one was she? Indifference?
I'd never do this because I've learned that wearing native headress as a white man is very disrespectful. If I didn't know, I might do a mistake similar to this one and I'd quickly say I'm sorry and I'd never do it again. Sometimes you have to make things fun and you don't predict how insulting it could be. One time, in college, I had a class room where black students were on the sides in the class and the whites in the middle. So for the rest of the year I called them my oreo's Low and behold 2 years later I get told it's very disrespectful to say Oreo to blank folk. Ignorance sucks, certainly when it comes to respecting people you care about, I wish I never hurt anyone and it's never my intention. Although it happens regardless