My granddaughter Ruby was teaching a summer enrichment type camp near NYC, and before coming home, she visited her college classmates in Minneapolis.
One of them, a young man, is teaching a middle school history class there.
So you have to teach a bunch of Somali kids in middle school, at the age when kids are just starting their rebellious teen years, and of course might not respect a non Somali teacher.
What do you do?
When his Somali kids started acting out and dissing him, instead of sending them to the principal or trying to ignore their behavior, he did several things.
First, he met with their parents.
Second, He arranged his cellphone to become a cam to stream the classroom to any parent who wants to watch what is going on.
and third, when a kid started acting up, he phoned the parent and had them talk to their son.
American parents probably would be more busy at work and their kids might just ignore them if they told them to settle down, but Somali culture is family oriented and strict, and the kids will obey the parents or else.
(Italics mine).
And it worked.
Building on the strength of the community is part of the job of a good teacher.
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