Modeling Respect by Teaching About Race and Ethnic Identity in the Social Studies

Abstract

“Respecting students means affirming who they are—including their race and ethnicity. To ignore the race and ethnicity of students is to disrespect them.” This is the position of the social studies teacher in the case study reported here. She demonstrates respect for her students by facilitating their ethnic identity development through the social studies curriculum. Ethnic identity development is a critical process with which students wrestle in school and requires assistance from teachers. I conducted this study to investigate 1) teachers' conceptions of their role as facilitator of students' ethnic identity development, and 2) how teachers were facilitating or might facilitate the ethnic identity development of their students. This study revealed that when social studies teachers see connections between social studies and race and ethnic identity, they are more likely to facilitate students' ethnic identity development through curriculum. This case shows social educators how they might prepare pre-service teachers to help their future students understand ethnicity and ethnic identity development.