When I wrote my essential questions, I originally had fairly specific questions that focused on civil rights, such as “What are civil rights?” My hope was to see what my students, who are in 5th grade, know about civil rights, segregation, and similar issues. I ended up making my questions broader and focusing more on the idea of respect. I think that making the questions broader probably helped get more answers from my students because it’s a subject they encounter all the time and should have many ideas about respect. Another reason that making my questions broader was positive is that many students in my class are ESOL students and the term civil rights may have been hard for them to explain, even if they knew what it meant. I conducted my interview with a small group of three students, rather than one, in the hopes that the students would be more likely to talk to me if they were with friends.
My first question was “What does it mean to treat others with respect?” The students were initially quiet and hesitant to speak, but slowly they shared some of their thoughts. The first student to speak up simply said, “kind.” After he spoke the other students were less shy. Between the three students I heard answers such as “generous,” “smiling,” “happy,” “sharing,” “treating others how you want to be treated,” and “waiting your turn.” I think that these examples come from their experiences in school and most likely classroom discussion about how to show respect. I thought it was interesting that one student thought of respect as smiling and being happy. My theory is that he is thinking of how to show respect when you are interacting with others, smiling would make sense in that case. It could also be that that student was not entirely sure how to define respect. I think the student that said respect is “treating others how you want to be treated,” described respect well, although this is a term used frequently in classrooms, so it’s hard to tell if he is just repeating that or if he really believes that to be true.
My second question was “Do you ever see others being treated without respect?” The students were a lot quicker to answer this question. I heard answers such as “fighting,” “people talking when someone else is speaking,” “people being mean to each other,” “calling each other names,” and “people being rude.” I thought it was interesting that the students were quicker to respond to this question, there could be a number of reasons why. One reason could be that the students were feeling more comfortable about answering because they had already opened up a bit with the first question. Another reason could be that two students (not in the group) had gotten in a fight during lunch, just before my interview, and that could have been on their minds still.
My next question was “How could you help change that?” which was in reference to the previous question. The students were quiet after that question and I tried to rephrase it a few times. “What could you do if you saw someone treating someone else without respect?” Eventually I got a few answers, but the student still seemed hesitant to answer, or maybe couldn’t think of a response. One response was “Tell those people to be kind,” and “Try speaking with them.” I tried to prompt the students a little more and asked a new question, “Why do you think people sometimes treat each other without respect?” and I received a few more answers. I got answers like “Maybe others aren’t being respectful,” “People aren’t listening to them,” and “People might be talking while they’re talking.” I’m not entirely sure why the students had an easier time answering “why” questions rather than the “how can you help” questions, my best guess is maybe they felt like they would be tattling on their friends if they intervened. It is probably also easier to think of why people treat others without respect because I’m sure they have all had an experience when they were disrespectful toward another person, although when I tried asking if they ever treated someone without respect I was met with silence.
In hindsight the interview could have been better in several ways. My group was a preformed group, which I thought would be good because they were already comfortable with me, however this could have also meant they were tired of answering questions. The group was also made up of three boys, I think that I might have had different answers if there were girls in the group as well. The students might also have been hesitant to talk because my university facilitator was observing the interview and they might have felt shy in front of her. This interview gave me an idea of how these students view respect. I know that they have an understanding of what respect is and why people may be disrespectful, but don’t quite know how they can help others to be respectful. Based on their answers, I think I really need to emphasize how people can impact others and encourage change, which I think is very relevant to civil rights.
My first question was “What does it mean to treat others with respect?” The students were initially quiet and hesitant to speak, but slowly they shared some of their thoughts. The first student to speak up simply said, “kind.” After he spoke the other students were less shy. Between the three students I heard answers such as “generous,” “smiling,” “happy,” “sharing,” “treating others how you want to be treated,” and “waiting your turn.” I think that these examples come from their experiences in school and most likely classroom discussion about how to show respect. I thought it was interesting that one student thought of respect as smiling and being happy. My theory is that he is thinking of how to show respect when you are interacting with others, smiling would make sense in that case. It could also be that that student was not entirely sure how to define respect. I think the student that said respect is “treating others how you want to be treated,” described respect well, although this is a term used frequently in classrooms, so it’s hard to tell if he is just repeating that or if he really believes that to be true.
My second question was “Do you ever see others being treated without respect?” The students were a lot quicker to answer this question. I heard answers such as “fighting,” “people talking when someone else is speaking,” “people being mean to each other,” “calling each other names,” and “people being rude.” I thought it was interesting that the students were quicker to respond to this question, there could be a number of reasons why. One reason could be that the students were feeling more comfortable about answering because they had already opened up a bit with the first question. Another reason could be that two students (not in the group) had gotten in a fight during lunch, just before my interview, and that could have been on their minds still.
My next question was “How could you help change that?” which was in reference to the previous question. The students were quiet after that question and I tried to rephrase it a few times. “What could you do if you saw someone treating someone else without respect?” Eventually I got a few answers, but the student still seemed hesitant to answer, or maybe couldn’t think of a response. One response was “Tell those people to be kind,” and “Try speaking with them.” I tried to prompt the students a little more and asked a new question, “Why do you think people sometimes treat each other without respect?” and I received a few more answers. I got answers like “Maybe others aren’t being respectful,” “People aren’t listening to them,” and “People might be talking while they’re talking.” I’m not entirely sure why the students had an easier time answering “why” questions rather than the “how can you help” questions, my best guess is maybe they felt like they would be tattling on their friends if they intervened. It is probably also easier to think of why people treat others without respect because I’m sure they have all had an experience when they were disrespectful toward another person, although when I tried asking if they ever treated someone without respect I was met with silence.
In hindsight the interview could have been better in several ways. My group was a preformed group, which I thought would be good because they were already comfortable with me, however this could have also meant they were tired of answering questions. The group was also made up of three boys, I think that I might have had different answers if there were girls in the group as well. The students might also have been hesitant to talk because my university facilitator was observing the interview and they might have felt shy in front of her. This interview gave me an idea of how these students view respect. I know that they have an understanding of what respect is and why people may be disrespectful, but don’t quite know how they can help others to be respectful. Based on their answers, I think I really need to emphasize how people can impact others and encourage change, which I think is very relevant to civil rights.