The Ray Rice incident presents teachers an opportunity to teach about anti-bullying as well as close the racial divide between teachers an students that many perceive is a product of racism in education.
In a recent domestic violence incident, a video of Ray Rice assaulting his then girlfriend Janay Rice in an Atlantic City elevator surfaced. The NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the Baltimore Ravens permanently removed Rice from playing in the NFL for this act of domestic violence. Ray Rice is presently appealing the decision of the NFL which is not the intended purpose of this article.
Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior which involves violence or other types of abuses by one person against another in a domestic relationships, such as marriage or cohabitation. Domestic violence has close ties to bullying. Bullying is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others. In both definitions, there is a pattern of behavior to abuse another individual.
In order to continue to eliminate racism in education, teachers can use the Ray Rice incident as an opportunity to teach their students to protect themselves from becoming subjected to the abuse from another individual. Before you begin the lesson prepare a scoring rubric that focuses on Language Arts Curriculum Standards that emphasizes writing, listening, and oral presentations. The Rubric should also emphasize determining resources for domestic violence victims and abusers. Finally, require students to compare and contrast domestic violence and bullying.
Begin your lesson with an article about the Ray Rice incident and articles about. For students who may need help reading the article, demonstrate the appropriate way to read the article while the students read silently. Use articles from different authors for advanced students.
Next, divide the students in cooperative learning groups to evaluate the article or articles. Have the groups prepare a writing product and then select a student in each group to discuss what they can do as young men and women so they will not become subjected to behavior that is consistent with domestic violence.
From a racial perspective, this type of lesson helps both Black and Hispanic students because these students excel when required to finalize a task through an oral presentation. Working together as a group to develop a written product provides a support mechanism that will enhance their ability to respond literally.
Finally, because you have developed a lesson that teaches your students to protect themselves they will see you as a teacher that cares about them instead of a teacher that is racist against them. This is a positive way to continue a process that eliminates racism in education.
Dr. Derrick L. Campbell, Ed.D.
PO Box 1668 Blackwood, NJ 08012
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Author of Promoting Positive Racial Teacher Student Classroom Relationships
“The model that you use to analyze teacher-student relationships is a good one for most school districts”. ~ Joe Vas ~ Perth Amboy Mayor
“Dr. Campbell’s Cultural Relationship Training Program is comprehensive, informative, and should be required training for all schools” ~ Darrell Pope ~ Hutchinson Kansas NAACP President