Questions for Reflections and Discussion in Teaching English

1. Consider the three stories I tell in this chapter: Peter’s story about the Palestinian student, my story about Hae-young, and the adult literacy teacher’s story about the Russian student. In each of these stories, the teacher could have taken a different decision. What other options were available? How do you think you would have handled the situation? Most interestingly, what values or moral beliefs would have led you to your decision?

2. Peter’s story ends with the teacher giving a student a grade different from the one the student really deserves. Have you ever given a student a grade different to the grade he or she really deserved based on performance in class? Why did you do what you did? What values or moral reasons were behind your decision? If the same situation occurred today, would you do the same thing?

3. Have you ever had a case of plagiarism in your class? How did you handle it? What factors about the context—the student concerned, the nature of the plagiarism, the stakes involved—played a part in deciding what you should do?

4. Have you ever made comments on a student’s physical appearance, way of dressing, or personal hygiene? In the context in which you teach, to what extent are such comments expected or frowned on? Do you agree with these expectations?

5. What values inform your own teaching? Where do these values come from? To what extent do you feel that your values agree with widely accepted national, cultural, religious, or political norms? To what extent do you feel that your own personal values run counter to these norms?

6. Think of one incident in your teaching in which you had to make a decision that involved conflicts of values such as those described in this chapter. If you are working with others, first tell the story of this incident. What conflicting values were at stake? How did you resolve the dilemma? What values led you to the decision you made?