Deb and all-
Don't feel guilty about your inexperience with or lack of knowledge of other
cultural groups. Even veterans like myself, who worked with new immigrant students
in my school for many years, have been thrown a "curve ball" occasionally.
Several years ago, we had our first turban wearing Sikh student and one of his 4th
grade classmates bullied him unmercifully. This was before the current emphasis on
anti-bullying strategies. His teacher sought my advice in helping the student
become more resilient while she worked on making the bully more sensitive to
others.
I reached out to LM_NET members and found a high school in California with a high
Sikh population. The librarian there was able to find helpful online pals in the HS
Sikh club for my student. My student's parents approved of the email exchange
(conducted at home) and it seemed to be helpful to our student. Fortunately when
other Sikh students arrived a few years later, the stigma of the turban had worn
off in the community and those students had an easier time fitting into the school
family.
So my suggestion is to continue to post requests for help of others on LM_NET with
students in that ethnic or cultural group.
Jo
Josephine Dervan, MLS -Online Instructor
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Stout
dervan at optonline.net
dervanj@uwstout.edu
He who has a library and a garden, wants for nothing- Cicero
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