edushare – Page 5 – Coffee and Crayons

Values: Self, Society and the Professions.

My lecture today was about how we view ourselves and about our conscious and unconscious self. During the lecture, I learned about the 3 levels of bias:

Conscious and open bias
Conscious and hidden bias
Unconscious bias

When listening at first, I believed that I couldn’t have an unconscious bias. I believed that the only truth in me was the truth I thought in my head and what I thought I thought I knew. But after thinking about it further, I decided that I probably do have some sort of unconscious bias (obviously). Most people have some sort of degree of unconscious bias, and it is deeply ingrained into our thinking and emotions.

So, I went online into https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ and decided to take a few tests. The first test was about ‘age’, the second ‘gender’ and the third ‘weight’. These were the 3 that stood out to me straight away (out of many other options such as race, countries etc) and probably because I believe that I have really strong beliefs in these categories. If anyone asked me, I would say that I am envious of thinner people, that women and men SHOULD be equal and that age does not make any difference. My tests did not show this though, I have a preference for young over old, a strong association with men and science and women with the liberal arts and a strong automatic preference for thin people compared to fat people.

Today, my thinking is about how I view others and wondering if what I think is a good or bad thing- and how important it is to me as a person, and my effect on society.

For me, teaching has always been what I have wanted to do. From a young age, I have always wanted to be like my Primary School teachers and have a class of my own. However, along the way like any other teenager, I changed my mind so many times. I wanted to be a Radio Presenter. So I emailed all the local radio stations I knew, and after having work experience with Forth 1 I knew that it wasn’t the job for me. I also did a few things similar to this, I thought I wanted to be a manager in a hotel, but I didn’t like that either. Throughout all this time though, I have always known I have wanted to be a teacher but didn’t know if i wanted to do secondary teaching or primary teaching. So I asked around, went to a few high schools and primary schools and every single primary school I visited made my face light up – they were the only places I looked around and was really excited about meeting the teachers. All the teachers just made me feel more passionate and excited about what I wanted to do.

However, after having work experience, jobs and volunteering in totally different jobs and not liking it too much I was terrified of having my own class and realising it also wasn’t the career I wanted. So when I finished school, rather than apply for University, I took a year out and worked in a children’s soft play centre. I couldn’t have loved it more, incorporating numbers, letters, art and various other subjects into my day job was exciting, and confirmed for me that the path for me to go down was definitely teaching children.

So I am nearly 22, and after feeling I am finally ready. The reason I have always wanted to become a Primary School teacher was to make that difference. To help deal with issues inside and outside the classroom, to talk to them and be a teacher and someone they can talk to if they need too. I want to be Miss Klos, the teacher that when my pupils are older will tell people about because I helped them at that stage in their life. I can’t wait to make a difference to someones life and help them read and write. I can’t wait to feel proud and teaching for me, has to be the career in my eyes with the biggest rewards and the biggest challenges.

The three levels of bias

Why Teaching?