Reflective Summary

            I never really thought of myself as a prejudiced person or someone who looked down on others because they were different than me before I took this class. In reality, I was one of those students who at the beginning of the class thought that none of this stuff really mattered. I knew that people were different, but I did not think that meant there had to be a whole class on how to teach people who are different than me or those around them. I just did not believe culture or ethnicity affected education that much. I could see how it might sway my teaching a little based on who I was teaching, but I just figured I would learn that as I started my teaching career. With that, I realize that I was pretty ignorant as to these issues before this class and how these issues would directly affect me each and every day as I sought to teach and influence the lives of my students. This class has truly changed how I view these issues and have helped me have a greater desire to work hard to overcome my innate prejudices and become loving to all people.

            Probably one of the most important things that I have taken from this class is that culture really does play a huge role in a classroom. Or really, culture should play a role in a classroom. I have realized that diversity within a classroom is a great and marvelous thing. Diversity within the classroom implies that the classroom will be made up of differing backgrounds, values, cultures, and ethnicities. Not one student will be like another. And what a miracle that will be! Because then the students will be able to learn and grow from each other if the teacher is smart enough to take advantage of that diversity and employ it to benefit the students. Examples that I learned in class like Principal El and the characters in the book Breaking Through are excellent because they show how attentive educators were able to see the diversity within the classroom and then take advantage of it to help each student learn in the best way possible. These educators realized that because each student had a different culture they would not learn the same and some things would be more interesting or useful in their lives than other things that they could learn at school. I have learned that if a student feels valued because of their culture they will have a greater desire to learn at school and will have a greater respect for that teacher. Everyone has a culture and that culture is important to them. If the students see that their teacher also values the student’s culture, even if it is drastically different than the teacher’s own culture, then the students will feel important and loved and will want to continue to learn and involve themselves in the classroom.

            However, there is a flip side to this. If a teacher is not aware of the diversity that exists within the classroom and does not teach to that diversity then the teacher limits some of his or her students by not helping them use their culture to their advantage. If a student does not have that cultural capital to know what is going on in the classroom, like if they have never been camping or do not know how to use a telephone, then they are in danger of not being reached by the teacher if they are using camping or telephones as a part of their lesson. Cultural capital, the specific knowledge of a different cultures and the ability to work within that space of the culture, is vital for all students to have in the classroom. I have learned that the teacher must be aware of each student and what cultural capital they have so that the teacher can stay within that as they teach. I never want one of my students to feel out of place within in classroom because they do not understand what is going on simply because they do not have that cultural capital. I would be heartbroken if I knew that something like that was happening to one of my students because of my lack of understanding or desire to comprehend their culture and use that culture within my teaching.

            Another way that this class has allowed me to grow is in my vision of influencing my students to become the best people they can be and reach their full potential. One of the reasons that I wanted to become a math teacher is because it was my math teachers and within my math classrooms that allowed me to become confident in who I was. Math gave me a sense of worth along with something that I am good at. Math made me feel special, to be honest. And so I want math to do that for my future students one day. I want them to know they can succeed. But I have never been quite sure as to how I am going to be able to accomplish that. I realize that my ability to reach my students will largely be on a student by student basis, but this class taught me that one thing that I can do to reach all of my students is to find the kids who might feel like ‘the other’ within my class. I will also need to overcome my desire to rely on the single story that will surround some of my students and really get to know them for who they are. I am so glad that these two phenomena have names and something that I will always remember because it will forever give me that desire to reach every single one of my students and give them the opportunity to succeed. I do not want to be the reason that one of my students did not succeed in school. I do not want them to feel like I do not care about them or care about who they are. I do not want any of my students to be ashamed of who they are.

Two things that I learned about in this class that might inhibit my class from being a haven for all people are hegemony and institutional racism. Hegemony is the state where one culture or group of people is superior or has a greater influence in society or in a specific place simply because of who they are. And institutional racism is where certain races or ethnicities are put down or inhibited by the rules, regulations, and other institutions that are set in place. Both of these are unfortunately almost always set in place in schools. One race or group of people will rule the school and there will be some sort of regulations that will hurt, whether intentionally or not, one race from being able to develop or thrive in the schools.  While it will be hard, if I can work to overcome hegemony and institutional racism in my classroom, if not in the schools, then I can help every student have the opportunity to succeed and learn in school.

            Lastly, the greatest way that I have grown is to understand that I can change and overcome the prejudices that are within me. Well, actually, probably the greatest change I have made is to realize that I am not perfect in this area. I might not have a problem accepting people of different races and ethnicities, I do have tendencies to not accept people based on other things about them and this is absolutely not acceptable. The last day in class taught me how important critical self-analysis is. It is imperative that as a teacher I am constantly rethinking and reflecting on how I am teaching and how I am treating each student. I will not be perfect at this my first year teaching and I probably will not be perfect at this after ten years of teaching, but I will most definitely be better at loving all of my students and giving them all an opportunity to succeed because of my continual critical self-analysis and dedication to work hard and become better.

As an example, this class helped me see that I might not be as accepting of people who are not of the same class as me. While growing up a large portion of my schools were low-class and impoverished but I tended to stay within my close group of friends who were of a higher socioeconomic level more because I am a shy person and I tend to just stay with my few friends. I do not branch out very often. As a result of this, I just never had to really deal with people who were not as blessed economically as my family and I was. And because of this I have grown to have slight prejudices against poorer people, nothing harsh or mean, but certainly not to the level that I would hope to be at one day. I guess really I just do not feel as comfortable around poor or homeless people as I should be. And I have come to realize that if I do not change this and improve in this area it will inhibit my ability to reach students who come from poverty and I do not want that. This class gave me the ability to understand my shortcomings, but it also gave me the confidence to know that if I continually work at these negative feelings I can overcome them. I can become better. I do not have to always be stuck in my ways. I know that this will make me a better, more effective teacher one day. I am excited to see and continue to learn how I can use my students’ cultures to their benefit in their learning. I am excited to work hard to reach the kids in my classroom who might not fit in or who might be continually judged for who they are or for who people think they are. I am excited to learn how to overcome my weaknesses and become completely accepting of all people. This class taught me so much and will no doubt continuously influence me as I go further into my education and into my career.