Week 2 has been wonderful to me so far. I have learned so much this week about my classmates and about tools to help me in my future career. In my classroom learning this week, I have gained a lens of how to approach teaching in a multicultural classroom. I have learned that token phrases I may have been taught my whole life such as, "sit Indian style" could be offensive to someone in my class. I also learned that the people writing history may not have always been the best to do it. They were most likely the "winners" of the war or privileged members of society. So in my classroom, I know it will be important for me to present the underdog's view of the event.
In my outside research, I have been studying literature in multicultural classrooms. I found a great book to begin the conversation of citizenship and being accepting of their classmates. The book is in English and Spanish!
Being able to make content relative to my students, relates directly to standard 3 in NCTCS, "Teachers make instruction relevant to students."
I am so thankful to have made a connection during the privilege walk that not all my students will come from the same place even if the majority of them resemble one another.
In my future classroom, the privilege walk is something I want to do every year. It builds trust in the peers and allows them to bond over past experiences. I also want to ensure I am respectful of every culture in my future classroom. Being respectful starts with being knowledgeable. I am working diligently this semester, and I will continue to work hard as I become a professional to ensure all my students feel wanted and loved in my classroom.
In a time of such turmoil and hate, remember the quote above. Take your education, and go change the world!
With joy,
Mallory
Mallory-
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love how the book you found is in spanish and english! That is so cool. Learning about how certain phrases that we were taught when we were younger could be offensive to other people or students in our future classroom was an eye opener. In our future classrooms, it will be very important to make sure that we keep those common phrases away. I also personally loved the privilege walk. Even though we all look the same or similar, and our students will be the same way, we are all very different and have different backgrounds. I cannot wait to continue getting to know you!
Mallory,
ReplyDeleteI was kind of shocked to hear about the views in history books like you have stated. I had never really thought about that before and the issues that it could cause. As future educators, we definitely need to show every view of situations rather than just one. Also, I love the book that you found! I recently went to a huge Scholastic Book Sale and saw so many books like that and picked out a few for my future classroom. What a great tool to appeal to a multicultural classroom!
Mallory,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love how you said "take your education and go change the world". When we started talking about the phrases I thought back to all the things that I may say that could be offensive, I have to be more aware of those things so I don't say something wrong. The privilege walk a little eye opening for me. I think this should be an activity that should be done more often.