Portfolio Part 7

Reflective Summary

     Going into this class I wasn't really sure what to expect for multicultural education. I expected our class to be this feel good environment where everyone was accepted and there are no problems in the world and we are just going to talk about how to love all of the students and their differences do not matter because we are all people. I was in for a rude awakening on that first day. I was not sure exactly what Dr. Draper meant when she said we were going to have to talk about uncomfortable things on that first day. It is really sad that people are struggling with racism and are not accepting people because of their skin color. That was about all I thought of multicultural education, and I certainly did not think I had any sort of problem with that. I never took into consideration that multicultural education would include things like how someone speaks, their sexual orientation or how much money their family made.
     Each part of this portfolio showed me a different door to multicultural education that I was not expecting. I think the first time I started to actually get a grasp of what multicultural education was is when we did the second part of portfolio and we talked about our own personal cultures. This proved to me that having a culture was not all about what ethnicity you were or even what religion you were. I had a very different culture then even just my husband who is from the same city, same religion and same ethnicity as I am. Each person has their own culture and that is exactly the point, no one is the same and I cannot treat my students the same. They all need to be treated equally yes, but that does not mean that I treat each person exactly the same.
     When it came to being the "other" part of the portfolio I had a really hard time stepping outside of my box and I really did not want to do that assignment. I do not like stepping out of my comfort box or drawing attention to myself because I stand out. Why in the world did I choose to become a teacher then? It is all about standing out and being different than others. Having this experience helped me to relate to my students a lot better. I had never had the chance to learn from being the minority, I was always a majority. I was grateful for this experience because it helped show me how hard it would be for my students to be the ones that stand out, no matter what the reason may be. Everyone strives to fit in and that is why I want to try so hard to make my classroom and open, comfortable and accepting environment that they can discover who they are and learn from their classmates.
    The personal values part of the portfolio, each part of the portfolio seemed to get a little bit more complex. How am I supposed to pick only five values? There is so much that I want all of my students to learn and I just want to give them easy experiences to learn it all. Respect is still my number one because I think learning to respect others is a very important and will get you far in life. Respect captures all parts of multicultural education because it does not matter how one speaks or presents them self they still all deserve our respect and just because they are different does not mean they are less intelligent. I also believe that respect provides opportunities for all people. Throughout this class I have seen how far being open and respectful really does take you. No matter what your background may be, respect will open doors and give my students opportunities to learn and be successful.
     I learned that something I struggle with today is judging others because of how they speak and I did not even notice it until I was watching the videos on others languages. The second I heard that "hick" voice I immediately assumed they were less intelligent than I was because they did not use proper grammar. I believe that not jumping to conclusions is something I have gained from this class after this semester. What helped me to understand this was when I attended the court session. I did not fully understand all of the words they were using and it was in my own language. No body mocked or made fun of me or crossed me off their list because I did not understand them. I feel like that is exactly what I used to do, "They don't understand English so I may as well not even waste my time." I was discriminating against them because they were different then me. I was not excited to have ESL students in my class because they were going to be so much more work because of the language barrier and they should just learn English anyways. That breaks my heart that I used to think like that! I am so happy that I was able to change that perspective before I went out in the schools to teach the next generations. I would be a horrible teacher if I went into my classrooms with that perspective.
      Because of this, I was excited when I got my book for book club that was about immigration schools. The whole book was about these students that had gone through such hard times just to get to America and then there were people like myself here who were being prejudice and thought that they should have learned our language before they came out here. This book was very humbling to me to see a school put so much effort into teaching their students English and how to fit into our culture here without erasing who they were and where they came from. They all had incredible experiences to get here and that should be remembered.
     This book is big part of why I have learned how judgmental I was just four months ago. I never realized it and sat in class the first day thinking about how this class would not apply to me because I did not have any problems with racism. I have so many flaws though and that is why this class was so hard for me. Each time I read an article or watched a video it pointed out my own imperfections to me and I realized that I was putting myself above others because I had always been a majority. I had never experienced such things before. Having a multicultural class is no longer having a random day where we'll celebrate another culture like I believed it was four months ago. There is so much more that goes into it and I want to incorporate everything that I have taken from this class into my own lessons.

Portfolio Part 6

Book Club

The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens

By Brooke Hauser

The New Kids is a story that follows several immigrants that came to America in remarkable ways and the challenges that they are faced with to try and fit in. They all attended an immigration school with others who had come over to America so many of the classes focused on teaching the students English and social skills.A few of the characters is Jessica who was kicked out of her father's home after she arrived in China. Ngawang who actually spent twenty-four hours folded up in a small suitcase to get out of Tibet. Mohamed who was a diamond minors son from Sierra Leone and his arrival in America was a mystery, he never would say how he got here. Yasmeen who was an orphan from Yemeni and has severe pressure to get married so she could take care of her younger siblings but she also desired to go to college. Lastly was Chit Su who came from Burmese and had ended up spending the past few years living in a bamboo hut as a refugee in Thailand. She came to America as a seventeen year old freshman.
Refugee students leave their native countries for a variety of reasons such as war, ethnic or religious persecution, lack of access to education and socioeconomic circumstances. Communication is key with these students because each one has different needs.
Because all of their needs range so widely we cannot treat all of the students "equally". We cannot as teachers, group them into different races and assume they all need the same things. Each student has to be case by case.
Many of the students had huge academic challenges that came with it and they had to have teachers that were willing to work with them to learn whether they were even capable of reading, writing and math. They were all faced with the challenge of having to learn English. They attended a school with other immigrants but many were the only ones in the school who even spoke their home language. This caused many language barriers as they struggled to be able to communicate with everyone in America.
She emphasizes in the book that the most important thing the students needed was time. For those refugees that came here not knowing how to read or write in English often needed more than just four years of schooling. Having them stay an extra year or two helps them to make leaps and bounds in the curriculum and learning the social skills as well - this will give them greater overall success in America. Along with that she talks about how they will need extra emotional or cultural support.
These stories connected with our course readings because it covered many of the aspects that we had talked about in our class over the entire semester. It was all about these students having nothing and many coming with little to no education, facing poverty and still trying to fit in with their peers in America. Many of these students relied on their teachers and other academic helps to get by. This book also demonstrated some language of power because living in America you have to know English to get what you want and get by. One of the teachers in the book told students that she was willing to help them however she could but as long as they were in her classroom they were required to speak English. She wasn't trying to make it harder on them or tell them that their language or culture was not important but that they have to use English to get what they wanted. I thought this applied well to setting expectations for the students. We have to find a balance between babying the students and teaching them. We want to be for them as a teacher but we also need to help them learn the skills for themselves and it doesn't always come easily.

Even though we as teachers may not fully understand what they are going through or fully understand their language we can provide so much support for them just by showing that we are there for them and willing to help them learn and go through the struggles with them. We can help refer students to help like extra literacy support known as Students With Interrupted Formal Education or S.I.F.E. It can help students that have been faced with conflict and there are no terms for those students. There are also faculty members that can help students find jobs, homes and even little things like ice-skating and other social activities. There purpose is to help the students adapt to the new culture while trying to learn the language as well.
This influenced my work as a future teacher because I want to be the kind of teacher that helps students out and is open minded and caring for the students. I want them to be able to trust me and know that even though I don't understand everything I am willing to listen and work with them so they can get the best education possible. As teachers we also don't always know what sort of circumstances they are facing at home. This book has helped me to be more understand and to want to push my students to do their best but to also be considerate of the things they are going through. I want them to each feel acknowledged and know that I will expect them to become the best they can be.