When I first signed up to take this course it was mostly because it was a required course for me to finish my Bachelor’s degree in education. Right away I knew this would be the course I most connected with. I have been working in education as a paraprofessional for six years. I love my job. I work in a district that is predominantly African American and Hispanic. While this may not seem like a difficult dilemma, it is when you are a Caucasian teacher that students look at you and say that you don’t understand them. This class has inspired me to go beyond building the student-teacher relational trust that I have always prided myself in.
While going through this course there were lessons that really stood out and made me rethink how I want my future classroom to be taught. These lessons inspired me to find the best ways to make my classroom more equitable and diverse.
Picking my top five lessons was the hardest assignment of all. I loved the Novel Read because it gave me a chance to read a novel for the class that had me really listen to what the book was trying to say. Teaching me to understand the background and experiences of students of color. I feel that this is a must for every classroom in America. Students should be able to read about other backgrounds and experiences than their own and really listen to what they are saying to better understand the differences.
Another lesson was about equitable schooling. I was extremely inspired by the TedTalk that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie did on her story of coming to America for college from Africa. The preconception that Africans are poor. Her story reminded me that we can’t judge students by looking at their races or where they came from. For example, you wouldn’t want to label a student as a bad student because they come from a town you feel is a bad town. Students can not help where they are born and raised, all we can do is teach them fairly and be open to hearing their stories.
One of the last lessons I really connected with was about what lengths I would go to in order to do right by a student. One video I felt I connected to the most was Reality Pedagogy by Christopher Emdin. He mentioned connecting with students and the community that they live in by naming areas of the classroom with landmarks and or street names from the community around the school that the students attend. This gives teachers a way to be culturally responsive in their teaching.
Throughout the class, I have added more and more tools to my teaching toolkit in order to become the best teacher I can be for my students.
I am glad that this course is required and would highly recommend it to anyone working with children.
Hey Chavon, I have loved reading your post over the semester. Your name is always right below mine and I just wanted to say your post this semester have been very inspiring. Reading the novel was such a good lesson for me too. Being able to take a second and read a book that was very touching was able to show me a lot that I didn't know about black culture. I felt my brain just sucking up everything I could when reading because as a white female I do not know everything about their lives and struggles. It is so important for us to educate our selves so when we are thrown into a classroom for the first time we are able to understand ALL of our students and not just the ones that we look like. Whenever I did my top 5 my number 1 was blogging and reading blogs. I loved being able to see everyone's point of views and where everyone came from. It is cool to see how we are all different. I read that you have been a para for 6 years! So props to you because that is awesome. My final thought for you for this class is that you are going to be an amazing teacher and should be very proud of everything you have wrote this semester! good luck in your future classroom you are going to do amazing !
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your comment, Ella. Being a para is an amazing position to be in. If you ever question whether or not you will really enjoy being a teacher I highly recommending either subbing or working as a para. Paras really are the backbone of a school and really get to know the students. Sometimes we know the students better than the teachers. I really liked this class and do find that I use things that I learned in this class in other classes. Best of luck on the rest of your classes and future classroom.
DeleteHi Chavon, first of all, I LOVED this post!!! I feel the same way you did first coming into this course, but I really did learn a lot from it and was able to take it and make so many connections into my other classes especially my social studies class. When creating my top 5 I completely forgot about the novel, I loved that because it was a book I never would have picked up but I ended up loving it and actually crying! Which book did you read? I really did take away so many tools from this class that I will be using in my future classroom. I have learned so much about connecting with my students and hearing their stories and especially learning from them! I loved the 3 minute pause because it was time for me to reflect and im sure my future student could use this. Overall I really loved your post and wish you the best in your future classroom!!
ReplyDeleteThe novel I read was Playing the Cards You're Dealt by Varian Johnson. I really liked it because so much of it the students I work with would actually enjoy and love it. It will definitely be going onto the shelf in my classroom. I think this has been my favorite class this semester for so many reason. It made me really think outside what I thought or even know about the realm of teaching.
DeleteHey Chavon, thank you for sharing your blog about “What Makes Great Teaching.” I love that you have a real connection to the course, and it gives me faith in the material we learned is this class is useful in a classroom setting. The novel read module was also one of my favorites because in really opened my eyes to books I have never heard of before and their importance in making the world a more openly diverse place. Books are also one of the greatest resources for elementary teachers, which makes me sad since they are taking that resource away. I think we can all agree that this class is important for all future teachers and should be taken seriously as we look to the future of education itself. Again thank you for sharing your thoughts with me throughout this class, I am sure you are a wonderful teacher!
ReplyDeleteLuckily so far we haven't had issues with books being removed or banned from classrooms in my district. Teaching is amazing and like I mentioned to Ella, if you ever want to see a small portion of teaching, minus the lesson plans and such, try subbing or working as a para in a local school district. Working within the community I live in has been so amazing. I see the students all over town and they love telling me that they saw me at HEB or Walmart even though we talked while there. I think the parents seeing that community members are their child's teacher makes a huge impact.
DeleteHi Chavon! Wow, it really amazes me to hear that you are doing the best you can to understand your students, especially those who come from a different background. Growing up, since I did live in a predominantly white area, my teachers did not have the same mindset as you do. I also really enjoyed this course. The novel read was my absolute favorite assignment because I got to learn about the struggles of a culture other than my own. This forever changed my perspective as a student and teacher. I know that you are an amazing educator and I wish you the best years ahead. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you Love. I honestly think the constant moving around and going to ten different schools before graduating from high school also gives me a large ground base to grow upon. I think having so many experiences growing up helped me be more open to different backgrounds of students. I live in the same community that I work in and being able to relate to students about what is happening right here in "our" lives makes it easier to relate to my students.
DeleteHi Chavon! I really loved your post, it was clear to me that you have put a lot of thought into your response this week. Before this class, I had not thought much about how some students may look at me and think I can't understand what is going on in their lives. And if it were not for this course, they would likely be right. While I have not lived in their shoes, this class has made me think and provided me with lots of insight to better understand. I loved the novel read too, and found myself finishing the book in just a few sittings because I got so caught up in it. This course, and these blog posts have taught me so much, and I am so excited for everybody going into the field soon. Thank you for sharing!
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