I cannot say i had a real grasp of what this book would discuss and how it would speak to me. In the end though, it spoke to me on many different levels and about an idea that had not really occurred to me as a future educator yet. People in the United States, in particularly the white dominate culture, often times forget the melting pot that the USA was founded to be. I have always been an advocate for a multicultural classrooms, even if that might be tough for the dominate culture. As educators we take on the responsibilities to speak up for the children in our classes and make their futures' brighter. Myself, as a white male, I need to take on the role of a "white ally", a term Professor Ahmad mentioned to our group. A white ally is a member of the dominate culture, generally white in this country, who actively resists the role of oppressor and is an active ally to people of color. (Google.com).
Often times, as we talked about in class and in our group, children who have a conflicting cultures between school and home are labeled as disabled. As an educator, this book made me realize that often times these children are really just desperate for something to relate to. They just want to feel welcome and appreciated in class. They need to see their home life in society. Many of the problems Mrs. Starr was dealing with, the language barrier, the cultural barriers and the celebration of only dominate cultures, are things I myself may have fallen into had I not been made aware of them in someway. Being aware of the children in my class who may not be of the dominate culture, I will now do my best to be an ally to these individuals and their families.
Another thing, and I made mention of this in my Chapter 8 blog, I will try to include a wraparound program in some way for all of the children in my class. I want to make my future classroom a place where children feel comfortable with myself and their fellow classmates, almost how they would feel with family members at home. Communication lines will be opened early and often to the parents of my students. Are their any other ideas that you feel could be used to make a classroom feel more like a home?? I would like to hear about them
Dominick, as you said "these children are desperate for something to relate to. They just want to feel welcome and appreciated in class." Well said. Tricky thing is how to make every student in the class feel welcome and appreciated. I think you hit it on the head when you talked about the communication lines between school and home. I truly believe that this is the key. How are you supposed to know where you are to go with a child if you don't know where they are coming from? In one 1st classroom I worked in, we had a "student of the week." Each student had to write one positive statement about the student of the week. These statements were posted on a bulletin board that had a baby photos, family photos, etc. and a "10 questions" worksheet that answered favorite foods, books, etc. This was a good place to start being aware of each child, for the teacher and the students. I think it helped each student too, to have a photo of their family nearby at all time - it created a visual, tangible home / school link.
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