The students that I tutor every Wednesday are from a very different socioeconomic and cultural background than that of which I am from. Most of the students are from extremely low income families, and they are part of the minority in our state. They come from many different cultural backgrounds and carry with them different ways of doing things and traditions. I went to catholic school my whole life and was never really exposed to anyone who was different culturally, or socioeconomically. Almost everyone was always white and came from a middle class family. I did not understand until High School, in my sociology class that there were so many people who lived in poverty and came from so many different cultural backgrounds. This opened my eyes to a whole new world and made me think about life differently.
Although I come from a different background than the children that I tutor, I find it very easy to relate to them. We have many things in common even though we come from such different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. A lot of the boys in the classroom love the WWE and so do I, and sometimes we get a little off topic talking about it. This is okay though because it allows us to find a common ground in which we can connect and be on the same page. This makes the learning process much easier. It is very easy for me to relate to the girls in the classroom, because I have a five year old sister. I know the kinds of things that interest them and I feel as if I give both the boys and the girls an equal share of my time. Carlson’s main idea is that in order for minority rights to be protected, we need to respect the rights of all cultures and it is especially important in the classroom to recognize these differences and treat everyone equally. It is very important to teach the class in a way that includes every student’s culture and makes their peers develop a high level of respect for their way of life. If a lesson plan is developed around something that each student can relate to, then it will keep them interested and ready to learn “out of the box.”
Even though I am just a freshman and at the beginning of my studies, I feel that I have more experience than some of the other students who are involved in the service learning. My senior year of High School I volunteered at an elementary school in Central Falls, where the poverty was worse than anything that I had ever seen before. Almost the whole class was Spanish and very few of the children knew any English at all. It was very hard at first to communicate with the children and actually teach them, but as I went on I gained experience and it became much easier. I feel as if this prepared me for the future very well, and especially for my tutoring experience that I am doing now through my service learning.
Prior to my service learning, I thought of children from different cultural backgrounds as being much different than myself and their peers. This was a definite misconception though, and I feel as if it is a common one amongst many people. Every child has the same wants and desires, and some just have more obstacles to overcome than others. Socioeconomics plays a huge role in a child’s background, and unfortunately low income families are often those that are part of the minority culture or race.
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M.J.-
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post, just like all of your other ones. You really know how to get your point straight across, which makes reading your blog posts easy and enjoyable.
I can completely relate to you from what you wrote in this post. Graduating from a Catholic High school in Connecticut that was populated by mostly students coming from white, upper-middle class families, volunteering in these schools is a very eye opening and enlightening experience. But, despite the differences of the economic standings of our families (mine and the kids), I’ve always found it easy to connect with the students, just like you said. Luckily though, the little boy I tutor isn’t into the WWE, because if he were, then I would have no clue what he was talking about. We usually spend a little time talking about the Red Sox and the different sports he plays before we start actually working on his reading. And for the little girl I tutor, she just loves to talk and talk and talk and I’ve found that all she really wants is for someone to actually listen to her. I’ve gotten to know the two kids I tutor as individuals and see them as more than just two inner city kids I tutor every Friday morning. Now, after several visits, my favorite part of the tutoring session is when the kids come in at the beginning of the day and when they see me and the other VIPS tutor there, their faces light up with giant smiles and they just wave like crazy. They let me know that they appreciate all of the sacrifices that I am making to get to their school promptly at 8:50 every Friday morning, prepared and ready to work. They may not know of them, but they make getting up at 6:45am after 5 hours of sleep a little easier. =]
If more than anything, I feel that this experience has led me to see firsthand that despite people’s different cultural backgrounds, when it all gets boiled down to it, we all want and need the same things. I knew this before, but now understand it on a deeper level, just like you had wrote about. All of your blog posts have been wonderful and I can honestly say that, without a doubt, you are going be a great teacher. =]
-Molly =]
M.J.,
ReplyDeleteI seem to be choosing the posts that that one of you have already responded to =p Anyway, I also enjoyed your posts, especially this one. I think in order to be truthful I would have to say I am definitely among the privileged in America. Unlike you and Molly, however, I did not go to Catholic school my whole life. Now that I am older, I feel I got the best of both worlds. I went to public school until 6th grade and then spent my middle school years in a Catholic school in Bristol which is basically very small. I remember thinking they the children who had been there since pre K were completely sheltered and knew nothing about the real world. Eventually I became friendly with all of them and began to understand their way of life. The same thing has happened with my service learning project. The more time I spend with these kids, the more I understand them and the classroom as a whole.
For high school, I went back to public school right in the heart of Providence. My mom made it very clear that I had to pass the Classical test because she didn't want me at Mt. Pleasant. Ironically, even though I did get into Classical in Providence, I was still among the privileged. The building next door is Central High which is a whole different world than Classical. Students come from extremely low income families and the violence is astonishing. I guess what IBM getting at is that I have always understood that not everyone is as fortunate as I. Yet, sometimes this reality is easy to over look or remove myself from. The children I tutor probably have a very different life than I ever did but I still want to know everything about them. I want to listen and learn from them and them to benefit from my presence as well. We get along and talk to one another and I have never been so intrigued. These cute little girls with braids and nail polish have opened up a whole new world for me and I believe the students you have worked with are doing the same for you. It’s funny how little kids can teach us so much. That's why people say it is good to have a little kid in us.
I also have to add that I TOTALLY agree with Molly that you are going to be an amazing teacher! What I have learned about you throughout this course is that you are not a stereotypical college student. I may be wrong, but from what I have seen, you have grown so much this semester and I think you should be very proud of yourself!! You are on your way to becoming the type of teacher our world needs today!!
Good luck,
Brianna
I attended St. Joseph's in Connecticut up until the eighth grade and then switched over into the public school system. MJ I have a great appreciation for a lot of your blog posts because they are so down to earth. I feel as though you have a very open sensibility and I think this is necessary in being a successful teacher. I didn't experience any grand culture shock when joining the classroom and I would have to credit that to my constant involvement with children. My boyfriend has two seven year olds who I have all but adopted as my own. The classroom that I have been involved in is an English speaking environment so the language barrier is not an issue, although I could see it being an obstacle with their parents. Some things that the parents have sent in, such as the posts on the "meet our class" wall, were originally written in Spanish and then translated.
ReplyDeleteThe students are all too eager to share their life stories with me. Thus, I haven't had any issues relating to them since all their stories deal with sort of universal themes such as family, friends, and their classes. Though there was one incident that I didn't know how to deal with and neglected to address. During my reading with Mick one day I noticed that they all had baby pictures on the wall. Mick saw me looking at the pictures and turned around to point his out. He turned to me and said, "Look, I was white as a baby! Now I'm brown..." I was completely caught off guard along with the other tutor who just looked at me in shock. There was a longing to go back in his tone and I was just stuck there in disbelief. It was crazy considering how we had just discussed the doll scenario in class. I don't know what I should have said, but I feel as though I sort of failed in this happening.