The Critical Identity Autobiography was a very resourceful and interesting activity. It allowed me to explore my own history and how these things have affect my lifestyle and development. I was also able to analyze and reflect on my educational upbringing. It was enlightening. I enjoyed then reading about how others’ experiences were. Some of us were similar. Some of us were very different. I thought it was a great activity for reflection and comparisons. My own educational upbringing is an experience I am grateful for. I have always felt supported by my family members and all of my teachers. I felt as though my teachers challenged me in a way that kept me motivated and focused! This activity was very fascinating to me. I like the idea of …show more content…
I feel lucky to have had such a great educational experience. Within my own education, I have also felt supported by my family, my school and all my teachers. Even when I was struggling, I felt like I had a support system that kept me focused and motivated. I also felt challenged in a good way! I was also looking towards accelerated courses or advanced placement (AP) classes. When I needed help, it was given and offered in many different styles. I feel grateful for my overall educational opportunities. I do think that throughout my grade and high school placement, my educational setting lacked a diverse student population. It lacked the idea of exploring and learning about different cultures. Not that this was never explored, but I do not feel like it was offered enough. I believe as the years went on, that did change. We were offered more opportunities to explore different languages and extra-curricular activities as well. I do not feel like this brings a specific disposition to my classroom, but it makes me more of an advocate for cultural and diverse exploration and learning within ethnicities, gender, age, family structure, religion, languages, traditions and more. I believe it makes me more motivated to bring these experiences to my classroom. It allows my students to explore and engage in new cultures and learn more about their classmate’s history and
The students really enjoyed this activity because they were able to hear discussion about dialect and slang words that they currently use. Teaching this activity had to be the most rewarding because I saw the look of confusion change to understanding on the faces of so many students. One student said to me after class, "I always wondered why my grandmother speaks so different, and uses words that I never heard of. Tonight I will go home and ask her about it." That made me feel like I helped students think about an issue that they may have never thought of, and it was great! I must admit that I was a little skeptical of the way this lesson would turn out because the first day I had some difficulty. But after seeing my students engaged and excited about a lesson that I created, I knew that I would one day be one of the "great" teachers that I idolize.
...Teaching acceptance and diversity of different ethnicity is one of the key components that can be taught in our school systems today. Here in America we have many different ethnic groups and races, we are one big melting pot. During school these differences should be embraced in a positive manner and a proper learning experience. Diversity is often mistaken for the word division, and sometimes people teach that diversity is division. Diversity should be taught in a way that brings people together, not divide people into groups. Like Konig said, “I hadn’t really given much thought to the ethnic and national backgrounds of Sarah’s classmates. I can guarantee that Sarah, being two and a half gave the subject absolutely no thought.” (51) We can take a few lessons from Konigs daughter and learn to not give the subject any thought, and just accept people for who they are.
Authors are frequently categorized in some ways by the particular era they are writing in. This often gives a sense of what message the speaker is trying to relay, and the context in which the author is writing. Addressing the issue of self identity through this context allows a
Imagining if I transformed into the opposite sex for a week, my experiences of truth and reality would be quite different, yet strikingly similar to my life as a woman. Although my peers would accept me the same and know nothing altered, my mindset would have done a complete 180 degree flip. Although it is the expectation that humans identify with a single gender, multitudes of modern Americans refuse to succumb to this idea and prefer to identify with a sense gender fluidity. “The term "gender identity” . . . refers to a person's innate, deeply felt psychological identification as a man, woman or some other gender, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned to them at birth” (par. 2). Some refuse to accept that gender is as one may say black or white, male or female. However, if I transfigured into a man, I would need to adjust my sense of reality in regards to the new expectations that come with the given gender.
Diversity in the classrooms will give students access to experience other cultures and learn about one another. The different races effect how varied their backgrounds might be, and it will help the teacher engage a variety of ways to manage course material (Packard, 2017). According to Packard, it is up to the teacher to help spread the learning of diversity and use it to their advantage in their classroom. Throughout the years, diversity have grown in the classrooms, but the struggle of segregation continues.
Throughout life, a person can expect to endure many challenges, trials, experiences, accomplishments and disappointments. How one recovers, from those challenges, and can set the lifespan is a lifelong process from birth to death and includes the formation of identity (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). I will cover in the paper six life events that influence my identity development from childhood to middle adulthood. Each life event will be explained based on the significance of the event as well as the impact the event had on my development. Also, theories will be discussed as they relate to my development.
As stated in my Week 3 Journal Entry, at one point I was helping in a classroom with a child who speaks Spanish. Instead of trying to force the child to speak English, I tried to use some basic Spanish when I worked with them in order to make the child feel more comfortable. I believe by making this small effort to speak the child’s native language that the child was more willing to participate in class and try to learn English. An additional example of making a relation from the text to a personal experience is when I was in elementary through high school. I did not realize until reading Spring’s book how little cultural diversity was taught in my elementary, middle, and high school. I went to school in a very Scandinavian county, and we did not have a lot of diversity. There were several students in the district who came from Hispanic, Asian, or African decent—but they were very few. I cannot recall a day when a teacher spent time to discuss a one of these student’s cultures, which is utterly ridiculous. With the amount of time spent in school and the amount of diversity in the world, it seems illogical to barely speak of ethnic and cultural diversity. Even though there were only a handful of students in the district from different cultures, it would have been beneficial to learn more about the rest of the world because when high school is done we all go out into that diverse world. I know I will take the time and make the effort to teach my future students about the beauty of diversity and
“It’s a blessed thing that in every stage in every age some one has had the individuality and courage enough to stand by his own convictions.” The part of me that sums up my identity best is not the adjectives given by family, or the faults I find in myself. My identity is my desire to better myself, and my passion for children. My identity is who I want to be and what I do to accomplish my goals My identity is the feelings and emotions I pour into my journal every day, and the way I feel when I do something right. My identity is not what others thing of me or what I think of myself after a bad day. My identity is the love and confidence I have in myslef, and the beauty inside.
Overall, I found this assignment to be extremely fun and interesting. It was definitely a learning experience for my sister and I. Even though I didn’t take the results of
These authentic learning activities are more engaging for the students and allow for a wide range of learning styles. It is imperative that all teachers attempt to integrate these experiences into their classroom as often as possible. These activities usually take more time and energy to plan and implement, but the benefit to the students make the extra work worthwhile.
I have never really sat down and thought about my cultural identity, at least until I started this class. I never thought about how my identity was different than that of other members in my community. I also never put much mind to the communication challenges that I could face when speaking with members of my community. To be totally honest, there is more cultural differences that I have faced and actually paid attention to, and now I seem to understand the importance of how one culture differs from another.
Diversity has broad ranges of spectrums. Students from all across the continent; students from political refugees, indigenous Americans, and immigrants bring their culture and linguistic skills to American classrooms. Students do not only bring their cultures and linguistic skills, but they bring their ethnics, talents, and skills. In addition, their age and gender are two other spectrums that are part of diversity. As the years go by, diversity becomes a controversial topic. The more students that are accepted into American schools from different countries, the more diverse and rich classrooms become.
I believe it is important to first analyze the word diversity when examining the need for diversity within a classroom. According to Webster's New Pocket Dictionary, diversity means variety, a number of different kinds. I often discuss and read about diversity in terms of cultural backgrounds; the unification of histories and stories from people from all over the world. Although, I believe that in a higher-educational setting, diversity can also be discussed as the acceptance of the various minds within a classroom. I believe that it is important to recognize the thoughts and experiences of others in a learning environment. Collectively, students learn from teachers, teachers learn from students, and students learn from their peers. By allowing diversity within the classroom, a sense of community can develop. Diversity encourages an active, not passive, learning style. I believe that the culture of Columbia College Chicago is dependent on diversity. The motto “Create Change,” suggests students actively seek the change they want to see in the world. In order to obtain change a community developed out of diversity must be discovered.
The stimulations were really eye opening. I was able to see through the eyes of a child with a learning disability in different areas. I always understood that children who have learning disabilities learned differently, but I didn’t imagine how extreme the difference could be. The problems were hard for me and became frustrating. I now know firsthand how frustrating it can be for students who have learning disabilities in different areas. It’s amazing what extra time or shorter questions can do to help increase understanding. I realize that some things that come naturally to me may be extremely difficult for someone who learns differently. As a new teacher, I will make sure to teach children strategies and develop assignments that increase student understanding.
The teachers of the school were very supportive, I loved them all. Being at school is very good in terms of dealing with different people. We were exposed very early to this world; where there are different attitudes and beliefs. I think having teachers with totally different minds has a role in our social intelligence development. I learned how to deal with people even if their beliefs, thoughts and styles do not meet mine.