What lengths am I willing to go in order to do right by every child?
After reading and watching the videos from this module I got a better understanding of what students need from us as teachers. I got a better understanding of what lengths I am going to be required to go to if I want all of my students to have an equal opportunity to succeed and learn. One of the things I am going to try and make sure I do is make sure all of my students, especially my students of color, know that I care about them as a person. I want to create a connection with them and understand them. I want to get to know their home life, where they are from, and what kind of culture they have. I want to make sure that I am properly engaging them with the lessons and assignments so that they want to learn. I want to be able to see that they have a passion for learning the material, not just trying to get a high grade. I want to create a classroom where my students feel safe with me, my hope is that every one of them can tell me anything. I want to know them so I can better myself as an educator, so I can teach based off of what they need, not what I think they need. Students need to feel like they belong, no one should walk into a school and feel completely out of place. As educators our job is not just going over course material, it’s making sure our students feel safe, they belong, and they can be themselves in our classrooms. I am hoping that we all can make a change in every student's life, especially our students of color.
Hello Stevie, I enjoyed reading your blog post about this topic and question. I saw that you listed a lot of things that you wanted to implicate in the classroom. While I agree on the things you listed, I wish you had talked a little bit more about how you might implement them. Would have 1-on-1 talks with students? Would they be on regular basis? Would you also talk to parents depending on students’ statuses? Also, I know that the lesson heavily focuses on people of color the struggles some of them might have due to their race; however, some of the things you listed should be implemented to all students equally. What I mean by this is, some of the basic thing you listed like, getting to know the students, should be applied to everyone equally. Only applying them to people of color, or stating that it should only be used for people of color is almost assuming that all people of color will need it more than those who are not. I know this is just a minor thing but it’s always important to say the correct language for our opinions to be heard correctly.
ReplyDeleteHello Cami, thank you for replying to my post. I will try my best to be able to talk to students 1-on-1 as well as speaking with them in groups so that they can learn from their peers' experiences. Of course, I will collaborate with the parents of every child based on each child's situation and needs. I never meant to make it seem like I was only going to get to know students of color, I just meant that I know that they may have more needs. I plan to get to know my students no matter their race, gender, religion, or anything else that may set them apart.
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