Differences Prove Dynamic In Classroom

From the day we were born we have been building the foundation that makes us who we are. Those important people in our lives are the ones who gave us the tools to build our foundation. Whether it is a mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, aunt, teacher, etc, those are the people who have helped us grow into who we are today. There is no one person who is the same and has the exact same foundations as another. Throughout life, we practice a specific culture and we have specific morals that help to figure out a comfortable way in which we would like to live our lives. These aspects are what form our foundation. Us teachers need to take the idea of building a foundation into consideration when entering a brand new classroom.

Although one would like go into something with an open mind, there is never a freedom of bias. A teacher cannot ignore their history in order to bond with their students, and the students cannot ignore their history in order to bond with the teacher. A teacher who is starting to teach at an inner city school for the first time may have hundreds of expectations based on his/her bias. The teacher my find them self stuck in a rut when he/she notices that there is a great difference in culture between them self and the students, and they cannot chose that one is better than another.

I grew up in a close Catholic family. We always spent time together and I knew that if I ever needed anything, I could always turn to them. My parents instilled many morals when I was a very young age. I always knew that I had to respect my elders, do what I am told, clean up after myself, and always have manners. I have strong morals and I believe that most things should be one way or no way. Since I have such strict morals, I know that it is likely for me to clash with my students. After tutoring for a few months have have recognized the many different cultures and morals that the students have. There are many students at ABC Elementary School who do not respect their teachers. There was a boy in Mrs. Autumn's classroom the other day, (he was from another class because his teacher was absent) and the Mrs. Autumn was getting frustrated because the students were not listening to her instructions. She she began to raise her voice and tell the students to stop talking and this boy said "I can't wait to go back to my class." Mrs. Autumn heard this and she was irate. She said she was going to call the principal he was going to get in trouble. I think that she may have overreacted a bit, but I agree with how she felt. I could not believe that boy said that out loud. That is very disrespectful and students should know that they do not speak to their teachers that way. I had a few misconceptions when first going into this tutoring experience. I was expecting the students to have very low skills because I thought, "if they need tutors then the students must reeeaaalllyyy be struggling." I generalized the students before I even met them. I was so surprised when I met with my tutoring group the first time. The students knew so much more than I expected, and I can see more and more improvement as the weeks go on. There are without a doubt, students who are really struggling and do need the one on one attention to bring them up to pace; but I regretted that I generalized all of the students when in reality, most of the are very intelligent and they teach me something new every week. Also, I assumed that since ABC Elementary School is not funded as well as upper class children, and that the students would lack many skills and facts they needed. In fact, I believe that the facts and skills are less important than what other things school can give someone. It's not always about a certain race consistently doing better on national tests. It is more about the experiences they have in the classroom. For me at least, a test does not reflect how smart I am. Tests leave other other information I do know and experiences I have while learning the facts and developing the skills. Ira Shor said that "education is more than facts and skills. It is a socializing experience that helps make the people who make society." I have found this statement to be extremely true throughout my experience at this school. Shor is right about empowerment not being individualistic. It is a mutual teacher-student authority.
Both the teacher and the student bring their history to class and we can learn about each other from their different cultures. When I tutored, yes I was the boss of the group and I had control over what activities we were going to do that day, but it was the students who helped me come to my decision about the activities and about how much time we would spend on certain topics. I not only taught them these topics, but I questioned why this should be this way and made sure that each student was taking risks with something they were not familiar with. In the end, it is their actions and their ability to take the chance of learning rather than actually knowing what an upper case and lower case letter looks like. If teachers can inform the students that just the facts and skills are not what education is all about, then our students will feel like they have more control over their education. They can control how they learn and why they learn specific things.

I am happy to say that this tutoring experience has given me such an advantage over those to be teachers who did not have this experience. I am now familiar with different cultures in the classroom and I am much more aware of how clashing can occur. Also, I have learned not to generalize people into a group before I know the truth. A classroom is all about learning about different cultures and what these children from different cultures bring to the class. Finally, that students help teachers teach. Their struggles or their advancements show the teacher what needs more attention and what needs less attention. I have learned that teaching is not simply being in control over a class, but it is acknowledging the demands of the classroom and letting the students take control as well.