Having discussed everyone's project ideas, I began to gravitate more towards a project related to my major - Education.
It was not until it was brought up by my fellow classmates that I
remembered a class I took a few semesters ago related to diversity
within the classroom. I learned a countless amount of information
regarding why teachers should educate themselves on the varying races within their class.
The
main thing that I remember about this diversity course was one example.
My professor explained that many cultures find it disrespectful to look
authoritative figures in the eye. In America, it is a sign of respect
to look them in the eye. As a result, many teachers will find it
disrespectful if students do not make eye contact with them because they
do not understand their culture. It is an incredibly challenging and
daunting task to ask every teacher to learn about their students'
background when they already have so much on their plate, but there are
very easy ways to go about doing this. You could have a day in the class
dedicated to sharing about your background or send home an appropriate
questionnaire for parents to fill out regarding preferences for their
child and information about their child.
The
reason I have such a connection to this topic is not just because I am
on the track to becoming a teacher or because I took one class on the
subject of diversity, but because during my student teaching I was in a
classroom that was a melting pot of students. There was a mix of
Caucasians, Asians, African Americans, Indian, and Hispanic students.
Majority of the students in this school system are either Caucasian or
Hispanic. Many Spanish-speaking families spoke only minimal English and
having taken several years of Spanish in school, I was asked by my
cooperating teacher to write letters home to those parents. During
parent-teacher conferences, the ELL teacher within the school did not
make it in. As a result, everyone was scrambling to find qualified
Spanish-speakers to translate their conferences with those families of
limited English. The Spanish I know is on the more basic end of the
spectrum; therefore, I was not experienced enough to serve as a
translator. But this situation was what inspired me to continue my
education in Spanish. I always wanted to learn Spanish as a second language, but this motivated me even more.
Now
that I have explained why teachers should educate themselves on the
races in the classroom and my personal association with the topic, it is
time to briefly discuss my project proposal. Unfortunately, many
teachers are still very ignorant when it comes to accepting the
diversity within the classroom. For that reason, I would like to do
something where I interview several teachers, parents, administrators,
and professors about why they think teachers should familiarize
themselves with their students background.
I am not too
sure how I want to put it all together yet or what I want the end result
to be but I am hoping after some class discussions, I will be able to
come up with something creative and unique.
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