I grew up in a town on Long Island, NY that had a very large population of ethnic, linguistic and low SES diversity. When most people hear I came from Long Island they assumed I came from wealth, as most of LI is extremely wealthy. I always felt uncomfortable when people found out where I came from and I always felt I owed an explanation. That I needed to defend my background. They would tell me "Oh you're from L.I., you must be a spoiled Daddy's girl." I hated it when they would say that because I actually came from a lower class dysfunctional family. I had to grow up very fast, by the age of 7 my brothers and I were latch key kids. Although my parents were involved in my education and taught me the value of being college educated, they were never home because they had to work. So it was up to me to decide how well I wanted to do in school. I touched a little on this in my first blog. How my home environment didn't foster a productive environment for homework while I was in middle school, therefore I hardly ever studied, held a B- average and poured myself into the violin. I always stayed after school to get extra lessons. I didn't come from a privileged family and growing up, I often judged those who had more (money) than we did. My life growing up was hard. I felt cheated. I was in a youth orchestra in a part of L.I. that had extreme wealth. I felt different. I never felt a part of the orchestral community because I felt like I didn't fit in. My Mom would drive me home each week from rehearsals and I remember feeling like I was leaving the life I wanted to have behind. I so wished our family was like theirs.
Each night my family sat down together for dinner. I think this is what kept us as a family, if that makes any sense. Really all we had was our nightly dinners together. I remember my Father teaching us to appreciate all of the things in life. Especially the small stuff. That if we all worked hard, we could have any life we wanted to have for ourselves. Instead of teaching us to dislike those who had more, he taught us to appreciate more of what we had. He always taught us that there were family's who had less than us and to be grateful for everything we did have. It wasn't until my 20's that I could understand what he was teaching me. But once I moved out on my own, I understood.
The main idea of my Philosophy of Education is that every child, no matter their cultural, linguistic or Socioeconomic background, is entitled to an equal educational opportunity in the public school system. I certainly don't base my philosophy on Charles W. Eliot's idea of EEO and social efficiency, but that every child whether they're attending Rio Grande HS receives the same educational opportunity as a student attending La Cueva. I like the idea of working with children from low SES backgrounds because I believe they deserve as much of a chance as a student from an upper economic class background. I taught for a group of middle school kids this past year who came from single parent, low economic families. They were a tough bunch of kids and it certainly put into perspective the fact that I had it pretty bad as a kid, but not nearly as bad as a lot of other children. I felt I could relate to these children because they also had dysfunctional families and I wanted to create a safe, trusting environment for them at school. For most of them, that's the only place they had in their lives that had consistency and I remembered that feeling.
I never really thought about my core values and I'm sure I will add more to the list as I move forward in my career. A few of the cores that come to mind are parental involvement, respect and integrity. I firmly believe that as an educator I can foster success in my classroom but I will not be as successful at doing so if I don't have parental support. I've been thinking of ways to involve parents and some of that looks like creating an environment at the school where they feel welcomed. I would also like to call home to parents when student's are showing progress and good behavior just to keep the lines of communication open and to hopefully foster a link between the parents and the school.
I will create a respectful atmosphere n my classroom by respecting each of my students. I believe if I model respectful behavior they will also be respectful. I'm sure I will get some children who will have a hard time showing respect but if I plant the seed of what it looks like I'm hopeful that it will eventually be transferred. I want to uphold my integrity by making the rules of the class very clear, treating all of my students equally and not allowing for my personal beliefs to shadow my interactions with parents, school personnel or students. I will accomplish this through regular critically self reflective practice.
4 comments:
Hi Debora - Your blog post this week is very personal and I think all of the reflection you've done on your feelings growing up will ultimately make you a better teacher. Thank you for sharing such a personal perspective with all of us. It seems to me that most of our fellow ATLers have had personal life experiences that have brought us to education in one way or another. While it is always hard to look back on painful experiences and thoughts, there is a lot of value in doing so when we do it to improve/examine ourselves, our biases, etc. I will admit that I have always been envious of people who have more than I did, but as a grown-up, I realize that most of the people I know with lots of money are so very different (usually in a negative way) from those I know who come from a lower SES background. I think money makes it easy to project a veneer of perfection to the world but behind that veneer, there is usually a lot of disfunction and unhappiness. The moral of this comment is, in my opinion, it's better to work hard for every cent you've got and to be happy than to have everything handed to you and never set foot in reality.
Debora, thanks for your blog this week. I enjoyed reading about your background as it gives greater insight to the woman I see each week and understanding as to what kind of teacher you want to be. All children go thru the stage of uncertainty of themselves and their parents but I do think that SES plays a big role with how the student reacts to uncertainty. The feelings you expressed about wanting the life you saw around you is a common one amongst all kids. I felt that way too. I also believe in the idea of giving children a safe, welcoming environment at school. How would that look in your classroom? What would a respectful atmosphere look like to you? I agree that parental involvement is huge in a student's life. How will you remember to call home on the positive things as well as the discipline issues? Will you keep a log? Thanks again, I enjoyed reading more about Debora!
Hi Deborah,
I find myself thinking about your comment about parental involvement. This is a concern for me as well. While working on my Application Paper, I came across an article called "Reflective Practce and Anthropology in Culturally Diversee Classrooms" by Evelyn Jacob (I found the article in EBSCO through CNM). One of the things the article discussed was a study done in a school that developed a way to increase parent participation among Mexican immigrants. Some of the important aspects of the study where talking to parents regarding their goals for the children, and understanding the cultrual and linguistic barriers that caused the parents to feel uncomfortable talking to the school and that caused misunderstandings between the parents and the teachers (for example, the parents didn't understand the point of many of the homework assignments). To address the concerns, the parents formed a group to teach the school more bout their culture and help the parents know how to help their children in school better. Overall this helped parental involvment, but it took talking to parents to even begin the step of creating a parent group. I recommend taking a look at the article, as it may help as you work on teaching children of different cultures and try to get their parents involved.
~Lacey
Deborah, I'm glad we finally figured out where you blog is, I enjoyed reading it this week! As Catron has mentioned several times, the majority of teachers come from middle class white families. It sounds like based on your upbringing you might be considered a minority in the teaching world. Would you agree? Either way it sounds like you will be able to bring an understanding towards children coming from various SES backgrounds and as you mentioned create a safe environment for them. I also think you have an admiral idea to involve parents and make you classroom a welcoming environment for them as well. Knowing how hard your parents worked and the limited amount of time they were able to give to your education do you think you will find your students parents facing the same struggle? I agree that phone calls can be a useful form of communication with parents and that communicating with them when their child is performing well is a great idea but what if you are consistently unable to reach parents because of their demanding work schedule? Have you considered other forms of communication like newsletters or progress reports? Overall, great ideas, it sounds like you have a pretty clear vision of what you want your classroom to look and feel like!
Post a Comment