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Name: Ashlie Carr Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 Class: Diversity in the Classroom T/Th Word Count:

1,396 How Culture Influences my Beliefs & Expectations about Teaching & Learning According to our textbook, culture is defined by values, beliefs, notions about acceptable and unacceptable behavior, and other socially constructed ideas that members of the culture are taught (Spradlin 5). I think of culture like a community of houses. Everyone may live in the same community, but each persons house is different. Some are tall, short, big, or small. Inside the house, there are a number of rooms and each house has colors, decorations, furniture, smells and many other attributes totally unique from other houses. There are many families that live in the community, but they all have different perspectives because they all live in different environments. In this world (or community), we all are shaped by our own home or culture. We all have different perspectives about life because of many different experiences we have had. A person will embrace a certain cultural identity based on the culture they live in or identify most with. Every individual will have to create their own unique cultural identity based on their society and background. My culture and cultural identity influences my teaching and perspectives in many ways. First of all, part of my own cultural identity is that I am a white/Caucasian female who lives in a rural area. As a white person, I will not have the same experiences as another race perhaps. My background and ethnicity will be different from someone whose ethnicity and background is different than my own. I have always been part of the dominant culture so I have never been judged by the color of my skin. As a teacher, I will treat all races and ethnicities fairly and I will not judge a students intellectual or social level by the color of their skin or their background. Females and males are different in numerous aspects of life. Since I am a female, I will run my classroom differently than a male will. My culture as a female affects the way I think about learning. For instance, I believe children should be able to communicate openly and be able to have a conversation as a part of their learning experience. In other classes, I have studied that this is not a typical way men would conduct their classroom. As a female teacher, I will take into consideration that males and females learn differently and create lesson plans that are most effective for both genders. I have always lived in the country. This meant that I got up early, was expected to get work done around the house and farm, and I learned to be very independent. As a teacher, living in the country has contributed to my work ethic which will make an impact on how I teach. This will be a good quality that I can use in my classroom, but I will remember that not all students were raised the way I was. As an independent person, I will keep in perspective that some students will need a little extra help and will not be as independent in their learning as I am. Other ways my culture influences my attitude and expectations is my ability status, socio economic status, and language. My ability status is probably above average. My siblings and I were always expected to have good grades. A letter grade of C or below was unacceptable. This has shaped

my thinking that only As and Bs are good grades. In some families, a C is considered a good grade and some students will not be capable of anything higher. I will have to remember that not all my students and their guardians will agree with me. As long as a student does their best, puts in the effort and only achieves an average grade, this will be an achievement for them and as a teacher, I will be proud of them for it. As a teacher, I will use quality teaching to enhance their learning, but every individual will learn differently. I have grown up in a middle class family. We have always had what we needed and we live comfortably. I would not consider my family to be rich, but we work hard for what we have. My family has never had to worry about where our next meal would come from, so my parents had the freedom to put their time into my learning experiences. Some of my future students will not have the same socio economic status as I have. I will take into consideration that some of my students will have other monetary worries at home that will affect their schooling. As their teacher, I will not judge them or write them off, but help them get as much out of their school day as possible with the knowledge that they might not be able to spend time outside of school doing work because of their situation. Homework will still be assigned, but I would like to be able to allow my students to have free class time to choose to get it done during school hours. I speak English and I only know a small amount of Spanish. In a field experience that I did, I had to take a Russian boy out to help him work on counting money. The little boy had just moved to the United States and knew no English. Although it was a challenge, I began to use gestures and objects to help him understand the subject. By the end of our time together, he could count coins very well. We could not communicate with our words, but he still learned. As a teacher, I will not let a language barrier stop me from teaching a child. Religion and family structure are the last two parts of my culture that I think drastically shape my beliefs about education, teaching and learning. I have grown up in a Christian family my entire life. Specifically, I have grown up as an independent, conservative Baptist. My religion shapes everything in my life. I do what I do for the honor and glory of God. I believe God has a purpose and plan not only for my life, but for every one of my students that I will encounter. My decision to be a teacher was based on the belief that God has given me that gift. As a teacher, I will not force my beliefs on my students, but I will use my morals and beliefs to care and conduct my classroom. Although my beliefs are important to me, I will not judge or criticize my students religious background and will be accepting of the different religions and beliefs present. My students will come from a variety of different family structures. I have grown up have a nuclear family. My dad and mom were both present and active in my life. Some of my students will never experience a nuclear family like I have. I will keep this in mind in my lesson planning and examples so I do not offend or belittle any child. There are countless family structures from the nuclear family, single parent family, grandparent as guardian family and many more. In my teaching, I want to teach in a way that is supportive to the students no matter what type of family they are in. As one can see in my writing, my culture is unique and complex, but so is everyone elses. As a teacher, I can use my culture to create a unique learning environment in my classroom. I will also incorporate my students culture in order to enrich the other students as well as myself. For many, it is hard to put personal beliefs and bias aside, but I plan to see each child as an opportunity to learn from their perspective and background. In my teaching, I plan to incorporate many different teaching methods such as group work, individual work, research/exploration, hands on activities and other ways

that will broaden the mindset of my students. I want to teach my students to treat others with respect and treat other students as if they are part of the class as a contribution to the whole group. The job of a teacher is to teach her/his students, but we all learn from each other. With this mindset, both student and teacher can learn and develop into better people and make our world a better place. Reference Spradlin, Lynn Kell, and Richard D. Parsons. Diversity Matters: Understanding Diversity in Schools. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2008. Print.

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