As I look at my self-assessments on diversity in my own experience, I guess I would say that I am a little surprised with the results. Growing up in the Rochester City School District all of my life, I have been exposed to a wide span of diversity. I had friends who came from "broken homes" and had struggles with violence and abuse. I have friends who came from different cultures, and whose families had come to America from different countries around the world. I also had friends who were just like me. Had two parents, siblings and pets. So I sit here thinking about the way I've grown up, yet am surprised at the results in these surveys.
In my Scale for Assessing My Life Experiences, I recieved a score a total of 76. I fall into the "Slighty Multicultural" category, which I wasn't very surprised at. To this day, I still live in an urban area. I go to a church with many different members in it from all aspects of life, so I think I am most definitely more exposed to diversity, in a sense, more than others might be. But the assessment that really opened my eyes was the Personal Contact Inventory and Could You Survive In Poverty? questionaire. Which by the way, even though I grew up in the city... I don't know if I could survive.
Thinking about the contact I have had with individuals with disabilities, I mostly answered with "sometimes". I am a substitute teacher in many districts in the area, and I have come in contact with many students who have special needs. So, of course, I do have this contact. But when asking myself how often are individuals with disabilities spoken about in television? Or movies? I thought about it... and for almost every one of those questions, I wrote "never". In movies especially, we are always exposed to the negative. We are shown what the cons are to having a disability, and these individuals are mocked and made fun of in a way. And it's very sad to me. As we discussed in class, we need to focus more on the positive.
Using these tools and self-assessments, we really get a feel for what we are like as human beings and as teachers. We can use our own experiences to enhance our classrooms, and teach our students about diversity and differences between in one another. We all are part of this planet - this one place where we all come together. We need to not only teach our students acceptance and tolerance, but we need to learn these skills as well in order to better ourselves as individuals, and as teachers.
Meghan C. Koch
I find it very interesting that we had somewhat opposite results. I was not exposed at all to multiculturalism growing up but you had a very diverse group of friends. I think I would have had a better experience in school if I had a wide range of friends. Everyone in my school was pretty much the same race and in high school most of the people in my classes were "stuck up." All I can do now is expose myself to multiculturalism in my future classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you about the category relating to individuals with disabilities. Mostly all of my answers were sometimes or never. I too feel that movies and television show alot of the negatives about individuals with disabilities which is sad and unfair. I do feel that there is a positive future ahead with teachers in the field who understand and want to make a difference for the students in their classroom.
Natalie Gianvecchio
You and I grew up at complete opposites end of each other; you with so much diversity beginning at a young age and me growing up in a small town in the sixties and seventies in Southern Virginia that was pretty much white bread both in and out of school. You are at an advantage with your students as you have a better understanding of what is going on in their lives and with that comes a better connection to be able to meet some of their needs on a daily basis. Sometimes I wish I could go back and live my life a little different, although I do not have any regrets.
ReplyDeleteAs different as our lives and experiences may be, I do agree that we can use our experiences, whatever they may be, to enhance and get to know our students in the classroom and to teach each other that it is okay to be different as long as we teach them to make good choices and to always look at the positives things they have going on all around and to try not to focus on the negative.