I believe...

I believe children deserve to be understood in a cultural context but also in an individual context.  As seen in class, culture encompasses such a wide variety of things.  A teacher needs to celebrate the cultural diversity in the classroom.  However, the individual child is his/her own person and may not believe in or take on all the aspects of the culture that he or she is identified with.

I believe teachers can celebrate diversity by pointing out the differences between the students, which in my experience is taboo.  I feel that we can learn something by acknowledging the differences between us, which shouldn’t be seen as a “bad” thing.  But it is important to remember not to assume something about a minority student, because it may not be true.

In my classroom I value respect.  There should be peer to peer, teacher to student, and student to teacher respect.  To establish trust and an open, inviting environment, I believe respect is huge.  Picking on other students for being different will not be tolerated.  But it is also important to be aware of the implicit ways that can be disrespectful.  I can’t think of any off the top of my head at the moment, however since there is institutionalized racism, I know it is there.  It is very important to me that there is respect in my future classroom.