Prompt #4 Dennis Carlson

"The culturally competent teacher is aware of the diverse cultural groups represented in his/her classroom, investigates the sociocultural factors that influence student learning, and is able to integrate this knowledge into his/her teaching." 

 

My experience tutoring in the city school I was assigned to has greatly influenced my ideas and opinions about city schools in general. I always thought of city schools as extremely poor and dirty, full of kids who did not care about their school work--they were just going because they were forced. 

This is not the first time I have been in a city school classroom. When I was in high school, I had to do something called "School to Career". My school to career sight was also at a city school, only this classroom was a full special education classroom. That was my first time teaching at both a city school and in a special education classroom, and that was where my opinions about city schools developed. When I arrived at the school I was assigned to for FNED, I was going in with a completely biased opinion about what the children and school community would be like. My opinions and beliefs were way off, and I felt that in my head, that I was being unfair. The school I was assigned to was actually one of the nicer schools in the city. My stereotypes on city school children was immediately changed, as I observed my classroom. The children in this class, for the most part, were not spoiled and rude. They seemed happy to be in a classroom full of children and were always eager to learn.

 I went to a catholic school in the city where I lived, and was very fortunate growing up. My parents supported me in everything I did, I was able to sign up for tons of sports and extracurricular activities, and I do not remember ever having to give anything up because of money problems. When I started tutoring at schools like the one I am at now, I began to realize how lucky I was as a child, and even now. I realized that not every child gets to experience the things I was able to, such as playing sports after school. Even today, my parents are still very generous in what they give me. I think that going to this school every Friday made me appreciate my life and parents so much more than I have in the past. 

This experience was a total wake up call for me. As a future teacher, I am now able to see that not everyone was like me as a child, and I need to take into account that I will have those children who cannot afford to buy their own lunch or who are not economically stable enough to be able to play sports or buy expensive things. Because I tutored at this school, I now have the advantage of knowing what to expect if I ever come to teach in a city school. 

Dennis Carlson wrote an article entitled, "Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community". By reading this article, Carlson wanted people to understand that a child's race, ethnic background, or sexuality does not affect his/her learning. He mentions a "normalizing community", which is based on certain things that apparently make people "normal". The characteristics of a normal person, according to normalizing communities, would be a "white, middle-class, heterosexual male", while the "dis empowered" community would consists of "black, working-class, homosexual females". This is all based on stereotypes by the communities we live in. Carlson wanted the people, especially us future teachers to recognize that these characteristics do not at all affect the way a child learns. He also wants us, as teachers, to make sure that we create dialog across the classroom to make sure that everyone has a say in what is being taught to the children of the future.