Program Standard III Use their knowledge of students and their applications of their diversity to structure their instruction
As far as diversity is concerned, I feel that the social studies subjects present us with plenty of opportunities to point out diversity and celebrate it. That being said, we know very well that diversity is celebrated far less than it should be. Tyrone Howard presents us with the idea that race and diversity are absent from the curriculum and overall ignored in the social studies (Howard, 2012). The article goes into a study of a middle school classroom that was centered on the interpretations of race relations in the eyes of the students. Their study found that students felt that the class was more helpful in their understanding of their own races and others than any other social studies class they had taken before. I think the point of fostering equity in our classrooms is an opportunity that teachers miss or avoid purposely. In my internship at Lexington, a ninth grade student made the comment that all muslims were terrorists. My coaching teacher just simply asked the kid to hush while she laughed and allowed the class to do the same. Instead of taking that time to talk about that comment and teaching her students a lesson about equity and appreciation of diversity, the teacher really reinforced that thought by dismissing it. Another aspect of diversity that I believe to be a much bigger problem now that I have heard some terrible things from teachers themselves through our internship is one that is pointed out by Ann Arnett Ferguson in chapter four of her book Bad Boys called Naughty By Nature. Ferguson really hit home with something that bothers me all the time here in Columbia now that I have been coaching basketball at Irmo for four years. Time and time again I am looked at like I am crazy for wanting to go and teach “those bad kids” at Irmo High School. The truth is, the kids at Irmo are no different than the kids at Lexington or anywhere else for that matter. Ferguson points out the idea of “adultification” which is to say that when there is a black student who is disruptive in the classroom, many teachers assume that these disruptions are well thought out and premeditated. On the other hand, when a white child does the same, there is a sense of just looking at them as simply immature and ‘boys will be boys’ type of attitude (Ferguson, 2000). As a future teacher and coach, one of my favorite readings so far in this program was in the Medina book Critical Aesthetic Pedagogy: Toward a Theory of Self and Social Empowerment. “I cannot remember a time in my life when I felt a sense of completely belonging (Medina, 2012, p. 6).” As a Latina student from the Dominican Republic living in New York, Medina finds a little comfort in dancing. The way she describes the dance floor becomes the way that she aims to train future teachers like ourselves. “The dance floor was my first encounter with social justice. It was the only place that offered me an equal opportunity to succeed—a place where achieving success was not connected to my social class or nationality, and where my heritage did not matter (Medina, 2012, p. 9).” We are asked to place a high value on equity in our classrooms. I have far too many friends and even my current players who feel exactly like Medina each and every time they step in the classroom. My current players at Irmo, at times, cannot wait to escape to the basketball court to feel free with others like them. I want to be the teacher and coach that introduces social justice to the kids who have never felt that before. In my first year teaching, I will be working at Irmo High School. Currently, I am teaching six different classes at the 9th and 10th grade level at Irmo during my Internship B. Below, in Artifact I, I have posted my Long Range Plan which breaks down the demographics of each class as well as the curriculum being taught throughout the school year. When thinking about diversity, I am getting to see all kinds of diversity at Irmo this year. However, the majority of the diversity is within the Honors classes and less evident in my CP and AP classes. The part of the LRP that sticks out to me the most is the diverse home lives that these kids come from each and every day. It is most evident, in my opinion, in the different levels of classes these kids are taking. The AP kids have the least amount who receive free or reduced lunch and the most amount to white students. The CP kids have the most amount of students receiving free and reduced lunch and have the greatest amount of minority students. What these numbers and demographics tell me are that the starting point for some kids is benefitting them much more than others while some kids come to school every day and look as us teachers as the role models that they need. In artifact II.a I have an example of the daily agenda that my AP classes see on the board each that they walk in. The lesson is on state shapes and is full of collaborative learning and interactive classroom activities. At Irmo, the AP Human Geography classes have a text book which they have read in order to complete key issue outlines for each chapter. This is a luxury that they have simply because their parents asked for them to be in, and they tested into the AP level classes. However, in my CP classes who have the least privileged kids, there is no text book provided for Geography class. In order for me to teach the same information, a great deal of differentiation is required. Artifact II.b shows parts of the lecture that was given to the CP class on the same content that was given to the AP class in Artifact II.a. I am not giving these students a powerpoint lecture because they are less capable. Rather, I am guiding them through the content because they do not have the ability to pick up the text book and prepare for lessons before class like the AP class can and in order to get to the same type of collaborative and interactive lessons with the CP class, it requires much more scaffolding on my part and I believe that these artifacts show my ability to do so.