When I was growing up I was fortunate to attend many culturally diverse schools. My Elementary school was the most amazing cultural melting pot I have ever encountered and the teachers there changed my life. I believe I learned respect in those walls. I want to be clear, not just the concept of not “making fun” of others, I learned to embrace difference. I realize funding has changed but many of the activities my school offered made me want to become a teacher. Some examples of what I participated in…
1. A Native American Pow Wow in the fall every year.
2. We read culturally diverse books about Jackie Robinson, the Holocaust, Poverty, Powerful Woman etc.
3. In fifth grade my class hosted a talent show where we delivered a speech in 14 languages about all the work we had done in class that year.
4. We learned Latin and were given special Latin nicknames that followed us all through school.
5. We went to Alton Jones and participated in the “The Outdoor Classroom” project.
6. We learned to write in Chinese with brushes and ink and had Chinese pen pals.
7. We wrote a short story every year that we illustrated and the school had bound like a real book. This was displayed for parent day and then given to us to take home.
8. We had potluck suppers in the school gym with dishes from around the world.
9. We ran a mock political campaign and then a mock election where we voted on the Governor of Rhode Island.
1 We had an Earth Day celebration every year where we grew plants in classroom greenhouses and then brought them to the Children's Hospital.
I am glad you chose to write independently about your own schooling experience. This experience is foundational to your own practice and I hope you continue reminiscing further throughout the semester and are able to make connections to it in your written responses as well!
ReplyDeleteI think this is great. I also have a list of all reasons i want to become a teacher much like this. Things that I wanted to share with kids. Hopefully you hold onto this and make a difference in another child's likfe like these teachers did for you :)
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