Prompt 4

It is so true that no one enters a classroom without personal history. At least this was true for me when i started with my VIPS tutoring. The school I am helping at is a public school in Providence. The classroom I am in has no white students, all of the students are either black or Hispanic. When I first got to the classroom this was very different than what I experienced in school when I was growing up. I had always went to private schools, I had never been to a public school. I had also grown up in a white middle class family. I couldn't stop thinking how these kids and I would have absolutely nothing in common. I was not sure at first how I should talk to them, I did not want to do or say anything that would be offensive or not understood. But I did have the advantage that I knew I was coming from a different place than these kids and I was going to leave that outside the class. I thought a lot about Delpit, and teaching other people kids. I learned a lot from that article and i tried to apply it to this classroom. Different people come from different places, it was important for me to realize this and make sure the kids voices were not being suppressed by mine. I knew that I would learn as much if not more from these kids than they were probably going to learn from me. Even though I was not the primary voice these children heard, that would be there real teacher, I knew that I still would have an impact on them. When we were working in our small reading group, I would ask them about their weekend, what they were going to do for the holidays. Many of them told me about their family life and the different things that they did with their families. Like Delpit says it is important to let different cultures have their voice, I felt like I was letting these students do this. At the same time they were asking me questions about my life and family. I told them I was a student and was married with four dogs at home. They seemed to enjoy hearing about my life and I think it was good for them to hear from someone from a different place, me.
Since so so many of our classrooms are culturally diverse, applying things Delpit says and others will help make the culturally diverse classroom better for every student. I think I will be prepared to handle culturally diverse classrooms. I am aware of other cultures and want to encourage kids to know and understand where they came from. Yet, at the same time like Delpit says, you have to teach the kids what they need to be successful in the world that we live in, they need to be able to play the game of life. I did not go into this VIPS experience with many misconceptions. I think my biggest thing was simply fear. I was afraid the kids would not respond well to me and I wanted them to feel I was there for all of them, no matter the way that I look. Watching this group of students interact with each other was truly inspiring. Some of them would teach the others Spanish and the students were so interested to learn about their peers. It truly was a successful Culturally diverse classroom I was placed in. I was very lucky to see and learn how to teach in such a class, I know that it will help me later on in my teaching career.