Portfolio VIII: Portfolio Summary

Over the course of this semester, my worldview has consistently been challenged. I have had cause for a lot of introspection, as well as the kind of critical thinking which Paulo Freire advocated for throughout the course of his work. Taking a multicultural education course was very hard for me, but also opened my eyes to a lot of different things. I had not really thought about the world through a social justice perspective before learning about the inequities, inequalities, and oppression that really are present in so many areas of life and society.

Looking back upon the semester, I realized that I have grown more than I thought I had. For example, I wrote the following in my first reading reflection: "The journal article 'Equity Pedagogy: An Essential Component of Multicultural Education'....states that we need to teach and allow children to advocate for social change and that we need to treat groups differently in order to help minority students gain equal status. This challenges my views about social change and also how to create equality. I have never believed that we should treat a minority group with more attention than the majority in order to create equality, and in order to teach in this manner, I would need to change that view. (Cherry, 1995)" When I started, I did not think that we should teach students with equity instead of equality. Now, that perspective sounds so ignorant to me. Since I wrote that reading reflection, I have realized how valuable a social justice form of teaching can be. For example, I learned about culturally inclusive and culturally responsive pedagogy, and saw examples in my book club book Holler if You Hear Me by Gregory Michie. I praised his teaching style in my book review portfolio, and I really do think that he had an amazing approach to teaching marginalized students. Before taking this class, I think I would have been much more uncomfortable with the ideas he was bringing into the classroom, and I never would have appreciated culturally responsive pedagogy and social justice education for what it is.

During class, I sometimes took notes on questions people asked or things that they said. I think that these demonstrate my growth in having a willingness to question my own biases. During our discussion on Teaching Social Justice, I wrote: "Do I want to improve the world or stay in the safety of not having people question what I'm teaching or doing?" I don't remember who said that, but I think it's a really good question for me to ask myself. I still struggle somewhat with the concept of promoting social justice and equity, because I am a very reserved person who has grown up in a very conservative home and area. But I think this relates to one of Dr. Draper's Teaching Values and Beliefs - charity. If I truly have charity for people who are different from me, then I won't be afraid to teach in a way that allows them to flourish and learn. I decided to become an elementary school teacher because I value children and learning, so I need to show that in my teaching. This relates to two more quotes I wrote down during class. The first is from Dr. Draper. She said, "I'm not going to be the teacher protecting kids from the world, I'm going to be the teacher who prepares kids for the world." (That was during the lesson on Language and Culture.) The next, Jaquelyn said during the lesson on Class and Poverty. She said, "Stop being a teacher for me and start being a teacher for my students." I think that these both illustrate a very needed change in perspective. For a long time, I thought I was going to be a teacher because it's what I enjoy, and what I think will work well with my life goals, and I want to teach what I value in learning to my students. But I have realized that it's not at all about me. I am not going to single-handedly change the world. I am not the important person in this choice of profession. Teaching is all about serving the students who I am blessed to come into contact with. These students will all have unique backgrounds, dreams, and desires, and I didn't realize to what extend that would be true before we talked about it in class. It will be my job to facilitate their learning in a way that they can relate to and understand. Children spend a lot of time in school, and I need to use classroom dynamics to teach them how to approach the world outside of school - with kindness, love, and respect. I need to structure my classroom in a way that allows students to learn about the world and that includes and responds to diversity. I realized that when I was doing my (Re)Imagined Portfolio assignment. I want my students to see diversity as something to be valued that is normal rather than as something to be afraid of. 

Something that I realized during the course of this semester is that I need to value and respect diversity myself. I learned this by reading things such as the "Mojado Like Me" article from The Personal Experience of Classification Schemes;Testimonios de Imigrantes;More Words for the Poor? Problematizing the "Language Gap"; and From Remedial to Gifted: Effects of Culturally Centered Pedagogy. These articles helped me identify my own biases and prejudices. For example, while reading the "Mojado Like Me" article, I realized that I do have racial biases and that in some ways I have been a passive racist. This article talks about how it only took a change of clothes for a middle-class Hispanic man to be treated as inferior. I have an aunt from Peru, so my cousins are Latino, and my next door neighbors are also Latino. Reading this article made me uncomfortable because I realized that I make the same assumptions about people of other races/ethnicities as the privileged white people in the article. While this makes me extremely uncomfortable, knowing it about myself has also helped me. Now that I can recognize prejudice in myself, I can also move forward in a way that helps me fight racism, both in myself and in society. Knowing that these things exist and being able to talk about them like we did in class is the first step towards a more just, equal, and equitable society. I had similar thoughts and feelings while reading Testimonios de Imigrantes, in which some students who speak Spanish as a first language are discriminated against in school because the counselors, administrators, and teachers do not believe that they can succeed. I realized that I sometimes make the same assumptions about people who speak English as a second language, just because they don't fit in to my culture. That same concept came up in More Words for the Poor? Problematizing the "Language Gap" and From Remedial to Gifted: Effects of Culturally Centered Pedagogy. Being able to think critically about my own beliefs and about society has helped me call myself out on discriminatory, oppressive thoughts and behavior. I have realized that a deficit theory perspective is so harmful to students, families, and entire cultures. I need to continuously fight that in myself until I reach a point where I am more charitable and kind. 

One thing that really broadened my perspective and challenged my viewpoints was learning about gender and sexual orientation. I have always had very definite views of right and wrong, especially in regards to these more controversial topics. While I still believe in an absolute standard of truth, learning about these topics has helped me realize that not everyone else has the same opinions, and that's okay. Regardless of my own viewpoints, I need to have charity and respect for everyone, and that includes not demeaning their lifestyle. I liked what Dr. Draper said in class. She said that a good response in situations where a loved one might come out to us is to say, "I don't understand, but let me walk this path with you. I don't understand this, so I will learn and I will support and love you." Another thing that challenged me was the video we watched called "Voices of GLBT Youth". I realized that hearing the experiences of these students made me uncomfortable, but that it was because I do not understand them and had not taken the time to try, not because they are evil people trying to do a bad thing. The adjusting, acceptance, and love need to come from my side, not theirs. I also appreciated that we were able to have a panel with a couple of students who are not cis-gender. Hearing their perspectives and experiences really opened my eyes to how much I don't know and what my students will need from me. My job is not to pass judgment or to condemn lifestyle choices, especially in the classroom. My personal opinions do not have a place in the classroom, and I should work on them on my own so that I can be the most charitable and respectful as I can be. 

A few other things that broadened my perspective were my portfolio assignment experiences. When I completed the assignment on Personal Cultural Artifacts, I realized that I do have a culture. That sounds like it should have been obvious, but belonging to the privileged, white middle-class suburban culture that I do, I had not taken the time to realize it. Completing that portfolio assignment really opened my eyes to my privilege and the way that I interact with the world around me. It was helpful to see where my perspectives come from so I can evaluate them and consider other viewpoints as equally valid, and possibly better for society and individuals in some cases. Experiencing something outside of my normal culture by being the "other" helped me realize a little bit of what minoritized students and individuals might feel. In my experience, those around me were extremely helpful in integrating me into their culture and explaining what I should do. A lot of people don't have that help and support, especially when they come from a background that has been marginalized. I realized this a little bit more as I completed my "Investigating Oppression" portfolio about the oppression of African Americans in the United States. It is a lot easier for me to accept historical oppression than it is for me to accept that there is currently oppression and inequality. Completing this assignment helped me understand that society is structured to favor certain people and groups of people. People from other groups, cultures, and backgrounds must work a lot harder to succeed that someone who is more privileged. Right now it seems that we praise that kind of hard work through a grit ideology, but I have realized that there are structural problems that should be addressed. I don't think it seems right to put the blame on the people that we have oppressed. Another portfolio assignment that had a large impact on me was my Community Experience. I interviewed a social worker at the Center for Women and Children in Crisis, and a few of the things she said really opened my eyes to how structures of privilege and oppression contribute to domestic violence. She said that we don't talk about it a lot in society because most of the people in power are men, who don't need to worry about the same things that women and children do. Additionally, undocumented immigrants cannot get as much help as they need, simply because of their undocumented status. Before speaking with the social worker, I hadn't realized the extent of the effects of the things we talk about in class. This was a good learning experience for me. It's often easy for me to think of oppression and prejudice as something that exists in society but doesn't really have a huge impact, just because I fail to consider that impact. My experiences in this class and completing my portfolio have helped me understand that these are real problems and that they are happening to real people. 

I think that my biggest takeaway from this class is that I need to be willing to be humble and charitable. A lot of people face obstacles that I can't comprehend and that I will never have to deal with. When I can change my perspectives to approach people from a place where I respect and value them, we will all be able to work with each other better and fight to make a better society for everyone to live in. In my classroom, I need to teach these values to my students. They should always respect others and show kindness unto them. I can create an environment in my classroom that allows that to happen, through things such as providing books that show diversity, integrating social justice into my lesson plans, and teaching in a way that all of my students are included. Respect, charity, and humility are some of the largest factors in considering wider viewpoints. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to have my perspective widened by this class. Considering the perspectives and experiences of others allows for more unity and equality in society.