I
found this week’s articles relatable to my work. I always make it a point to identify
myself to my students and their families. In my experience being open and telling
my students and families that I am Hispanic has really helped create an
immediate bond with them. Working in Central Falls, a predominantly Hispanic
community, the parents felt at ease being able to communicate with me in Spanish
and showing their kids that it is possible to go to school and get a job even
if you come from another country. I become a role model for the parents to
confide in and a friend/mentor to the students.
In
Locating Yourself for Your Students by Priya Parmar and Shirley Steinberg
on of the students in Steinberg’s class said “she had never heard a white person
say they were White” and that made me think a lot to the conversation we had
during our retreat around race. It is not often that a “white” person openly
states that they are white. In my experience peoples of other origins, races
and nationalities openly and happily express where they/their families come
from. There is a sense of pride within their culture. I can not recall a time where
a teacher told me they were “white” it was just something that was not spoken
about/ needed to be address. As if it wasn’t important.
This
spoke to Jamila Lyiscott’s videos. She speaks about how the classroom structure
limits one’s diversity. She sees herself as “tri-tounged”. I saw this as her
code switching between how she speaks around the different people in her life.
Code switching is something we all do; we speak differently to different people
depending on who we are around however as students when we hear codes that are
not “articulate” in schools it is deemed as wrong. We should celebrate this
ability but also learn from the diversity it brings into the classroom.
Hi Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteThank you for opening up about your experiences of being Hispanic and how your personal identity is reflected in your line of work. On average, ever since I began working with the youth, I have been surrounded by predominantly white families and even now at my new job, I feel as if I could easily count the amount of people of color that I see in my classrooms. As an Asian American, I never felt like I could go anywhere without my identity being present with me. Many times I would explain to the families that I work with where my father was from and the culture of the Laotian people but rarely did I ever hear about the culture of the white people I was around. In fact, while reflecting on my own self, I never said more about my mother other than the mere fact that is she white.
The reading Locating Yourself for Your Students made me reflect on how often people of color bring their personal identity to conversations but I never hear white people talk about themselves in a sense of pride. I tend to wonder if the root of this is guilt of being white, embarrassment of not being of color, or pure demonstration of power because it is not necessary to talk about being white.