What lengths am I willing to go to in order to do right by every child?

    What does an equitable classroom look like to you? In this module I learned the importance of culturally responsive teaching and what it means to have an equitable classroom. I enjoyed working through this module and learning how I can better support my students and allow for their perspectives and voices to be heard. After reading the articles and watching the videos, I realized what I am willing to do as an educator in order to support all my students.  As an educator, I will do whatever I can to ensure that my students feel supported in my classroom. This module taught me the importance of allowing students to have a voice in the classroom. As educators, It's our job to incorporate relevant cultural experiences into our lessons so that our students can make deeper connections and relate to the content. While reading, "The Culturally Responsive Teacher", when the teacher focuses on the students narratives and cultural experiences, they will strengthen their understanding of the content and allow the students to build connections between home and school. The article used a student named Belki as an example and explained that, "Belki will learn more from a social studies unit on immigration if her teacher draws on her very real experience as a newcomer to the United States."  (Villegas & Lucas). This is a great example of how educators can pull from their students' own personal experiences so that they are represented inside the classroom. This will allow our students to feel seen, and it will also allow them to have a deeper connection with the content. 

    Above I posted my very first "Word It" that I created from this lessons content. I enjoyed creating this piece and I believe it captures the main idea of this module perfectly. 

Do I have the full picture?

  I believe that in order to truly have the full picture, we must be exposed to other cultures and communities. Growing up, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by many different ethnic groups at home and in my town. My stepmom and her family shared their food, music and culture with me. Since my step family is from Belize, I was able to experience a different culture than my own. From an early age, I understood the importance of  learning about other ethnic groups and cultures. As a child my parents always taught me to embrace and accept those who are different from me. Because of this, I grew up around a diverse group of friends.  

    I enjoyed participating in the "face test". This exercise made me realize that although I have grown up around people from different ethnic groups than myself, I still have a lot to learn. I believe that our public education system plays a vital role in our knowledge and understanding of other ethnic groups. As a child, I was surrounded by diversity outside of the classroom, not inside of the classroom. 

    Until now, I have never thought about how the history that I learned, was limited in many ways. The current public school system teaches an often one-sided version of history. The Tik Tok video, "I didn't learn this in school" made me think about what I learned about historical events such as, Thanksgiving, The Civil Rights Movement, and other historical events was only half of the story. The way we are taught history here in the U.S. , lacks representation and diversity. I related to the video because it made me think about how I too learned about the civil rights movement and ruby bridges, but I didn't actually hear her sorry. Our textbooks often filter out the voices and experiences of POC. This is a disappointment as a future educator, and is why I will ensure that I provide my students with the "Full Picture".