7/19 class reflection

Today's guest speaker brought a lot of attention to the "divide" within our schools. As Dr. Narcisse pointed out, many times this divide is more than the obvious racial disparities and goes deeper into class and personal beliefs. I really related to his point that our personal beliefs are extremely effected by our experiences in life, that you cannot really go into a situation without a bias (good, bad, or indifferent), and that when in a classroom it is important to be aware of their experiences which impact their beliefs. Part of getting to know your students is to bring their perceptions misconceptions to the surface so that you can encourage new experiences that will broaden those perceptions. I wish we had spent more time on the activity today because I really think that, just like we are told to teach our children, we can learn a lot by doing and exploring ourselves. In order to be a successful teacher, I need to know myself and understand where all my beliefs come from. When doing exercises like these, I learn a lot more about how I think and in turn, how my students may be thinking. Additionally, I really believe that as teachers we are acting as strong role-models in the lives of our students. To be a positive role-model it is imperitive that we have confidence in who we are and show our students that we are constantly self-reflecting and trying to learn more about ourselves and the world around us. These are fantastic things to learn about and practice before beginning a career in education!