Reflective Summary

Looking back on my portfolio, the terms, and the readings, I discovered I learned a lot more than I realized. I think the single biggest thing I learned in this class was that putting yourself in other’s shoes sometimes just does not work. This is partially because unless I experience it, I will never be able to understand what their shoes are like, and partially because as long as it is me in their shoes, I will never understand them. I noticed this several times as a disruption in my reading reflections. For example, the 7^th set of readings, I was (and still am!) beyond disturbed by the journalist who tried to be a poor person for a month and could not do it. I would never have imagined that some of the things she did would be necessary just for sheer survival. It was an eye-opening reminder that some people have to work 2 jobs or live in their cars to be able to get along. And I might have students like this. I really cannot imagine what that would be like, and as a student, I do not know how I would want to be treated at school, so it is difficult for me as a teacher to know how to treat those kids. It probably depends on the individual. Another example of the difficulty of empathy I found in my reading reflections was the set of readings on race, most memorably the Native American foster kid whose family humiliated her in an attempt to celebrate her culture. I am sure those parents were acting out of what they thought was consideration and love, but it was not how that girl felt loved or cared for.  Though I am pretty sure I am not as blatantly culturally insensitive as they were, I wonder whether I have ever been that person. People need to be loved in the way they need to be loved, not in the way I would need to be loved and cared for.

I also learned a lot about cultural capital and the culture of power this semester. I had previously recognized that the American Dream is much more likely to be just a dream for some people more than others, such as those who live in a poor area that has less access to resources and not going to college is the rule rather than the exception. However, I had never realized that even more than surface culture, such as not going to college, there is a deeper sense of culture that affects every aspect of life, including how people talk, how people think, how a family is run, what priorities are, etc. In readings about the culture of power, it became immediately clear to me that everything they were saying about white cultural dominance was true, and that because of that we do not hear what we want to hear sometimes. My favorite example being the one of the black teacher who felt like other teachers did not listen to her about how to educate black students, because what seemed like to the white teacher was deliberation, felt to the black teacher like a shut down. The fact that even in simple discussion we get such differing impressions of the outcome really helped me to understand the idea of cultural capital and how we all lack it, and how the danger of a culture of power is that most of us inside of it do not even realize that it exists. When I edited my ideal classroom, I tried to include more inclusive-feeling of visual evidence to show that white culture is not the important culture, but in looking back on it, the way I decided to go about it still feels very much like celebrating multiculturalism in a very white liberal-hipster sort of way, which is just a different facet of the culture of power, feeling all the time that we need to include other cultures, when really we should just include them and stop talking so much about it. In evaluating my semester, I have realized it is futile to try to step outside of my own culture and act as if it does not exist or as if I have overcome it, and rather I just need to accept that it is a part of me, be more self-aware of my own use of it, and try to gain and use all kinds of cultural capital in the classroom if am going to do anything about real multicultural education.

Honestly, once I learned about cultural capital and how pervasive it is, I realized that it permeates every facet of my life, and therefore can play a huge part in education. Even easily-overlooked things, such as speaking Standard English at home or having parents who quiz you on what letters say, are things that can have a tremendous impact on the effectiveness in school, which is mostly a structure of the culture of power. When I have gone to high schools this semester, I have noticed that even just the size and mere spaciousness of the schools is an expression of a middle- to upper-class values that kids are unknowingly bombarded with every day in school. In my ideal classroom changes, I tried to accommodate more for students who do not speak Standard English at home or who have not been trained since childhood for school by adding tools like modeling and many more visual, non-written aspects to my teaching that would be easier for anyone to understand, regardless of cultural background.

Ultimately, I learned that I have a lot more learning I need to do on multicultural education. My overwhelming impression coming away from this course is that true multicultural education is an overwhelming, near-impossible task that I have barely just begun to understand. I have a lot of cultural exploration to do, and much more understanding and cultural capital to gain. I realized I have only scratched the surface of the variety the human experience has to offer, and if I make an effort in teaching, I can get more of a taste of it, and can learn as much or more from my students as they can learn from me.

Book Review: Honky

Points of Disruption

What in this book was not disruptive? From the beginning, his seeming loss of innocence was a disruption in and of itself as he began to realize how race was an issue that it previously had not been for him. I found it disruptive that he did not begin to feel a sense of superiority over his multi-racial neighbors until he started going to a middle-class, white school. The level of privilege that white kids seemed to get, even when they were in the heart of other cultural centers, was disrupting to me as well. For example, when he brought his rich white friend with him back home, he was really worried that his friend would not have the cultural capital necessary and would make him look like a fool. However, his friend seemed to cope with the people there just fine, if not better, than he did. It helped me realize that cultural capital in a culture of power often ends up being more important than having cultural capital in your own culture, which I think was pretty disruptive. Additionally, I often had the question of "How can we ever do race right?" come to my mind as I was reading. For example, the story about his younger sister getting a white doll and all the black girls in her class getting black dolls was fairly disturbing to me. The fact that all the black girls were vying after her white doll, when she did not really care about what race her doll was, made me realize more how much ingrained the culture of power idea is even from an early age in cultures of less power. The fact that even 3 or 4 year olds could feel this distinction tells me that racial problems are not just caused by the culture of power, but are reinforced by the cultures not in power.

Clarifying Examples

The doll story was a good example of the influence of a culture of power, and often how unaware the culture in power is of its existence. His privilege as a white kid in a slum community often was shown by his experiences or lack thereof. His family was similar in most ways to others in their neighborhood--poor, working-class, on food stamps, living in government-subsidized housing, etc. However, because he was white, he had access to things other kids did not. For example, his mom used her friend's address to get him into a more white, middle-class school. However, if he had been a black kid trying to do that, he would have stuck out there, and therefore it is unlikely that using someone else's address would have worked to get him in there. Or it is likely that a black family may not have the social capital of knowing someone who lives in a good school district to be able to get them in there. The idea of cultural capital was also very prevalent in the book. He had cultural capital within his neighborhood, but when he moved to the middle-class white school, he struggled because he lacked the social capital to understand what other kids were talking about. I loved the example of how he did not know who Jimmy Carter or Gerald Ford was when all the other kids in his school had opinions on it. He had to listen to his friends' conversations, pick up on the main points, and then used what he picked up to help him fit in, even though he knew nothing really about it. I loved that he even stumped for Jimmy Carter after just having heard about him and really not caring at all so that he could win friends. Then after school he would go home and research all the things his friends had been talking about at school. So even though he was white, he had to acquire white capital to fit into that community.

Application as a Teacher

Honestly, this book left me kind of at a loss as to how to address race in a productive way that would not isolate or marginalize or assume anything about any race. I would like to not make assumptions about students' funds of knowledge because of their race, as this book showed that there can be a pretty wide variety of cultural capital and experiences that students will bring to the classroom. I realized more in reading how much the idea of race and ethnicity ties into shaping personal identity, something that is obviously very important to students. Students will use race to stick out or to fit in. I do not want to be the one who is creating or altering their identity because of my perceptions about race; rather, I would like to let them define themselves, and then let me interact with them in the way they want to be interacted with. I also want to be aware that just because kids are white does not mean that they have money. I found his examples of wanting to buy pizza with his friends and having to use his emergency money or resorting to stealing in order to fit in pretty compelling. I hope to not assign things or expect things of students that would require them to spend money to successfully achieve, when they could be on food stamps for all I know. I also want to be sure I do not unintentionally alter expectations for students based on race or class, expecting less of students who I might think would have a harder time being successful based on their background. Instead, I want to be able to give them the same assignments, ask them the same questions, and expect the same results from a group of black students as I would from a group of white students. Obviously what they bring to the table would vary, but I don't want to give them an education based on what I think is their ability to perform in school, but rather on their actual ability to achieve in school. I don't want race or class to make so much of a difference.

(Re)Imagined Classroom

Original Portfolio in black, changes in red.

You are preparing to be a teacher. Imagine a typical lesson that you might teach in the future. Below, create a sketch or a description of a typical lesson in your future classroom. 

I. Thought-provoking journal entry to introduce the day's topic (e.g. Why did people on both sides fight so fiercely in the Civil War?)

Ia. Discuss what different answers people came up with

II. Introduce the topic, ask students what they know about it

III. Lecture (15-20 mins) to give them background knowledge they need that includes lots of pictures and visuals, including me drawing on the board (Reasons of the North and South for fighting the Civil War)

IV. An activity to help them engage in the topic with a demonstration showing them what I expect them to do. (e.g. a jigsaw with primary resources about the topic that they analyze one source together as a small group, then break off again, mixing the groups, and discuss multiple sources within a group, and see how multiple sources sheds further light on how people think, felt, and acted)

V. Have people in each group share what they learned (Why did they fight so fiercely after all?)

VI. Write down as a class some of the things we learned in the activity

VII. Assign Homework

Imagine the students in the classroom and describe them in more detail. Who are the typical students? What are their backgrounds? What are their interests? Where are they during the lesson?

There will be something of a spread. There will be an even amount of boys and girls. At least 60-70% will be white and English speaking from more affluent backgrounds, though there will be a few who come from poorer families. There will also be multiple students of differing ethnicities, religions, and varying socioeconomic statuses. There will be at least one or more immigrants, and students who do not speak English at home. They will be interested in all the things junior and high school kids are interested in-- sports, video games, fashion, reading, the opposite sex (dating), their families, music, art, learning, building things, camping, anything they want to be interested in. During the lesson, I want students' desks to be in pairs around the room, and people seemingly different from each other near each other-- poor with rich, white with black, etc in order to enliven their discussions and foster understanding.  I will sometimes give them opportunities to work with their friends, which will help them open up sometimes. The students are not bullies--if they are at the beginning of the year, they won't be by the end of the year. They will learn how to empathize with people different from them by the end of the course.

Imagine the surroundings in the classroom and describe them in more detail. What does the room look like? What resources are available to the students? How are those resources used during this lesson?

There are posters on the wall with paintings of important historical events, the Bill of Rights, inspiring quotes, etc. There is a board with folders for missed work. The room is colorful, with my own decorations up in my corner that express who I am as well. There are also photos of people from all around the world to celebrate diversity and variety. There are words on the wall that illustrate our ideal classroom environment, such as "respect" and "compassion." There is a pink triangle on the door. There will be a bookshelf for textbooks that they can access during class for certain class activities (like doing their own bit of research on a topic), and I will have a bookshelf behind my desk that they can look at for supplemental reading, though if students wish to take it, they must check it out. These may be used for book projects or just for personal interest. There may be a marker/craft supply box for them to use during more creative activities, like creating their own propaganda poster. 

Imagine the lesson and describe the topic in more detail. What are you teaching? What is the main thing you would want students to learn during this lesson? Why are you teaching this lesson?

If I were teaching, for example, on the difference between the Northern and Southern motivations for fighting the Civil War, I would be primarily let them draw conclusions for themselves from primary resources that I give them. Ideally, I would want them to learn not only the reasons and to learn how to analyze primary resource documents, but to gain a personal understanding of why the war happened. I want them to understand that the people involved were real people, with real thoughts and opinions that made sense to them and that they held strongly. I want to debunk the idea that you can write people off as racist or sexist and dismiss them as immoral people; rather, I want them to understand people for who they are in more complexity as people. 

Imagine your work as a teacher during this lesson and describe it in more detail. What are you doing during the lesson? Where are you in during the lesson? 

During the intro writing, I am in the front, making sure everyone is seated and working, and then moving throughout the aisles to see that people are doing the assignment. During the discussion I'm on one side of the room, perhaps the back, facilitating discussion. During lecture I am in the front, speaking and answering any questions, occasionally asking questions to be put out for discussion. During the group activity, I am all around the room, listening to conversations, re-directing unfocused behavior, stimulating group discussions that are not getting the point of the activity, etc. In the end I'm in the front, perhaps writing the most important things they learned down on the board for them to write down.

Imagine the various lesson activities and describe them in more detail. What are the students doing during the lesson? Why have you chosen these activities?

Jigsaws-- to help them analyze resources, or to become experts on a topic we don't have that much time to cover so they can shuffle groups and teach their peers.

Think-Pair-Share-- to facilitate discussion, more engaged learning.

Political Spectrum-- have students stand up in a line, and throw different ideas out and have students rearrange themselves by how much they agree or disagree on a topic. Can use this to introduce the different party systems of American history (for example), and help them relate to it.

Writing activities-- writing a paragraph to analyze the reasons for something happening, to compare and contrast, to analyze resources, to state opinions.

Lecture-- to give them the knowledge they need in order to engage the topic meaningfully

Debates-- Give different readings/topics to different groups to read and prepare for the next day, then hold a debate between the groups on a topic as if they were people of that time.

Intro assignments-- they are often writing to help them get engaged in the subject matter as well as to get thinking and quiet

Discussion-- get them thinking and synthesizing information. Often will be discussing with their desk partner, but also as a class.

Artistic Group Work-- a group is given a poster to draw a representation of an assigned topic, person, or idea in history that they present to the class at the end of the period.

I kept a lot of what I originally had, because my ideal classroom already placed a high value on diversity and the learning that can come from it. I especially am keeping students paired with people seemingly unlike them, because I want my students to become friends with people they might not otherwise be friends with because of their differences. However, I did add that I would give my students the opportunity to work with their friends once in a while, because I know that can help foster open discussion in a way that talking to someone who might not be your best friend. I also kept many of the general curriculum ideas and my teaching style ideas the same, because most of it has no little bearing on who the students are, but are ways that all students of different background can learn. Many of the adaptations I added were for students who are immigrants English language-learners, because I had very little in my curriculum to accommodate for them. That is why I added additional pictures of people from all over the world to celebrate that diversity. Additionally, I added more visual aspects to my lectures and classroom activities to help those students understand meaning as well as have something visual to associate a perhaps unfamiliar word or concept with. This will also be helpful to students who are not language learners. I also added more concretely the idea of modeling activities for them so that students who struggle to understand verbal or written instruction can understand what they are supposed to do. I also added an aspect of the no-bullying policy that would be prevalent in my class, such as words like "compassion" and "respect" on the walls, and a pink triangle to let students with LGBTQ tendencies know that my classroom is a safe zone, where they will be treated with respect, and where bullying will not be tolerated, because they often are targets.

Personal Artifacts

Former BYU quarterback McMahon's retired jersey-towel that was given to all students who went to the USU game

My school backpack

The front room of my apartment has twinkle lights

My food cupboard

The books on my desk, which all revolve around history and poli sci

This is from my freshman year when my roommates and I made a Potter Puppet Pals video

Jack-o-lanterns outside my building

My car and my roommate's boyfriend who decided to get in the picture

Halloween decorations on our door

My and my roommate's DVD collection

An apron I bought when I interned in Scotland

A picture on my wall

A Chinese calendar I got on my mission

A giant print on my kitchen wall that represents me and my roommates' friendship

My ukulele

My laptop

Pictures on my wall

Wedding announcements

When the Ron Weasley cardboard cutout wears a BYU t-shirt, we win games

Art I got in my international travels

In looking at my artifacts, I notice that school and collegiates are a big part of my personal culture. My love for school sports and books, etc, will aid me as a teacher to get me more involved in whatever school culture I am in, which is a culture I will hopefully share with my students. I also have a lot of items consistent with Mormon culture, such as pictures of the temple and the sacred grove that you have to be mormon to really understand. This could cause a cultural barrier of understanding if I teach out of Utah, or if I teach in Utah, I could dangerously assume every one of my students has this same culture at the risk of excluding some. I have a bit of international flavor in my culture due to 2 years of living abroad in different places, which in some cases will help me to know how to learn about my students' culture, but could create a barrier of understanding where I assume they understand how other cultures could vary, when they may have very little experience with other cultures. I additionally have several artifacts consistent with American culture in general, such as halloween decorations, food choices, car, movies, etc that is probably similar to many students' cultural background, but different from some which could just lead to not being on the same page as some students.

Community Experience

For my community experience, I went to the Food and Care Coalition and worked in the food line serving dinner to impoverished and homeless individuals. I realized that I expected to see lots of dirty, unkempt people in dirty, worn, poorly-fitting clothes. I was surprised to find mostly the contrary. Most of the people there, while perhaps not dressed especially nice, could fit in in many places. They were not all older either--there were some young families, and a wide range of ages there. Additionally, there were few to no people with facial hair. I realized that most of my pre-conceived notions about homeless people were wrong. Perhaps part of the reason is because the Food and Care Coalition offers so many services to the homeless that they perhaps are able to function better in society. Or perhaps many homeless people have the cultural capital to be able to fit in and conceal their homeless state.  However, it made me realize that I could have extremely poor students in my classes and not even realize it, because they blend in so well with everyone else.

Additionally, I was surprised with how happy everyone seemed at the Food and Care Coalition. Even though the people there must deal with a lot of stress from poverty and homelessness, they were happy while they were there and genuinely grateful for our service. I was also impressed at how much the community does for the Food and Care Coalition--I realized that privately-owned places can take care of the poor quite well if the community is willing to help. It might make a good assignment for high schoolers to volunteer somewhere like that to learn more about their community and their civic duty within it. It would help students break down prejudices and gain love and understanding for the less fortunate in their community.

Being "The Other"

For this assignment, I went to a Consulting Fair in the business school, somewhere where I feel completely out of place. I didn't like being the other--being there made me feel uncomfortable and awkward. Everyone around me felt like they were trying to show everyone how competent they were and how comfortable they were there with high-profile consulting companies, and it made me feel kind of small and unimportant for being in a job I imagine future wealthy people would look down on. Even if that's not what they think, that's what it felt like they would think, since it's not as prestigious to be a teacher as it is to be a consultant. My instinctual response to being the other was to remain quiet with my head down, to not talk to people and just eat my BYU mint brownie in peace, which took forcing myself to suck it up in order to get over. However, I felt like I was wasting the time of the people there by talking to them because even if they want me to be a consultant, I don't think I really want to be a consultant. My second gut response was to slightly judge everyone around me for putting so much importance on something I don't find very valuable, especially because no matter how many times someone explains to me what consulting is, a part of me still doesn't believe it could be a real job, nor understands why they get paid so much to do what they do. I know that's bad and I got over those feelings quickly, but it is kind of a natural defensive reaction.

It gave me insight on what a student in my class might feel like if he (or she) thinks he's the other. They might stay quiet and out of sight as much as possible, and even slightly judgmental of all the people around them for being the way they are, or putting so much value on grades, for example, when they may not see it as being that important. It also made me realize that it might take a lot of work for me to help these students get on board with objectives and just the whole school thing in general if it is not something they see as valuable or relevant. I could get interested in consulting, but it would take a lot of time around people who love consulting and a lot of persuasion for me to be willing to try to go for it. This might be the same for these students. They might really just not see the point of turning in a worksheet or paper or taking a test, etc, if that is something their family and friends or cultural group does not emphasize. Though perhaps I might be a bit more trained in the culture of business in general since my dad is in business, I was still a bit lost sometimes, and wondered what the people from the consulting companies would even want to see. Similarly, if the students are not trained in the culture of school, it might be difficult for them to participate in school culture successfully. Although teachers say all they really want is student learning, there are a lot of smaller things they want from their students on a regular basis (sitting in seat, raising your hand in class, wanting learning more than just completion, etc) that a student unfamiliar with teacher/school culture could struggle to understand. Doing this assignment made me realize there are a lot of cultural and social cues that I take for granted that may not be easily understood by those in different cultures  with different traditions.

Portfolio II: Cultural Snapshot

Artifact #1

Artifact #2

Artifact #3

Artifact #4

Artifact # 5

There are many messages sent by these artifacts regarding what it looks like to be Hispanic. In these artifacts, there is a consistent theme of voluptuous women in tight, revealing clothing. In two of the five videos there are mothers with children not living with the child's father. These women are also often loud and sassy (Gloria in Modern Family, Hilda in Ugly Betty). In the videos, successful women are ones with these qualities, or are the opposite, as in Ugly Betty (Artifact #1)--smart, nerdy, and unattractive. For Hispanic men, there are two main, conflicting messages. Both Ugly Betty and the Office have gay Hispanic characters (Justin and Oscar), whereas Pedro's cousins in Napoleon Dynamite seem very "manly," having tattoos, facial hair, a glitzy car, and an overall threatening appearance. This paints the picture that Hispanic men are either gay or thugs, a picture that is so polarized that it is very unlikely to be accurate. Ultimately, the "Single Story" of Hispanics in America portrayed is one where only sexy women get rich, and where men are either delinquent or feminine, leaving no room for the average Hispanic man.

These messages could have quite a strong impact on what a teacher's perceptions of their Hispanic students could be. Teachers could, because of media messages, have the expectation that Hispanic girls will use their bodies to get attention in school, and may easily wind up pregnant. Additionally, if they see them as sassy and always having an attitude, teachers could have less patience with them based almost completely on stereotypes. Ultimately, these stereotypes could lower teacher expectations for their Latina students. For boys, one could see similar results. They might expect Latios to be thugs likely to become involved in delinquent behaviors. On the opposite side, teachers could see them as "smug" or sassy, and would either find them frustrating or perhaps just funny. Regardless, because the media portrayals of Hispanic men are so polarized, it makes it difficult for teachers to make fair judgments regarding their students and to really understand them personally. Other students could also have similar attitudes toward their Hispanic classmates.

It is important for teachers to know and examine the way different groups are depicted in society not only so they can be aware of and monitor their own attitudes toward their students, but so they understand what kinds of pressures are being put on their students by themselves, by their peers, and by their families. If we understand what standards young, teenage students are expecting themselves to match, we can  better understand possible motivation for behaviors, and hopefully would be able to help them be able to recognize their potential and talents that might run different from cultural norms. Additionally, as a history teacher, it is important to know what biases are out there and what spin people are putting on things, and I could use these things to better help students understand how often our perceptions of everything, not just history, are one-sided, and that we shouldn't view our peers and those around us in a one-sided, biased fashion.