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.