Journal #1

Through the Cultural Self-Study Questionnaire, I recognized that the most important values to
me include respect, loyalty, honesty, and trust. I also noted that, to me, living life by the “Golden Rule” is
of upmost importance. I truly believe that these values have shaped me into the person I am today and
have also helped guide me to the teaching profession. I began by career in culinary management, even
opening my own business that I still run today. However, it was the gap in business that opened up the
opportunity for me to being working in a school. Through my experiences there, I really began to realize
my passion for teaching. While I was only a paraprofessional, and I say that lightly, I was able to interact
with and help students in a way that made me realize my calling into teaching. I believe that those
values that have shaped my life, respect, honesty, loyalty, and trust, are what will guide me through my
career. I hope to not only show these values to my future students, but I hope to instill in them the
importance of these values so that they can see the impact that such morals can have on life.

”5.6.8.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information

from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and
finished work, and provide a list of sources.”

Above is a fifth-grade writing benchmark. In it, students are explicitly asked to recall information
as well as gather information to summarize and list sources for such information. This benchmark
connects students’ prior knowledge of a subject, their research ability, past experiences, and their
interests in a way that helps them create a list of sources on a topic.

“5.1.4.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.”

Here is a fifth-grade reading standard which implicitly asks students to use their prior knowledge
and experiences. When asked to determine the meaning of a word or phrase, students may recall a time
that they heard, read, or used that word to be able to come up with the meaning. Students may also use
their problem-solving skills to research the word in a dictionary, online, or by sing context clues
throughout the text.

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory describes how cultural backgrounds greatly influence student’s
learning. In Dr. Kang’s Chapter One PowerPoint, she notes that Vygotsky believed that a child’s
development should be shaped using cultural aspects. Dr. Kang also mentions that a student’s
environment is the most important aspect of development, over reinforcements, punishments, and
observations. I believe that the values that a child grows up with will greatly affect the way they develop
as a person as well as how they will complete different things throughout life. This may include a small
homework assignment at school or a project at work.

In my Digital Ethnography, I would like to take a closer look at the classroom management style
of my cooperative teacher. I chose this option because I think that it is an important aspect of teaching
that can shape the way the students learn. I think each of the other five key themes can also fit into this
category in some way or another. It’s important to realize that even though I am choosing this one
theme in particular, I will really be looking at each of these themes as a way to create my own classroom
management style to shape the way my students learn as well as how to best guide their behaviors in
my future classroom.