1. Describe the ways in which cultural diversity and language diversity play a role in the classroom.

a. Did you see any examples of this in your field this semester, or in other classrooms?
This semester I have been able to fully grasp what cultural diversity really means. Our classrooms
are full of students each with their own cultures, this referring to not just the color of their skin or
religion but also their home norms, personality, language backgrounds, their interests and much more.
Color is still an important factor though, in the book We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know By Gary R.
Howard a quote on page 125 says “For many students of color, success in school is like being invited to
a party for which the location and date remain unannounced. Even if they wanted to go, how would they
get there?”. All students have something to share and as transformative educators it is our responsibility
to allow each student’s individual cultures to be welcomed in the classroom, being a part of the party.
We can be diverse through our welcoming and inclusion of our differences by teaching that
differences are what make us each unique and equally a part of the learning experience. During our
lectures we looked at how white people are not just Caucasian but that we are more than the color of our
skin. Each of our students and peers have their own backroad and way of life, these are our cultures. In
my field placement I have not had any students that speak another language nor that have a different
religion other than Judaism, however the students all come from different home dynamics which make
each one of them and their behavior significantly different. By learning more about each other and
sharing stories about what we do outside of the classroom, my class has made connections with each
other that I believe have brought our class closer together. In our classroom we try to explore not only
more about our classrooms shared religious culture but also the ability for our students to share it with
us. Incorporating the interests of each student and the differences between our lives is something I
attempt as part of my field placement. Ahmed, in his first chapter, talks about how sharing who we are
as individuals can lead to deeper connections with our students and our peers. We share our cultures and
language to better shape and mold how we want our classroom to feel and function.

2. Please explain what “funds of knowledge” are and how they relate to schooling.
a. Tell me if you saw funds of knowledge being brought into your field classroom, or in any
other classroom.
Funds of knowledge refers to the idea that each of us come from different homes and in each home,
we do different things, therefore all of us have different experiences to share and bring into the
classroom. In our homes we have our own sets of norms, and these are the experiences that we can share
in the classroom. In the school we can use these by having all our students sharing their experiences and
knowledge with us to help shape and learn from. All people need to have different views points to draw
upon and by having each students individuality as a part of our classroom we can then use their
knowledge and experiences to help the class as a whole. On page 2 Ahmed said, “We have an obligation
to make kids feel visible” and while this can be applied to every concept, we have learned this semester
that it is especially valid here. Students all have individuality in every decision they make whether at
home or school, and it is imperative that we as educators allow all students to feel like they are
contributing to the classroom as an individual. In my field placement I see funds of knowledge used
through simple conversation. My pre-k class often independently engages in thoughtful conversation
during snack and lunch times about stuff they do at home or people in their families. This interest from
each student about another is the reason sharing our own experiences and life outside of school is so
important and vital to creating a diverse classroom.

3. What are your thoughts on teachers and students who come from different backgrounds working
together in the classroom?
I think that this is necessary for schools. While nothing can be perfect or guaranteed I think it should
be imperative to have a diverse group of learners. “Ultimately, our students will have to learn to be more
discerning about culture and its role in education so that they will not contribute to either the culture of
poverty or the poverty of culture” (Ladson-Billings, Pg7). In this quote, Billings is talking about future
teachers, but I feel that this quote applies to all people in the education industry. It will be our
responsibility as the educator to facilitate positive culture integration, but we will also need to teach our
students about appreciating each other and recognizing differences around the world. We don’t want our
schools to become culture deficient. The background of a student does not even have to be an out of
country mindset, but rather like in the previous question an at home view. We have culture all around us
and choose to ignore it. Embracing the experiences and lifestyles of each individual household and
upbringing will better help the educators to get a sense of how best to teach said students about others.
To conclude, when we limit the perspectives of our students and educators, we are limiting the capacity
of learning and understanding in and out of the classroom. To emphasize, some educators have
unpreparedness when dealing with other cultures, let’s hear again from Gary R. Howard. “We are
serious about our work; we are rigorous in our practice; we are continually assessing our own
effectiveness. We are forever fighting not to reinforce the substantial data that show White teachers in
urban diverse schools to be underqualified and poorly prepared to teach students of color.” (Page 132)
4. What are the most important steps involved in creating a safe, productive, and positive classroom
environment?
a. Please describe the ways that you saw (or did not see) your mentor teacher working to
create a safe, productive, and positive classroom environment.
The most important steps all start with who holds the “power”. During our lectures and in my field
experience I have come understand more about the democratic classroom. When we give our students
the ability to make decisions and be a part of guiding the learning process, it leads to a higher level of
student confidence and excitement. In my field study students, each got a section of the wall of the
room. In these sections students could decorate them however they wanted. This allowed them to
express their interests and feel like the classroom was theirs not just the teachers. When the student feels
involved, they tend to have a more positive outlook and show more interest in the activities/lessons.
Jennifer K. Pereira and Sondra Smith-Adcock furthered this concept through the lens of child centered
learning. As soon as we allow students to help decide what we learn or create lessons based upon their
interests, changes in difficult behavior and socialization can be seen. This method of child centered
learning also makes students feel more connected with their peers and teachers because the lessons are
based around the classroom working together. “When students feel connected to their teacher and peers,
as a valued member of the classroom community, they are more prepared to actively engage in the
curriculum” (Pereira, Smith-Adcock. Pg. 5).
5. What are some things that teachers need to consider when communicating with parents and
guardians of the students in their classes?
a. How do you plan to communicate with parents and guardians in the future?
When communicating with parents it should go without saying to be respectful and professional
regardless of if you’re on the school grounds or not. When addressing a parent or guardian use proper
nouns (Mr., Mrs., Ms.) and their last name. If they want you to call them by their first name, they will
tell you. It is vital that we are never negative when giving feedback. For example, we wouldn’t say
“Billy is doing terrible in math”, but rather “Billy is having some trouble in math, but I plan on working
with him more in class, so we can help him improve”. If two students have a fight that requires a call
home, it is best to not point blame unless it is clear cut, and even if it is, staying calm and neutral is
important. We don’t know all the time what the students go through at home, and that kind of stuff can
impact their behavior in the classroom, which is why staying neutral is best. Never tell a parent how to
parent or that they are doing something wrong. Give them suggestions, “Billy is struggling in math, I
think having him do problems 1-10 in the book will help him improve.” Lastly, it is important that if you
are communicating through the written word such as, email or text, that you attempt to the best of your
abilities to use proper grammar and language (no slang or acronyms). I already have lots of parent
communication and have felt the best sides and the worst of it. I plan on communicating with parents the
same as I do now which include all of the above rules. I think it is also important to be the first to reach
out to parents. I often send messages to parents of either my students or campers if they got a minor
injury or if I noticed they had been acting strangely. Keeping parents up to date is always what they
want, their priority are their kids and the more they know about what is going on the more comfortable
they will feel, at least 98% of the time. Even with achievements, parents love to hear about how well
their student is doing, regardless of getting report cards. I plan on sending the parents of my students
monthly to bi-monthly updates on their child’s performance. Communication is one of the most
important responsibilities we have as educators, so we need to take it very seriously or what we say may
just get lost in translation and cause more harm than good.

6. How do prior experiences, worldview, and personal identity affect how teachers interact with
their students?
a. What (if any) aspects of your personal identity have your learned more about during this
semester?
This semester I have come to realize that my identity is less about what color skin I have or what
religion I follow but who I am as an individually unique person. Every moment of our life makes us who
we are, simply choosing chocolate instead of vanilla is part of our identity. Teachers will often if not for
sure have the same curriculum requirements, however that does not mean the way in which a teacher
teaches or the way they run their classroom has to be the same. As transformative educators, how we
choose to bring our classrooms to life is up to us and our students. Our passion or love of specific things
may inspire ideas that we can share with the class, and maybe one of these passions will inspire one of
the students. Everything we do can be a lesson, in every moment there can be something to learn about.
As an educator I know I will continue to and get better at using my own success and failures to help
teach and inspire my students. Our world is just starting to warm up to sexual and gender identity. While
some teachers do struggle with their own identity, I more often hear about students’ struggles. When a
student is unsure of who they are or what they want to be, some teachers and schools deny the students
curiosity and force a choice for them. What I am saying is that some educators interact poorly when a
student is unsure of their gender. The Ted Talk featuring Audrey Mason-Hyde made me feel like
educators have a long way to go. When Audrey used the word ‘tomboy’ it made me realize how
insulting that word can be. I definitely have used that word; I now know that calling a girl a tomboy
places her into a gender group or is implying a gender norm onto her. This is wrong because our actions
don't decide our gender, we as individuals decide for ourselves. How we react and interact with students
based upon our core ideals and beliefs will be seen, felt, and remembered by our students.

7. When you hear the phrase “teaching for diversity, equity, and inclusion”, what does that mean to
you?
This phrase means that all students of any race or culture, with any disabilities either mentally or
physically, and students who identify themselves as a gender that was not assigned at birth be
individually loved and supported to best fit their needs and feelings in the classroom. To be inclusive
means to be aware of differences and change to best fit the needs they require. For example,
Weinstein, Tomlinson-Clarke, and Curran brought my attention the people from the Pacific Islands
in their article. They discuss how teachers may find their students from the Islands to be lazy or have
a not caring type of attitude, but you come to realize that the student's lack of participation is due to
their culture. Pacific Islanders value interpersonal traits and avoid competitive activities. Later in the
article on page 9, they said "cultures have different perspectives on time", this emphasizes how we
may feel or value something like being punctual, but others don't have the same norms. This is
important because like the article states, we need to be flexible and accommodating with students,
not just force them into following our norms with a penalty. Our strength as educators will be seen
through our ability to be equitable inclusive in our classrooms and with lesson planning, and in our
hearts. We should teach to empower and bring possibilities to all students, and therefore
transformative educators need to heed teaching for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

8. What does the word ‘bias’ mean to you?

a. How do personal biases impact how we interact with others? What can we do about
those biases?
Bias means to have a preconceived idea of a person and then treat them differently than others
based on this false view. Starting on page 62, Sarah Ahmed describes how students feel like their
identity is being chosen for them and the power to be their own student is not being respected.
Ahmed continues to discus how teachers so often label students because of their academic skills or
because of generalized standards based upon their race/culture. In media we see examples of chosen
identity and ways certain races act, but these are mostly fabricated or at the very least blown way out
 of proportion. Avoiding these biases is not an easy process, as our entertainment and marketing
worlds feed off of bias, however there are steps we can take. Recognizing bias is the first step, in
order to change and shift our way of thinking we must first acknowledge and understand our own
biases. Once we have gained confidence in our own individual biases, we can then move on to
educating others. Rather than a harsh and direct approach, it is important to talk to the people who
are being labeled and ask them how to best talk to others about recognizing this error. If we take the
time to listen and learn from the people who have to live in the shadow of their forced identity, then
we can better help everyone remove this shadow. Actions have consequences and unfortunately the
media propagates the negative elements of our society, often making the United States seem ignorant
and stubborn. This in itself is a bias to other nations who now see Americans as an uncultured bias
driven people. I wish this view was completely wrong but much of America and the world is this
way; I think if the media and educators teach based on the idea of understanding our biases than we
can move past this generation of hate fueled news and protests (for some). Allowing our personal
biases will only take our lives backwards, we need to strive for recognition of these biases and then
work with our peers and educators to rewrite the way we may think and act. Only then can we move
on to helping the rest of the world.
9. What is the difference between equity and equality?
a. Did you see practices in your field classroom that demonstrated equity or equality?
The example we saw in our class lecture involving the people watching the baseball game was by far
the best way for anyone to find the difference. Showing that equality does not guarantee positive results
was important for myself and any teacher to understand. It reminded me of my own school experience. I
have had an IEP and support services since 1st grade. If everything were equal, I would not have had
these needed accommodations. Equity allows for people to get the help and support they need to achieve
the same goal as those who may not need the extra assistance. Referring again to our in-class example,
when a few people can’t see over the fence, we can’t give them all the same size boxes because that
does not guarantee anything. What we need is to either give them different sized boxes based on their
height or remove the fence all together. By going with different size boxes however, we are not
acknowledging the cause for the inequality i.e., the fence. In my classroom there was more practices of
equity than there were equality, becauseequality, because of how young the students are. In class, all
students get individualized help based on how well they can perform on a project. Another great
example is when we need to move on to another activity, but we have a lot to clean up. In our class there
is often multiple things happening at once, and recently a kid in our class broke their ankle. If everything
were equal, I would have to have that student help to clean up and risk her getting hurt even more. But
because she did play with some of the toys should it be considered fair that she does not have to clean
up? Instead of helping with the cleanup, the student was asked to work on a large puzzle the class was
working on in order to earn a superhero day for all. In this way equity was shown because she was
helping to achieve something else the class needed to complete, just like the others did by cleaning up
the mess. While this example is not clear-cut equity example due to the inequality of cleaning up, it is an
accommodation for someone who needed an alternative to the norm, therefore equity is a relevant factor.
Equality can be great, and the world needs more of it, but equity is the world we need to strive for, one
where inequalities become far and few between.
 10. For this last question, please share any final thoughts you have on what you think it means to be
a transformative educator who teaches for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“Teaching from a transformative perspective requires all educators to step out of the dominant
programming that is so pervasive throughout our educational institutions and to discover an alternative
and more authentic way to engage both across and within our various ethnic and racial communities.
Transformationist pedagogy is the place where our passions for equity intersects with our cultural
competence and leads to culturally responsive teaching in our classrooms and schools. (Howard
Pg.139)” I wish I came up with this quote myself but rather I got the opportunity to learn and grow from
it. What this long and detailed quote describes is being open minded and knowledgeable about how to
teach. We need to remember that our students are the ones who should play a greater role in guiding our
classrooms and learning. I have learned that we need to embrace and move forward, through
conversation and open dialogue on sensitive topics our society has unfortunately hidden. I want to be a
teacher who works to always include those with disabilities, those of a different race and culture and
those of any gender with the equitable teaching methods that continue I will continue to learn about and
improve upon. The reality is that having this class required for a degree in teaching implies that we are
raised without enough knowledge on the transformatist approach and likely are victims to generational
rules/norms that don’t fit the approach. To me, being a transformative educator means to teach with a
collective knowledge of our differences, lives, and personalities, because the fact of the matter is we are
all just people living on a shared planet. We need to teach how to live and love together, to support each
other, and to respect our wonderful uniqueness that benefits the learning and teaching processes as a
whole.