This reflection discusses my learning from my Experiencing Diversity course.

For this, I had the

pleasure of interviewing several students at my college, and how their race affected their
schooling experience. This was enlightening and allowed me to reflect on how I want my
students to feel in their future classroom.

Experiencing Diversity Reflection

This course was one I was really looking forward to this semester. It was much different
than anything I had taken at Thomas and had goals that would push me to be a better person, and
prepare me for being an educator. Through the course materials, culturally sustaining pedagogy
project, and the conference I attended, I learned much about diversity and its importance.
There were some great course materials throughout the semester. In week one, I enjoyed
reading about going beyond heroes and holidays and “Taco Tuesdays”. I hadn’t really thought
about how the “mainstream” curriculum is not enough. These topics have so much to explore
that can bring really important experiences and perspectives into the classroom. This was really
driven home and paired well with the week three and week eleven posts. On week three we
learned about the levels of multicultural education. I had seen this before in my Advanced Field
course, so I was excited to take a deeper look at it. I learned from this that Heroes and
Holidays/”Taco Tuesdays” are really a level one. However, can most definitely be developed to
be a level four. This is what I attempted for my week eleven unit map. I had a lot of fun
developing this unit map, and I can actually see myself using it in my future classroom.
The culturally sustaining pedagogy project was one of my favorite parts of this course.
There were so many pieces of this and I learned something new from each. I also really enjoyed
being able to work on this with a group, we got to learn from each other and about each other's
backgrounds which was a unique opportunity. I enjoyed making the book list for this project.
Some of these books were books I read in middle/high school and really enjoyed. However,
some of them I had never heard of. I have added some of these books to my personal reading list.
Books are a great way for students to really connect with people, even if it’s just a fictional
character. It helps you understand that you aren’t alone in whatever battles you are fighting. I
love reading and really enjoy getting to know the characters, even if they aren’t real. I think this
is really important for students, and I hope that my future school as a lot of diverse books to
choose from. While I may not necessarily have a bookshelf in my math classroom, I would love
to contribute to others. Another piece of this project that stuck out to me was the fundraising
portion. For our fundraiser, we collected personal hygiene supplies to donate to Skowhegan
Middle School. We collected over five hundred dollars worth of donations which is so exciting.
We can’t wait to drop off these supplies. It was so incredible to see the Thomas community come
together to help us help a local school. For this project, we also got to write accommodations for
ELL students. This was something I hadn’t done before. Although it might not necessarily be
something I use depending on where I teach, it is a great skill to have.
Writing our personal teaching philosophies surrounding diversity was one of my favorite
pieces of this project. I got to really look at what is important to me and how I want to include
diversity in my future classroom. I think this is also a fantastic piece to have for my portfolio.
My group also got together to read our philosophies to each other. This was a great opportunity
to hear what is important to my classmates and get more ideas for my own classroom. We are all
Secondary Education majors, which made it really easy to work together and find applicability in
each other's work. The final, and my favorite piece, of our project was the diversity interviews. I
really appreciated that we were able to interview students at Thomas. It’s so fascinating to hear
the background of people you know and what shaped them into the person they are today. I grew
up very close to where one of our interviewees grew up. So, it was interesting to see how similar
our backgrounds were. We both struggled with a lack of opportunities due to where we lived,
which is something I still battle today. Even just the short move to the Waterville area has made a
huge difference on the opportunities available to me, and Bailee felt the same way. I also really
enjoyed hearing their opinion on Thomas’ diversity practices. I had always thought Thomas had
done a really great job with programs such as Diversity Week and with projects such as the Hall
of Flags and the President's Council for (DEI), diversity equity, and inclusion. I think these are
really awesome practices, and it was cool to hear that both of our interviewees thought so too.
They both said that these practices at Thomas really helped them feel more included, which I
loved. It was also great to be able to discuss our takeaways from this as a group. Everyone had a
different perspective, and we learned a lot from each other. I have gotten to meet so many people
from all over the world at Thomas, which is so unique.
I know I already wrote a reflection on the conference I attended, however, I truly believe
it was most beneficial part of this course and I am beyond thankful for the opportunity I was
given. I had HUNDREDS of “a-ha” moments throughout the course from a variety of topics. Not
to mention the fact that I actually got to “experience diversity”. I could write tens of pages about
what I learned from this conference, I have an entire journal full of takeaways. I think the biggest
“aha moments” came from the sessions by Tiffany Anderson. She has made an incredible impact
on her community. Some of these impacts include something as large as opening a home for
homeless students to live in, to something as simple as telling a student “I believe in you”. This
goes to show even something so small can make a difference on your students, and it isn’t
impossible to make bigger waves if you work hard. For example, she opened a boutique for her
students simply by asking a local department store to sponsor. How incredible is that? Gerry
Brooks was also a great speaker. His ideas surrounding doing everything in our power to accept
each and every person as they are were so easy yet so powerful. How can we expect our students
to accept their peers, if we can’t do the same? The last big “a-ha moment” I wanted to mention,
because I couldn’t possibly list them all, came from Kim Johancen. She provided so many easy
tips and tricks for handling trauma, both for yourself and for the students. These were such
valuable strategies and for my future classroom. While it may not necessarily be “diversity”
related, a common theme throughout the conference was that as educators, it is important we
take care of ourselves. Because we “can’t fill others' cups if ours are empty”.
In conclusion, I had so many incredible experiences throughout this course. If there was
one thing about this course I could change, it would be sharing our conference experiences with
our classmates as a forum post. We already read each week about our peer's takeaways on the
course content. I learned so much from my conference and would’ve loved to share it with
everyone. I also would’ve loved to have heard from others about their experiences. My two main
“a-ha moments” from this course came from the Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy project and the
Innovative School Summit in Chicago. The Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy Project had so many
components that brought a lot of concepts from the course together. This is a great piece that will
make an awesome addition to my portfolio. Traveling to Chicago was an absolutely incredible
opportunity. I learned so much during my time there, and I was able to have a deeper connection
with the materials because of it. My experiences from this trip will genuinely stick with me
forever. As I mentioned in my Personal Teaching Philosophy, traveling is very important to who
I am and what I can bring to my classroom. Going to Chicago added so much to my traveling
experiences and inspired me to continue to expand my horizons and explore what the world has
to offer.