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I try to love everyone and be kind in all the ways I can

I dream about new adventures, going places, and making a family one day

I feel sad when I think about the hatred and violence in the world

I wish that people and animals didn’t have to suffer

I understand that the world is imperfect, but acts of kindness are what gives humanity hope

This is me, a student, a teacher, a friend, a daughter, a big sister, a granddaughter, a niece

I am April Christine Ledbetter

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Strength on Teaching Culturally Diverse Students:

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Strength on Teaching Culturally Diverse Students:

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I love the feeling when I step into a room full of culturally diverse people. Because, without any differences, this world would be quite boring. I enjoy learning about people from different places, listening to their language, and hearing their stories. It amazes me how different students in the same classroom can come from such different backgrounds. For instance, in this picture there is a fifth grade class, with students from Mexico, Columbia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Africa, and many other places. In this field placement, I was able to be immersed in the different cultures of my students. One student, David, spoke little to no English, and it was his first year in an American school. With confidence, I was able to use the little amount of Spanish I knew to work with him one on one in Math. Because of this, I was able to provide assistance, and one on one interaction with the student, which, I believe, boosted his confidence in Math. This student went from being on e Class all day, and reading translated version of curriculum, to being able to interact with me, and ask for help. I believe that my enthusiasm and motivation to learn Spanish shows, and allows all students, especially ELL students to feel very open and appreciated around me. I think that it is easy for teachers to just hand an ELL student a tablet, and have them watch videos and read other materials that have been translated for them. What these students lack is actual, personal interaction. All students should feel comfortable, and not sacred or hesitant when they walk into a classroom. Showing students, especially students who are culturally or linguistically different, attention, and engaging in conversation, even if there is a language barrier, automatically makes them feel loved and wanted. This is how I try to make all of my students feel.

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Struggles with Teaching Culturally Diverse Students: Being Culturally Unaware

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Struggles with Teaching Culturally Diverse Students: Being Culturally Unaware

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When teaching in a culturally diverse setting, I have learned that your students are not going to come to school with the same experiences and outlooks on the world as you. For example, you might have a class where students have their own computers, phones, etc., but you might also have students that came to school hungry. Teaching diverse students also involves understanding specific cultural holidays and customs. For example, Jehovah's witnesses do not celebrate birthdays. This is very important to be aware of if you have a birthday calendar displayed in your classroom. There are so many different cultures, religions, and holidays that it might be confusing when learning about them. I fear that I am going to accidentally offend a student by not knowing or remembering their religious and cultural customs. This photo was taken my first semester in field. This student was Muslim, and was extremely quiet. While she hardly spoke any words during school, her mother said that she was quite the opposite at home. I believe that if I knew a little bit more about this student, her culture, religion, and home life, that I could have had more verbal interactions with her, and potentially helped her more academically.

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In 2012, I was able to go on my first mission trip to the Dominican Republic. Two years later, I was able to go for a second time. I had been to Christian retreats in the past where I had felt very moved by listening to speakers read scripture, but something was different about going to the Dominican. Being far away from home without cell service for a week not only made me feel isolated from my "world" back home, but it allowed me to be free from all distractions. Something special happened to me on my second trip to the D.R. in 2014. It is hard to describe the feeling, but I know I had never really felt it before. On that trip, I felt so close to God... Like, He was speaking directly to me. When describing the overwhelming feeling to my roommate, Jenna, she flipped to a highlighted section in her Bible, Hosea chapter 2, verse 14. "Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her", which is exactly what God did to me. When I got back to the states, I told everyone about my awesome experience. My boss at Starbucks, felt so inspired by my story, that she painted a replica of a picture I took on the beach in the D.R., with the verse at the bottom.

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Favorite Literacy Experience: Movies, Music, Photography, and Stories

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Favorite Literacy Experience: Movies, Music, Photography, and Stories

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My favorite literacy practices that I partake in daily are watching films and TV shows like La La Land, Mad Men, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Gone with the Wind to name a few. I love watching films or shows that are based in the 50's-60's, and deal with any type of art, like musicals. I also love taking photos. Last Christmas, my Dad gave me a nice Canon camera, and I love doing photo shoots with family and friends. Music is also another great literacy practice that I use for a creative outlet. I love to sing and play the guitar. I also love listening to all kinds of music, but especially old music from the 1950's and 60's. I also enjoy going to concerts and music festivals. Stories are another literacy practice I use all the time. Not only do I love telling stories that make people laugh, but I love listening to other people's stories... especially older people. For instance, my grandparents have so many great stories about growing up in the 40's and 50's in the South. I could listen to their stories all day about how they lived back then, and all the hardships they faced.

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Literacy Practices in Everyday Life: Instagram, Facebook & Pinterest

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Literacy Practices in Everyday Life: Instagram, Facebook & Pinterest

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While being a full time student requires me to do a lot of reading for my courses, and email colleagues back and forth, I chose to talk about creative ways that I use literacy. For example, I love taking pictures, especially with my Canon. One of the main ways I display my art is on Instagram. Here, I can post and share my photos in an artistic way. I also use Facebook, in which I communicate with friends and family by posting pictures, videos, memes, funny GIFs, and composing status updates. Along with photography, I also play the guitar, in which I have to read music. I like to perform a lot of covers to old songs, so I get a lot of my inspiration from Pinterest. Pinterest is a place where I find all kinds of inspirational, creative, "do it yourself" ideas for things that interest me. For example, on Pinterest, I can find anything from easy sheet music for different songs, inspirational Bible verses, ideas for lesson planning, fashion trends, ideas for photo shoot locations, recipes, and much more. Due to its versatile use, I look at Pinterest every night for different ideas.

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What are the cultural values that you inherited from your family and community: I have inherited many values and beliefs from my Dad, such as working hard to get where I want to be, determination, great work ethic, kindness, and generosity. I have also inherited many values and beliefs from my Mom like, standing up for yourself, integrity, being well-prepared, being a problem-solver, sticking to your word, not spreading gossip, and many more. My mother and father are both from strong Christian backgrounds, and church has always been a big part of my life and upbringing. I wanted to share a picture of my family, because they are the reason why I  am the person I am today.

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Being a woman in today's society, I sometimes feel disgusted and appalled at how women are treated and viewed. I'm not saying that I'm a complete feminist; I do have many traditional views on things. However, it is shocking to hear some of the comments that men make about women today. Some things have not changed much since the 1950's. For instance, on Instagram, there is a page called "Old Row". It is dedicated to posting videos and pictures of college fraternity guys doing stupid stuff when they are drunk, and being worshiped for it. However, the same page posts photos and videos of girls called "shackers", whom are slut-shamed for spending the night with a guy. Not only that, but the same page also posts videos and photos of girls half naked, and worship them for their "sexy" physiques. To make matters worse, this page has millions of followers, and is targeted for a college-aged audience. The way women are viewed as sex objects, the disrespect they get from men and other women, and the double standards make me extremely uncomfortable, and also make me think that our society is still stuck in the 1950's. This is why I posted a picture of the famous show, Mad Men. This show is based in the 1950's, in which America and the rest of the world viewed women as merely nannies, secretaries, mothers, or tramps, no in between. While the stereotypes are not as drastic today, double-standards, biases, and sexism still exist today.

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Growing up, I never went without. I always had a home, clothes on my back, and food. Along with having everything I need to survive, I am also very fortunate to be able to travel to different places and attend different events. For example, ever since I was a baby, my grandparents have always taken my family and I to Alabama football games. Because my grandparents always had tickets to Alabama games, we were also able to go to away games and championship games in places like Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and all over the South. We have also always gone to places like Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Disney World, Chicago, and many other places around the U.S. My family also goes to Panama City, Florida for vacation every year during the week of the fourth of July. These are some of the photos from football games and vacations that I have enjoyed with my family.

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An Important Object: Photograph of My Papa

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An Important Object: Photograph of My Papa

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My Papa was someone very important to me. We had a very deep connection and close relationship from when I was born to when he passed away 4 years ago. He was a strong Christian, whom I looked up to. He loved everyone he met, and always lived a selfless life. While he lived a healthy lifestyle, at the young age of 62, my Papa passed away from heart complications. This sweet photo of me and my Papa reminds me of our relationship, and how much he loved me. He, like me, loved taking photos, but because he was always the person behind the camera, I don't have many pictures with him. This rare, precious photo stays next to my beside, and reminds me that I have a guardian angel always watching over me.

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Cultural Biases: Black People Hate White People

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Cultural Biases: Black People Hate White People

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Now, obviously this statement is not true in most instances. However, based on where and how I grew up, I understand that racism and stereotyping is still prevalent in today's society. When I was in the third grade, I remember thinking that I wanted to be black. I was one of the only white girls out of all my friends in the class. My black friends had Reebocks, so of course, I bought some Reebocks. They also had Bratz dolls, so I bought Bratz dolls, and we would bring them to school to trade their outfits. I watched shows that starred mainly African American females like That's So Raven, and Sister, Sister. One day I was watching a music video, and there was a black hip-hop dancer. She could dance so well, and I remember thinking, "wow, I wish I was black so I could be that cool."
Once I got into middle school, things became a little different. I remember being bullied by both black boys and girls. I remember being called ugly, and being told I was "too skinny" by a lot of black girls and guys. I remembered thinking, "the only reason they must hate me is because I'm white." Once I got into high school, the bullying seized, until one day on the bus.
A black girl, three years older than me, wanted to start drama. Being a new freshmen on the bus, I assured her that I wanted no part of it, and that I didn't even know her. As I was walking off the bus that day, the senior girl attacked me from behind, throwing punches at the back of my head, and pulling my hair. The bus driver tried to pull her off, but was unsuccessful for about a minute and a half. With no one else trying to help, and the rest of kids with their phones out laughing, I finally got away. The AP who came to the bus, was also black. He took the girl off the bus, and reassured my mom and I that she would have Out-Of-School suspension. However,  no less than 2 days later, I saw that same girl in the hallway.  Now, as an adult, I still fear the same things I suffered from in middle and high school. Sometimes I feel very hesitant to be myself around
African American males and females I don't know because, I think they won't like me. While I do have black friends at work, and school, I fear that I will run into a situation later on with a parent of a student who does not like me. However, I have learned that I can not worry about things that I have no control over. Having Ms. Burgess as my MT, and Dr. Robinson (pictured below) as my MT last semester, has taught me that the few bad experiences I had with black girls and boys growing up should not follow me to my career. While the experiences were harmful, I know that many people do not hate me, and I need to have confidence, love myself, and not worry what others think of me

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I would consider myself to be a pretty bright, creative, enthusiastic, adventurous, and caring person. However, I think out of all my characteristics, my sense of humor is my favorite one. I have always loved to laugh. When I was younger, I thought my uncle and grandfather were the funniest people in the world because, they could do great impersonations. When i got older, I impersonated Dolly Parton, Jim Carrey, and other famous actors in order to make people laugh. I loved making people laugh. In high school, I starred in funny videos on Falcon Live wire, the morning news show. I also won best sense of humor for my senior class. Being able to laugh, and making others laugh is a great quality to have because, it makes life less serious, and more enjoyable. My mentor teacher said, "school is supposed to be fun" on the first day of field, and I agree, especially when you're a kid.