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Strength with Cultural Diverse Students.... 

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Strength with Cultural Diverse Students.... 

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One of my strengths in relation to working with culturally diverse and limited language proficiency students is my patience. This picture was taken on a hike I took earlier this year. Hiking always clears my mind, and is one of the things I do that I believe contributes to my patience
Over my experiences throughout this semester working my limited English proficiency student I found that through various alternative forms of communication and a little patience we could actually communicate what’s needed ninety percent or more of the time.

In addition, I find it pretty easy to embrace other cultures and personally appreciate customs, values and art from cultures all around the world.

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I am caring and strong.

I wonder why life isn't fair.

I hear the voices of my lost friends.

And

I see hope in the future.

I want to contribute.

I am grieving, and growing.

I pretend that the events played out different.

I feel love for those who need it.

I touch everything.

I worry that history repeats itself.

And

I cry when I remember.

I am healing, and building.

I understand that not everything happens for a reason.

I say, "To each their own."

I dream of helping my father retire one day.

I try to be the best spouse, son, and educator I can.

I hope that one day I can repay all those who have held me up.

I am caring, and strong.

I am Kenneth Meyer

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This past semester was my first chance to work with a non-English speaking student. I have had the opportunity to work with many English as a second language students, but this was the first time that I have been able to work with a student that speaks little to no English. Although I thought that communication of the content and material would be the hardest barrier, it turns out that communicating with his home life and parents was. As a future educator myself I am fearful that given the fact that the fasting growing population in our public schools today is English Language Learners that this communication barrier discussed above will become an increasingly large issue. I hope that given the growth rate of this population of students’ schools systems prioritize for more Esol, and bilingual teachers. I even plan to continue my language education and strive to become bilingual myself.

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I believe that this picture encompasses my privilege by breaking it down into two sides. I believe everyone has a unique and individual experience in regard to privilege, and that my experience cannot simply be summed up with “straight white male”. I have had the experience of living and growing up for most of my childhood in a middle-class family, that had a mortgage and two working and loving parents, however later in childhood my father would lose his job, and our house. I was the age to begin working around this time and started my first job at 16 years old. I began to work as the bank foreclosed on our house and drove my father’s truck while he was unemployed, to save up for my first car. I bought my first car all by myself, a 1993 Oldsmobile Aurora, for 1300 dollars. She had almost 200,000 miles on her. Once the bank foreclosed on the house my parent’s relationship was getting rougher every day, and I had just decided that I would get my own apartment rather than moving into a rental house with my parents. I just couldn’t take all the fighting all the time. My first apartment is what I would call the equivalent to a roach motel. It wasn’t but five hundred dollars a month for a two bedroom that I split with my friend Nick. Every time you would turn on the lights bugs would scatter and it didn’t matter how much you cleaned it was just the building. However, over the next few years I would keep working hard at building my own life, I even figured out college. However, I am grateful that not only was I able to benefit from having a well off younger childhood, but I was able to experience minimum wage jobs (actually supporting myself), low income housing, minority nehiboorhoods, and living paycheck to paycheck under the poverty line.

I believe that my unique experience not only allows me to understand and see how my straight white maleness supplies me with privilege, but also how even with all that going for you, challenges surface and we need to constantly remember that each personal experience is different, and that we all live life’s as complex as the next. You just cant know by looking at someone what their privilege is or what they are going through.

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La Dispute's Somewhere Under the River Between Alter and Vega.

The lyric and music to this record struck a nerve in me like nothing I’ve ever read before. Clearly heavily inspired by past greats like Edgar Allen Poe.

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/ladispute/thelastlostcontinent.html

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This is a picture of my music room. This is my favorite place on earth to be, and where I participate in my favorite daily literacy experience. One of the reasons that I love collecting vinyl records is because of the physical artwork and completeness of an album when you must think about every piece of art in the physical realm. It really brings albums to their fullest potential.  In addition, as for most people, lyrics are a big part of listening and falling in love with a band, and records often come with printed out lyric sheets. Nothing makes me happier than spinning a record and reading and interpreting the lyrics, and that why this is my favorite literacy experience.

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My father grew up in a Baptist household as an atheist until the age of 18 when he “found God.” Years later after his military service he attended a Christian School in Tennessee titled Tennessee Temple where he was almost able to attain a degree in theology, however finical issues with his parents called him back home to Warner Robbins Georgia where he returned to the workforce to help. Sadly, he never returned to finish college. As he aged religion played a bigger and bigger role in his life, and upon meeting my mother and having me the decided to get me baptized and raise me Baptist. Over my adolesant years however, I stopped taking to the church. Although for one reason or anouther I have decided that church may not be the best suit for me, I strive to live by the principle my mother once told me, “to each their own”. I see this as a reminder that everyone has a different belief system, and spirituality, and that we all must be tolerant of each other’s in order for to co-exist in happiness.

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I see both sides as the same and am happy that it seems that more and more people every year are see it the same as well, because at one point you would believe that the guy on the left was a middle grade special education teacher. Often get lumped into a rocker, or skater group, when at the end of the day even if I am , that’s just one facet to my culturally identity.

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Every week I am encounter and take part in so many literacy practices, from social media to school work. In this image we see my video game controller, the book I am currently reading, one of my favorite albums (lyrically), and a textbook. All thing I read on a weekly base.

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Growing up and being viewed primarily as a skateboarder, or alternative kid my cultural discomfort may be surprising. Growing up, whenever I was put into a situation including a lot of jocks, I would become extremely uncomfortable. I would not have anything to say, and had completely different interest and hobbies, and to add to it I would often get picked on. This is not a problem that I have any more since I’ve grown up a lot and literary doubled in size since my earlier high school days. However, I notice some of these same feelings of discomfort when I am in situations around extremely wealthy people. Now of course over the years I have met new people and made wealthy friends and know and understand that this fear is often unwarranted, or based in false fears, but I can’t help but shake the fear of feeling judged, or written off before given the chance to prove myself.

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At first it was difficult to answer this question, but after some reflection on my thoughts throughout our field experience and I uncovered that I unwittingly formed, often false opinions about international school systems. My first experience where this ideal was challenged was in this year’s field placement where I was given the opportunity to work with a Spanish speaking, ESOL student.  I was challenged because I intently (and for no reason) believed that he would struggle much more than he did, due to not only his English language profiencey, but his prior schooling. It took me by surprise to see just how on grade level the student was from coming from a public school in Mexico.  Surly, this experience made me take a step back and reevaluate my perceptive on the situation.

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You see as a teenager I developed my love for Skateboarding. I don't believe I've ever put in as many hours into anything as I did skateboarding. I dove head first into the culture, music, art, and even language. Of course, at the time I was unaware that it was not just a new hobby, but an entirely new culture that would change the way I see myself and others. Skateboarding culture remains a large part of my life even today.

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I think my best quality is also one of my greatest weaknesses. I am not the easiest person to get to know, and am often loud, and suborn, but when I let you in, I love you. I’ve been known to give friends too many chances even if it bites me. I just always want to trust people first. I think overall this can be a good thing, but from time to time it may also contribute to me getting hurt. Anyhow as my girlfriend and best friend alike will tell you when I love I love hard.

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Traditionally the English name Kenneth means "handsome", or "comely", but to me it has always just meant I was named after my father.  Partially due to this fact I have had many nicknames over the years. (Norman)
When I was young I was "Kenny Bob" to my mom's mother, and "Little Kenny" to my dad's, "Belly Boy" to my grandpa, and of course my friends and peers just called me "Kenny".
Over time and with age I began to introduce myself as and answer to the name Kenneth, but many of my friends, including my girlfriend still call me "Kenny". Although one could surly argue that my friends called me "dude" more than anything.