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Rebecca Andreea Nicoara. This is my birth name, yet I am called  by many. Born and raised in California, I grew there with my immigrant family around me. As soon as I moved to Georgia, I noticed that people love nick names. At first I did not know why, but then I realized it was not a bad thing. I did not just go by my given name, but by many. To my family, I am Becky, to my friends I am Rebecca. To my coworkers, I am Becca, yet to my grandfather, I am Andreea. My grandfather is a man of much wisdom, patience, and love. He gave my middle name, one he cherished and longed to give since he grew up in a family of boys. My mother gave each of her children Biblical names. My Older sister was given Esther, I was given Rebecca, and my younger sister Ruth. In our family, religion is important, and given that we were three sisters, we each got a Biblical name. Nicoara comes from my married name, given to me by Nathan, my husband.

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One characteristic which I have always liked about myself, is the ability to push myself to be the best I can be. I am a hardworking individual which must perform to the best of my abilities. Below this, I am organized, allowing me to be successful and hard working. My items are color coded and labeled. My school supplies are boxed and taped, ready for my classroom that awaits me. I start my assignments the moment they are assigned, and I am tedious with my work and its details. This connection represents much more to me than I originally thought. Upon reflection, I realized that my hard work and organizational ethics tie into my drive to be successful, which relays back to my culture. I can say for certain that indirectly, my mother taught me to be organized and a hard worker. My father never went to college, because he had to drop out of high school to help support his family in Romania during tough times. My mother went to college in Romania, yet lost her degree upon escaping communism. After immigrating to the United States, my father had to find a steady job. Until then, she stayed with her children to ensure their care and safety. After we became older, my mother was made the decision of to go back to college. Her perseverance motivated me to never give up. Throughout out time in Georgia, she went through Endometrial Cancer, and now Breast Cancer. Her toughness and positivity throughout the sick and healing process motivates me to do the same. Throughout her entire life, she has battled difficulties, yet time and time again her hard work and positivity shined through. My mother is a huge role model for me, making me into the person I am today through her constant demonstration. This is a picture of my Presidents Award 4.0 GPA. I picked this picture, because for me this is assurance and validation of my hard work. Although I have been through many difficult circumstances and still am with my family, it is through assurances like this certificate and the others I have that my hard work is paying off.

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One important object to me is my wedding ring. While many married people value their wedding rings for a physical symbolic reason, I value this ring for several reasons. The first reason, is its physical significance. My husband and I married three years ago, however we had different rings. At the time we got engaged, I was 19 and my husband was 22. We both worked, went to school, and had little money. We were not able to afford fancy rings, so we got plain rings, because that was more than enough. However, after a year of marriage, my husband saved up enough money to purchase a ring he felt “I deserved.” His words and actions brought me to tears, and I loved him even more for his thoughtfulness. The second reason I value my wedding ring, is because of the upgrade. It also meant more than just a symbolic reason.  My husband and I went through several hardships before we were married. Twice, we had setbacks in our relationship: once before our engagement, and once during. This ring also meant a lot to my husband, because he made a promise to me with it. He promised to be a better man for me, and a better person for our marriage. This ring signifies his promise to me. So, whenever I feel sad, upset, or any form of emotion which brings me down, I look at my ring, and twirl it around my finger. When I do this, I calm down, and am reminded to look at a brighter future that I can positively change, like the promise my husband made to me.

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At first, I had to truly sit and think about this. I came to the conclusion that my privilege is my skin color. In a world where people of color were treated unfairly, I can see why the color of my skin is a privilege. To others, they might see a Caucasian woman. From there, some may make assumptions that I am “well off”, or have had things “handed to me,” or simply that things are easier to me. However, I would love to tell them the story of my family escaping communism, growing up in a land where food was rationed, families packed in homes, and persecution against our faith was normal. I would love to tell them about the fear of being taken away at night was constant, where one day your family member might not come home because they were taken by a government who simply could. Although I know this was a history and not a current issue, I was first generation born in a country where the color of my skin is my privilege. This image represents my privilege: my skin. By taking a picture of myself, I am openly stating that this is my privilege.

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Growing up in a Christian Baptist culture, I learned the Scripture and verses of the Bible. I learned many things, including the rights and wrongs in the Bible. One topic against my beliefs, is sexuality. In the Bible, it says that only a man and woman may marry, not a man and man, or woman and woman. However, that is not like our society today. Today, we have many forms of sexuality. Growing up with these strict beliefs, I saw people who expressed their sexuality in many different forms. My beliefs are very important to me, however I discovered something very important during my educational foundations courses at GGC. I discovered, that no matter my beliefs, no matter my culture, and no matter my sexuality, I should always treat people with kindness and respect. Everyone has their own beliefs about many different things. However, even if my opinions clash against theirs, I have learned to respect the differences and be kind regardless.  I once found myself stereotyping others based on my beliefs, but then I realized they might have been doing the same. If we all just came to the realization that treating others with kindness and respect could change the way we treat others, I believe that it could have a huge different on our environment and communities. Kindness and respectfulness will be a constant reminder and foundation in my classroom. I chose this picture because I felt it appropriately expresses my sexuality. It represents my marriage and the day of our unity into one, as husband and wife.

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My cultural discomfort is that I was an ELL student. The fact that I was an ELL student alone is not my discomfort, but the attitude of those who do not understand ELL students is my discomfort. For example, last semester I had an ELL student in my classroom. It just so happens that Romanian and Spanish are related languages, based on the love languages. I took 7 years of Spanish, therefore I am able to understand and speak a good amount of Spanish. Language has always been a part of my life. My first language was Romanian, then English, then Spanish. I am very proud and take pride in my cultures and languages that I speak. Growing up, I was an English Language Learner. This was a big deal for me, as I had to take separate classes away from my homeroom, with students making it seem like I was an outcast at times. I was treated differently, and the topics in school were difficult for me since I was learning the very words on the page. I can assure anyone who reads this that growing up as an ELL student was very difficult at times. It was overwhelming, and I did not want the pity of teachers who only had that much to offer me. When working on assignments, I appreciated teachers who helped me, but sometimes they helped me too much and the assignments seemed much easier than they were. Sometimes, I was not helped enough, leaving me to struggle. However, I pushed through, and became successful in learning, and exited the program quicker than anticipated. With last semester’s ELL student, I saw teachers belittle him behind his back, and shove him aside at times simply because he either took up too much of the teacher’s time, or because his constant need for assistance aggravated the teacher. I have seen many cases where ELL students are not given the care they need, and it breaks my heart. As someone who was an ELL student, I can understand and sympathize with ELL students today. Sometimes, their questions are an attempt to understand topics, and sometimes, their silence is a cry for help. Seeing these teachers who mistreat these students is my cultural discomfort. This picture of my class during the Science lab is the picture I chose. I chose this picture because it is a picture of my entire class engaging in a Water Cycle Lab. In this picture is one of my ELL students, whom I work with very closely. I love this picture for many reasons, and one of them is that my ELL students this semester are being treated not only fairly, but are getting the help they need from amazing teachers who truly care about them. This photograph captures their learning environment as a whole classroom including the teachers, rather than individualized groups, excluding my ELL student.

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One of the cultural values I inherited from my family is the value of hard work.  Reflecting upon my mother’s work ethics previously discussed, I realized that my grandmother, grandfather, and their family was the exact same. Through stories of their hardships in Romania, I understood that their hard work came from their learnings of how to survive. In communist Romania, my family had to grow their own garden, make their own clothes, sew holes, cook, and so on. Their hard work made them into the people they are today, making me into the person I am today through their constant demonstration.The picture I chose is a picture of my mother’s family: My grandfather, grandmother, mother, Aunt Liliana, and Aunt Gabriella. This picture was taken inside of their small home, where they worked very hard throughout their lives. It is a reminder for me that I am both lucky and blessed to have inherited my cultural values.

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In my everyday life, I am in constant use of literacy practices. As someone who has several communicative leadership positions, I have to constantly use Facebook, texting, group chats, and so on in orde to communicate with other people. Additionally, I love reading books about history, and educational articles. Among my course readings are an amazing amount of very useful educational articles assigned, as well as plenty of sticky notes on my laptop and notes I take during my classes. On Fridays, I teach two classes. For one class, I am the director of the middle school program. I teach and oversee all students during this program from 6:00 pm -8:00 pm, and a music class from 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm. With all of the materials combined from both, such as our singing scales, staff paper with singing exercises, sheet music, middle school workbooks and the Bible, these are our weekly Friday Literacies.  All of these listed are some the weekly literacies in my life. The picture I choose is several of my literacies described through the lens of my laptop. I do almost all of my work on my laptop, allowing me to express myself and stay organized when using literacy practices daily. This picture represents a small amount of the visual literacies of my daily life.

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My favorite literacy experience is when I work throughout the year with my Church Kid’s Choir. I am the Co-director for this choir, as well as our youth choir, however I am fascinated over and over again when I get to engage through singing and music reading with my younger kids in the choir. They are in such a state of awe over how different the music is, compared to what they would normally read; a music staff is different compared to a line in a book they would read. Additionally, when I sing phrases for them and show them how to approach reading the words, notes, and phrasings, they are eager and amused. To this day, this is my favorite literacy. I chose this picture because it best captures my students when we perform and show their parents their hard work. By practicing their music, or their literacies, they are able to perfect it to the best of their abilities.

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The most important book for me is the Bible. In this book, are 66 books within. Within each one of these books, are pieces of history and stories that I can read. Each story is very unique, with many lessons to teach. As a reader, I can connect with some of these stories, making me feel an emotional connection. This experiences that I have when reading the Bible are authentic and true to me, as well as personal and emotional. I chose this image because it is an image of my favorite book, the Bible. This Book has significant importance to me, and is crucial to my faith.

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When teaching culturally diverse students, I feel that I am able to personally connect with my students. As someone who is culturally diverse, I can understand where they are coming from. However, questions  I have to ask myself is: “Where are they coming from? Is it the same path as mine? Do they have a different story than I do?” In fact, although I am equipped in being culturally versed, I have a fear that I might be overconfident in being able to relate to culturally diverse students. One thing that I have to absolutely remember, is that no two people have traveled the same exact path. Just because I have a history and culture does not mean I can relate to another culturally diverse student. I need to understand that each student has a story and history to offer, and I should not be so quick to jump at the conclusion that I can easily relate to them. I must be patient, and seek to find out these differences, similarities, and appreciate them for who they are as individuals. I chose this struggle because it has been something I was thinking about when I was working with my ELL students for my Case Study project. I immediately assumed that we would easily connect, but it took several tries to talk to him before he was able to open up to me. Additionally, we had several differences!  I chose this picture, because it is one of the ELL Students in my classroom, who proves to me that he can succeed in any task before him, because he works very hard, and shows me he needs guidance, but not too much!

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Being a Culturally Diverse Person Myself 

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Being a Culturally Diverse Person Myself 

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My strength on teaching culturally diverse students is that I am a culturally diverse person. I want to teach my students that being different might be one of the best things about you. Being culturally diverse is a characteristic which should be celebrated, and shared. I would love to share my story and culture with my students, advocating for my students who are also culturally diverse. I can teach them many lessons that I learned from my family, and they can share lessons or experiences that they learned as well. I want to teach my students that we are constantly learning, not just academically, but personally as well. I chose this strength because this project has made me think a lot about myself as an individual and how my culture impacts me. After reflecting on my culture, I realized how strong my culture has made me, and how much I appreciate being a part of it. The photos below are huge in my culture, representing who I am. The pictures below are pictures taken in Romania, showing empty grocery stores, and many kinds of lines my parents had to wait in, in order to get small rations of milk, bread, meats, or whatever remaining items from the grocery store. These hardships are a part of my culture, and I know that each student has their own story, culture, and values.

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I chose this picture because it reminds me of who I am. In this picture, I am happy because I am on a trip with my family, who are a very important part of my life. This was the best trip I went on with them to the coast, and I can’t remember a time when I was happier. My family has taught me many things: respect, love, hard work, and so much more that I cannot be grateful for enough. This trip encompasses all that, which I will forever cherish.

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Rebecca.

A name given from my grandfather with love.

My grandmother watching with care from above

The values, beliefs passed down in generations

The love and the laughter, the best on vacations

The hard-working people from my family

Passed down the ethics into eternity

The languages I speak, I love and adore

My Culture and ethics I simply adore

My husband and I, what a pair we do make

To have and to hold, forever I’ll take

Regardless of my love, others still love too

Respect and Kindness to them, yes, I will do

Although I’ve had my shares of rough school and learning

These kids in my class, not the same but they’re yearning

For success, for attention, for love and for care

I will help each student, to my best it’s just fair

For these are the things that I am still learning

My thoughts and my prayers go out like they’re churning

My best I will be, ‘cause to me it’s no game

It all comes back down just to one simple name:

Rebecca

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I am hard-working and caring
I wonder if people can notice
I hear my clicks from my keyboard
I see the result of my work
I want to be the best that I can be
I am hard-working and caring

I pretend to be on vacation when the workload is too much
I feel the warmth of the sun on my face
I touch the warm sand with my toes
I worry when I am brought back to reality
I cry when my loved ones are sick in the hospital
I am hard-working and caring

I understand this is life
I say "I love you, don't give up", I believe in our Faith
I dream about a time with no pain
I try to hold strength for my family
I hope for a tomorrow with no pain
I am hard-working and caring.