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My name is Macy, M-A-C-Y. The same letters that are in the Y.M.C.A. song which I still to this day sing spelling my name. I was named after a television show called "The Bold and the Beautiful" that my mom watched before I was born. There is not an exciting story to my name. The character on the soap-opera was named Macy and my mom loved the character and the name. The name 'Macy', when looked up on those baby-name websites, means God's Gift. However, I was not named because of the meaning. I was made fun of for my name when I was little. Children can be so mean... calling me 'the clothes and shoe store' and singing the "Stacy's mom, has got it goin' on..." song and using my name. I personally love my name. I believe that it fits my personality; it is different!

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My favorite place in my home is probably on our huge leather couch in front of the big screen t.v. The corner spot (the best spot) is my favorite. After hours of working and doing homework, I like to hop on the couch and catch up on shows that I TIVO-d. I also have shows (The Walking Dead, Hell's Kitchen, American Horror Story) that I watch every week with my parents; it's family bonding hour. The couch is the perfect place to snuggle with my pups and relax after a long day.

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My crazy goofy curly hair would have to be my favorite body part. My hair has always been what has made me different from my peers. I used to straighten my hair so that I could fit in more but I have learned to love it! It gets me compliments too, which are always nice.

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I have one crazy busy life and it's only possible because of how organized I am. I am addicted to planning and writing in my agenda book. I can not get by without my agenda calendar. I live day-to-day knowing what I have to do. School, family, photo shoots... my agenda is scribbled all over every day. I felt that this photo represented my favorite characteristic the best. I did not have my agenda for two weeks so I printed out photos of an agenda just so I had something to write on. Without my organized messy to-do lists, I would be completely lost.

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My inspiration to always to my best comes from my boyfriend and my parents. I have always been a hard worker but without them I would not have the constant push to be my best. My boyfriend is my #1 fan. He is constantly reminding me of how proud he is and complimenting my accomplishments. He lifts me up when I am low and reminds me of everything that I have done so far to get where I am. My parents have pushed me my entire life to try my best, get straight A's and follow my dreams. Without them, I don't know where I would be. Their constant encouragement has allowed me to do what I love. If it wasn't for my boyfriend and my family, I would be a completely different person. I would not be challenged to always do my best and inspired.

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My camera is probably one of the most important objects in my life. My passion for photography has always been my number one love. My camera helps me be creative, make money and keeps me sane. I am able to work and do what I love (on the weekends when I'm not teaching, of course)! I worked a lot of hours making little money to be able to afford nice equipment so that I could expand my learning of photography. It was a huge personal accomplishment to be able to buy my own equipment in cash. I have always been an independent person so it is really important to me knowing that all my hard work has paid off. I have booked more weddings this year that previous years and I am ecstatic to see my business growing. This is more than a hobby for me. Photography is a way to express myself through creative photo shoots. It allows me to relax, meet new people, and capture special moments for people. The reactions from my clients and sweet messages that I receive once they have seen their photos are the reasons that I keep doing what I love.

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I believe that my biggest privilege would be the family that I grew up in. My family consists of hard-workers so I have been able to experience things that other people haven't. I don't have the nicest car or the most expensive clothes, but I have always received presents on all the holidays, got back to school shopping, and had great toys. I have been able to travel to different states and different countries. I have grown up with parents who were able to buy me anything that I needed. I have lived in a nice neighborhood in one of the best counties in Georgia. This has allowed me to receive a great education. I believe that growing up in a family with a good amount of money has been my biggest privilege which is my I used this photo.

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I personally try not to have too many biases towards other people but it is inevitable. I recognize when I think of things a certain way that create a bias. I would have to say that my biggest bias would be that failing students' parents just do not care enough. I grew up in a "YOU BETTER GET ALL A'S!" family so it amazes me when students refuse to study test after test. When students repeatedly get 10% and 15% on big tests and projects, my first result is to blame the parents. I do understand that these children have parents working three or four jobs, but I automatically blame the parents for their children's struggles. Growing up in the household that I grew up in, education was an extremely important part of my life and it still is. To see students continuing to fail and struggling really bothers me because I automatically go back to my parents always pushing me to be my best. Why don't these parents care about their child's education?

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My cultural discomfort would have to be the way men act towards women. The cat-calling and whistling makes me extremely uncomfortable. My siblings and best friend are all super attractive so hanging out with them in public area can be really uncomfortable at times. The constant attention from men towards them does make me feel awkward and makes me unsure of the situation. I do believe that men acting like 'dogs' has become a part of our culture. Movies and music videos do portray men and women is certain ways and that has become a big part of our culture. I chose to use this photo to portray my cultural discomfort as a way of showing the only thing men think/see when they look at women. They see lust and love which I portrayed using heart eyes.

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My family is not religious and I was never brought up to be religious. My parents always had the attitude of letting us believe in whatever we wanted to believe in. My sisters attended church in middle school and I chose not to. However, I did have values that came from how I was raised. Family has always been a strong part in my life. I have seven siblings total and four loving parents. The rules growing up were to always be honest, love one another, and do your best. These are the values that I have always followed and follow to this day. When I asked my mother what she thought some cultural values would be in our home, the first thing she said was DREAM BIG. My mom and step dad have always been big believers of working hard and following your heart. They have been accepting of every great and horrible idea that I discussed with them which has allowed me to dream big and follow those dreams.

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I engage in many literacy projects in my everyday life. I am always on social media, Facebook and Tumblr, reading posts from people and blogs. At my house, the subtitles are always on the TV and my eyes automatically read them when they are on. I drive around looking at roadsigns and reading maps, always singing and listening to music in the car. I included reading recipes and decorating my house (writing on our chalkboard) as well. Text messaging throughout the day is probably the literacy practice I use the most.

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My favorite literacy experiences that I engage in the most would have to be my social media use. I am an avid Facebook and Instagram user. I use them mostly for business purposes but for personal reasons as well. I follow many blogs that I will check in and read every other week. I usually sit in this one spot for hours on the computer. In-between doing homework and projects, I am checking Facebook and scrolling through Instagram online.

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I always find myself getting most of my work done when I am not at home. I like to sit at starbucks and do work and read. Not only is it almost always cold inside, they have good music and are fairly quiet. Plus, if you do not leave, you get refills!

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I find myself being way too busy to read books for fun in college and was never really a fan of reading in high school. I was really into my family, school and after school activities which left really little time to read. My best memories are of reading these children books when I was little. I used to stay up late with my little sisters and read/act out books to them. I remember my mom singing "Rumble in the Jungle" to us and us laughing to entire time. Reading was an important part of my day when I was little. My mom has a collection of all of our favorite children' stories. We used to read almost every night when we were little.

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Throughout this program, I have realized how important literacy really is. I never realized all of the different steps that went into teaching students how to read and write. Sitting in a kindergarten class for only three days makes me see how much students have to learn about literacy each year. The students in the class are learning the sounds the letters make which is really eye opening in showing how much of an impact a teacher can have on a child's reading and writing. I have learned in this class that good literacy incorporates all types of children, cultures, languages, and learners. It will take time and practice to become that GREAT literacy teacher that I hope to be one day. It makes me nervous to think about how much of an impact a teacher really has on the literacy skills of his/her students. If a teacher is the one struggling on their literacy teaching, then the students are the ones who suffer and fall behind. I chose this photo because literacy is such an IMPORTANT things for teachers to teach and students to learn.

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Struggles teaching culturally diverse students

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Struggles teaching culturally diverse students

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I feel that my biggest struggle with teaching culturally diverse students is that I will have a hard time really incorporating their culture into the lessons. My hope is that all of my students feel welcome and loved in my classroom. I am hoping that I will be able to integrate culture into as many different lessons as possible. I want my students to feel like we respect them and their cultures. I would never want to be looked at as a poor teacher or make students feel like they are being pointed out, especially my culturally diverse students. Children do not like to be singled out. This makes me worried about all of the different ways to make the classroom culturally diverse without singling them out. My biggest struggle is that my students will dislike me or feel excluded, which is why I photographed the thumbs down. From a child's perspective, a thumbs down is something they may do when they dislike something.

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Strengths teaching culturally diverse students

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Strengths teaching culturally diverse students

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I believe that the classes I have taken throughout college have taught me so many things about culturally diverse classrooms. I believe that I have a good base to creating a culturally responsive classroom for my diverse students. I have learned teaching techniques, literacy lessons and ways in including all cultures into the classroom. Teaching is something that gets better with practice. I believe that with time, my strengths in teaching culturally diverse students will only improve. For my first year teaching, I hope to make all students know that I really do care about them. I want the students to feel like I know about them and that I really do care about them. I want to create connections between myself and the students, as well as the students to other students. Have culturally diverse students means that a strong classroom culture is a very important thing to have. I wrote down the two things, A+ and knowledge, for this photo because my hard work in college, studies, and everything I have learned will end up being what helps me the most my first year as a teacher.

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My hope is that my professional future as an educator is that I can have the classroom that students enjoy being in. As an artsy person, I plan on having an art-integrated classroom. I do not want to be an easy teacher, I believe students should be pushed to do their best and try their hardest but I would like my students to have fun when learning. I hope to be able to incorporate different technology into my lessons. Overall, I hope to grow and learn more and more each year teaching. I want to learn more about teaching diverse classrooms and being culturally responsive. I want to learn how to really push my students and expand their learning. I want to be the best teacher I can be.

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Here is a self portrait of me. This was taken after field one day. I had a substitute in my class and had taught the entire day. I had a killer headache but was feeling pretty great with how the day went with the lessons and my students. My life is pretty crazy but I go through each day with a smile.

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Project created all about my name in poem form.

The name is Macy,

Macy Leigh O’Connell

Or May, MayMay, Mayleigh

And even MacyMoo, too!

My first name means enduring

when you look it up online.

My middle name means meadow

I love the name, it’s mine!

O’Connell means the son of Conall,

which stands for the powerful, not lame.

My family is Italian,

though we have an Irish name.

My mother loved the names

Waverly, Nina and Cricket.

The family had some problems

and would not let her pick it.

Everyone agreed,

on Macy for a girl

which ended up just perfect

for this head of curls.

I got the name of Macy

because of a show.

The show was called

The Bold and Beautiful,

just so you know.

The actress was artsy,

creative and kind. My mother fell in love

and now the name is mine.

Leigh just kind of fit

with the first name, she thought.

It has been hard though,

you can never find Macy Leigh

on ANYTHING that is bought.

So that is the story

of how I got my name.

I’ll probably never have to worry

about someone having the same.

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What are your thoughts on literacy as you are doing this project? My definition for literacy has expanded while doing this project. Before this class, I would have only considered reading and writing as literacy. However, literacy incorporates many different things that are done on a daily basis. Singing to the song lyrics I have memorized is considered a form of literacy. Reading a cake baking recipe is considered literacy. Literacy is used almost all of the time. Anytime I am reading, typing, texing, or writing anything down, I am using literacy skills. I enjoyed how this project used photography and writing together to express our thoughts throughout this project. I liked getting to take pictures to explain each of the prompts. Social media is a form of literacy that is used throughout my day so it was different that I was able to us it for this project.

What are the implications of the knowledge you gained about yourself for your future teaching career? I was able to sit down and think about my future as a teacher as well as my strengths and struggles. This project allowed me to reflect on what I have been taught this semester and previous semesters. It was more difficult than I thought it would have been to use photographs to display what I was thinking. I think the biggest knowledge I gained was sitting down and thinking of ideas of how to incorporate technology into the classroom.

How does the awareness of who you are culturally impact your teaching? Knowing who I am culturally will allow me to find connections and create them with my students. In a culturally diverse classroom, those connections are very important. Students want to feel like they have things in common with their teacher and that they can talk to them about different things. The only way that is possible is if they feel that they have that connection. Knowing where I come from and how my family was growing up, I will be able to understand my students’ families and how they are being raised. I can now understand that all families are unique in the ways that they do things just as my family is with the things that they do.

How important is to consider the identity of the teacher and her/his cultural background as part of the teaching process? The identity of the teacher is important to consider when teaching in a culturally diverse classroom. For one, a teacher does not want to say or do anything to hurt the feelings of a student. Religious and culture conversations can be sensitive subjects for certain people. A teacher also wants to be able to relate to his or her students which is a hard thing to do if a teacher’s cultural background isn't taken into consideration.

How important is teacher identity in recognizing that children are NOT illiterate and fail at school due to DEFICITS in their culture and in their cognition?
It is extremely important for a teacher to be aware of all students’ cultural backgrounds and recognize that those backgrounds may not be the reason the students are struggling in school. Students may be struggling in reading and writing but the child’s deficits at home are not always to blame. Children in different homes can spend from all day with their parents to not seeing them at all. Children are spoken to in different ways and treated differently. At home, students may receive four hours of working on schoolwork and studying and some students may receive no help at all. It is important for teachers to be aware of the deficits that students are struggling with but it is equally important for teachers to look past those deficits to see if something is cognitively wrong with the student. The most important thing is to find and fix whatever is keeping the child from learning.

How important is the teacher’s understanding of funds of knowledge to promote a culturally responsive classroom? The funds of knowledge is a concept based on a simple premise: people are competent and have knowledge, and their life experiences have given them that knowledge. It is important for a teacher to really get to know the students in the classroom and know about their lives outside of the classroom. It will be impossible to truly connect to the students and have a classroom culture if the teacher knows nothing about where the students come from. Children have all grown up in different homes and have had different experiences. The only proper way to have a culturally responsive classroom would be to be aware of these.

What are the funds of knowledge that you bring to school with you as a teacher? My funds of knowledge include being hardworking, honest, having respect, being organized, always making time for myself and my family. I have always been extremely independent and a leader. I love to take charge and make sure the job gets done but I am also patient and loving. I have gained these funds of knowledge from the family and home that I was raised in. I have learned that hard work pays off. I plan on learning as much as I can by teaching, observing, and learning from mistakes. My organization will come in handy as a teacher. Teachers must stick to a strict plan to make sure all assessments are given on time and make sure students are learning the information in a timely manner. My hope is that I will be able to reflect my funds of knowledge onto my future students. I want to create a family in my classroom like the classes I had in elementary school.

Children’s cultural experiences and understanding of literacy and education are sometimes a MISMATCH to the school and teacher’s ways and beliefs.  Where are you as a teacher on that continuum?
I did not grow up in a Title I school. I grew up in a very nice neighborhood and knew all of the students in my school. When my family was struggling, the schools went above and beyond to make sure my family could have a perfect Christmas. The schools I have been in during this program have been hard. There has been three to four students to in my classes with extremely disruptive behaviors. These students come to school in the same clothes weekly. 100% of my class this semester is on free or reduced lunch. I am aware of my differences with my students but because I am aware, I can make sure that I am sensitive to their struggles. As a teacher, it is important to be aware of the students’ experiences, even if I personally never dealt with them.

How does what you learned in this class made you more critical of what people, books are saying and showing about “good literacy”?

During this class, we have reviewed and discussed the many different kinds of literacy. I have learned what and what is not described as good literacy. I have learned to be critical of how sex, gender, culture, and ethnicity is portrayed in different forms of literacy. I have learned that it will take time and practice to teach literacy in the perfect way and I have learned the proper ways of implementing culturally responsive teaching ideas. I have learned through reading articles that although a teacher may feel they have these great culturally responsive ideas, they may not be as great as they seem.

What will you do differently in your own classroom to promote equity and better serve your students?
To better serve my students, I plan on spending the first week or so of school getting to know my students, where they come from, their home lives, and even their parents. Building that classroom culture is so important to have as a base for the rest of the year. I would love to have some kind of 'getting to know me' project that all of my students will do. I would probably integrate art into it somehow. It may be as simple as drawing a picture of their family they live with. We learned last semester that a long can be told from a simple family painting. Students can present and discuss with each other their projects. This will help the students meet and get to know each other which is equally as important as me getting to know them.