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I could not relate to most of the stories on the video as the school district where I went was mostly white students.  We were never exposed to voices of color or different cultures.  However I do agree with what was said on the video about memorizing information and being asked to spit it back out, that was how school was for me throughout my entire experience.

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I agree with the girl who made the statement along the lines of " we arent allowed to find our own identity, were pushed to do the work but forget were human too" I think alot of the time it is forgotten because there is such a demand for the curriculum to be followed and teachers get stressed and forget to incorporate students and their background/culture into the classroom setting, growing up it was mostly based around curriculum and not much about students and their backgrounds.

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My district for K-12 was and still is predominantly white and consistently excluded non white voices in course material from Kindergarten up until I graduated high school. Across every curriculum except for math & science, the idea of U.S & European hegemony as an inherent good or pillar of global society was pushed through deliberate misrepresentation of historical narratives to fit the broader white supremacist narrative of "American literature and history".

None of the stories directly relate to my own experiences but many of my peers who did not fall into the traditional WASP population of my town often felt actively excluded by material that focused on whiteness.

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I can relate as I was a student who came from a different country and did not speak English right away. This impacted my ability to do well academically. When I moved from Ma. to RI, I had to repeat the grade and did not receive proper ESL/ELL services. In Ma. the school had teachers from my own culture that I could relate to and make progress but when I arrived in RI that was not the case. I remember disliking school and giving my parents a hard time about attending. This stayed that way until late elementary grades.

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I can relate to this because in middle school I told a teacher that this one kid was constantly annoying me and to make him stop.  I don't remember what she said back but all I remember is that the kid did not stop so I felt ignored.

Some stories were similar to my own because I have felt at times that the teachers did not care about me or any other student.

For example,  there were students that I knew would come to school hungry, not showered, same clothes on and this would happen year after year to the same kid but nothing changed.  It was obvious no teacher ever spoke up about this kids situation at home.

My middle school did differ from this video for the fact that it embraced students from all cultures. Every different cultures holiday was celebrated and learned about in class. We learned about MLK Jr. and even took field trips to learn about different cultures. In an afterschool program I helped make a video on Brown Vs. The Board of Education that received national recognition.

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1. Honestly, I found myself pretty disengaged for a lot of my k-12 experience, and was taught in a traditional way, I don't feel like I had much agency or engagement until I got to college.

2. From a cultural perspective, no one could ever pronounce my last name correctly, and a lot of people never even tried. That awkward pause when your name comes up on attendance can always be embarrassing.   So I draw on that experience regularly because I think the simplest way to show respect is to learn someones name and how to pronounce it.

3. When I was listening to these stories I heard my own students voices; and in my classroom I put SEL and relationships as #1 so that I can try to prevent them from feeling that way.

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I can connect to this video based on my friendship with a girl of color, who moved to our district when I was in high school.  She struggled to fit in to our predominately white school.  Back then, no one discussed race or color.  Everyone was just expected to fit in.  It was hard for her, and I didn't know how to help her.

I agree with the student who spoke about reading materials that are not culturally relevant.  Students need to recognize themselves in the materials they read.

I thought it was very sad that the child who was late and struggled to get to school on time was never asked why. How could she be punished for a situation at home that she could not control or change? I felt her emotion as she described her situation. I am committed to never being that uncaring, thoughtless teacher. No one knows the difficulties and struggles that individuals have to deal with. We need to be kind to each other first and foremost.

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The story about "LGBTQ" stood out to me. My twin brother is gay, so I know the importance of ensuring a atmosphere that is inclusive and accepting. I think the part that stood out to me the most was the teachers outright told a student they didn't feel comfortable teaching about LGBTQ history. I think that if teachers are indirectly showing that they are not accepting and inclusive of all, then it could potentially rub off on students.

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The connection that I made to the video was around representation in schools, especially in literature. Often times the stories are of oppression and trauma. However that was not what I saw to be true of my culture and my identity. I also think about access to resources for families to engage and take part in the school community. My immigrant parents and many others were not seen or included in decisions around my education as an EL student.

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I would say that my k-12 experience was the exact opposite. I grew up in a mostly white town in Mass and then went to a Catholic high school with few minorities.
I see stories similar to these at the school I currently work at. There are few minorities and they have voiced feeling left out, not cared for, etc.

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I can relate to the apprehension of sharing your culture or heritage being middle eastern. I am to this day nervous about sharing my countries of origin because I don't know how people will react. I never felt represented in schools because the only time we discussed the middle east was in negative connotations. I felt alienated from my peers and wished that my teacher's cared about my culture

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The story about the "LGBTQ" history resonated with me. Because my Dad taught black studies, he was always asked to come "present" during February. I don't know why it embarressed me so much then. Being black wasn't always cool. I mean it was, but I wasn't confident in my identity yet. I was trying to "fit" in. But really, I appreciate my teaching for trying to find ways to affirm me...and the other little black kid in the class.

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These connect to my k12 journey because I am working in an intentionally diverse school where some or all these different issues have come up and there have been many ways that they have been handled, both good and bad. I think I can connect to when they mentioned people needing to learn more about the communities that they are teaching in, because I have seen so many teachers in my school who are not from the area who have such a hard time either dealing with children and families or just making those connections. They struggle with learning and understanding because they are different or were raised differently and I think that is something that needs to be addressed everywhere. This is across many different levels too whether it is race or sexuality, just simply getting involved and educating yourself more about the area you are in and the students you teach is extremely beneficial to both you and your students.