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I am Zaire

I am humorous yet serious

I am a collector of many things

I am not a minority but a majority

I am not a statistic, but I am artistic

I am comfortable in the skin I am in

My family roots grow from within

I am intelligent beyond measure

Reading has always been a pleasure

I am me and no one could ever be

I am Zaire

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My Weakness For Teaching Culturally Diverse Students

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My Weakness For Teaching Culturally Diverse Students

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In my opinion, my biggest fear with teaching culturally diverse students is students who have given up on teachers and education. Similar to myself, I feel as that one bad teacher experience can put a damp on all teachers. For instance, if a child has a teacher who is not culturally responsive and is negative toward the child’s culture and background, the child would not care for learning in the classroom. After that student has left that classroom, I feel as though the child would have a bias opinion on teachers. My fear is how can I motivate a student that has given up on teachers because of their past experience. I chose the following image because I will be the child’s hope in their education. This picture means a lot to me because my mom stated that the camera person was having a bad day but as soon as I walked in the room, the camera lady said she saw angels around me. I looked so happy and joyful that it reminded her of why she became a photographer. I hope that I can do the same for my future classroom. My positivity should motivate students to be excited for learning.

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My Strength For Teaching Culturally Diverse Students

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My Strength For Teaching Culturally Diverse Students

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My strength in teaching culturally diverse students would have to be my positivity. Walking in the halls of schools, I see many teachers faces and most of them are not so pleasant. I always think about how school is a home away from home. I also think about how I don’t know what’s going on in students’ home life. They could simply be fighting an abuser or maybe facing neglection at home, and we as educators do not know about it. So, instead of making school a boring and ugly place, we should make learning fun and exciting because this could be the only enjoyment students’ get during their adolescent life. The image below is my grandmother’s obituary. I carry it every where I go because she has always been my strength. My grandmother was always there when I needed a shoulder to cry on. She would always see the positive in every situation. I will continue to keep her trait within my teaching and classroom.

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The most important book that I’ve read was The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake. My aunt gave me this book when I was in middle school. When I was a little girl, I use to play with white dolls and secretly wished that I had the dolls hair. In the 90’s, factories would make black dolls hair nappy and unmanageable. Every time that someone would give me a black doll, I would not play with it and ask to take it back to the store and get the white version of the doll. My aunt started to tell me that I should love and appreciate the skin that I was born in. When reading that book, I could relate to the main character. She did not like the fact that her skin was dark nor the fact that her hair was very thick. Throughout the book, the main character speaks about her troubles and what she would do to get through it. Yet, at the end of the book she learns to accept and love the skin that she is in. The image I chose for this section was the cover of the book. This book has changed my life in so many ways. After reading the book, I began to look in the mirror everyday and tell myself that I was beautiful and the skin that I’m in, I should be appreciative.

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My favorite literacy experience was discovering and reading about Martin Luther King Jr. My first experience about hearing Martin Luther King Jr and his attributes was 3rd grade. It was black history month and my teacher was speaking on his contributions to the United States of America. I became really intrigued about the man. Every chance that I could go to library and check out a book on him, I would. Even outside of school, I would go to the public library and check out a book about him. This caused me to read about other inspirational African Americans. I became fascinated with my culture and intrigued about history of African Americans. The image below is Martin Luther King Jr. I used this image because he opened my eyes to my culture and the history of my people.

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My family and I practice various forms of literacy. My family and I look at cookbooks to practice and use on family nights. Often times when we are having family night, we play board games such as scrabble to help us enhance our vocabulary. In the beginning of the education program, I decided to stop engaging in tv and read more books. During this time, I have had more then enough time to gain more vocabulary skills. I have also began picking up new recipes. My mother has had cooking books for years and I have never opened any of them. I always looked on the internet for recipes. One day, I decided to pick up a cooking book from the shelf below to use a recipe. Ever since that day, I have yet to look on the internet for a recipe. The image below displays the bookcase of recipes.

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My cultural value is my family. My family means the world to me. They are my biggest teachers, providers, supporters, etc. Without them, I don’t know where I would be in this world. Everyone in my family is very close. We may have fights, but we never separate and stop talking to each other. I chose this value because as a family, we have went through trials and tribulations and yet we are still strong as a unit. The image above is my uncle, mother and aunt. My uncle and aunt are missing from the picture, but they were in the house when they took the picture. My mother always talks about how close her and her siblings were when they were younger (and now). They used to stick up for each other and defend each other when they got in trouble with my nana, their mother. This shows me that family is the backbone of a person and you need them to survive in the world.

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My cultural discomfort is when people of a different race stare at me and/or ask to touch my hair. I understand that my hair texture is different from others but to touch my hair is another thing. It honestly disturbs me if someone I don't know touch my hair. The past two years have been the hardest because I’ve had to bite my tongue and not say anything. I have dealt with this growing up in a white school district, so this is nothing new. I was one of few black students that attended an elementary school in basically an all-white county. There are not many black teachers in America. I have looked at the statistics. So, I guess when a black teacher comes in a school that is majority white, they need to understand that there will be stares. The looks that I have been getting for the past years are shameful because segregation was over 60 years ago. I did not have a choice in my color and if I did, I would still choose the same skin that I am in. The image above represents what how I feel inside when white people stare at me with disgust, disappointment. I continue to smile and push through, even though, I cannot make this face.

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My cultural bias is that some black children do not have fathers, meaning they did not grow up with a family in their household and/or their father is absent in their life. Growing up, my mother and father did not have their fathers in their life and neither did their mothers. I saw how it affected my mother and father, even when they said it didn’t take a toll on their lives. I was lucky enough to have father majority of my life, but he was absent in my home. So, I often hear black students talk about their mothers and I automatically assume that their father is either absent in the household or in their lives. The picture displayed is a picture of my father and me. He was somewhat around when I was born but when I moved to a different state, he wasn’t.

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At first, I didn’t think I had a privilege. I didn’t think being black in America was necessarily a privilege. Yet, I had to think deeper about what privilege really means. It doesn’t necessarily mean that my status is higher, nor I have more money than the next person, but I have an advantage over a particular person or group. In my opinion, my privilege is that I have a supportive maternal family. I never thought of this as a privilege until I got older. As I grew up, I have heard stories about how people don’t have a support system or how they feel alone with certain things. The image below is not my family but I found it in my baby book. I would say that my mother feels the same way. Growing up, she didn’t feel like she had a support system either, but her siblings were always there when she really needed them. Similar to how she felt, I feel as if that my family are my biggest supporters.

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The object displayed below means a lot to me. It is an ornament that my mother bought for my granny.  My great grandmother, granny as I would call her, gave it to me before she died. She died when I was 4, and I have kept it for all these years. My family and I don’t have many photos of her nor objects that was hers. Yet, I have managed to keep up with it. My granny meant the world to me, she was my favorite person. I know that she cares for me deeply and she is always with me, protecting me. My family talks about her every time we have a family event and asks to see the object at least once during the event. My grandma had a collection of ornaments. She loved collecting them, it was a hobby for her. I would always play with it and she would tell me to leave it alone. Days before she died, she gave it to me. I guess she could since that this was my favorite object in her room. This object could tell you that my family values are essential to my life.

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My favorite characteristic trait of myself is my humor. Many people have told me that I have a great sense of humor. In my opinion, I have made some people’s day with my sense of humor, including my students. I have students from the past and present come up to me and actually showed gratitude for making their day better than what it was. I chose the image above because most of my sense of humor comes from my facial expressions. I make funny faces to make people smile. I always tell my students and people that I interact with, that someone has it worse than them and to always be thankful for the life that they have. I implement positivity around me and the people that I am around.