https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo Please reflect on the questions in this Padlet by Wednesday. Then, respond to at least two others' responses by Friday. en-us 2019-09-10 17:50:16 UTC 2019-10-01 16:15:46 UTC hello@padlet.com jaritc17 https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/388965751        I found it very difficult to complete this activity.  To begin with, it asked me to identify 8 sociopolitical identities that I felt were very important to me.  I was only able to identify 3 that were of some importance.  The first was education.  Growing up, education was an important component of my daily life as both of my parents were  teachers.   As a result of my background and my current career, education still is an important component of my life.  Therefore, I tend to gravitate towards people who also value education.  

The other sociopolitical identities that I selected as somewhat important to me were language and geographical location.  I find that language is important so that I can communicate with those around me.  If there is a language barrier present, miscommunicate is prevalent and can affect the dynamic of the entire relationship.  As for geographical location, I work best when I am able to be with people.  I prefer not to learn/teach/communicate via the computer.  Face to face is much more effective for me.

These results lead me to believe that sociopolitical identities are not very important to me.  I feel that I tend to make judgements about people based on who they are, not where they come from, age, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliations, and/or skin color,etc.
 

]]> 2019-09-24 16:30:12 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/388965751 jaritc17 https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/389114742 I was not surprised by my reflections. I have always felt like I am a very inclusive person who tries not to judge others. I tend to be drawn to people who are beautiful on the inside (caring, considerate, loving, etc.). As someone who is judged because of my weight, I have a hard time doing that to others because I know how it feels. I believe that this happens too much in today's society and God did not put us on the earth to judge others. ]]> 2019-09-24 20:13:21 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/389114742 jaritc17 https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/389725914 I don't believe that my sociopolitical identity plays a very large role in my daily life.  I have always prided myself on the fact that I try to accept all others regardless of what they look like, where they come from, who they pray to, etc.   In fact, when I have previously worked in a private school setting, I became very frustrated when the principal favored those students whose parents contributed a large amount of money to the school and parish. I truly believe that all students should be treated the same regardless of their family's economic status. Since I was not the one in charge, I had to go along with what the principal decided when the student was disciplined. However, I strongly disagreed and made a promise to myself that it would not happen again.  ]]> 2019-09-25 20:10:19 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/389725914 jaritc17 https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390181698 I wish that people would understand how influential  being judged by others because of my appearance is to my sociopolitical identity.  It is extremely difficult to be made fun of, to be excluded, to feel worthless and unworthy, and to work daily toward trying to change how I look on the outside.  My personal experiences in life have made me realize how important and necessary it is to not allow any biases that we may have to spill over into our classrooms.  Our students already have enough to deal with.  It is not fair, nor is it right for us, as teachers (and I believe as people), to treat others differently because they don't look, act, sound, live, etc. like we do.  Instead of making fun of our differences or treating others poorly because of our differences, we should be celebrating what makes us different.  We should be thanking God for what makes us unique.  Afterall, we are all made in his likeness!]]> 2019-09-26 17:11:58 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390181698 bxkrau17 https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390292248 It was hard for me to choose 8 sociopolitical identities that felt important to me.  The first 2 were easy:  Education and religion.  My faith is very important to me.  I love that I get to be in an environment where I can evangelize to others.  Religion is one of my favorite subjects to teach because in a way, it is less scripted than the other subject areas.  For literacy I have a curriculum that I practically have to follow verbatim.  However, with religion, I am able to be more creative.  I am also able to slide tidbits into other subject areas as well!  Just last week we had one of our caterpillars die (we were watching them turn into butterflies).  My class and I were able to have a nice conversation about how God had different plans for that caterpillar.  ]]> 2019-09-26 20:43:50 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390292248 bxkrau17 https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390294205 I was not surprised by my reflections.  Like I mentioned in the previous post, my faith is very important to me.  Therefore, it makes sense that I picked religion right away. Education is very important to me because that is what I do for a living. No one in my family is a teacher, but I always loved playing school when I was younger. Since I was in grade school I knew I wanted to become a teacher one day.]]> 2019-09-26 20:50:07 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390294205 bxkrau17 https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390295493 I think that my sociopolitical identity plays a big role in my daily work life.  Yes, I teach, and I get to teach about my faith, but I am also surrounded by coworkers and students who come from a variety of backgrounds.   I believe it is important to be inclusive of everyone, regardless of their nationality, socioeconomic status, etc. ]]> 2019-09-26 20:54:05 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390295493 bxkrau17 https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390299827 I'm not sure if there is anything that I wish people understood about my sociopolitical identity, but I think it is important for everyone to treat others with kindness and respect, even if they have different viewpoints or backgrounds as them. It is one thing to honor differences, but I do not like it when others are brought down, made fun of, or shamed because of their own sociopolitical identity. ]]> 2019-09-26 21:09:41 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390299827 c_yohnk https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390373067 What I got from this activity is that I am not very passionate about most of the choices on the list.  In the first column,  I maybe could check 3 - age, education, family status.  Definitely age because with many of my friends having already retired or are seriously considering retiring soon (I am the second oldest in my circle of close friends that have all retired), plus the fact that I am not able to get down on the floor with my first grade students like I used to, I am aware of my age every day.  Education would be next.  And then maybe family status.??

]]> 2019-09-27 03:05:52 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390373067 c_yohnk https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390375195 Not really.  As I mentioned,  I think of my age every day.  I am the oldest person in our building, and most all of my closest friends are retired. 
Education.  I am proud of the fact that, for many generations on my side and on my husband's side, I  was the first person to go to college and get a degree.  
Reflecting on family status, when my parents divorced, it was not as common as it is today. ]]> 2019-09-27 03:18:28 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390375195 c_yohnk https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390377365 Even though I don't feel THAT old anymore (50 years old used to be ancient to me, ) I can tell that it does affect how I think and what I do compared to the young teachers and also my young parents.  I am to the point that many of my former students are now having children that are in my classroom or will soon be!
I still love going back to school and learning new things.  In fact I just mentioned that I was "going to school and taking a class" just this week to my students and they were amazed that someone so old still when to school.  (Although I keep falling asleep during the readings.  Must be the age thing.) 
With not having my father (do have a step-father, but we have our differences) in my life, I feel that I am more sensitive to those students who may be in the same situation and can relate. ]]> 2019-09-27 03:33:04 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390377365 c_yohnk https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390378726 I do not believe it is because of my sociopolitical identity, but I have always thought it more important that my students learn to respect each other and to respect all of God's gifts than it is to learn to read or do math. Race, religion, appearance, social status, or any other identities should not influence how to be treated by others -whether good or bad. ]]> 2019-09-27 03:43:53 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390378726 r_beaufeaux https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390783579 I am extremely uncomfortable with this process. I feel like personality is more important than any of these produced markers. I’m frustrated with myself that I can’t get over this hurdle for an assignment, but at the same time see this as a boon for myself- I’m proud that this bothers me. I know myself and I understand that pushing someone away because of any of these markers isn’t true to my core values. ]]> 2019-09-27 22:54:56 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390783579 r_beaufeaux https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390783627 Even after emailing Dr. Williams I was still stuck on this assignment. I kept thinking about it through lessons and teaching my students. I found myself wondering what prejudice they face on a daily basis because of their age, education, or other factors which they have no control over. Then I would look at their work and marvel at their talents. It is in our young people that we hold our future. Look at Greta Thunberg- she was born when I was in middle school-2003, and she’s already made more progress in being passionate about her perseverance in striving to inform and change legislation WORLD WIDE at 16 than I could ever imagine at that age- let alone now. I was surprised by the fact that these insights led me to see that it is OK to have a different feeling, to be curious, to be turned off by something that doesn’t align with our values- just like our book keeps harping on. ]]> 2019-09-27 22:55:26 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390783627 r_beaufeaux https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390783666 I think that my implicit bias is there and rears it’s head when I’m not paying attention. I’ve seen this happen with myself before- only realizing later that my reaction to an action that a rowdy certain boy had sparked a different reaction than that of a girl. I hope to keep these in check, and to really notice when this happens. Then, to act on this- understanding further why I reacted this way instead of that way. I also hope that my communications with parents, other family members, or co-teachers aren’t drastically different because of their sociopolitical identity being different from my own. This all starts with seeing it- and I hope I’ve made that first step.]]> 2019-09-27 22:55:44 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390783666 r_beaufeaux https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390783686 I hope that others see my drive and passion over anything else. My actions are more important than my age, skin tone, financial status, or education level. What am I trying to accomplish and how is this helping myself, my family, my community, and at a larger event- my society? I hope to inspire others to see the whole person over the parts that helped create them. This doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to these factors, no! Not at all! Our histories are important in informing who we are, but they are not the only parts of us that matter. As one of my favorite hymns go “We are many parts, we are all one body.”]]> 2019-09-27 22:56:04 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/390783686 j_rubenzer https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391083343 I found it hard to choose many of the identities.  I don't feel I am aware of any of them in particular.  Then, once I thought about it, I came up with a few.  I am aware of gender and physical appearance.  I don't really think about the others.  As far as gender is concerned, I notice which students are boys and which are girls. I notice that the boys have a more difficult time focusing.  The girls are better able to do this.  I only notice physical appearance when a student is not clean.  Sometimes they have body odor, long fingernails with dirt underneath them or bad breath.  These do not affect how I teach in my classroom.  
When the activity asked which were most important to me, I didn't understand what it was asking. Religion is important to me personally, but I do not judge anyone by their religion.Finally, when it asks which am I most aware of I would have to say ability. As a teacher, I do take into account what standards each student has mastered and which they still need to work on. The whole activity was strange and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do.]]> 2019-09-29 21:19:56 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391083343 j_rubenzer https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391084604 I never really think about many of these identities because they are not present in our middle school. Identities such as language, immigration status, nationality, race, and sexual orientation are not usually an issue where we teach. In the high school they have foreign students but we do not. I know if we lived closer to the Mexican border immigration could be an issue. ]]> 2019-09-29 21:30:03 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391084604 j_rubenzer https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391085400 I don't think about marital status except when it affects my students.  They come from all sorts of families and I want them to know it doesn't matter who is in our family.  It matters how we love in our family.  We just had a discussion about this in my math class last week.  (When it is important, we talk about other things besides math.) The students were discussing how two of them were adopted, one was from a traditional family, one had divorced parents or parents weren't married,  one was a twin, one had a father and no mother, etc.   This was a great discussion and the students talked among themselves about how different their families were from each others, yet they were at this same Catholic school. Family is a communion of persons and a communion of persons is a group of people who love each other. I have found that my experiences with all sorts of students has made me more loving and accepting of others in my own life, including my co-workers. I have realized that we do not all think the same and that is okay. We need to show love to each other by listening and compromising. ]]> 2019-09-29 21:35:45 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391085400 j_rubenzer https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391086777 I hope others understand that if I treat someone differently than another, it is not done  consciously.
I had a conference with a parent and she told me her son said that I liked the boys better than the girls. The fact was that the boys did not act respectfully, but the girls did. I was continually trying to improve the boys behavior. I did not realize this made them think I liked the girls better. Therefore, I learned that I had to treat them fairly, not necessarily equally. I now ask them questions and we talk about why their behavior was not acceptable.]]> 2019-09-29 21:47:03 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391086777 b_canfield https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391652636 Like others have already stated, this was challenging. I do not find many of these indicators to be important as to how I look at others or myself. I come from a family where these markers don't mean someone is "good or bad." It is simply who they are and if they are happy, I should be happy for them. We live in a world that is constantly changing and making progress. It is not up to us to decide what is okay and what isn't. As for aspects that I am aware of everyday, this column was easier. I am very open about my opinions on who is being judged and for what reason. Being a non-Catholic in a Catholic school is something that I am made aware of every single day. Do I care that those around me are Catholic? Not one bit because it makes them happy. Do others care that I am not Catholic? Absolutely and it is made known to me and to others that are in the same boat. Another thing I find myself noticing is family status. There are students that come from "broken" homes and assumptions are made because of this fact. Instead of making assumptions or showing pity, I try to understand how the child feels about it. Most times, it does not affect them as much as some would think. I try to be a support for them if they need it because I know what it is like to be in their shoes and to have nobody to talk to about it.]]> 2019-10-01 01:55:22 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391652636 b_canfield https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391654291 I am not surprised by any of my reflections. I was raised in a household where these things don't matter and they don't make a person "good or bad." Instead, we should love all for who they are, not where they fall in these categories. ]]> 2019-10-01 02:04:04 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391654291 b_canfield https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391654665 I do not feel that my sociopolitical identity affects my daily life. Like I have stated in the last two posts, I try to be as inclusive as possible to all people. People will be who they want to be and it is not my place to judge. I make this very clear to my friends, family, and anyone I encounter at work. You do you and if it makes you happy then great! I have been on the opposite side of this and have been judged very openly for things that do not directly impact others. I would never want to make another person feel the way those people make me feel on a daily basis.]]> 2019-10-01 02:05:53 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391654665 b_canfield https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391655173 I wish that others would understand that other people's choices do not need to be up for conversation. I am happy the way that I am and I would never change anything that has happened to me. I just want people to see this and be happy with me. You don't have to agree with everything, but your opinion isn't needed on certain aspects of another person's life. Just let them live their life the way they intend to. ]]> 2019-10-01 02:08:28 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/99k7tjp4lolo/wish/391655173