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.

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.