Sevice Learning Prompt #7

Question: How is this experience shaping your teacher identity? Give specific examples/stories

     This experience as a whole was a pretty wonderful experience that I am honored to have had. Experiencing the time that i did with the children in my classroom has truly helped prepare me for a career in the educational field. In starting the class and learning that I would be teaching a classroom that was primarily composed of children of a Latino American or African American descent, i found myself a little bit out of the loop. As much as it pains me to say, i had wondered whether or not i would be considered less that adequate because of my cultural standpoint, as well as my skin color. In my classroom, and although i myself have no semblance of racism in my mind, i was concerned about whether i would be considered uncool because of my culture. I had wondered about whether I would be able to fit in with a community that did not have a culture that was my own.
     In doing this project, however, i was faced almost every Friday with a real life example of change. Even though i was the only white person in the room, i had honestly not been treated any differently that any other person in the room, and that was comforting. Fears that related the idea of "The White Mr.Hogan" were shown to be unfounded, and it was exhilarating. I was simply a teacher to these children. Over the past weeks, i had grown quite close with some of the students, and they were oftentimes just as excited as i was to be able to see me on Fridays. It was refreshing to see that the youth of my classroom were coming into an existence were white, black, and Latino were not distinguishing factors among classmates, but rather the three delicious ingredients that came together to form this incredible "Educational Gumbo" of today's society.
     Certain stigma's that pertained to how I envisioned the children of a certain culture have been rectified in my mind, as i have come to terms and see that these children in my classroom are not a diverse group of culturally composed individuals, but rather a representation of American Children. Generally, all of my students appear in my mind, albeit with a subtle sense of divergence, as well adjusted members of a society working at change. My service learning experience was a wonderful thing, and it has taught me so many lessons that i will need in order to become the teacher that this culturally diverse nation needs. I have learned that we are all together in this struggle, and we must do everything we can to stick together.