Prompt 4

Growing up in Scituate, RI, there is very little cultural diversity. Because of this, I never really experienced what it is like to work with people of different races and to be honest, most people in Scituate are racist Republicans (MOST). Thus, I was completely out of my element when I did my VIPS at Charlotte Woods Elementary. Working with children of different races when I grew up in a country-area was very different and almost...scary (for lack of a better word). I was very nervous. I think my personal experience in Scituate helped me at the school because it humbled me greatly. I appreciate what I have and it rose my awareness to help those who are in troubling inner-city schools. Challenges I may face as an up and coming teacher is the language barrier. There was a lot of communication problems I faced with the students - especially because it was an ESL class. I don't speak Spanish and that is their dominany language so it's hard to try to have a student read/write something to you and comprehend it as well. My misconceptions of the students were brief. I shamefully believed the students would be troublemakers or not really care too much to learn anything but in fact it was quite opposite. That sounds horrible, I know, but I blame most of it on how I grew up. I grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood, school, etc. I think bilingual people definitely make for better teachers - I wish I was, but I'm not... It just seems that bilingual teachers understand their students better and like I said previously, communication is KEY. I am not ashamed to say where I came from but I definitely feel like I msised out on learning about other cultures and working one-on-one with those who are different than my peers were. On the flipside, going to Scituate HS really opened my eyes to children in inner-city schools - to compare the rural to the urban society, to appreciate what I have that I would ordinarily take for granted and to try to help those in need as best to my ability.