One goal of mine as a future educator is to create an
environment where each student feels a sense of belonging. I have noticed that students who have
been in the United States for many years tend to stick with other peers similar
to them. Students who are recently
new to the United States seem to be segregated from the dominant race as well
as their own. It is important for
me as a teacher to make sure everybody feels comfortable. One way I plan on doing this is to
introduce the class to a project I have been thinking about. The project, “Sailing around the
World,” will provide each student an opportunity to teach the class about the
culture, country, and demographics of an area in the world that they are from. Students can work in groups with people
from similar backgrounds. Each day
I will have the ship “dock” in a different part of the world. The students will also be required to
tell the class how the ship was able to get there (wind currents, ocean
currents, etc.). Another idea I
have is for students to pick out of a scientist from their part of the
world. The students can write a
brief paper that describes who the scientist is, where he is from, and what he
is famous for. I think it is
important for students to see that scientists and other famous people come from
all over the world. On the first
day of school, I am going to ask each student to put their name on a placard
and draw pictures of their hobbies, what they’re proud of, or what they simply
like to do with their free time.
After I have learned all of the students’ names, I will hang up their
placard on the wall in the class so that all of the students can see what their
peers enjoy doing. Not only will
this give the student a sense of pride, but students can also see what other
students like to do and perhaps form a new friendship. It is also important that students know
a little about each of their peers.
I am going to develop a classroom website where each student will have
to post during the first week a brief history of their life. Each student will be required to read
and to post on at least five different student’ blogs. By reading the blogs, students can also
identify similarities in other students’ blogs and develop relationships. Without using the blogs as a method to
communicate, students would probably not be able to see what they have in
common with the students outside their immediate group of friends. It is extremely important for me as the
teacher to have background information about my students, as well as the
students knowing about their peers.
Catherine Little stated in her article that she was terrified of
animals. I think her teacher could
have prevented a traumatic experience by simply having a little background
information.
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