Blog #4

My personal history and sociocultural characteristics are the complete opposite of those of my students. Majority of the students I work with are considered poor, and also come from either hispanic background or african american background. There are only about two white children in the classroom. I even do not have a lot in common with them. The dominant culture in this classroom being hispanic, the white children try to blend into that culture. They act more like those children than typical white children. My second grade class was a class o first and second graders. We were multi-age and had the same teacher for two years. This was great because it pushed me harder as a first grader because I was with second grader and in second grade, I excelled because I had more independence. Also I came from an all white culture. I can think of only three non white students I came in contact with during my whole education. So on the first day entering this classroom, I was a little nervous. There are definite culture differences between the children and I but we work through it. I definitely have to watch what I say when it comes to materialistic issues. For example, when asking about the holidays, majority of these kids do not have the same as me. I gather with my whole family and eat this large meal. Some of these kids did not even celebrate the holidays. Some claimed that they did not have a costume so they could not go out for Halloween or that they did not have a big dinner for Thanksgiving. I knew instantly I had to act like i was not surprised by this or felt bad for them. Children can pick that up quickly. So a definite challenge with these kids is hiding my feelings. A language barrier is definitely apparent with the students also. They all speak english but it's very obvious that it is their second language. All of them with strong accents makes the conversations difficult. But being one of my first experiences with other ethnicities and social standings, this has been a beneficial experience.