"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
- Mahatma Gandhi -
The diversity of our students is analogous to the paint colors available in the home improvement store. When you visit the hardware store to choose a paint color for the walls of a room, there are hundreds and thousands of paint chip colors offered, but you even have the option to take those colors and blend them to make new ones. The students that will enter our classrooms entrust their education and their identities to our hands, and that is a great honor to hold. We can prepare for this great responsibility by doing the research that is necessary to ensure that the classroom is an extension of their environment at home - it it to be welcoming, accepting and a place to have intellectual discourse about the issues we face as a human race everyday.
High school can typically be one of the most tumultuous, life-defining periods of time in a student's life. So many experiences are to be had, so many situations for eyes to be opened to. As a potential high school mathematics educator, I feel that it's important to start the research now in order to empower myself, and other future teachers, to rise above the regular grain of education and reach to our students in deeper ways. There is a revolution of culturally relevant teaching that can evolve from these efforts, and from a few people it can eventually grow into a nation and potentially the world. Within the realm of education, it can start as early as pre-kindergarten, and continue for the remainder of their lives.
I always like to think of education as an analogy to sculpting. Teachers are the esteemed sculptors, and our students are the lumps of clay that we help to mold in successful masterpieces of the future. We must not make the mistake to think that we do it all, because we do not, but we make a significant impact as we spend 8 hours a day with them for about 12 years of their lives before college. We are charged with molding students to see the world from a variety of perspectives, instead of simply seeing it through the eyes of a textbook author with his or her own opinions. We must bring issues of diversity into the class, promoting inclusion and denying exclusion, so that students are better prepared for their future in the "real world", and can take action to make changes for the better.
Take a look at the following video, which propels educators to incorporate equality and diversity in their classroom environments and lessons:
High school can typically be one of the most tumultuous, life-defining periods of time in a student's life. So many experiences are to be had, so many situations for eyes to be opened to. As a potential high school mathematics educator, I feel that it's important to start the research now in order to empower myself, and other future teachers, to rise above the regular grain of education and reach to our students in deeper ways. There is a revolution of culturally relevant teaching that can evolve from these efforts, and from a few people it can eventually grow into a nation and potentially the world. Within the realm of education, it can start as early as pre-kindergarten, and continue for the remainder of their lives.
I always like to think of education as an analogy to sculpting. Teachers are the esteemed sculptors, and our students are the lumps of clay that we help to mold in successful masterpieces of the future. We must not make the mistake to think that we do it all, because we do not, but we make a significant impact as we spend 8 hours a day with them for about 12 years of their lives before college. We are charged with molding students to see the world from a variety of perspectives, instead of simply seeing it through the eyes of a textbook author with his or her own opinions. We must bring issues of diversity into the class, promoting inclusion and denying exclusion, so that students are better prepared for their future in the "real world", and can take action to make changes for the better.
Take a look at the following video, which propels educators to incorporate equality and diversity in their classroom environments and lessons: