Prompt #4 and Johnson

No one enters a classroom without a personal history; thus, no one enters a classroom completely free of bias. The more I attend the school which I volunteer at, the more I realize how true this is. Where I come from, the town I grew up in and the school that I went to, although only 45 minutes away, seems to be a totally different world. Every time I visit, I add one more thing to my list of what sets the two schools apart. No matter where I end up teaching, my personal history or sociocultural characteristics will intersect with those of my students. This may occur in a variety of ways. The most obvious way that this may occur would be through our differences in language.


If I were to teach at a school like the one I currently volunteer at, I would be teaching students who speak a primary language that is different from my own, and it would most likely be Spanish. A difference in language would obviously bring up many conflicts, of course as the student’s age, they will become more comfortable with English but that is not to dismiss the fact that issues in the communication between an English speaking teacher and an ESL student will be completely diminished.

As a teacher in a classroom filled with many different backgrounds and cultures I don’t think that I would have any sort of advantage, but rather I’d like to think of it as an environment where everyone, student and teacher alike, would have something to contribute and teach to the other members of the community within the classroom.

I would never say that because I will be a teacher with an English speaking background, coming from a predominantly white town with a predominantly white school, I am better than my student who may come from a non-English speaking background, and a predominantly non-white town with a predominantly non-white school. To fight and not be willing to accept the differences I may come across with my students, would get me nowhere. Of course challenges will arise, but don’t all differences cause some sort of challenge? It would be naïve to think that I will never encounter an issue with a student caused by our different backgrounds- it will just become a matter of learning to make it work.

During this experience so far there is one misconception which I have come across. Up until not too long ago, I assumed that a student who spoke more than one language, for example Spanish and English, would first of all speak English second to the other language, and secondly would struggle with reading compared to a student who is white. But I learned that just because a student speaks two languages, it does not mean that they speak English as a second language. Perhaps their parents were born elsewhere and hey speak Spanish primarily, but then gave birth to their child in the United States who has grown up speaking English. Furthermore, I learned that just because students are bilingual, it does not mean that they will not read English just as well, or better than, a white student.

It can be said that the ideas and concepts just talked about, would relate to theorist Alan Johnson. Johnson believes that the issue of race is still alive and well in this country. The given prompt creates the image of a classroom full of diversity and Johnson says that “the strange and unfamiliar bring out some innate human tendency toward fear of the unknown and intolerance of difference”. But as future educators, we must not be afraid of difference amongst our students and ourselves. Instead, we must do as Johnson says and “champion diversity, promote tolerance, celebrate difference”!