Prompt 3 - Delpit

I come from a high school that consists of 95% whites, 2% African-Americans, 2% Asians and 1% Hispanic. I live on an island where nothing interesting really happens. You could even say I was sheltered. Walking into "No Name Elementary" last week, I was talking to the teacher and she had asked me if I heard what has been going on in the school. I say no, why? I was explained that one of the girls in my classroom had brought a Swiss army knife into the classroom and had threatened a child sitting next to her for his book money. We all know that weapons are not allowed in the school, and she knew better than to threaten another child with it. Finally, she heard that the kids were scared and another classmate was going to tell the teacher what she was doing. Quickly and quietly, she sliced one of the fingers of the little boy, as thin as a paper cut, but she still carried out her threat. Unfortunately, she was “expelled” from “No Name Elementary”. Come to find out, it was her friend that brought the knife to school that day and gave it to the other little girl. Her friend was also suspended from the school indefinitely.

Hearing what happened just broke my heart. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I didn’t see it coming. This little girl came from a neighborhood that wasn’t exactly safe. She would act as though she didn’t care what happened or what anyone thought. But deep down, under her hard exterior, was still a little girl who cried when her feelings were hurt, or would laugh with her friends. It’s not easy to live a life where you have to have this barrier up all the time. I wish I could just sit children like this little girl down and explain that you attract more bees with honey rather than with vinegar. I know she wants to be liked, and have fun, and make friends. Coming from a home that took care of me, it is hard to see these children not have people at home to go to when they have questions that need to be answered.

(Classroom of children that are taught in the same way)

Being a teacher in a classroom like this one must be very difficult. It is hard to make sure that every child in the class is ok. I would have to be able to find a time to talk to each one of them to make sure that they are all able to talk to me about their personal lives outside of school. Because that reflects how they do IN school. Before I came to this school, I assumed that most of the poor cultures in the city were African-American. When I came to this school, I realized that it isn’t only the African-American children, but also the Hispanic and a few whites.

Lisa Delpit is the theorist that I can think of that relates to this topic. She promotes that teachers should encourage and support diversity in the classroom. She talks about how children learn differently and some may come into the classroom knowing more, less, or even different information than others. She talks about how some children need to learn differently in order to grasp the different concepts that the teacher is trying to have the students learn. Like I talked about in my first paragraph, children learn differently, if all children are taught the same, they won’t grasp the concept that is trying to be taught by the teacher.

(Different ways of learning)