Sei sulla pagina 1di 2

Journal Entry 3: 7/28/17

Lynette Kehoe

Something I would like to acknowledge in conversations about race is that all


white people are racist. We all benefit from racism, and we all have socially ingrained
prejudices. In the past few years I have been working hard to unlearn my prejudices,
educate myself about diverse influential people, and increase diverse representation in
my teaching. However, it is important to keep in mind that I am not “off the hook” from
being racist because I did City Year and worked in a diverse urban school. I still grew up
with extremely prejudiced and racist influences, I am a member of a society that
promotes whiteness as ultimately superior, and I see primarily white or stereotypical
representation in the media everyday. I still benefit from white privilege even if I am
trying to work against it. So what are my prejudices? Awareness of my thought
processes and mindfulness will help me figure out what I still need to work on.
Despite my experience, I still grapple with being a white teacher in a diverse
urban school. I don’t want to be a “white savior” teacher because I know that urban
students of color don’t need saving. All students need to be met where they are at, and
taught in a way that works best for them, which is often not happening when white
teachers come in to work in a community and culture they do not understand. A white
teacher may come in with “good” intentions to educate the poor youth of color, but will
teach in a way that perpetuates oppressive structures and is not engaging or accessible
to their students. I do want to work in urban schools and help in my own way by
providing excellent instruction in schools that are struggling. I want to learn how to
best teach students whose backgrounds are different than my own, and help my
students gain confidence and succeed.
The last school I worked at was in a low income neighborhood in a very diverse,
but majority hispanic and latino, area of South Seattle. Seattle has historically been split
into North Seattle and South Seattle. An interstate highway running through the middle
of the city east to west was an actual physical barrier and people of color were
segregated to the south end until the 1960’s. Obviously the effects of this are still seen
today, and schools in the south end are typically high-need, and under-resourced. My
school, Highland Park, has a particularly high prevalence of poverty, low test scores,
students behind in math and reading, and struggles with extreme behavior needs.
Despite this, the student and family community was strong, bonded, and beautifully
diverse. Race and ethnicity identities were fairly evenly distributed, and students were
supportive and accepting of differences. With nearly 40% of the students being ELLs,
students were exposed to many different cultures and learned a lot from each other.
That being said, this school had many other problems, and students there are not
getting the quality of education they deserve.
A majority of the teachers, and all of the administration, at Highland Park are
white, and I was also one of these white educators for two years. I wonder if part of the
school’s struggles have to do with teachers and administration who do not understand
or value the cultures of the communities they serve. I saw many issues there, including
the principal and assistant principal openly not supporting BLM t-shirt day, a teacher
bad-mouthing students behind their backs, a teacher telling a student of color he is
going to end up in jail, restrictive and stringent behavior management strategies,
racially biased disciplinary practices and suspensions, and more I can’t think of at the
moment. I worked with a wonderful, caring third grade teacher, but she did approach
classroom management in a way that may be oppressive to students with backgrounds
in more verbal cultures. I look up to her as a role model in many ways, but hope to also
grow from what I’ve noticed.
I want to teach again in a community similar to Highland Park’s and do feel
comfortable working with diverse groups of students. I have spent many years of my
personal and professional life in communities of color, specifically Latinx and Asian.
While I of course still have much to learn and unlearn as a white person, I am more
comfortable working with these communities of students. However, I have not lived in a
mostly black community until now, and my summer placement at White Rock is the first
time I have worked in a primarily black classroom. I believe that I can succeed in this
environment, and want to acknowledge my whiteness and teach in a way that is best for
my students. I know that my experience at Lea will be extremely valuable, but before I
start, I want to consider a few questions. How do I manage my classroom and student
behavior in a culturally competent way that works for all my students? What should I
do to better understand my Lea students’ community?

Potrebbero piacerti anche