Identity Reflection Paper

Identity Reflection Paper EPS 512 Culturally Responsive Classroom July 16, 2012 Author: Shariece Smith

Identity Reflection Paper ABSTRACT Michael Sadowski from Harvard writes, Much of a students success or failure in schoolcenters not on external factor but on questions of identity: Who am I? What kind of student do I want to be? What things are important to me? What do others expect of me? Where do I want to go with my life? How do other people perceive me? With that being said, it is believed that in order for me to create a culturally responsive learning environment, I need to understand myself and be able to answer the same questions of myself. Thus, this reflection will integrate the above questions in relation to my identity as a teacher.

Who am I? 2

Identity Reflection Paper Three simple words posed together to form a question that can cause utter silence of the mouths, but can awake profound chaos of the mind and soul. This very question of Who am I? is the hardest question to truly answer for me. Yes, there are many superficial qualities, ideologies, descriptors I can pull out of a hat to describe me on the outer appearance to a person who addresses me for an answer. However, to fully be effective, I need to search deep into a more concrete abstract world of myself that is often frightening, because at times you come to the recognize that you do not know Who you actually are. As I searched, for an answer to write for this portion of the reflection piece, I came to a halt. I began to realize that who I am has changed so many different times in different areas and will probably still change as I learn and grow as an individual allowing myself to think freely with the guidance of my own moral, ethically, scientific, reasonability, precision, and judgment of things around me. However, if there is to be a realm placed upon me to give an answer to this question. I would say that I am someone who is still seeking an answer to that question. I do know that I am a person who seeks clarity in all situations with the opportunity to pose questions that may be seen as taboo to others. I am unable to remain content with things if I do not see gratification throughout the process, I work for completion of things that are truly fulfilling. What kind of teacher do I want to be? The kind of teacher I want to be is very simple. A question that I can derive sound answers for in an easier manner at a faster pace. I want to be a teacher that is going to be what they want to be. I want to be a teacher who works hard at becoming the best for the students. I want to be that teacher, who no longer has to say what they want to be, but who they are as a teacher. I want to be able to fully engage in my students at all times even when my outside facets are playing a negative role in my life. I want to be a teacher that educates students with the power to want to educate themselves continuously. Give students the gift of enjoying learning no matter what they are learning. I want to be a teacher who is ambitious, innovative, a risk taker, seeker of questions, challenger of the norm, provides guidance beyond my content, communicates fairly and justly, empathizes but does not sympathize with students emotions and struggles, proficient in my abilities to bring parents or any outside adults into the learning community, show consistency in my planning and adamant in my bringing plans to life, finally I want to be a teacher who TEACHES. What things are important to me? What are important to me are the intangibles, the things that we are not able to grasp in the palms of our hands for mere seconds of time. The abstraction of our abilities beyond the human eyes is what is important to me. The make and depth of a concrete item is what is of importance. I find that knowing a persons inner thoughts and why they choose to bury those particular incidents and questions and ideas so deeply is very important. It can really tell you a lot about the person as far as who they are, what they have been through, and where they are trying to go in 3

Identity Reflection Paper the future. I can say this, because I do keep so many of my thoughts wrapped in a bottle deep away from the thoughts of others. I use to be known as the person who was open but still very much closed. I shared surface material, but had so many other things within that no one could ever say they really knew who I was. Ironically, how could they if I was clueless. I find it important to understand those inner thoughts for the betterment of the relationships formed between people. The reason I find those important because they are in correlation with teaching. It is about the relationships in which you form with the students that can make or break the learners want to learn. Going beyond the surface can really help as a teacher to enhance the learners ability to learn and want to learn. Sometimes our ability is tricked by peoples perception of us and our own self judgment that lets us make ourselves believe we are incapable of being the best us. Allowing a child to open up in ways never projected before can harvest a world of adventure and success. What do others expect of me? Expectations of me from others are usually clear and do not differ depending on the area in which the answer is searched for. In the educational world, whether from an employee, teacher, student, parent, community member, etc. the expectations of me is to be proficient, knowledgeable, accessible, acceptable, scholar, good communicator, nurturing, patient, driven, present, open, professional, guider, facilitator, coach, learner, and substantial. Where do I want to go with my life? As a teacher I want to go down a path of achieving and obtaining exceptional knowledge and understanding of the field and how to best use it for the soul purpose of the students. I see myself as a teacher for some odd years, but eventually I want to take my career down a path of obtaining a doctorate in education. With that and years of experience, I want to take my career into a school operated by me and other fellow educators outside of the current educational system. Also in life, I see myself writing three books that are there to help young adults with guidance through life, giving an honest and open insight on the lives of young adults in the world. How do others perceive me? The perceptions of others is quite different than that of how I feel and think, many people perceive me as the outgoing, bubbly person, who has no fears or emotional turmoils. I am perceived as defiant and a challenger, but not forceful with bringing it to the fore front. At times other perceive me as one who is able to do things without ease and very melodic with my efforts and willingness. Subsequently, there are those who have perceived me as uneducated or not having the look of a teacher. There are perceptions of me as being ghetto and possibly 4

Identity Reflection Paper unable to hold educational conversations at the drop of dime. There are those who did not perceive me as the person I am today with accomplishments I have obtained. I have been perceived as nave and too understanding to a persons situation. As well there are very perceptions of me to be very creative with my approaches to things, a problem solver, and one who is adaptable. In the educational world as teacher, I have been perceived as all those things above mentioned from my colleagues at some point in time. However, many of their perceptions have been driven by preconceived notions before really getting to know me, which changed once they took the time to communicate with me.