New York City filled with lights, glamor and diversity.

Its a pretty great place to see

different cultures and ethnicities. I remember being flashed by a man when we were stepping
on a subway. I was horrified, my Mother simply kept walking and said it happened every day
when she got on the subway in 5th grade. She said she knew thats how she was on time for
school. In many ways, I keep getting flashed in life. Experiencing different places and people.
My classroom is filled with many flashes as well. A student told me once that you always feel at
home in my room. Feeling at home is a good thing for the students I have the privilege to work
with. But they also know they are safe and some things are said and done that are tough to hear
and accept and deal with. I cant fix everyone, in fact I cant fix anyone. I can listen, and I think
once I figured that out, I became a good teacher.
My classroom has different ethnicities and beliefs. However, I think my students dont
know much about their own culture and how interesting it is and how much it defines them. As
stated in Developing Ethnic and Cultural Literacy Many students have internalized the negative
and distorted conceptions of their own and other ethnic groups, a process that has been promoted
in a larger society. Developing a better understanding of their own and other ethnic groups and
cultural experiences can correct these distortions. This is a new way of thinking for me and I
think it is great. I always offer the kids the opportunity to bring their favorite dish for us all to
enjoy and talk about their experiences. I do not however assist them in learning more about their
own culture and sharing that information with everyone so we can all learn. Once they begin
researching I bet they will be surprised that they can relate to what they read. I cant wait to
implement this in my classroom. My reading class is scripted, I look forward to a new project
that we can all learn from.

Another shift for me was learning about kids and their ability to read. Deplit p.60 talks
about confusing dialect intervention with reading instruction. She states to do so will only
confuse the child, leading her away from those intuitive understandings about language that will
promote reading development, and toward a school career of resistance and a lifetime of
avoiding reading. My students come to me exactly like this. I have low readers in a high school
that always get caught up in the way they are reading and not if they are understanding. This
could change the way they look at text and learn to enjoy it a lot more. This is exciting to me and
a new way to approach the way they are looking at our reading.
In my little classroom in a school that is surrounded by trees and not as much diversity.
Its my job to make sure that I am going beyond the holiday celebrations and customs of other
cultures but really teach to learn about each other and our families and what defines us. I dont
think weve done things wrong, but I think we could do things differently and that will make us
even better. Deplit suggests that diversity isnt a problem. Diversity shouldnt be placed in a box.
When I think about that, I think about teachers rolling their eyes when they have to say Happy
Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. Is it really that big of a deal to appreciate that someone
might not celebrate Christmas? Showing them the respect that you appreciate that about them is
okay. Deplit p.66, goes on to talk about when we look at everything such as diversity of
thought, language and worldview in our classrooms can prepare our children for the richness of
living in an increasingly diverse national community. Who doesnt want that in their classroom?
A lot more flashes for our learning.

References
Cullinan, Cris. Vision, privilege, and the limits of tolerance. Electronic Magazine of
Multicultural Education 1999

Deplit Laura. (1995) Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom (2nd Edition).
New York. New York Press.

Delpit, Lisa The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children
Harvard Educational Review 1988

Gay, Geneva A Synthesis of Scholarship in Multicultural Education. Urban Monograph Series.

North Central Regional Educational Lab., Oak Brook, IL. 1994