Week 14- Foundations Learning Outcome

Trinity encourages culture in the classroom. 

"Because our Mission in Christian higher education is not limited by ethnic or cultural differences, we consciously seek to develop a multiracial, multinational, and multi-denominational community." (Trinity Christian College mission statement)

This mission to have culture in the classroom is something that is well known at Trinity. I think in every education class that I have taken at Trinity, they have encouraged us to love diversity and encourage all cultures in the classroom.  "Here at Trinity, we promote diversity..." has been said numerous amounts of times over the course of my four years here. This concept is very important and I often find myself in classes thinking, "I love different cultures and I will of course promote diversity in the classroom." Although my heart has always been there, I  have found myself  wondering how I can use this concept of cultures in the classroom. I am a white, middle-class, monolingual-English speaker, who has been raised in a Dutch CRC community my whole life. Sure, I can buy the diverse books for my classroom library, suggested in my Children's Literature class and have a diversity day, but how can I know exactly how to use this concept in real life, in a real community without living it first?

To answer this question bluntly, you can't.

Field experiences opened my eyes to what it really meant to encourage cultures in the classroom. Many of the schools in this area have Polish-speaking students and Arabic-speaking students. This was a huge eye opener for a Dutch CRC girl. 

I found myself realizing that buying the diverse children's books and have a diversity day was just not going to cut it. 

The truth is: culture matters, but people are people.

What I mean by that, is that students want to you to show interest in them. They want to be loved and feel special. Getting to know my students interests was huge in my teaching and field experiences. 

This past semester Trinity opened up an opportunity for me to student teach at Rehoboth Christian School in Rehoboth, New Mexico. This was a huge culture shock for me. Majority of this schools population is made up native students from the Navajo and Zuni tribes. The exact percentage of natives in this school population is 70%. I taught 6th graders and I encountered many cultural differences and learned so much from the students. I had a few students who were not as understanding and were frustrated that this white girl from Chicago was going to be teaching them, but by the end of my time there I can honestly say that these same students were the ones who accepted me into their family and were bringing me native tea, foods, and sharing stories. Why? I showed interest in my students and their cultures. I asked questions and told them I wanted to learn more. Getting to know my students as people was the biggest and best way to encourage culture in the classroom.

The truth is: culture matters, but people are people.

I honestly do not think I would have been able to understand exactly how to encourage culture in the classroom, like Trinity suggests unless I had been able to live it out in my field experiences. I learned the absolute most from Trinity through the experiences they were able to provide me outside of lectures and classes,. I learned the most in real classrooms and in real schools. For that I am grateful.

The concept of encouraging cultures and diversity was such a different experience for me, when I actually was given the chance to practice it in real life experiences.