Title: Ethnic & Gender Equity 3630 Experience

Date: Winter 2013

Description:

Over the 2013 college winter break, I traveled in a student group that visited the Mississippi
Delta Region as part of the curriculum for the UW-P course Ethnic & Gender Studies. The
objective was to observe and experience the challenges that exist in an indigent school district.
Besides providing a powerful history lesson, this trip raised my awareness of the vast social and
educational disparity that exists across our country and the effect it has on student learning.
During the experience I witnessed many different groups of students who struggled with not
only learning disabilities, but also the trials of their everyday life surviving in an impoverished
situation. The obstacles and difficulties these students had to endure certainly presented
barriers that negatively impacted their ability to learn. After completing this course and gaining
this ethnic and gender education experience, I have a much greater awareness and
understanding of how cultural, social and economic challenges can impede learning. However, I
also witnessed how students and teachers were able to adapt their learning styles to face and
overcome those obstacles. Attached is the course syllabus and course agenda.

Alignment
Wisconsin Teacher Standard Alignment:
This artifact best aligns with Standard Three: Diversity, of the Wisconsin Teacher Licensure
Standards. Standard Three states that the teacher understands how pupils differ their
approaches to learning and the barriers that impede learning and can adapt instruction to meet
the diverse needs of pupils, including those with disabilities and exceptionalities.

My experience through this course best aligns with Standard Three of the Wisconsin Teacher
Standards in that I experienced first-hand the various methods and behaviors that students use
to cope in an environment inundated with a number of significant barriers to learning. As I
began my classroom observation in the Itta Bena, Mississippi school district, it was obvious that
the schools were segregated by race. All of the students struggled in poverty, which posed
considerable hurdles to learning and succeeding in life. In fact some students said they
attended school just so that they could receive a meal. If they were fortunate enough, students
with disabilities had a teacher help them with their homework. However, it seemed that most
students who had serious disabilities either didnt attend school or severely struggled through
their classes. For example, there were students who were in their lower twenties still trying to
pass the states standard test to graduate and receive their diploma. There was a vast contrast
in the level of guidance available to them as opposed to what I have experienced here in
Wisconsin during my pre-student teaching. In Wisconsin, we have a number of ways to address
students with disabilities as well as students with exceptionalities. Students with disabilities
often have an Individual Education Plan, student aids, tutors, mentors, and guidance from their
teachers. Students who rank among exceptional often have options to test out, exceed in class,
or even enroll in an independent study. Among many things, my experience in the schools of
the Mississippi Delta Region opened my eyes to the overwhelming number of different barriers
that exist outside of the classroom that greatly influence a students ability to learn in the
classroom.

Through this course I now have a better understanding and appreciation of not only how a
learning disability barrier affects learning, but how environmental and social factors can impede
education as well. I recognize that as a future teacher I need to adapt my teaching strategies for
every student, whether that student has a disability or exceptionality, and to also take into
consideration their social, cultural and economic circumstances in my teaching style.

UW-Platteville School of Education Knowledge, Skill, and Disposition Statement Alignment:
This extraordinary experience best aligns with KSD3.b, Using Questioning and Discussion
Techniques, of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville School of Education Knowledge, Skill, and
Disposition, statements which states: The candidates questioning techniques and instructional
strategies are of uniformly high quality with special attention given to available time for student
response, varied levels of questions, and adequate student involvement in the
discussion/instructional process.

After completing this course I am further prepared to recognize a students disability or
exceptionality and gauge how to pose a question accordingly. For example a student who is
struggling with a disability may be given a question from instruction that begins with a basic
level of understanding and that gradually builds to a greater depth of thinking. A student who is
considered exceptional may be presented with a more difficult question that requires an
advanced level of analysis.

Personal Reflection:

What I learned about teaching/learning from this experience.
This experience has shown me that education is something sacred and should be valued by all
who are fortunate enough to have exposure to it. Teaching and learning are often taken for
granted and an educator must be aware of the factors and barriers that may individually affect
a students ability to learn in his/her classroom. Whether a students struggles are because of
their learning disability or environment, it is vital for teachers to understand that students with
disabilities are sometimes not able to think as quickly and efficiently as their peers in a
classroom.

What I learned about myself as a prospective educator as a result of this experience.
As a prospective teacher, I feel it is important to continue to expose myself to diversity in the
classroom as it opens up new avenues to instructional styles. Diversity challenges my capacity
to adapt to the varying learning abilities of my students and pushes me to grow as an educator.
The more classroom experience I get, whether itd be in Wisconsin or Itta Bena, Mississippi, it
will benefit me in my ability to recognize how students use different approaches to learning,
what barriers exist that can hinder that learning and how I can adapt my teaching methods to
meet the diverse needs of all my students to encourage learning.