Brittany Mayer

EDUG 733
Final Growth
2014 June
We do not learn from experiencewe learn from reflecting on experience.
- John Dewey
This quote defines the meaning of this course. This education course
provided me with the opportunity to take a step back and reflect on my life and the
influences in which mold who I am today. In order to learn and grow you must first
look at your past experiences. I am constantly reminding my students in my class,
making mistakes doesnt matter as long as you reflect, and learn from them to help
you grow as a learner. This notion can be applied to the bigger picture of life. In
order to grow as a learner, educator, individual, you must reflect and know yourself.
There are many factors that influences ones views, beliefs, and values. Each factor is
subgroups to ones culture. Each individual has his or her own unique culture. These
unique cultures create diversity within classrooms. Teachers must recognize their
role to help students gain awareness and knowledge of different cultures and foster
acceptance of the differences within the classroom.
Each individuals backgrounds and experiences develop their values, their
attitudes, and shape who they become in the future. When defining culture many
people limit their thoughts to ethnic and racial background, however there are
numerous other factors that develop a persons perceptions and expectations. One
can belong to several cultural groups. Some of these groups are socioeconomic
status, gender, exceptionalities, gender, and sexual orientation, religion, geographic
identity, etc. These factors are often a cause of equity issues in the world. Teachers

need to be more aware of the different cultures that are present to eliminate any
threat to equality and comfort in their classroom. In this course we each wrote a
cultural autobiography, which guided us in taking a deeper look into our own
cultural background, and what defines us. Through this assignment I was able to
recognize the major influences on my life and my attitudes towards culture. My
Grandfather played the largest role in the evolution of my own perceptions towards
different cultures. I was very fortunate to have grown up in a family that has an
accepting nature. This assignment encouraged self-reflection to gain a grater
understanding of who we are and where we stand in the many different cultures.
When sharing our autobiographies we were able to as a class get to know each
other, as well as appreciate our cultural differences, and identify and similarities or
differences with our peers. In doing an activity similar to this in an elementary
classroom, the teacher does not only gain essential insight on the students
background, but also begins the building of community in the classroom. Students
feel a sense of pride and confidence in their own story. This activity depicts cultural
and ethnic alternatives that will help students understand multiculturalism and
celebrate each others differences. This activity establishes a sense of unity to form a
judgment-free class.
As a class, we had countless discussions as well as interest group
presentations to support our understanding of multicultural education. For
teachers, we need to ensure that our students are provided with the information to
develop a sense of self, as well as, empathy for others to broaden their cultural
outlook. A teacher must be aware of their own cultural influences and be sure to

educate students on cultural differences rather than portraying their own view on
their students. Since there is such diversity in culture, there are multiple
perspectives in which a teacher must be considerate of. Through our readings and
presentations, I learned many strategies to approach multiculturalism while being
sensitive to the different views. Teachers must be aware of the differences within
culture and conscious of the effects on their learning. I did my group presentation on
sexual orientation. I found this topic to be very interesting because it is such a
controversial issue in schools. In many of the presentations, I learned that it is
necessary to address the cultures in you classroom, not to ignore them. However,
you must not reveal your own view when teaching about culture. The content taught
must be complete and accurate covering all different perspectives. In doing so the
curriculum and content will be appropriate for all students. Overall, there needs to
be respect and rapport in the classroom. As an educator, my goal is to provide a
classroom community in which we accept each other, feel comfortable with each other to
express our different opinions and experiences so we can learn from each other. We all
have different opinions and views that are significant contributions and must be heard.
Integrating information from multiple resources strengthens your own views. Students
learn from each other and work together to help each other achieve.
The group presentations were extremely beneficial tools for our future as
educators. The presentations were not only set up as each group being an expert on their
own topic in which we were able to play and active role in teaching each other about our
topic, but also provided us with useful information that we can apply to our own
classroom. Collaborative learning helps encourage interactions and supports meeting the

needs for all students. Each presentation explained strategies and tips for teachers to
address the equity issue, as well as, demonstrated an activity aligned to the common core
standards that we could use in our own classroom to strengthen the knowledge of
multiculturalism in our own classroom. My favorite presentation was the one that
discussed the impact of gender. This presentation made me more aware of the overlooked
actions that teachers may do which impact the equity in the classroom. For example,
when the students are in line waiting to enter the classroom, many teachers often call the
ladies into the room first at all times. I really enjoyed the activity of the Venn diagram
that makes students more aware of the stereotypes between genders. These stereotypes
are learned from role models and teachers can influence to change their perspectives to be
more understanding of differences and develop empathy for each other. When a teacher
addresses these issues students develop mutual understandings of cultural differences and
begin to embrace the differences among them. When a community is built in a classroom
the students will become more socially and culturally tolerant that will later translate to
their lives as adults in their careers and experiences. One way for a teacher to infuse
acceptance in their classroom is to embrace and celebrate different cultures in the
classroom and create a learning environment in which everyone respects each other.
Ideally, in a classroom students should each have an equal opportunity to learn so
it is crucial for teachers to get to know each student individually and make adjustments to
their approaches. Teachers must effectively prepare for each individual and the cultures
that are present in their classroom. Teachers must also be conscious of the different
traditions, values, and views that may impact their learning in the classroom to increase
the achievement and success of the children. These lessons can be applied to real world

situations that will improve their relationships in social, economic, political experiences.
This class has provided me with the knowledge to be a role model, as well as, a
multicultural educator to build respect, acceptance, and empathy in my classroom to
strengthen our relationships and increase the success of my students.