Dr August always says “No one come from nowhere, and No one comes from everywhere” meaning that everyone has grown us to somesort of bias towards a group or groups of people. Yet as a teacher you need to realize where your children come from, and what experiences they have encountered in their life, compared to your own experiences. In my classroom, most of my children are of a type of African American decent. Just this alone, is completely different from what I am used to. I went to a school where there was maybe one or two non-white children. Even my job at a daycare, most children I teach there are white; so being in a black dominated classroom is a flip of the world for me. Some challenges I had to get used to are the the language they use, their attitude, and their actions. With trying to become a new teacher, if I were to be handed this specific classroom, I would think I had an advantage. To me, this would be a different style of teaching than what I am used to, and I would be able to figure out my own way of teaching towards these children without trying to change them. I would adapt to how they learn the best. Misconceptions I have faced during this is that I have always known for most African American's to be loud. Yet one of my girls, Purvi, is one of the most quiet and shy girls I have ever met. But once you make friends, she becomes very happy and loving towards you. I also know that children in general are very disruptive and hyper, and the teacher I am obverving has children that listen very well. When asked, they all sat quietly on the rug and writing while following directions and paying attention.
I would relate this to the theorist Lisa Delpit. She wrote the 5 aspects of“the culture of power”. Her number three rule is “If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier”. This is showed in classrooms by teachers not understanding that some students do not understand “veiled instruction”, because they have always just been told what to do directly. So they need to be told directly the rules for them to comprehend and follow the certain direction. Without them understanding the rules or codes, they might not follow the teachers instructions, which leads them to get in trouble and seem disobedient, when all in all, they just didn't understand. Also without being told exactly what the rules are, they will not be able to gain power. Once told the rules the students will understand what is going on, and what and what not to do during classtime.
