"Like Susan, we have all grown up with cultural blinders. Sharing cultural memoirs-oral or written-gives each of us an opportunity to explore what we have missed because of those blinders, and what difference it might make in coming together as a diverse school community to see our cultural influences through fresh eyes." (p. 38)
After creating and sharing our 'cultural maps' this afternoon, what new insights into your own cultural influences do you have? As our community becomes increasingly diverse, how may exploring and/or sharing these memoirs affect the school community?
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I realized, after sharing our cultural maps, that even though we come from different times and regions, we can find common ground. If we, as teachers and paraprofessionals, remember this and nourish our differences instead of letting them keep us apart,all involved would benefit. Tena Miller/Yargo
ReplyDeleteOne thing I always thought about my childhood is that we were much like the "Beaver Family". Mom stayed home, dad worked and was home by 5 every day, and we all sat down at the dinner table together. We did not have money to go out to eat and we spent weekends at the ball park. We all have an idea of what normal is but everybody's normal is different. In exploring this it has made me more aware of all kinds of cultural backgrounds and ways we can all work together.
ReplyDeleteI, like Meredith, come from the Beaver Cleaver type of household. We ate dinner every night at the table and talked about our days. We had softball each spring and would rush off to practices and games. I did have friends who had one-parent households, remarried parent households, lived with grandparents, and, sometimes, raised themselves. Our school was blessed to have a number of exchange students and I was part of a group that befriended them and learned many things about different cultures outside of the U.S. It was a great learning experience and I made friends from different parts of the world. I believe that I got a fairly good view of different cultures right there in my own backyard, that is, until I went to college! No matter what I think I have learned, I am still learning more each day, even about cultures I thought I already knew. I believe that by learning about one another's cultures and traditions, we are opening up the world and bringing it closer. This helps to bring about understanding and the ability to work together for a common goal, especially when we understand where each person is coming from.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t get to create a cultural map, but if I had, I think it would have been a bit different from most. I spent my school years split between two distinct and very different environments. My first through six grade experience was in a very rural GA setting, Gillsville Elementary. The school was a one hall building including grades K-6, a library (no librarian, mind you), a teacher’s lounge, two bathrooms, an office and a cafeteria. I went through the 1st six years of my school life with the same 24 people and honesty maybe 5 folks combined moved into or out of our classroom. There was one African-American and the rest were Caucasians. Our “Special Education” program had one Down Syndrome child, who, to my knowledge never received any different service or instruction that we all had. We were all fairly poor. Funny thing was, none of us really knew it! My 7th and 8th grade year was spent at East Hall High School (this was before middle school or even Jr. High…obviously). This was a bit more diverse…at the time probably 25% African-American, the rest Caucasian. The summer before my 9th grade year I moved to West Palm Beach, Fl. Here I attended a high school that was so large we had split sessions…I went to school from 12 to 5. (That suited me perfectly, too) I was a total poster child for “County Come to Town!” The diversity was so immense. I couldn’t begin to give you percentages, but there were large numbers of all kinds of folks, from all different cultures. For the first time in my life I heard different languages at every turn (and none of them had my familiar twang…). We were out of school for Christian holidays as well as Jewish ones. I had friends whose backgrounds were Italian, Jewish, Greek Orthodox, Buddhism, and Muslim. I can only imagine how annoying I was with the questions I asked!
ReplyDeleteI think being surrounded with so much diversity helped me to realize that being a white girl from rural GA was as different to them and they were to me. (Maybe that’s why too many times to count people would ask me to “say something.”) It made me want to learn more about this world that we all call home. It made me want to travel and learn other languages. As I have gotten older, I have forgotten most of the Spanish and French I used to spout out. Life and children have stopped a lot of the world travel that I enjoyed for a brief time, too. But I hope that I can instill in my own children (and the ones that I teach) to embrace diversity. Learn from and about those who are different. It makes the world a smaller (and much nicer) place.
~Dione
I am reminded of how much time has changed things. Things that I did as a child I would never let my children do. Things that were "safe" then are no longer safe. I was born in Winder & spent most of my life here. We moved to Rabun Co. (Tiger, GA) when I was entering 1st grade & moved back to Winder my 6th grade year. I feel very blessed to have spent that portion of my life in the mountains, and I created my map from this time period. The diversity in this community was more of how you lived your life. If you went to church, believed in God, or you were a law breaking, heck rasing person. It was largely white, and poor to middle class, but the money did not seem to matter (I learned later in life that some of our friends were millionaires, but you never knew it - they lived just like everyone else.) Despite the differences of opinions everyone came together in a time of need. I think this experience largely shaped who I am today. Sharing these maps you are able to find common ground with other people. It also gives you insight into what is important to them, and how you can create a connection with them.
ReplyDeleteDoing my map reminded me of how much things have changed since I was a child. I don't take it for granted that everyone is the same and they don't have the same background. I was always taught that you treat everyone the same. Looking over all the different backgrounds of students and how differently they were raised compared to me, I hope that I am more aware of helping them in different ways.
ReplyDeleteI loved creating my cultural map and enjoyed seeing the others. It brought back great memories of how safe my life was growing up in suburban NJ. Of course nothing is the same there now. Seeing the other maps was interesting because of how different and alike that we are, some of the places were so similar from our view from when we were children. We were each in our "safe little world". If we explored using these maps with our students it would help to bring us closer to their worlds and families. We then could benefit by being more sensitive and understanding with our students and their families and become closer. Angela Verdetto / Yargo
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this activity, and can't wait to hear more from the friends who haven't shared yet. It was very eye opening to see the common interests, and then the differences each one of us have where we grew up. Since I teach kindergarten, it would be hard for some students to do this activity on their own- I would like to make it a family project and then have the student share it with the class. Sometimes I have them bring pictures in of their families and homes. You can learn a lot from the pictures they share with the class. I have a very diverse class this year, and have learned a lot about some of their cultures but would love to learn more! I think it would benefit our entire staff to know about the different cultures that do attend our school- we could learn a lot of beneficial information to help make each child successful.
ReplyDeleteDawn Bradberry
Dawn Bradberry
I enjoyed revisiting my child via my cultural map. I relize how blessed I was as a child. My mom stayed home. I was born with my best friend. Life was good. My life basiclly rotated around my neighborhood. I feel that as I grew up as a child and school enviroment changed for elementary to Highschool. More diverse as I went along. I developed a understanding that everyones life was not like my own and because of this everyone was unique and interesting because of that. I think looking at other maps helps us better understand a person or a child. Plus it is cool to look at too.
ReplyDeleteSorry I had a type-o in my blog.(realize)
ReplyDeleteAfter drawing my map and listening to the stories of the other folks at my table, I realized that I was the only person there that had not grown up in a rural commmunity. I loved hearing about things that were not part of the every day life of someone growing up in the city. Hopefully as I meet each new student, I will be reminded of how different his/her map might be..
ReplyDeleteThis was a great activity. It really brought me back to a time when things were so different than they are now. My life was so sheltered as a kid. We did everything as a family. My parents were never apart, except when working. I guess you could say I was very blessed. Our little town was built upon religion. Going to church was a must every Sunday moring, night and Wednesday. If you were not in the religious "scene" then you were pretty much not accepted. By reading this it showed me that there are all kinds of people and backgrounds. If we will just all work together, we can begin to understand each other and meet our common goals together.
ReplyDeleteKimberly B