My Culture

 

My culture makes up those parts in my life that have had the most impact on shaping the way I live and who I am. I might not have realized it right away, but as I sat and reflected upon that which makes me who I am today, I realized that many things make up my personal culture. I learned first and foremost that my years and years of travelling and growing up in Hawaii have probably affected my life the most. Through these travels and time in Hawaii I have learned to appreciate so many different cultures and peoples. I have learned to love their unique ways of life, the way they pronounce words and their different attitudes and beliefs. I grew up in a home where my parents encouraged me to learn about different cultures. We frequently did this hands-on as we traveled the US. We ate where and what the locals ate, we learned to speak the way they did and we learned to enjoy the things that made them so special. I have been exposed to so many different cultures that I feel that part of me is a conglomeration of those other cultures that I was exposed to.

Through my travels I have learned to love and appreciate everyone for who they are, no matter how different.  This can help me in my teaching career because I can better appreciate the subtle and not so subtle differences among each of the students. If I can welcome many different cultures and peoples I would hope that as a teacher I could emanate that onto my students. I think this aspect of my culture is truly beneficial to being a better teacher, one that understands and welcomes differences among her students. These lessons have also helped me as a student because I have learned to be accepting of those students in my classes who have a different culture. The love of the different cultures I gained while on my travels and in Hawaii have transferred into my schooling. Every time I see someone from a place I have been on vacation or from Hawaii, I instantly feel a connection to them. I may not even know who they are but because I learned about their way of life I felt happy and a warmth towards them and their culture. My experiences have certainly taught me to appreciate everyone in the school setting.  

            Another part of my culture that is pretty unique to me is that I am an identical twin. This special experience has taught me many things about myself. Through this experience I have learned the importance of having a friend who can stand up for you no matter what. I learned the power of two minds working together towards the same goal. The constant encouragement I get from my twin shows me the power of positive reinforcement and positive thinking. My experience as a twin has taught me that any two people can work through differences and reach a compromise. I had never realized just how many things I had learned and taken for granted as a twin until I sat down and thought about these lessons.

            Being a twin surely will help me in my teaching. A good teacher is one that stands up for her students and protects them from harm or even each other. A good teacher also has a positive attitude and gives positive reinforcement to her students. I want to be the teacher whose positive attitude emanates from her and is contagious to her students. Being a twin taught me the power of group work as well. Even though group work is not always effective, there are times when it can be beneficial to students’ learning. Finally the power of compromise is crucial to being a teacher. As a teacher you must have authority, but it is also crucial to be able to compromise when needed, as well as be able to teach the students the importance of compromise. These are just a few ways being a twin can help me as a teacher. The lessons also help me as a student because I can be a better friend to those in my classes. Because I have learned to be positive and happy, I have helped encourage students who need to feel happier. I also am able to be a good listener and a friend to those I meet in school. It is important to be sociable and gain friends so that school becomes a place you want to go. I know that through my experience as a twin I am a better student and friend to those around me. 

            Education is a part of my culture that has most obviously affected my life. During my years in Hawaii I was homeschooled. I learned a lot and gained a true appreciate of school. Once we moved to Utah, I was placed in the public school system. Here I was exposed to many different personalities. I had to learn to deal with people who were more judgmental than where I came from. Part of my growth was my adaptation to this new life. I was able to understand how to manage so many different personalities and how to deal with those that I did not get along with very well. Even now in college I still find that I am learning new things about people and personalities every day. Through these formative years in education I have gained valuable lessons that I can apply to being a better teacher. Due to my experiences in public school with the array of personalities, I have learned to better deal with the different kinds of people in the world. As a teacher I will be faced with children of all backgrounds and situations and all different personalities. Through my years in schooling I am better equipped to face this challenge. I have had to deal with this in my own schooling experiences. As a student, I have had to learn to deal with classmates and teachers that I do not necessarily get a long with. My many years of schooling have primed me for these experiences and have taught me how to deal with them. It is never an easy thing to deal with clashing personalities, but thanks to my years in school I have learned to cope with these situations.  Education has been a truly formative aspect of my culture.

            As part of my traveling experience, I became accustomed to trying new foods. As I thought about how this connected to my personal culture I realized that by being willing to try new foods, I have not only become more open to different, maybe even scary, situations but also I have gained an appreciation for those unique foods. These experiences can help me to be a better teacher because I have learned to be braver and more willing to try out new things that might be scary but are worth it in the end. I can apply this to different teaching methods. Through this bravery and willingness to try out new things, I can experiment and find out what works best for my students’ learning. Since I have learned to be open to trying out new things, I will be ready to face the challenges of a classroom full of people who learn a different way. Through experimentation I can help many students learn and I will know that trying out new methods was worth it in the end. I have also applied these lessons to my own schooling experiences. Sometimes we can get in a rut in the way that we study or prepare for tests, but because of my experiences in being willing to try out new things I have learned to be brave and try and try again until I figure out what works best for me. It is hard to experiment when you have been taught one way to study your whole life. However, for me the lessons I learned from trying out new foods have taught me that being brave is worth it in the end. Truly these experiences have and will continue to help me out in life.  

            Finally my traditions carried on through my family and my religion have taught me to appreciate the special things different cultures and places around the world have to offer and to be firm in what I believe. This will help me as a teacher of the social sciences because with knowledge of the world I will be able to teach with first hand experiences. I will be able to explain the interesting world practices with an excitement that can only come from experiencing some of these practices first hand. Religious convictions also can help me to stick to what I believe and not compromise myself morally as a teacher. Also because Santa Lucia is a tradition in my family I can better understand the mindset of people who come into situations with ingrained ideas of the past or present. Traditions imply that something has been a certain way for a very long time. If I understand this, I can recognize these same kinds of thoughts in a school setting. If students bring negative traditions to school, I can help dispel those thoughts, if they are good traditions I can encourage them. Having these traditions and a strong religious sense have helped me in school as well. I am more dedicated in my schooling because of my beliefs. I also have learned to recognize traditional mindsets and have had to adjust to them in a schooling sense. Some teachers or students have a traditional way of doing things and will not deviate, however I have learned to adapt to these traditions in a way that is beneficial to my schooling. My tradition and religion really have helped me. 
             My culture shapes my life in more ways than one. Through my experiences in Hawaii and traveling I can understand other cultures and their unique ways of life. I can also be a better friend and mentor because of my twin. My education and my willingness to try out new foods have helped me to be able to deal with different personalities and to not be afraid to try new methods to reach those different personalities. Traditions and religion help me to be strong in my beliefs yet open to the world around me. I am glad that these parts of my life can help me to become the kind of teacher and student I want to be. 

Who are the Homeless?

          We see them struggling every day, yet we rarely help them. Who are they? The homeless. They are humans who are in need of kindness and charity and yet more often than not we avoid their pleading gazes as we walk or drive by. The question is why don’t we help them? Part of the problem is the way they are conveyed in the media. The media is a vicious tool used to spread messages to the world that may or may not be true. The media likes to portray homeless people as crazy men and women who are addicted to drugs so they beg for money to get the cash they need to buy drugs. Photographs seem to prove this kind of homeless person by showing the signs of men freely admitting they are addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Many homeless are even portrayed as fakes. They just know that they there is some money to be made in the “business” of being homeless.

(This video is about a man who pretends to be homeless and have a speech impediment and earns $100,000.)

 To be sure there might be those kinds of homeless people out there; however, many homeless people are not there by choice. For some, the housing crisis left them homeless, while for others the loss of jobs.

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/526/homeless-facts.html
(This site gives facts about the homeless and what it means to be homeless.)

 The media wants us to think that all homeless people are not worth our time and charity; they got what they deserved. Many homeless are capable, talented people who simply cannot land a job in this harsh economy or because of past decision.

(This video talks about a homeless man who had a great life, until he became addicted to drugs. He fell into homelessness due to his poor choices.)

(This video shows a man who is talented and had a job, but due to the harshness of the economy he was forced to live a homeless life with his young son.)

 No matter the kind of homeless person shown, they are people who are in need of assistance.                      While there may not be children of the homeless in schools, this message can still affect any child at school. Due to the media’s portrayal of homeless men and women as lying, crazy, drug addicts, impressionable children might think that all people who are poor struggle with these issues. Since children are taught not to lie and that drugs are bad, they may be wired, thanks to the media, to feel no compassion towards these afflicted people. This absence of compassion might even transfer over to those poorer children at school. In a sweeping generalization children could expect all the poor to be like the homeless therefore withhold their kindness to the poor kids. The poorer children at school will then suffer from the lack of compassion towards those who are destitute. Teachers need to recognize these stereotypes because in this modern world children are exposed to media biases every day, numerous times a day. As a teacher you have to realize what messages are put into the children’s heads everyday so you can learn to combat the biases and attitudes that are placed into their heads. If the teacher knows that children see the homeless as drug addicted and liars, then they can protect the poorer children from those biases. They could also adjust their curriculum to teach compassion towards the poor and afflicted so that they can help combat the stereotypes. Being a teacher in this world full of media which spreads stereotypes like the plague is hard, but worth it if you can take the things from the media and learn how to glean truth out of them and then help spread ways to fight the stereotypes in the classroom.