High School Student Hispanic + White Female Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: Although the Rio Grande Valley has a population of 1.5 Million people, the world I grew up in was pretty small. From ages 6 to 11, the one thing I had in common with my teachers was my gender. Having strong female role models during some of the most formative years of my life has shaped who I am today. They understood the stigma surrounding “bossy girls” before I even knew what connotation the word “bossy” held. They nurtured my leadership and drive instead of shutting down my “bossiness”. I never saw this as anything of importance until I got to middle school where the first male teacher I ever had pointed to me as I was planning our group's next step and said, “Well, you’re quite the bossy one. Aren’t you?” I could tell by his voice that it was not a compliment. My whole life, my leadership had always been accepted if not encouraged, but this man who did not understand why young girls should be encouraged in this way, discouraged my initiative and drive for the rest of the year. Throughout my early school years, I was exposed to a lot of diversity. If my teachers were not Hispanic, they were Colombian or Irish or even African American. This allowed me to grow up in a world that was accepting of differences and taught me how to deal with people who didn't always look like me. Although this was a great skill to develop, it could never match what I learned when I finally had a teacher that looked like me. In my first year of High School, I really struggled finding my “Latinx Identity”. I wanted to embrace my culture but I didn't speak Spanish and along with the fact that I looked white, it made it hard to feel like I could really check that Hispanic box. Sophomore year was when I finally had a teacher who was like me--dark haired, had a lighter complexion, and didn't speak Spanish, but still EMBRACED a Latin Identity. For so long, I felt rejected by a world I didn't even know and this gave me hope of one day belonging. She taught me that when we exist in two worlds, we must find a way to make our own and even when you feel like you do not belong entirely to one culture, it is still yours to claim. Growing up around teachers who shared my race, identity and gender made me not only feel represented in the world, but it made me feel understood and as a young girl, that was all I could ask for. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: One of my favorite quotes from Gloria Anzaldúa says, “The US Mexican Border es una herida abierta where the third world grates against the first and bleeds. And before a scab forms it hemorrhages again, the lifeblood of two worlds merging to form a third country - a border culture.” This border culture is a mix of English and Spanish. It is Mexican ancestry with the American mainstream. It is existing in two different worlds, but never belonging to either. It wasn't until my freshman year that I had the first teacher who introduced to a new concept : Pride of Place. This man, Mr.Ozuna, walked into our class on the first day of school and said “I went to Yale for college and a lot of people ask me, ‘if you went to Yale, why would you come back and teach at Memorial High School?’ The question I ask you is why don’t you all deserve to have a teacher that was educated at Yale?”. This was a very defining moment in my life. I realized that the problem in our community wasnt that we didn't want opportunities, but that we felt we didn't deserve them. This mentorship was based on more than the fact that he looked like me with his dark hair and hispanic features (which I shared with most of my teachers all my life), but that he understood our “border culture” and taught me how I could use my voice to help people understand our community better. When you look up the Rio Grande Valley, 9 times out of 10 you will find some negative stereotype or false narrative perpetuated by people who do not know our community like we do. We, as a community, are constantly underestimated and misunderstood which is a hard concept to grasp for a young girl growing up here. Growing up, I constantly had to listen to people say things like “there’s no opportunities here” or, “I can’t wait to leave the Valley”. For the first 14 years of my life, I had never been exposed to any teacher or anyone who really loved this place. Being so young, it was hard living in a world that taught me to not be proud of where I come from. Simply having this culture in common made me not only want more for my community, but made me feel like we deserve more. It allowed me to break out of the stigma that I couldn't be successful here and start making my own success. For me, having things in common with my teachers is important because I no longer feel like I am alone. And once you feel like you have a community of people supporting you, you are unstoppable. Sydney is the founder of @thergvmatters. Her #successwithoutborders interview series (podcast coming soon!) encourages youth involvement in her community and aims to inspires people to be proud of their Rio Grande Valley roots. Join in her activism and connect with her on Twitter @sydramon. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong
0 Comments
University Student White Heterosexual Female Will be the first in her family to graduate from college Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? On the surface, I’ve been lucky. I have the privilege of being white and identifying as heterosexual. I am also a woman, and so in an educational setting, I have had the privilege of connecting with most of my teachers who have also been white and female. I can also connect with my teachers because I know we both appreciate a good education. I’ve always enjoyed working hard and putting forth my best effort. I struggle, fail, but then succeed. To me, school has been everything. Throughout high school and continuing into university life, I have dedicated myself to my school work and what I felt being a “good” student meant. I was in the top 5% of my high school graduating class, and I have been on the Dean’s List every quarter at the University of Washington. For me, these accomplishments weren’t just about a title, but instead were my gateway to a promising future. In the same way that I have prioritized my education, I believe that a lot of teachers have done the same, as they have chosen school as their career, which is a huge aspect of their lives. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? I grew up as a low income student raised by a single mom in a predominantly high income community of two-parent households. Any information on low-income assistance was something that my mother and I had to find for ourselves. This was true when it came to AP testing fees for my high school classes. I was in a lot of AP classes and wanted to take the tests as I knew this may help me obtain college credits in the future, but every test cost $90. $90?! That was too much for my single mother to afford, especially with multiple AP tests every year. My mom looked into it and found out there was a low-income option that would make the tests affordable for my family. This was great until I found out this information was not provided by my teachers. In class, I went up to my AP Government teacher very quietly and asked if I could have a low-income form for the AP test. He didn’t give the response I was expecting. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He looked at me confused as if he was questioning if what I had just asked him was real. He said, “Oh? You need the form for low-income support on the test?” His voice was louder than I had wanted. I could tell from the eyes of my classmates that a lot of them had heard him. The embarrassment set in. “Yes.” “Oh, umm okay well...I actually don’t have those because I don’t normally have to hand them out. You’ll have to go to the office.” As if I wasn’t already feeling alone in asking for this form, he just confirmed that I was indeed alone. Apparently, I was one of the only students he had ever encountered that needed the form. I went to the office and asked for the form. The lady at the front desk laughed at me. Yes, laughed. She then pointed at a basket filled with papers and said nothing. Then the Athletic Director (who had nothing to do with the situation) felt the need to pipe in. He suspiciously asked me how I would possibly need the form for low-income students if I was able to participate in cheerleading. Not that it was any of his business, but I explained that I actually was very fortunate to have a family member that had offered to help me continue in this extremely expensive sport. He didn’t respond and walked away with a smug grin on his face. On that day “connection” was the last thing I felt with the adults I had encountered. I felt alone, embarrassed, and ashamed for something I couldn’t control. No student should ever have to feel that way, which is exactly why having things in common with our teachers is so important. The role of connection between our students and educators is one that we must place more value on. For students, connection is what makes us feel safe, accepted, and validated. It’s what developing humans need. If even one of those adults had been empathetic that day, I wouldn’t have had to feel ashamed for growing up with a single mom in a low-income household. I would’ve felt accepted for who I was and everything I had been through to get to where I was that day. In our education system, it’s not only important that teachers connect with their students, but that all adults in our education system better support kids who are going through life experiences they themselves might not have experienced. We are thrilled to share that Hailey is ROLL CALL's 2020-21 intern! She is in her final undergraduate year at the University of Washington, and she is also a tutor with the Riverways Education Partnership (formerly The Pipeline Project) serving rural and tribal K-12 students. Connect with her on Instagram @haileybrumley. Photo (c) 2020 Jen Kistner University Student High School History Teacher-in-Training Mexican DREAMer Heterosexual Male First in Family to Attend College Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: Growing up in the southmost part of the country, I believe that I have had a unique experience. The majority of my teachers have been Mexican Americans. I sometimes see myself reflected in their stories about their childhood. We share the same culture and traditions. In Christmas time we all look forward to eating tamales and sharing time with our large, extended families. Although most of my grade school teachers looked similar to me, in college at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley things changed. Suddenly I was surrounded with Anglo and Asian professors. Sometimes it was difficult to communicate and relate with them. They would tend not to understand the culture of the students. However, I always felt I had home field advantage because they were the outsiders. Recently the University has doubled their efforts to hire Latino professors. Although we do share a common language and Hispanic heritage we are very different. Currently I have a Cuban, a Cuban American, and a Puerto Rican professor. Our customs are very different but it is always interesting to learn about their traditions. I usually find myself making connections between their traditions and mine. I’ve also had Mexican and Mexican-American professors. I can relate more with these professors but even then, they are usually not native to the valley. They come from California, Chicago, and different parts of Mexico. Ultimately, I have always looked up to the few professors who are from the area and are teaching in the area. They usually share the same stories and “have been there done that”. Disclaimer: This is not to say that teachers from other backgrounds and cultures are bad teachers. At the end of the day they have all been great teachers. A teacher’s role is to teach, and I have learned… A LOT! Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: I think it is very important to have that connection between student and teacher. As a future teacher, I want to build that rapport with my students. I know that in the question above I focused on ethnicity a lot because that is what came to mind at first. But thinking about it we do not have to be from the same ethnic background, race, religion, sex or socioeconomic status to have things in common. The key is to respect and celebrate each other’s differences rather than point them out or try to hide them. My whole teaching philosophy is centered around the ability to celebrate diversity and be proud of the differences in the classroom and in our community. We live in a great country that even with all its flaws, it still remains the land of opportunity for all, although some have more opportunities than others. But that is what education is for and that is why I want to be an educator. I want to give all students the tools necessary to have an opportunity to succeed and close the achievement gap. Once again this is where having something in common comes to play. I am part of that achievement gap and have lacked opportunity so I can relate. I believe that the only thing that a student and teacher should have in common is acceptance. If the teacher and the student have acceptance of each other’s differences then they will forget about pint pointing differences and focus more on finding things in common. Similarities are not always dependent on racial factors. Wilbert is currently a university student preparing to become high school history teacher. He is a DREAMer--born in Mexico and raised in the Rio Grande Valley since he was 3 years old. He plans to stay in The Valley to teach with the hopes of giving back to the community that supported him. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong University Student Black Male Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: One thing that I always thought that was lacking in my ability to relate to teachers is that none of the teachers in my life have been black, which really shows the lack of diversity in education. However, I typically have had a lot of common interests with my teachers in high school. I remember frequently nerding out over the newest tech trends with my computer programming teacher and talking about the future of Artificial Intelligence with the head of my high school department. In both high school and college, I have found that my teachers and I both strive to make the world a better place. Many times when I asked some of them why they decided to teach despite the growing wage gap they would say that they love what they do and they feel it is their responsibility to create passionate and engaged students. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes, I wholeheartedly believe that it does matter that teachers and students can relate to each other. Because of the common interests I shared with the teachers and administrators in my life, I have always felt much better about being able to express myself in academia. Instead of feeling like classes where a prison where I had to purely learn everything in the same way as others, it became apparent that everything that I was learning could be applied to areas of interest. For instance, I found chemistry really challenging at times. So my chemistry teachers, knowing that I loved neuroscience suggested that I try to relate chemistry to the brain by looking into the way neurotransmitters work. After that, I had a whole new outlook on not only the properties of chemistry, but also on the way external stimuli can affect the ever growing and shaping neurological pathways in our own minds. Because of how cool I found the subject of Neurochemistry I got the opportunity to do my high school chemistry final on the effects of THC on the brain and because of how much I enjoyed doing that project I even decided to pursue a degree in Neuroscience. This is to show you that when you are able to relate to a teacher and when they have a genuine interest in you and your passions, education can be taken from something one dreads to something to be loved and passionate about to no end. Education has the potential to change the lives of children and be something that they will treasure forever, but that depends on how much the teacher and the student are able to work together. It also may depend on how much the teacher is able to inspire that student. Even now in college, I am still able to connect with my teachers about different parts of the subject they teach that I find interesting. In general, I have found that they really appreciate it because it shows passion about the subject they teach and they too enjoy relating to their students. Cameron is a freshman at Connecticut College where he is a TED-Ed club leader. Connect with him on Twitter @Cameronaaron4. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong University Student Korean-American First Generation American Female LGBTQ Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: Often, I don't have that much in common with my teachers, unfortunately. I respect all of the teachers who have been in my life, and I've been lucky enough to have been in the care of several who were exceptional, but I'd be hard-pressed to name a teacher I could be grouped with in a game of Guess Who without tipping the whole board. What I share with my teachers is typically what I share with my city: we're WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic). In short, traits that don't really do much, on their own, to expand students' horizons or kindle a real desire to sacrifice the wealth we take for granted to spark change in the world that levels the playing field. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes, when--as exceptions to the rule--I find that I share identities with my teacher, I am often also blessed with a mentor who can help me navigate my identities as they did at my age. Teachers have such a unique, pivotal role in the lives of so many students. Students turn to their teachers for help on so many things, especially as they're stumbling through elementary, middle, and high school and learning to suppress their "unfavorable" identities and express others. This is the period of life where kids come back home upset that their packed lunches are "too Asian", that their way of dressing or acting is somehow "gay" and therefore offensive, or that their economic standing is something to be ashamed of. Since they seek to discipline us and guide us, our teachers are in effect 6-hour+ daily stand-ins for our parents. And like parents, love them or hate them, they shape our relationships with ourselves immensely. For better or for worse, they hold this sway when we are at our most vulnerable and most desperate to fit in. Unfortunately, with a primarily cishet female, white, able-bodied, and college-educated pool of teachers, this influence may be for the worse. This group is the group to shape students ideas of how they or their parents should look and act in an America where white, straight, rich and able-bodied people are still upheld as the golden standard. This group is so often unhelpful when the really tough questions come up--the ones that make or break a student's desire to succeed in school, the ones that at their core ask "do I belong here?" or "is the way I'm feeling valid?" This group is ill-equipped to handle transitioning students, first-gen students, students of color, and all others who don't fit neatly into the Guess Who board. This group needs to change, so that students can find mentors to connect with and rely on. Bae is getting ready to start her second year at Stanford University where she is the Co-Chair of the student group Queer & Asian. See her beautiful and meticulous notes from class on Instagram at @its_the_bae_area. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong High School Student Hispanic Male Will be the first in his family to go to college Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: To me, there are still a lot of things we don't know about our teachers. As students, we go through a lot. We experience things that are either good or bad. We have teachers and our school staff that talk to us, who tell us that everything is gonna be alright and let us know that they are there for us. It is only at the time of disbelief and grief where we share that connection. Most of them may be white and there may be more female than male teachers, but that doesn't matter to me. The connection that I have to my teachers is something else. I also see it with other students as well. We are a small community where we all go to learn, to laugh, to share, and to express ourselves. Teachers are really there to help us no matter how troubled we are, whether we're stuck on a problem or we're going through some troubling times, they are there for us. They laugh and even share some stuff that you never even knew you had in common with. I've also seen some teachers experience the same things that we do too. I see them talk about their personal lives, hear them make jokes. I've also seen some of my teachers at their lowest point. We as a society treat our teachers as machines. We go in, sit down, learn, and move on to the next. But that is not true. We don't truly see what our teachers are. I am truly grateful for the community that I am a part of. Teachers' experiences and knowing the things that we have or may not have in common has helped me do things that I may never have thought I was capable of. Like expressing myself and be able to share my story. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: I know that it may be hard for others to express themselves and I understand. But all I want for people to understand is that there a lot of things we don't know about our teachers, and it is difficult to make a connection with someone you may not know a lot about. To me, it does matter that students and teachers have something in common. It builds that personal connection. And even though you may or may not have something in common with your teachers, it builds that sense of communication and trust. No matter who we or they are. No matter what race, gender, sexual orientation, or even who you are truly. Having that connection turns a school into a community and makes our teachers and students into a family, no matter if you have something in common or not. Connect with Alexis on Twitter @ASVideoGamer. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong High School Student Chinese Immigrant Female Will be the first in her family to go to college Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I really couldn't think of anything off of the top of my head. This question took way longer than it should have. My math tutor is a huge nerd, we talk about Game of Thrones all the time. Then somehow I recommended a TV show on Netflix to my biology teacher, so I guess that's that. All my teachers are female? Does that even count? I think after I began developing a passion for education, I started relating to some teachers more because I can see their passion and how they care for students. This is a really hard question. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Most parents from my ethnic background would say it doesn't matter. As long as the students learn the appropriate materials and are well prepared for standardized tests, it doesn't matter if the teacher is approachable or not. But most students would agree it does matter. When the teacher cracks that one joke, references that one TV show or movie we like, I think we all suddenly become fond of them. We become willing to listen. I think we all learn better when we like the teacher. We grow to like the class, the the subject, then other subjects in that field. We become less scared to ask seemingly stupid questions, and we begin to learn at a much more productive pace. I remember when I first moved to the US in third grade, I could barely speak any English. There was a counselor who spoke Chinese. I suddenly felt so much better, and just a little bit less lonely. And that made learning English and becoming part of the community that much easier. BUT then again, we seem to be influenced by teachers that have no commonality with us. When I see my biology teacher ramble on and on about how amazing biology is, I get somewhat touched. And I start listening because the examples she gives us are so profound that it made a STEM class interesting. When my usually strict algebra teacher told the class we could talk to her and push the homework due dates back if we wanted to priotize AP tests instead (she literally said "don't do your math homework. This is not important. AP tests are important"), I became somewhat touched. And I started listening to her lectures because I knew she is a good teacher, and she really cares. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, similarities matter. It forms instant bonds between students and teachers. But even if we couldn't form that bond, students will evetually see a good teacher's passion, and grow to respect them, to open up to them. I don't know though, respect is respect, but trust is another thing. It definitly helps if the person we're supposed to open up to has had similar experiences. We'll know they understand that way. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong Middle School Student Indian Female Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I like having things in common with my teachers. When I was India I had three things in common with all my teachers in each grade. All my teachers were Indian just like me, they spoke the same language as me, and they were all female like me. There are very few male teachers in India, most of then are female. Also one more thing I had in common with my teachers in India was that they were the same race as me. In India I had a lot of things in common with all of my teachers. But in America now I have very few things in common with my teachers. At my elementary school, I had one thing common with my art teacher. We both liked art. I was always excited when we had art. My teacher appreciated me, and we could talk about art. I was sad when I didn't have her as my teacher the next year. I always enjoyed art. What I had learned was that the more you have in common with your teachers the more you pay attention in class with them. You do not goof up, and get in trouble. You have fun being in their class. That is what happened to me. I had fun being in my art teacher’s class. This year in middle school, I had one thing common with my French teacher. We both liked French. Since I had this thing in common with her, I really like French class. I pay more attention, which helps learn French better. The more I understood French better, the better my French grade was. What I learned was that the more you like your teacher, the more you would try to get a good grade in that class. If you do not have anything in common with your teachers then you will probably not like your teachers. In addition, this year I had one more thing in common with my International Studies, we liked human geography. Every time I had International Studies, I would be excited to learn. I also understood better. When I learned that in 2nd semester I was not going to have her, I was sad. Now I have a new International Studies teacher. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes, it definitely matters that students and teachers have things in common. When teachers and students have things in common, they interact more with each. They get to know each other. Students pay more attention, they like their teacher. If you have nothing in common with your teacher, then you probably will not like the class. You also will not be able to focus in class much. There are kids who do not have anything in common with some of their teachers or maybe all of them, and it is hard for them to focus in school. Some students try to find things they have in common with their teachers, and they find it. Then they can start to know their teachers better. Students and teachers can talk about the same thing if they have things in common. The thing is that students can get in trouble if they do not have things in common. What happens is that they will not like their teacher because they do not have anything in common with them. They will goof in class, and not pay attention. This is why it does matter for students and teachers to have things in common. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong High School Student White Female Adopted Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I think the biggest thing my teachers and I have in common is our races, genders, and our backgrounds. My teachers and I have similar backgrounds in the sense that we all have been through something. I love that with all my teachers, whether past teachers or present teachers, I can talk to them about anything. Especially with Mr. Townsend, because he and so many of my other teachers are so easy to talk to, I have been able to open up and talk about something that has affected me enormously. The community I have at my high school and the wonderful connections I have with my teachers are really important to me. Mr. Townsend has allowed me to be able to write about my experience with my father’s drug abuse. Writing about it has shown me how important it is to understand it. When I was in middle school, I went through some rough stuff where my parents split up and divorced and my father fully set towards drug abuse and addiction. In middle school I didn’t really have anybody to talk to about what was going on in my life and how it affected me. When I got into high school I finally found teachers that actually cared about me and who I felt I could open up to. I got Mr. Townsend in my sophomore year and now I also have him in my junior year. He has been here for my no matter what. He has also given me more chances to learn more about what my father is going through and how I can cope with it. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: In my opinion, yes. Only because the connections I have with my teachers were all based off of our common likes and experiences. In my freshman year, I lost my grandma who I was living with at the time. Through losing her, I pushed away a lot of people and started to fall short in school. The teachers I had that freshman year talked to me and tried to understand me during that time period. They began to understand what I was going through because most of them have lost someone as well in their lifetimes. My teachers tried to just be there for me and tried not to push me into doing things and saying things that I wasn’t ready for. My history teacher in freshman year, who I have this year as well, has always been one of the teachers that has tried to watch over me and be there for me through my harshest and worst times. When I came into class the day after my grandma died, he tried to talk to me and understand me to ensure I was okay. All of my teachers care about us. I know this because they all talk to us, not only as students but as people. To them we aren’t just students, we are individuals that actually matter. I think in most schools, teachers and students don’t always form the best relationships and most students don’t feel that teachers care about them. Here, all these teachers feel for us. They want to help us and want us to do better. Our teachers want us to go to college, get jobs, and just pursue life. This relationships I share with my teachers are the only reasons I am even remotely successful in class or in school in general. I don’t know what I would do without the connections I have with my teachers. Leah hopes to become a pediatrician or child psychologist someday. She says, "I like being surrounded by people who I can help." To hear more about Leah's journey, watch this video of Kristin Leong's opening talk for Town Hall Seattle's #EducationSoWhite event. To meet Cameron Townsend, Leah's teacher, go here. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong High School Student Hispanic Straight Male Will be the first in his family to graduate from high school Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? A: I think I do have stuff in common with some of my teachers because they tell us their life experiences and I can relate to them. But then there's some teachers that I can't relate to because of their race or their gender because I'm going through different things in life than what they went through. They try helping out, but it's a better help if the person that is trying to help knows what you're going through and knows how you're feeling because they were there at one point. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: I think it does matter if you and your teachers have things in common. If students and teachers had things in common if you need someone to talk to they are there for you, they know what's going on with you, you have more trust in them, and you can feel like you can open up with them and share your feelings. Gustavo hopes to attend Seattle Pacific University or Washington State University after he graduates. He's interested in studying automotive technology, video production, and photography. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong |
ROLL CALLHumanizing the gaps separating teachers and students. Archives
December 2020
Categories
All
|