Mr. Chad Hebert 's Health Class At Oak Park Middle School

I observed a sixth grade classroom (eleven to twelve years of age) at a middle school in Ringgold, Georgia. The classroom seemed to be fairly even in regards to how many children of each sex were in the classroom. The majority of the students were white with a few african american and hispanic children among the mix. The sixth grade classes did not have enough employees to only teach one subject therefore, the teacher that I observed taught language arts and mathematics. The first thing you notice when you walk into the classroom is the mathematical shapes all along the upper wall like a wallpaper border. These shapes were projects from her students in the years before. The next thing that you’ll notice is the way the desks were set up. They were set up in three separate groups. One group of around twelve desks faced the

Schools systematically subjugate minority and black students when a school’s enrollment contains a huge racial majority. If students have no exposure to persons of different ethnicities, cultures, races, and religions, then these students will experience culture shock when they confront “other” people. Even in our class, we talk about black and minority students as another group, one that differs from “us.” We think about the inequalities in school systems as problems we need to fix, not as problems that have influenced our thinking and affect us as prospective teachers. For example, a white graduate student with

In this unit I am going to explain three different approaches to promoting Health Education the three approaches I am going to explain are Mass Media, Community development and Two way Communication.

African American students account for the larger majority of minorities in public schools in the United States. Most areas in the northern part of the United states and coastal areas are ethnically diverse. However, down south this is not the case. Students of color will experience a harder time in the education system. African American students meet the obstacle of educators who will not want them to succeed based on a preconceived thought. In fact, Caucasian teachers make up for 85% of all

African Americans are not the only ethnicity group to be singled out with behavior. Racial and ethnic minority students report experiencing low teacher expectations, having less access to educational resources, being placed on lower educational tracks, and being steered toward low-paying employment (Kozol, 1991; Olsen, 2008).This low expectation is causing

Currently, general education classrooms have increasingly become diverse with both disable students and students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. In order for educators to ensure that they effectively teach these classrooms, meet the needs of each student both successfully and individually, effective research that is based on strategies need to be implemented. The U.S. Department of Education suggest that, the current school-age population is becoming more diverse as time passes, yet, majority of the teachers in these schools are white non-Hispanic women. According to another report by The Condition of Education in 2006, American schools are portraying increased diversity and growth. The report suggested that, forty two percent of students in public schools were ethnic or racial minorities in the year 2003; this increased from twenty two percent since 1972. Owing to these reasons, teachers in these schools are expected to educate a diversified class of students including those that come from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Teachers are therefore, required to implement a number of key strategies that will ensure that every student in specific classroom feels that he or she belongs there (Worrell, 2010).

As I walked into the lunchroom on the first day of fifth grade at my new school, I noticed the different races that sat before me. There were a handful of Asians, few hispanics and little to no other races besides the white majority. Then there were the black kids, small in

Teaching in racially diverse classrooms often leaves educators feeling uncertain about how to proceed and how to respond to historically marginalized students. There is pressure to acknowledge and accept students of color with different perspectives, to diversify the syllabi, be more aware of classroom dynamics, and pay attention to how students of color experience the learning process.

Lisa Delpit’s book, Multiplication is for White People, she outlines different reform strategies that will change African American education in the 21st century. The first reform strategy Delpit outlines is to recognize and build on children’s strengths. When teaching in an urban school, teachers should begin by understanding the children and their home lives. Using the knowledge that the children already have, and building on that will help students succeed. Believing that African American students are not worth being taught, plays a major role in the way students react to their educator. I believe that once an educator begins at a specific school, they should survey the student's knowledge to use that to go forward. Then using that to build on everyone’s strengths throughout the year will help in class participation and build a sense of community in the class. Recognizing a student's strengths, will make the student believe that he or she has someone on their side who cares. Once they feel that someone cares, they will want to do

During my third year in college, I participated in the Civil Rights and Social Justice Pilgrimage that the ministry department made each year. While on this trip, I was exposed to the good that came off the Civil Rights Movement, but I also witnessed the horrors that so many people endured. One of the events that really troubled was school segregation. One exhibit allowed me to view what a White classroom would look like compared to an African-American classroom. There were extreme differences in these classrooms. As someone who has a passion for teaching and helping children, this deeply upset me that the color of a child’s skin effected their education. At that point, I realized that if I was to become a teacher I would make my classroom

As I began my teaching career, I observed the same phenomena. My male African-American and Latino students were performing at a lower rate than other subgroups. At a newer high school in

In the twentieth century, the world has become so corrupted with racial discrimination that people have become accustomed to solely interact with people of their own race. This complication is predominantly found in schools and has become increasingly problematic. About one-third of all schools in New York has a population that is dominated by a single race, usually African American or white. Academic studies show that segregation in school has diminished academic performance and failed to equip students for the interracial world that awaits them. Explore Charter, a k-8 public schools 502 students from kindergarten through eighth grade consisted of a population of 92.7 percent black students, 5.7 percent Hispanic, and a scattering amount are

Black girls have more than double of a chance of getting suspended than white girls in each state. In the District of Columbia, 73 percent of females attend school, but 94 percent of them are suspended. They are 17.8 times more likely to be suspended over a white girl (Camera). Evidence says, from Neena Chaudhry, that girls are not getting suspended for their behavior, but for the color of their skin. “Black girls face high and disproportionate suspension rates across the country – and it’s not because they are misbehaving more frequently than other girls,” (Chaudhry), director of education at the women’s law center. This is explaining that people realize the problem that these girls are facing and that it is causing conflict with teachers and the students. Due to this, black girls feel discriminated and feel like they do not belong because of the hate coming from the faculty

During the Steps 2 College program provided by the University of North Georgia, Gainesville Campus, my Education 2120 class and I were to provide 20 hours of observational field experience in the classroom. From the many course options provided for the program, I choose to spend my time in the Environmental Science course which was located in the Nesbitt building in room 1213. The classroom setting was a darker than normal classroom, but was formatted auditorium style, with all seats facing the front of the class towards the smart board. This was a new experience for the students. Only the first row was used in class due to having a class size of only 7 students. The ratio of boys to girls was about even with 4 boys and 3 girls in the class. All the students were Hispanic, with the only diversity being the teacher and the teachers assistants present. They were all bilingual, knowing their native language of Spanish as well as English except one student who only knew English. All the students in our class came from Banks County High School. Banks County High School, located in Homer, Georgia, is the only high school within its county, with an enrollment rate of greater than or equal to 800 students annually (usnews,2015). Banks County High School has a national ranking of Bronze. Here is the breakdown of the demographics provided by (usnews,2015) and the National Center for Education Statistics of the school:

I fully agree with the topic that educators should not judge students on their “political status” or “home environment”, but they must understand their own personal values and expectations as teachers and as well as the education systems, to provide black students with a more natural feeling class environment. As far as I can tell this is more crucial today because of how easy it is to become so judgmental based on what the media says, or what a friend from last week posted on Facebook. All school staff must understand that all students must be taught equal, and that not every teaching style works for every student. Although this article does raise a few questions to me. You two often speak about creating this healthy class environment for black