What is your responsibility?

As a teacher it is my responsibility to teach every student to the best of my capabilities. In order to be successful there are several variables that must be addressed by every teacher at the beginning of the year. What are my students likes, dislikes, learning styles, language, and what cultural backgrounds do they bring into the classroom. The whole classroom is affected by one student who is not of the mainstream culture. This is a wonderful opportunity for me as a teacher to "tap into" these cultural differences in a positive way. I would learn everything I could about the child's cultural background in order to share it with the other students. I do not believe however that it is my responsibility as a teacher to learn their language. This would be an impossible task within the teaching day because of the needs of the other 30 children in my classroom. I will embrace their differences and yet teach them new things about mainstream culture that they need in order to be successful in America. An example of things to teach about our culture is the language. Until we as a nation declare that we have more than one official language students are going to have to learn English, the sooner the better. Also, it is important to understand that boys and girls are different. Generally speaking, boys need more activity while girls are more content to sit at a desk and "work." It will be important to teach to all sets of learning styles. I will incorporate moving activities and desk time appropriately. Right now students with disabilities are in the classroom right alongside average kids. It will be important to set the tone of the classroom to be safe for every student. No name calling, or ridiculing will be tolerated. It is important to help foster caring and tolerance for each other. In my son's classroom they are all split up into group's and it is great to see the teamwork of the students with each other. The issue of religion in school should be tolerated and respected. It will be important to keep communication open with the parents in order not to offend them. For example, some religions do not celebrate Halloween. It will be important to send out ample notice of a Halloween party or activities relating to Halloween in order for the parent to choose to take their child out of class that day. The diversity in each classroom is what makes teaching exciting and challenging. I look forward to growing in my knowledge of cultural diversity.