Brittany Hargis

Inquiry-to-Curriculum Project
3-6-14
I am made of a tattered old Elmo doll,
Of a soft yellow blanket worn as a cape,
And a fluffy, white cotton ball rubbed on my nose.
I am made of an absent father,
Of a kick ass mom who is always there for me
And a step-dad that is better than the real thing.
I am made of roller blading to Mickeys on the corner,
Of the sound of Santas red sleigh pulling into the drive
And hundreds of dandelion seeds blowing in the wind.
I am made of fights with a sister who I didnt like,
Of a brother who I dont know
And a baby sister who makes me smile every day.
I am made of stray animals brought home to love
Of a comforting willow tree that I took for granted
And a home that I had never once known.
I am made of spavioli,
Of the smell of my Papa cutting fresh tomatoes from his garden
And of my grandmas infinity plus 1s.
I am made of a loud and obnoxious voice
Of swear words that I use far too often
And of sweatpants that I wear almost every day.
I am made of tan skin that pales in mid-winter,
Of brown eyes that shed tears at the slightest of sad things
And of a body that turned against me.
I am made of friends, best friends that sometimes drive me crazy
Of a curly haired, Jewish schmoozer that I could now never live without
And a tall, neat freak who burps at every turn.
I am made of creativity and curiosity
Of dreaming big
And working to never regret the decisions I make.
I am made of love,
Of a boy who is everything that I am not
And of a single day where my eyes were opened to what true love is.
I am made of a face that blends into the crowd
Of a personality that is unforgettable when you take the time to get to know me
And of many faces that mask my true feelings.
I am made of supportive teachers
Of having the ability to express my thoughts and ideas inside the classroom
And feeling safe and comfortable in my environment.
I am made of gut feelings
Of following my heart
And of ignoring the rational
I am made of me.
Of nothing but my own experiences, ideas and values.
And of a lifetime to continue to grow.

In this poem I wrote about everything that makes me who I am. I wrote about the
family that raised me, the best friends that changed me, the boyfriend that loves me, the
chronic health condition that challenges me and most of the major turning points in my
life. For example, I included, being raised by a single mother, having an absent father,
moving from Michigan to Ohio, finding out I had diabetes as college freshman and going
through my sisters open heart surgery. I also included some of my favorite childhood
memories such as my Elmo doll, my favorite ice cream shop and my favorite willow tree
from my childhood home. Along with all of these parts of my life, I included other people
such as my best friends, boyfriend, grandparents and teachers that have also made
large impacts on my life. Lastly, I also elude very much into my own feelings about
myself and describe my outlook on life and try to express the real me.
I think that one of the main issues that educators face when discussing poverty
and race is ignorance and a lack of background and knowledge on the subject. I think
that because teachers are often of similar background, white, middle-class, women,
they are blind to issues and struggles of those that do not fit within this category.
Although this is not always a correct assumption, I think that when it is, it often causes a
rift or disconnect between teacher and student. When this disconnect is created within
the classroom, it also creates the same divide between student and school because the
kids begin believing school is not a loving, caring environment. It gives the perception
that teachers and faculty dont care about anything more than teaching what needs to
be taught and doing enough to get the scores they need. Students need to be shown
that teachers, faculty and schools not only care about giving students a quality
education, but also about their struggles, hardships and true selves as well.
In addition, educators are also faced with the challenge of dealing with racial
issues and issues of poverty outside of the classroom. As teachers it is our job to get to
know our students and this includes finding out about their home lives, adversities,
racial backgrounds any other issues that will help you better understand and recognize
how to best create a classroom environment that will benefit your students. Often times,
if we do not take the time out of our lives and out of the school day to recognize that our
students may deal with issues of poverty, it may create an even larger gap in our
relationship and cause us to label children as lazy or dumb or as the problem child
without recognizing the real reasons as to why they are falling asleep in class, their
grades are slipping or they are acting out during the day. Being a teacher and knowing
your students and taking the time to care is sometimes the easiest thing you can do to
help them in your class.
Lastly, a major challenge that we face when confronting race is being ignorant
enough to believe that we are all the same. We are not. I know many times throughout
my education and from what I have discussed with other people we were taught to say,
see and believe that everyone is the same. Color doesnt matter. Background doesnt
matter. Culture doesnt matter. But thats ridiculous because it does and thats what
makes our school experiences all so special (as long as these differences are
embraced and accepted). As teachers we often like to believe that confronting
differences and pointing out that our students are different in some way isolates them or
puts them out there for ridicule, but differences are aspects to be celebrated.
Differences are what make our students unique. Their race, culture and background are
all what make them who there are and by allowing students to feel comfortable enough
in the classroom to express their true selves we all have the opportunity to begin
understanding, accepting and embracing people who are different from us.
Students, especially at a young age, often do and say as they see and hear.
Young children are very in tune with themselves and often view the world in a different
light than adults. It is easy for children to know your true feelings and pick up on actions
(good or bad) when interacting with the students in your classroom. As teachers we
have to be able to face our own insecurities, assumptions and bias especially those that
we have about race and poverty. If we are able to truly reflect, and be honest with
ourselves regarding these mattes it will make us a more effective and efficient teacher
when faced with these aspects within our classrooms.
One of the major questions that I was able to form after reflecting on the above
sections, our class readings, the bus tour, field and class discussions was how can I
create an understanding, accepting and embracing classroom for all students. What can
I do as a teacher to embrace difference and teach my students to accept, wonder and
share about cultural experiences and backgrounds? After visiting Katie Henrys
classroom and witnessing how she is able to cater to student needs while being such a
caring, competent and transformative teacher left me in awe. I want to create a
classroom in which I can this very thing in a cultural and racial aspect. I want my
students to be able to have hands on experience with diversity and be aware about all
of the things that are going on around them in the world. I want to teach more than
material, I want to teach life and how to view the world in a different light; in a caring,
transforming, I can conquer the world kind of way. I know that a lot people say that not
everyone can be like the teacher that Freedom Writers was based off of, but I say why
not? We all have that ability. We have the opportunity to change students lives
(whether their lives are bad or good) there is always room to change and make them
better. We owe it to them.
Since beginning this major here at Miami and even before I have been able to
witness several teachers and classrooms in actions, but in all of those classrooms with
the exception of a few, I havent been able to witness this being done. Yes, teachers
talk about race during Black History Month (sometimes) or put out books about Rosa
Parks, or Selena or another person of a descent other than Caucasian but why even do
this if we cant acknowledge it other than during one month of the year, if at all? Simply
putting up a poster of Martin Luther King or setting out a book about the Holocaust
means nothing when we dont allow our students to interact with the material; to work
towards understanding a new culture, a new group of people, to compare and contrast
and accept and embrace and question and discover. We choose to keep these blinders
on. We choose to say were responsible to teach our kids the material we are assigned
and told to teach, but we have a bigger responsibility. A responsibility to open our
students eyes to the possibilities, to the issues of the world and what they can choose to
do to help or change it.
Although I mentioned several ways above that I will find evidence to help lead to
answering the question that I posed earlier, in addition I will be able to make observable
evidence in field. I can observe the actions of my teacher, the decorations around the
room, the topics that she chooses to discuss, the matters she chooses to point out, the
books she chooses to put out and the ones she chooses to focus on. Making these
types of observations and reflecting and critically examining them will allow me to
potentially notice aspects of the classroom that the naked eye may not see. It may also
allow me to see any underlying information about the children that I did not originally
notice. Kids often speak volumes through their actions, but also through their words.
Most children are willing to talk as long as you take the time to listen.
In addition to observation, I will also do a lot of investigation through
conversation. The teachers and faculty at my school seem to be very helpful and willing
to answer any questions that I have. Taking note of certain things that are said and told
to me by my teacher will be beneficial in helping to aid in getting me closer to answering
my above question. Also asking teachers and faculty about demographics on the area
or even doing a little research by myself will be helpful in getting to know a little more
about the community and potentially the culture of my students. Lastly, I think that a
great way for me to truly help answer the above questions is to visit a variety of
classrooms, even if just for a few minutes, to see how teachers interact with the issues
of culture and race within their own classroom.
As an outsider looking in, often times I think it is easier to see certain aspects of
a classroom when you are looking for them. I think that by observing a variety of
classrooms throughout my school and discussing these topics with my teacher I will be
able to begin focusing on certain aspects that contribute to helping me form an answer
to my question. In addition, I also believe that conducting a few interviews with faculty
around the school would be beneficial in gathering information for this project. Many
times, with the help of well worded questions, we can find out a lot about a persons
feelings towards the issues of race and culture. Having the opportunity to ask how they
differentiate for certain students, how they incorporate culture into the classroom and so
on would probably be one of the most honest and valuable ways for me to find out true
feelings and efforts in creating a comfortable, open and culturally accepting classroom
environment.
Lastly, I think that conducting a few interviews (obviously not formally) with some
students would be useful in finding out what to do to create a racially and culturally
enriching and accepting classroom environment. I think getting the students perspective
on how they feel in school, if they feel they learn enough about different cultures (or
even if they feel they learn enough about their own) or even feel accepted as a valuable
member of their classroom and school community would be just a few starting points
that would allow me to learn more about the answer to me posed question(s).