inquiry 5

Chapter eight by Victoria Purcell-Gates opened my eyes to see how our society views those who are less fortunate. She mentions that people, even teachers, classify those who are lower class as students who are incapable of learning in the classroom, whereas those students who are considered middle to upper class are capable of learning in the classroom. I know this appears to be an obvious issue, but sometimes what goes on around us is the very thing we are less aware of.

I am aware that society classifies people. We all do it whether we mean to or not, but it never crossed my mind that teachers do it too. I suppose it is common sense because teachers are people too, but a teacher is also suppose to be a neutral ground and safe place to rely on. I believe that as future educators we MUST strive to eliminate this idea that teachers classify their students. I want my students to know I have confidence in each of them, and that I do not care how much money their parents have or do not have. I want to help those who are struggling to find a balance to learn how to read and write.

It is important that we recognize that some students just do not have the means at home to practice reading and writing. That is where our job becomes important. We have the means to be creative and give students books to read and to encourage our students writing. We have the ability to introduce students to different genres, and we can show our students how to have fun writing. I strongly believe that is one major aspect of our job we MUST NOT ignore. Just because a student does not have this prior knowledge, does not mean he/she is incapable of learning new genres and styles of writing. Therefore, we should not label these students as such.

Even though we should not label students, is it possible to remain neutral? It’s not fair to the entire class to hold back for another student, so what do we do? How do we balance helping each student so everyone increases his/her knowledge, even though each student is on a different level? Is it possible to reach the stars or do you have to settle and realize some stars need a little a more gas than others?