WHAT GOES ON IN MY CLASS
The first thing I believe and do is to ensure that all children are treated equally and get equal access to my time and class resources without fear or favor, irrespective of their age, gender background and culture. This promotes an atmosphere of peace and makes everyone feel they are a part of the family. The effect is that everyone will be ready to learn.
It is very vital for a teacher to understand that there are differences in cultural values and way of life. Your success as a teacher will be dependent on how well you know your kids and their irrespective cultures. Do not force them to confine to your cultural believes and ethics. I believe every culture has moral values embedded in it. Some things are acceptable in some culture while they are not in others. For instance, in my class, there are some cultures of kids in which you cannot mistakenly touch their head nor have a hand shake with them. It is not acceptable else the parent will be in school the next day. Also, some foods are peculiar to a kind of culture and are not to other. I keep telling my kids this like every other day that because you are right doesn’t make other person wrong.
All the things we do and know now as adults are shaped by our life experiences, background and thing we learnt either actively or otherwise. No one brings a particular knowledge from heaven. So as a teacher, our job is to ensure that our kids develop the right values which include tolerance. I constantly teach my class to tolerate one another. The last sentence in my class pledge which we recite everyday says ‘I will make everyone feel welcome.’
With this, everyone sees themselves as equals and are treated as such. As a teacher we need to constantly uphold the right values and lead by example. This has to be deliberate.
