BATTLING PREJUDICE

Coming to a huge college from a small rural town, I was not prepared for the culture shock I had in store. I had grown used to people and friends who believed just like me, who had backgrounds just like me, and who did things just like me. Suddenly, I went from a small pond to a massive ocean: a college campus holding thousands of students from thousands of backgrounds with thousands of different beliefs and interests. It was a hard adjustment, and as I grew accustomed to this new world around me, I became aware of something that I did not like: prejudice is everywhere, even within myself. I never thought of myself as prejudiced, but then again, I was only ever around people like me. Being in such a diverse climate challenged me and my inward biases, and it is so essential for the betterment of society to recognize and become uncomfortable with these biases and prejudices to eventually overcome them.

Discussing biases and prejudices played a huge part in my education coursework over the past four years. Part of being a being a teacher means being able to recognize differences in culture, upbringing, and learning and being able to differentiate teaching methods to reach each and every student in the classroom, no matter their background. My first real experience with the differentiation of curriculum came in my Schools and Communities Class (EDTE 201). We spent a huge portion of this class discussing the different kinds of students we would encounter in our classes and different ways to make our curriculum and teaching styles inclusive for all of these students. As teachers, it is vital to consciously make decisions for the betterment of all students, not just a select few who learn and think like you do. Teachers have to meet their students where they are. In this class, our final project was a research inquiry paper on any issue or topic in education, and because of my challenges with prejudice and bias, I chose to do a research paper on differentiation of curriculum. I was anxious of my ability to cater to each and every student that would one day walk into my classroom and wanted to continue working on my ability to overcome bias and prejudice in order to help all of my future students become successful.

This skill of differentiation and seeing past biases became crucial when I began my full-time teaching internship. My placement school was in an area of higher poverty, and the students were coming school with many different backgrounds. Several were coping with severe trauma while others had no steady home life to return to. This created a challenging environment for many students which often led to bad behavior and poor grades. While many teachers would simply blame laziness or disobedience, EDTE 201 taught me otherwise. These students are more than just receptacles for information but are complex human beings. Balancing my instructional goals with students who were dealing with their own issues and challenges as well proved to be a difficult challenge. How do I challenge students of lower and higher achievement levels without leaving anyone behind? Luckily, because of EDTE 201 and a great coaching teacher, I quickly learned how to scaffold learning and use multiple diverse teaching strategies within my lesson plan. I consciously made efforts to involve every single student, and the necessary accommodations were provided when necessary. Even when practicing differentiated teaching styles, I still caught myself falling to my inward biases. “He’s just lazy.” “She’ll never be able to get it.” “How can I expect them to do this when all they do is talk and don’t pay attention?” I began to recognize and react to these statements. He wasn’t lazy; he was upset because of a class prior to mine. She can get the concept; she just needed a little more one-on-one instruction. Yes, he talks in class all the time, but he is paying attention; he always gives the correct answers. All it took was getting to know my student and understanding them on a deeper level. Every time I was proven wrong, I grew more and more uncomfortable in my biases, assumptions, and prejudices, and each time, I came one step closer to overcoming them.

Imagine if we applied this on a global scale. Imagine if everyone took the time to understand one another and to accept each other as who we are. Society as a whole would reach a new level of open-mindedness and productivity. All it takes is reaching out to someone, meeting them where they are, and understanding them for who they are. From there, you can build relationships and help others improve themselves. Letting bias get in the way harms one another and lessens our chances for success and growth. For this reason—bettering each other and society—it is so pertinent to become uncomfortable with and overcome biases and prejudices.