John's Article

Initially, I was not overly impressed with the article because by just glancing at it, I thought it would only be applicable to those who are interested in being collegiate professors.  As I have no intention of being a professor, and as my heart lies in public schools, I was very interested to see how I would grow from reading John’s article. 

As it turns out, John’s article is quite helpful regardless what age or linguistic ability your students have.  I particularly thought it was helpful that John’s provided the section, Discover Who Our Students Are that would be quite useful to use in a pre-collegiate classroom.  I think it is crucial for educators to truly know their students in a cultural way, by asking them the questions John asks in this section, we as educators will be more available to understanding their backgrounds and their needs as diverse students. 

When we are able to recognize the differences of each of our students, we are then able to work towards teaching them in a meaningful way.  For instance, you may have several students from Mexico in your classroom, but the conditions under which they came to your classroom may be different.  You would not teach a student who speaks Spanish full time at home the same way you would teach a student who’s parents speak some English and whose siblings speak English.  You would also teach a student differently who has been in the US 3 months versus 3 years.   We will be teaching students who are much different that us and we need to be knowledgeable and sensitive to their needs.