Career_Development_Plan

Cheryl Thorup EDUC 4740 David Gomez April 29, 2010 Article Response #2 Helping Students Research their Communities As I consider the definition of a community, I think of a group of people who share a common goal, commitment, or activity. A community could be a group of people who share the same religion. It could be a group of people who share a similar culture, tradition or language. A community could even be a group of people who share common hobbies or interests. Communities are interactive and are always changing; however, they define to large measure who we are. This article made reference to the often asked questions: “Where do I come from and where am I going'” Everyone has a desire to share knowledge about themselves and their communities. It is our responsibility as teachers to learn as much about our students as possible. A mistake made far too often by teachers is assuming too much about the students in our classrooms based on their neighborhood, race, and class. We often let stereotypes interfere with the positive relationships we should be creating with our students. I’m eager to find ways that will excite the students in my class to discover who they are and the type of person they will become. This can be done by sharing family traditions, spotlighting different cultures, meeting members of extended families, reading books and celebrating who each student is. I know that as we allow children of all cultures to share family traditions and cultures with their peers, they will find greater confidence ad pride in who they are.