This is the last blog for my Culturally responsive classroom but I think it is just a beginning of long journey of blogging and writing.I enjoyed Writing always and I wanna be a great writer one day.It was a great opportunity for me to start blogging and at least get to writing stuff instead of just dreaming.

I would love to address in this piece of writing few matters that are really important to me as a future teacher and also my time in this classroom.The reason I am planning to become a teacher is really not very clear but they are few things I like about teaching.I like explaining concept to students and share with them knowledge with them and build their skills and capacity.

I also realized that I am very patient with parents and students in the process of teaching and explaining and saw this as a very important quality of a teacher.I wanted to use that quality to help the students and impart with skills and knowledge.Over the weekends I volunteer at a Islamic school teaching the Qur’an,Arabic and Islamic Studies.I realized that being a volunteer at the Islamic Education center encouraged me to pursue career in education.

In the course of ‘ Creating Culturally responsive classrooms’.I had an opportunity to learn about a lot important things specially different cultures,bias,immigration,discrimination and much more issues affecting education and our classroom.All those issues opened my eyes to the reality of education and the challenges I am going to face as an educator.After this course I am not in my comfortable zone.I have a better understanding of my own views and other a lot of other groups.I had an opportunity to do a field experience and write a report about it.

My final thought here is I am very excited to become a teacher and have an impact on many student’s lives.I understand that being teacher comes with a great responsibility.I wanna be a positive teacher who inspires his students to be the best version of themselves.I wanna be their mentor and contribute to their success in school and in the future.This class of ‘ Creating Culturally responsive classrooms’ was just what I needed to become a better educator.I look forward to be blogging after this class ends and hopefully share my opinion and contributions on education matters.

I think this was a very important week cause I had to read something that I find very interesting personally which is different styles of learning.I had an opportunity to learn about what is ‘cooperative learning’ and what are some of the ways in which teachers can use in their classroom.I personally believe it is part of the human nature that we work together and we do best as a team rather than individual. I have been to many classrooms and schools in the state of Minnesota and I can say that ‘ cooperative learning’ is not one of their top agenda.

Imagine all the work places in 21st century and how important team work is.For me that article is something I will definitely implement in my classroom.I would make cooperative learning a priority part of my curriculum thus making sure my students can work as a part of a team and accomplish projects on as required.I would emphasize to balance my students contribution to make sure nobody is contributing too litte and no one too much.

In a previous blog post,I discussed my lack of knowledge about Native American People and specially the students and this article was very informative discussing about the different ways that Native American kids learn.I just remembered that a lot of Somali American kids learn in our state and we I personally never came across article that discussed about their different learning styles.I am still searching if I don’t find a one,I might write it one day after i become a teacher and get good experience and education to conduct research.

I personally believe I am not poor as long as I am happy with will of Allah(Arabic word for God).If I put aside my belief and discuss the article titled ‘ How poverty affects classroom management’.I was not surprised to know that hunger has an effect on how stay engaged in classroom.For exam when I am hungry I can’t even focus for few minutes and I fall sleep, just imagine a child going through that on a daily basis.All differences listed in the article really made sense to me and I am sure as a teacher, i will make better connection with low income students and provide their families with a quality education.

When it comes, to gender of course there is a a difference between male and female biologically but there should not be a generally rule saying that boys don’t learn this or girl can no do this.As a teacher I think I will treat my students the same way and not going to stereotype a specific gender.I believe all boys and girl can learn as long they work hard and understand the concept at hand. Gender might play a role in how boys and girls learn in different situations and different concepts but that should not be used as a reason to subjugate a specific gender.

I wa very interested in learning about ‘ IEP Terms’.I spent few months working with students who had IEP as part of their student plan.I was able to work with different students who had different accommodations.Something interest was many students do not know their accommodations thus they will not get the required support but that was when I would come in as a paraprofessional and make sure they were accomodate in their classrooms.In my time as a paraprofessional I came across many terminologies that I didn’t know what they meant and this article was just what I call ‘ lifesafer’.

I think I am getting better at writing blogs and this is my fourth blog since I started writing in this class.In my journey of Becoming a teacher I am always thinking how to understand people’s thoughts and what are the different ways they learn so I can provide a personalized learning for my students.As I was reading through the Article titled ‘ Teacher Discourses and Identities: Understanding Your Teaching SelfI’ i remembered the different teachers who taught me in different times in my education.Some of them were source of inspiration in my life and they added value to my life and increased my knowledge.When I become a teacher I wanna be like them for example would always make us laugh at the end of the class and we didn’t wanna him leaving the class, we wish he would extend class time and make us laugh more.

Another teacher would always tell a personal story that showed how he struggled in his childhood and that we were in a better situation than him. After hearing his story I would see problems were nothing compared to what my teacher went through in his childhood. I wanna do the same thing and become a source of inspiration for my students so that I am not only teaching but getting them ready to face life’s challenges.

When it comes to fitting in a different society and understanding their norms,I think I am still learning how to live in American Society.I have no a friend outside of my community and faith, it is not that I don’t like interacting with ‘other’ people but I don’t have a lot of things in common and I feel if I interact with people who are different than me more than I am supposed then I might lose my own identity and culture.

I grew up in a conservative society and I am in my comfort zone but when I work or interact with different people I do my best to make sure I follow the social norms.I believe it is one of the areas I need to improve as an individual in order to get to know other people and understand more about their culture.Like Katelynn I had culture shock coming here in the United States of America and still going through everyday as I interact with people who never met with a African Muslim before in their lives.

Reading ‘ What is Microaggression’ I knew what the word ‘ micro’ meant and the word ‘ aggression’ but I didn’t know what they meant when they are put together.I am sure I have been on the received more than few times,Some would aske me where I am from or would say that I spoke English very well.I wouldn’t mind answering those questions but it always left me thinking in my mind ‘ why do they ask me those questions because i don’t ask them’.Now after reading this article I am in a better situation to answer those questions and remind people that they don’t need to ask but doing their search through other sources.

I do listen to some talks by Khaled A Beydoun and reading his article titled ‘ Rethinking IslamophobiaI’ explains what fuels Islamophobia in the world and specially in America in which it is a very real problem.Sometimes when I am wearing islamic dress i get insulted and threatened and told ‘ go back to your country’.I watch the news and then see people who go through more difficult problems than me for being a muslim.I stay strong in the face of these problems and I am sure there is a light at the end of the tunnel.Articles like this brings light and attention to the real roots of the problem we are dealing with.

As a son of a Naturalized American citizen I don’t know if I am really American but I know I came to this country to have a better future for my family and for myself.I didn’t come here to become dependent on people or the government but to work hard and contribute to my society.Going through the materials about immigration I didn’t know what to read but I decided to state in this last paragraph why I cam here and that I am not taking anybody’s place but pursuing my dreams.

It is another week of intense reading and a lot of content to cover. I had an opportunity to dive deep into the world of bias and I was shocked to realize,I was suffering from implicit bias towards people in many different situations and it is just difficult to explain. but they are not very visible towards other people and they rarely played a big role in my process of decision making.

I was very fascinated by the article titled ‘ Curriculum as a window and a mirror’.It really discussed a very common problem that we have in our education curriculum. There was a time I spent sometime in a public school classroom and I was going through the collection of the books and did not see a lot of books that represented the character of people of color and imagine the majority of students in that students are students of color.

It was just few days ago I was in a Barnes & Nobles store here in Minnesota,I happened to be in the children section and had a look at the Religion section and there was only book about christianity.I am a muslim and when I take my children to that store they don’t see books about their faith and they don’t see themselves in the books of their classroom now will they feel part of this society and this community?

I am sure many people like me have the same or more questions on why they don’t see themselves represented in their communities literature.For the last few decades we are seeing progress nevertheless we have along way to go before we see everybody’s face and voices in books and our literature.

As I expand my knowledge and read more about culture, identity, privilege ,ethnicity and race , I am realizing I need to study more in order to understand the many issues that affect the education system.I am going to discuss more in detail on my understanding and thoughts about this week’s content and of course I am gonna start with the Complexity of identity.

The complexity of Identity.Before reading the Article about Complexity of identity,I had a very narrow understanding of the concept, it was just about someone’s religion and nationality and not more than that.I didn’t know that identity was affected by many factors both internal and external.From my personal experience, living in my homeland Somalia, I never had to show or as a matter of fact prove to anyone that I am a muslim cause everyone around me was a muslim.For example there was no a day I watched the news in my country thinking that they will portray a bad picture of my religion or my culture.Coming here I feel like I am constantly fighting to keep my identity and struggle to explain to the people that we are equal as human beings even if I speak a different language, dress differently, worship or have an accent when I speak english.I believe many factors that affect our identities are not permanent and they change according to different situations and places.

What is privilege ? Living in America when I hear the term privilege I picture in my mind an upper class white person who owns a home, has a decent job and does not get harassed by the police when they are driving to work or taking a walk in the park(that was my opinion before I did my homework and read ‘ Privilege 101;Quick & Dirty Guide).Now I am sure that was not educated understanding of broad term of Privilege.The article decides that privilege is the opposite of oppression and I Personally don’t agree with that statement and I believe when we misuse our privilege and prevent other people from sharing with us the benefits that come with privilege is when I can call it ‘oppression’.

Minnesota Schools struggle to with widening racial gap between teachers & students.I think it is one of the reasons that motivated me to join the field of education,I sometimes visit my brothers’s high school and the number of teachers of color I see is very small compared with the number of students of color in that specific school.I read many studies and articles that says having more teachers of color in the classroom has positive impact on student’s performance overall.I am sure they are a lot of positive things that teachers of color will bring but the questions do we have the resources and the willpower to empower the aspiring teachers to get into classroom and stay in that career for long time?

What teachers need to know about the Native American Students?.if there is someone who is very ignorant about Native American then it has to be me and this articles opened the door for me to read and understand different ways that Native American Students learn.I am sure understanding how native American students learn is also the same as understanding how every kids learn an as teachers we are supposed to develop personalized learning for every child in our classroom and pay more attention to students of color and minority so they can be successful like anybody else.

This week I got an opportunity to immerse myself in pool of new information and I will be breaking it down into sections so I can explain why this information is new to me, how does it connect with my previous knowledge and how it has changed my thinking.I will start with saying I didn’t know the real meaning of definition until I watched the video title ‘ Why does privilege make people So Angry?’.My definition of privilege was just ‘something that we are given but it is not our right and it can be taken away from us anytime’ for example I remember reading somewhere that driving in Minnesota was a privilege and not right.I had a very narrow understanding of privilege until I watched the 4min video and it opened my eyes to the meaning of privilege.

I realized everyone has a type of privilege..Previously I thought having a privilege was only people like who had wealth or fame or being white in America or being A christian in America or having rich parents but I did not know using the bathroom without any accommodation was a type of privilege and because of getting exposed to such information I am able to appreciate what I have and I believe it is my duty to make sure all people are treated fairly.

Since I came to America I am almost losing my first name(Mukhtar) due to many people mispronouncing and for me personally when does not say my name well..I just correct them and move on.Since I started working in a school I realized that students are very sensitive to how you say their names and I have doing my best to call them their preferred name in the most correct way so I will be able to communicate with them and establish a great relationship.

I came across a very interesting Quiz that trigged my mind and I started counting my privilege until I could not keep going but I also realized the many forms of discrimination that we have our society and it was eye opening for me.I felt the quiz got me of my comfort zone and I found myself in the reality  of the world we live which needs a lot of changes.

I read the ‘The privilege list’ and it is amazing how many groups of people are privileged.For Example sometimes people will end up telling ‘happy christmas’ and I have to explain to them I don’t celebrate christmas and there is no way I can say it back.Some of the privileges I have as a straight man is I don’t fear being discriminated for my gender and many other privileges of straight.

This is my first Blog post and it is not great post but I am sure I will be doing better in the next.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton