Reflect

I realize that although I come from modest means, I am a white American women with 3 healthy children.  We own a house and 2 cars.  Many of the families in the district that I am in rent and don't have a reliable means of transportation.  I feel that I can use my privilege to make my classroom/school more equitable by keeping discipline and rewards fair among all, making sure all are created equally.  

I have the privilege of being white and middle-class. I have the marginalization of being female. Unfortunately, I see in the English curriculum that a lot of our resources are from a white perspective. With my twelth graders, I have more flexibilty with the curriculum and readings I use. I try and include stories and poems from marginalized groups to get their ideas and opinions out. I want my students to know that there are people similar to them that have written stories and other accounts. That is important. They need to know that there are people similar to them that have accomplished great things. I want to continue to include a variety of sources and perspectives in my classroom.

I do believe that I am living the life of privilege each and every day that I wake to see another morning. I live in a country that is full of freedoms. I have a roof over my head, food on my table, a good job, and family and friends that love me and make my life complete. I am privileged to be a woman who has given birth to one child and that said child has made his presence known and positively touched the lives of many in this crazy world in which we live in. I have the privilege of showing endless amounts of compassion and empathy to all those that I meet. I get the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children, to be a trusted adult, to have a helping hand in making them strong, educated, decent human beings that will be our future leaders. That to me is a privilege. I have also been marginalized. I was a teen mother. I had my one and only child, a son, my senior year of high school. I wasn't supposed to make it as statistics show that teen mothers tend to drop out of high school. That was never an option for me nor did the thought ever cross my mind. I knew that I couldn't become a statistic. I had this new tiny human depending on me. I had a very supportive family, and the faculty of my high school was amazing. My son was eight months old when I graduated. I immediately went to work instead of going to college after graduating. I did receive WIC and had Medicaid for my son early on in his life. People are marginalized for factors such as those too. My son is now twenty five years old and very successful. Everything that I did from the moment he was born, I did for him. I feel that women are often marginalized when they become mothers as well. I may not have done things the traditional way and by that I mean go to college, land the perfect job, get married and then have kids. I wholeheartedly feel that everything happens for a reason. I feel that my life wasn't headed in the most positive direction and that my son was given to me to guide me. While him and I may have met a little early in life, I get to love him so much longer. We don't have to accept marginalization. That is what I want my students to always know and understand. There are always options and we choose our destiny. There isn't any amount of education that can prepare one for the unknown. We give our students the tools and knowledge to keep in their toolbox for the what-ifs and how to fix life's many problems. Sometimes that is all we can do, the rest is up to them.

As a woman, I have experienced being privileged by having a steady home life and raised to value school for life skills but also marginalized a lot. I have not been given opportunities to go into sports like my brothers or experience anything outside the bounds of femininity from my parents. As an overweight female I was not asked to be involved in sports or girlie dances or special activities because I wasn't pretty white - girl enough or had money. in college the "In" girls or groups did not invite me in and then into my teacher career I seemed to not fit in with the "All that" group or get recognition from the popular ass- kissing teachers, no matter how helpful I thought I was being. But I remember always being told by social programs in school, college and "ice breaker" activities at school that you have your won gift to offer the students, kids and families. So took this notion that I was worthy and went with it. I did have the privilege to be in positive environments that encouraged me to eventually stand up for myself. So, I thank God that he put important people in my life to encourage me along so that I know my worth and will not let anyone determine that for me. This understanding of my worth is a big part of what I share with the students today. Every day and to every student in my room I will say that they are valued, unique and have something only they can offer to the world. With this exchange, I feel I offer a safe, respectful and equitable classroom in the best ways I can and continue to look for ways to help the students know how amazing they can be and what unlimited potential they have to offer their community now and in the future.      doggielove22   About 2 months ago

As a school counselor I do notice privilege within the school system on a daily basis.  For the most part, the students who do well in school have families that communicate with the school system.  They are involved in activities and have support when it comes to transportation and encouragement.  If a student had a consequence in school then there is a high chance that home would agree and support the school with what the consequence is and discuss this at home.  Students who do well in school academically and behaviorally are recognized.  The way classrooms and the school system is set up is for students who have supports at home.  
Students who struggle academically tend to do better when home knows how to reach out and communicate with the school.  Most academic, social and emotional supports need support from home to get these additional resources.  If there is struggle with transportation, time out of work, lack of insurance then these supports are not easily retrieved.  
For example, I might call a parent because a student needs additional emotional support.  We can offer school counseling but for mental health therapy a family needs to take their child to an intake appointment.  This is during the day.  So the child has to miss school and the parent has to be able to transport the child and probably will have to take time off of work.  For someone who has privileges and supports this is an easy task.  For someone who can't take time off of work, this is an extremely challenging task.  
As a counseling team, we recognize these disadvantages for some families.  We work on trying to "break the barriers" to help families get supports for their children.  An example of this is allowing space within the school for students to receive therapy from their therapist.  

As a woman, I have experienced being privileged by having a steady home life and raised to value school for life skills but also marginalized a lot. I have not been given opportunities to go into sports like my brothers or experience anything outside the bounds of femininity from my parents. As an overweight female I was not asked to be involved in sports or girlie dances or special activities because I wasn't pretty white - girl enough or had money. in college the "In" girls or groups did not invite me in and then into my teacher career I seemed to not fit in with the "All that" group or get recognition from the popular ass- kissing teachers, no matter how helpful I thought I was being. But I remember always being told by social programs in school, college and "ice breaker" activities at school that you have your won gift to offer the students, kids and families. So took this notion that I was worthy and went with it. I did have the privilege to be in positive environments that encouraged me to eventually stand up for myself. So, I thank God that he put important people in my life to encourage me along so that I know my worth and will not let anyone determine that for me. This understanding of my worth is a big part of what I share with the students today. Every day and to every student in my room I will say that they are valued, unique and have something only they can offer to the world. With this exchange, I feel I offer a safe, respectful and equitable classroom in the best ways I can and continue to look for ways to help the students know how amazing they can be and what unlimited potential they have to offer their community now and in the future.

Being white and educated, owning three cars, a house with 10 acres run solely on solar, owning a business, having children, pets, getting up and going whenever and wherever we want - privileged!  I am fully aware on a daily basis and daily am thankful.  We discuss this at dinner often.  I am privilege to even have a sit down family dinner EVERY night.  My students do not.  My students do no have stable families or financial stability.  My students get made fun of for their disabilities.  I try to incorporate curriculum material that reflects their lives.  I try to encourage them to try new things that I think are manageable for a young adult to do on their own with no money or transportation.  Despite this, I am still a woman and feel that, not as often as I used to, but still feel that.  I once was a minority in my undergraduate studies and first profession. While I felt as though I had to work a bit harder, I also had tremendous pride to be in that position.  To have that pride is privilege.  Recently, my husband and I went to visit my sister who lives alone in a big city.  She locks her front door when she is home and my husband made the comment, "why does she keep locking her door, no one will come in".  Whoa!  My husband is NOT this insensitive and I was shocked.  In my head I thought, "Uh, yeah, she's single and someone WILL come in". That's my female voice talking right?  I still walk to my car in the parking lot after the sun goes does with my keys poking through my fingers and clenching a fist. I didn't say anything to his remark.  I could also see that he was thinking there were three of us in the house and the screen door being locked wasn't really going to do much; that the weather was beautiful and all the neighbors were in the street hanging out.  Yes, presumably, at that time no one would enter.  It's habit though and again, I didn't address this with him.  Male privilege is always felt.  You feel what you are receiving, and have to work hard to see what you are projecting.  I am always thinking of my students and how I can better support them.  I am careful with my words, though still have to think and remind myself.  I work hard to lift them up and validate who they are and where they come from.  It's not always perfect and I can always do better - getting the students to talk and be comfortable sharing their experiences is always an achievement.  If they can feel confident to share, then I can be supportive in that moment.  My goal is to give them the tools to allow them to make decisions that best support who they are.

I experience privilege by being alive, being a cacasion person, and being middle class socioeconomic status. I experience marginalization having had medicaid. Doctor’s did not treat me the same as when I had better insurance. I wasn’t able to access the quality physicians nor did I receive the respect I did when I have had better insurance coverage. Do I see myself and my life reflected in the curriculum? Sometimes, but not always, for myself. My student’s lives are not always reflected in the curriculum being various ethnic and cultural backgrounds as well as education capabilities. My students are being told or treated differently since they don’t act the part of special education. Being given work that fits a reduced, stereotypical view of you, not who they really are and what they want to do in their education. I might use my privilege of being the teacher and having more authority to allow a student to receive assistance or verbal prompts cuing them into the information, whereas a student who is capable of understanding might only receive minimal directions and a check in or two and the other student receives frequent check-ins.

I experience privilege every single day.  I wake up in a warm house that I own with my husband.  I get my four healthy children ready for the day, I eat the food that is stocked in my pantry, I drive one of the cars we own to my career that earns my family health insurance.  Aside from vacation, I want for nothing.  I work hard, and always did as a student, but getting a bachelors and masters degree was just something that was my next step, not something I had to fight to achieve.  I teach Spanish, which is an interesting place to be as a white American woman.  There is definitely a stigma attached to not being a native speaker of the language I teach.  Because of this, I try to be very deliberate in making the cultural lessons I include, and images that are a part of my lessons anything but stereotypical.  Working in a rural district in CNY, diverse is not the first adjective you would choose when describing the student body I teach.  While I focus on the cultures and people who speak the language I teach natively, I also include examples that my own students can relate to in order to help them identify better with why they should learn the language.  I almost have to do the opposite of what other subjects might need to.  This made me reflect on the fact that students who are people of color, or have a different identity than the vanilla examples that fill textbooks and lessons, struggle to identify with their lessons in each class, every day.  

In my own experiences I believe I am privileged.  I was able to grow up and attain an education without having to fight to try to attain one like in other countries.  Women aren't allowed the "privileges" we have here in the United States in other countries.  The curriculum and classroom materials have been evolving,  however when I was in grade school most classroom material was "white" based.  In our district I believe that the modifications to accept all types of materials and teach about different cultures throughout the classes has made great strides in the students understanding of the world.  With all that is going on right now in the world, I think that our school has had an impact of the students understanding of Equity, Equality, Diversity and Privilege.  

I have never been marginalized, and likely never will be. I am very privileged, and any struggles I have endured were not a result of how I look, who I love, or my parents' station in life. I often don't have to worry about money, and I always see myself represented in media and culture. Largely, the White students in my class see themselves embedded within my curriculum. I have made more efforts to represent students of color as well, but unfortunately the material selections for young music ensembles is very limited. Much of what's written is by White folks, especially White men. While I take the time to find music written by women and people of color, I have to dig a lot harder to find them and I should not have to. Until such materials become more widely available, however, dig I shall! Time as a resource is a mark of my privilege, and I can use it to showcase materials that equitably represent people of all kinds in the music we perform and the artists we learn about. I even have been taking stock of how I even teach the ensembles we are in, and also consider how our ensembles founded in Western classical music are inherently racist, as putting Western classical music on a pedestal above all other styles the world over has been a tool for reinforcing white supremacy. I would like to think that we can transform that narrative and include all into such a space, even if it means dismantling significant pieces of it, but it does still bother me.