Politics of Caring and Other Readings

Rolon-Dow's Critical Care article was very interesting and highlights some important issues that we as perspective teachers should be paying attention too.  Though this article is basically a case study of middle school Puerto Rican girls and their experiences in the school system, a theme emerged that I noticed in the article.  This theme was that teachers need to use caring language and teaching methods that cater to each individual in the classroom, regardless of background.  This made me think that as a teacher a very significant challenge will be balancing teaching to the entire class content that they must know yet keeping awareness of the backgrounds, needs, and pedagogical demands of every student in my classroom.
A claim in this article is that the existence of race and the relationships between races greatly shapes the school experience for many minority individuals.  Though I am weary of racial claims generally, this article had many valid points that made me think about race relations in American schools and how they can affect each student. I think it is important as perspective teachers that we understand the history of race relations and how they shape the lives of our students so that as educators we can do the best job possible to help them deal with these burdens and to help them succeed.  The article briefly also discussed something that I thought was important.  It discussed how teachers must be aware of their own biases, political or otherwise, so that they do not detract from teaching students of different backgrounds.  A theme emerged in the article that I translated to advice.  The article infers multiple times that teachers must deeply understand and be comfortable with themselves, be aware of their biases, and really stay in tune with their teaching methodologies to truly be effective in the classroom.  Furthermore, the article says that teachers must use counter narratives in the classroom which represent the diverse learners in the classroom.  I feel that as a history teacher this will be easy, as being a trained historian I know the importance of viewing issues from every angle and perspective to get the truth.  I will look forward to approaching historical topics from multiple perspectives.  Overall, this article highlighted just how emotional and human interaction based the teaching profession is and I look forward to trying to change the lives of my students for the better.  The guest speaker we had a few weeks back from inner city schools in New York really complimented this article and highlighted the importance of caring for one's students.  He really gave me hope that through deep caring I will be able to change my student's lives and was a great inspiration for me.  I think the most important thing we can do as teachers is to help overcome our differences with students in order to reach them, change their lives, and help them learn in a caring environment.