Module 3 Discussion: Moving Students Into a New Culture

As a student teacher and a teacher in three different states, I experienced three separate culture shocks.  The first was when I was student teaching in the mountains in North Carolina.  The school that I was at was a Title I school with mostly ESOL students. Everything that was to be sent home was translated for parents.  There was a lot of differentiated instruction and learning on my part as a student teacher. I felt like there was a lot for me to learn and I did. 

The second time I experienced a culture shock in a school was when I moved to an A school district in Kentucky.  The majority of students were white upper class/ upper middle class.  Coming from diverse schools in South Florida, I was experiencing a culture shock for sure.  I felt very out of place even though I am a white female teacher.  I was not used to being in a school with predominantly white students. A majority of these students came into Kindergarten knowing all their number and letter sounds. This was very different from my student teaching experience. 

When I moved back to Florida, I started teaching in a Title I Elementary School.  This is a very diverse school that is also 90% poverty.  There was and still is a lot that I needed to learn and differentiate for my students.  a lot of the differentiation I needed to accomplish first was meeting my students social emotional needs.  There is a lot of trauma that my students have been through and are still going through.  I made sure to seek help from school professionals as well as attending professional development trainings that would help me teach my diverse students.