Journal/Reflection Main Page

Journal/Reflection Work

2000

Multicultural Journal

EDCI 7020

Dr. Clark

October 18, 2000 (entries 1-11)

November 8, 2000 (entries 12-16)

(1) September 6, 2000

Today we were asked to keep a journal on multicultural happenings in our classroom.  Since I do not have a classroom, I can write about my life experiences.  Interestingly enough, I had an experience after class when I went to the Winn Dixie near my house in Norcross.  While walking in, I looked around and noticed I was the only “white” person.  There was a Hispanic man on the pay phone, black cashiers, and Asian and Hispanic customers.  The real story comes in when I was walking down one of the isles.  A little girl, I am guessing Vietnamese, spoke up and said, “Is this a dry erase marker?”  She pointed to a pack of highlighters.  I told her no and she asked if I could find them for her.  She had to be in kindergarten or first grade because of her size and the fact that her teacher asked her to buy them and bring them in.  I started looking for her, and in the middle of telling her they did not have any, her dad yelled from the other end of the isle that it was time to go.  She then ran off towards her dad.  I wondered why she stopped me out of all the people who passed her by.  Maybe it is because I look safe.  What I mean by that is I probably resemble her teacher (white, female, young adult).  For all I know I just walked by at the right time and she’s outgoing so she stopped me.  I do not know.

(2) September 11, 2000

Tonight I went upstairs just to bug my brother.  We started talking about our roommate Roy (who is Korean) because Jim (my brother) talked to a girl at Georgia Tech who is in their fraternity (Jim and Roy’s).  She said that Roy had not been acting himself lately.  After Jim told me the rest of the story, I asked if Roy had ever had a girlfriend because his best friend is in Australia and he seems lonely.   Jim said no, and I asked if it was because he is 5’4” and Korean.  Jim said no, it is more because of how he was raised.  Roy has only been in America for a couple of years (he came over here for college).  While in Korea he went to American schools, so he is very American in behavior, and he has no accent.  He does, however, hold onto the girls are not equal with boys mentality because that was what he saw at home every night.  Women in Korea are thought to be submissive to their husbands.  That attitude, in my opinion, has probably stopped him from dating girls in America because we do not go for that attitude.  Jim thinks it is because he does not go after girls, but I do not know.  I wonder how strong that idea is in his head; I do not think I could ever ask him about it because it really is not my business, but I just though it was interesting.

(3) September 14, 2000

Today I talked to my boyfriend in Romania on the phone.  He is staying in Bucharest with his friend Nick who used to live in the United States.  Ovi left Romania in 1983.  Romania was communist at the time, and this is the first time he has been back.  While on the phone, he was making the comment that Bucharest was nothing like it used to be.  He said it was run down-buildings are falling apart and trash is all over.  It was interesting to hear him tell me about what he had encountered because Romania used to be his home, and he holds fond memories of the land.  While here, he would tell me about how beautiful the city was, and how he would run through the woods with his friends after school.  He lived in Transylvania, and they were heading out that way through the country.   He commented on how nice the countryside is, but Bucharest is going to take years to rebuild.  The new reality of Romania upset him, and he commented everyday on how much he did not remember Romania being that way.  This may not be considered a multicultural experience, but I was interested in his old views and now his new views of his old country.

(4) September 15, 2000

Tonight I watched the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Olympics-all four hours.  I enjoyed it.  It only happens once every four years.  My roommate Roy is Korean, and we watched the North and South Koreans march in hand in hand.  Roy was not too impressed with the showing no matter how much the TV announcers tried to make it sound like the best thing.  All of this set off a conversation about Korea and America.  Roy has only been here since his senior year, but as he says, he fits in and loves America and has no intention of going back.  His older sister, Susan, cannot seem to feel at home and plans on going back to Korea.  This plays an interesting role in the students you can encounter in your classroom.  Some kids do not adjust successfully to America, and that is important to know because you may have to be a little conscious of how things are run in your classroom.  Some of the children may not be able to adjust to the atmosphere of an American classroom.

(5) September 21, 2000

On Tuesday and Wednesday’s I go to the Sweet Auburn Curb Market to do homework before school.  Parking is $2 after 4 p.m. at the parking deck near school, and I get off work at 2 p.m. so I hang out at the Curb Market instead of staying at work.  This way I have some time to do school work, and I can beat traffic.  Any ways, I had to do this assignment for one of my Tuesday classes-Action Research.  For this assignment, I had to do a sight without sound observation.  I chose to do my observation at the market because I sit in an area with tables and a row of restaurants so it is easy to view some action and not hear what the people are saying.  For twenty minutes I watched an African-American restaurant.  They sell African-Caribbean food.  I observed who bought food, sold food, movement, gestures, etc.  The Curb Market is mostly African-American.  One white man did order some food though.  I thought it was interesting-this place is interesting.  There are a lot of booths run by vendors.  They sell all types of veggies, cheeses, breads, fish, fruits, meats, etc.  Depending on what the booth sales, you can see many nationalities running them.  There is an Italian lady running the Salumeria Taggiasca booth.  It is an Italian “market.”  They sell salami, breads, and cheeses.  Next to them is Ama’s Tropical Market that sells African-Caribbean goods and products.  This place is like a multicultural market.  Everyone runs their booth and gets along as far as I can see.  Yesterday, one of the men I was observing would go chat with the lady across the way during a slow time.  I think this is a neat place, and it would be cool to bring your students here to experience something different.

(6) September 25, 2000

Today I watched Merriam Jones win the Olympic gold medal in the 100m in track.  She kicked butt.  I am looking forward to watching her win the next four (hopefully) competitions she competes in during her drive for five golds.  I think the Olympics are awesome.  I have been watching NBC every night to see the competitions.  Sometimes when they announce the people in the event, I hear of a country I have never heard of before.  That happened a lot to me the night of the Parade of Nations on opening night.  I also enjoy seeing the stories about the different competitors.  It is interesting to learn about their country when they (NBC) do a little segment on them.  I have gotten to know a lot about the men’s Australian swimming team and the girl’s Romanian gymnastics team.  I think all students could benefit culturally from watching the Olympics.  If I was a teacher, I would have each student follow a countries progress and then have an Olympic day of our own that included reports on the different countries results from the Olympics.

(7) September 28, 2000

Two days ago I had to pick my boyfriend up from the airport.  He came home from Romania.  I had to wait in the International lobby to greet him.  There were lots of people there from lots of places.  I could hear conversations between people and ones on cell phones in many different languages.  I had to talk to two different information desks to figure out the whole lobby thing.  One desk (located in the lobby) had only International women at it, and the other desk had a foreign man at it (up near the gates).  That makes sense considering they probably need a lot of people speaking all sorts of languages.  It was interesting to watch people come through the checking station.  You could see all types of dress, skin color, and facial features.  A field trip to the airport could let kids at a school made up of very little diversity see people from all over.  They could see how alike they are too.  Everyone got a hug from someone waiting no matter who they were or where they were from.

(8) October 3, 2000

Today one of my teachers did not come to class (she sent her aid).  We did what was left from last week, and then we were told we could go.  We also have a group project in this class that my group has been working on for a couple of weeks.  One lady in our group is from England, and she has been here for 17 or so years.  Well, she still has a very strong accent, and Carol was giving her a very hard time about it (playing).  So the lady from England smiled and said she hears it all the time.  She said that people would stop her and ask her where she is from.  She also said she could be yelling “call an ambulance someone is hurt” and nobody would hear what she was saying.  They would be like, “oh, where are you from?”  We all laughed.  I shared that I had a roommate from Brazil who chose to loose her accent.  I shared this because someone asked if she had to try to keep her accent.  She said no, but her family made fun of her because she sounds “southern.”  I also shared that my boyfriend (from Romania) chose to keep his accent because he is proud of it.  She said she wanted to keep hers too.  This relates to the kids we teach because most come to us with a desire to fit in.  Will they loose their accent to feel more American or will they hold on to that part of who they are?  We should be supportive of either choice, and never make a spectacle of their accent like my British friend feels people do to her.

(9) October 8, 2000

Today I went and played paintball with my roommate Roy.  He organized the activity with his fraternity, and he invited me, and I invited my boyfriend who invited some of his friends.  We played at a place off 400.  There were all men and boys when we first got there.  Some of the older men were dressed in Rambo gear.  Needless to say, I felt intimidated.  Roy assured me some girls were coming.  As the day started up, some girls did arrive, and an open game was called (that just means anyone could play).  The ref divides up the teams (the Rambo men had their own private game) and you go play capture the flag in the woods.  Well, there were some young boys also grouped with us on our team because anyone who came to play that day could play in an open game.  Some of Roy’s friends were commenting (complaining?) about having a bunch of kids on the team.  They looked good to me because they had professional paint ball guns.  By the end of the day, the blue team (my team) had won every capture the flag game-thanks to the “little boys.”  They were organized and they got us organized by assigning places for each person to go to.  They knew how to play, and they were not scared of getting hit by a 200 mph paint ball-unlike myself who avoided all conflicts if possible.  I share this story because of how I feel it relates to the Gender and Educational Equality article we had to read.  In the article, girls are not as good as girls according to textbooks (boys are brave while girls are docile).  Well in this case, the “older college students” thought the “young boys” would just get in the way, but size and age did not matter-experience did, and by the end of the day, everyone wanted this group of boys on their team.  So the lesson is (for classrooms and in life) see what one can do before you make up your mind on what they can do. 

(10) October 11, 2000

Today in class we talked about testing students.  I really enjoyed the open conversation because I heard a lot of experienced perspectives.  Some of my classmates said girls did poorly on major tests like the IOWA Test of Basic Skills because they are perfectionists, and they will go over a question a dozen times until they have exhausted it.  Guys on the other hand, will feel confident about their first choice and not worry so much.  The conversation moved to the tests we create for our students, and everyone in our class makes up their own tests for their students.  The class also reported that this worked well because the girls and boys all scored well on their tests if they studied.  I am glad everyone takes the time to create their own tests to help their students be successful. 

(11) October 16, 2000

Over the weekend my boyfriend competed in a soccer tournament for charity.  As I have said before, he is Romanian.  The soccer tournament benefits the orphanages in Romania.  (It seems like the poor conditions of the orphanages and Nadia Comaneach (sp?) is the only things people know about Romania).  Well, you had to pay $40 to play in the tournament.  It was held down on the soccer fields at Georgia Tech.  The cool part is that the teams were made up of all sorts of people.  Ovi’s team was mostly Romanian, but there was a Russian team there too and a team from Florida.  I also found out that this tournament takes place all over the United States, and since Ovi’s team (the Gimps-gimp means something else in Romanian then the English definition-it means thorn like thorn on a rose) won first place, they get to play in the National tournament and represent Georgia.  He cannot play soccer; they won because they had part of the indoor championship team from the Soccer Academy play for them.  I thought the whole benefit was so awesome.  All these guys came together to play for a countries cause.  As I walked up and down the field, I heard several languages (none I recognized because I only speak English).  They hold this tournament, called the “Charity Cup,” every year.  When I heard about this and saw how big it is, I thought about what our kids might be participating in.  We all live in our own little bubble, but the kids of different nationalities probably participate in all sorts of activities that relate to their Nation.  It would benefit their classmates to hear about it because they probably never knew it was going on.

(12) October 20, 2000

Dr. Clark told us the other day that some students who are gay, lesbian, and bisexual are coming to class to speak to us (I guess about how they feel in school and some of their experiences).  I am tugged in several directions about this issue.  First, my preacher speaks out against being g/l/b.  He says that it is a sin, but you should love the person and condemn the sin, not the person.  He does not ban g/l/b people from our church, but welcomes them in to hear God’s word on homosexuality.  Second, a close male friend of mine at Berry College is bisexual, and one of my girl cousins is wondering about herself.  Third, I have a male co-worker (married to a man in Texas) who is openly gay who I enjoy very much.  Fourth, I am sure some of my students will be g/l/b.  I am tugged because I think homosexuality is wrong, but I have people who I love and enjoy who are g/l/b.  I know that is not a big contradiction because it is not like g/l/b people are unlikable, but I just do not know how someone could be g/l/b.  It makes no since to me.  I am fine with friends being g/l/b, but when my cousin told me she was seeing a girl, I got very uncomfortable and thought she was nuts (I did not tell her that though).  I know it is a topic you have to understand because students are g/l/b, but I do not think I ever could.  The best I can do is be supportive.  I will not allow straight students to tease or harass g/l/b students, and I will treat the g/l/b student just like everyone else, but I do not think I could ever be a vocal supporter of the g/l/b lifestyle in my classroom.    

(13) October 24, 2000

Today I had to take a midterm in my diverse cultures class.  This class also deals with multicultural issues.  While I was studying yesterday, I read some statistics on a worksheet my teacher had handed us.  It said that by the year 2010, the white population will be the smallest minority in the world-somewhere around 9%.  That number is down from like 25% in the 80’s.  The worksheet went on to say that the white population is declining because of interracial marriages.  It said that 25% of Asian and Hispanic people marry outside of their race, and that students are going to want to identify with more than just Hispanic, Asian, Native- American, Caucasian, or African-American on the tests that ask about your race.  Well, I began to wonder what really makes someone white.  There are a lot of countries that have people of white skin in them.  For example, if I was born in Germany and my parents were Austrian and Hungarian, what does that make me?  My guess is a mutt.  I do not think you can just call yourself Caucasian.  I think the word Caucasian was thought up to catch all the people who really do not know where they come from or the ones who are so mixed, they do not identify with one homeland.  My Action Research teacher is 1/8 to 1/16 Muskogee-Creek Indian.  On the test where you bubble in your race should she bubble Native-American or Caucasian?  I guess it is a personal preference.  My point is, the place where you bubble in your race is pointless.  They try to fit everyone in a box of 6 or 7 races, and they loose sight of the fact that America is a big melting pot.  Most people here are extremely mixed in race, and those who are not should not have to settle with Caucasian if they are German, South African (there are a lot of “white” people in South Africa-are they Caucasian or African-American when they come over here?), or British for example.  The real point is they probably should not even ask until they find a solution that allows people to identify themselves as who they really are.

(14) October 25, 2000

Today in class, Gene presented her warm-up activity.  I enjoyed it because I like music a lot.  She had a sentence sparkler (or paragraph sparkler) for us to read and feed off of.  It was about a young boy traveling home on a dark and stormy night in an old carriage.  The weather is bad, and the horses are scared.  A crack of lighting bursts in the sky, and the carriage is flung down a muddy embankment.  Charlie is left at the bottom in the dark, and you have to finish the story.  Gene had us read this, and while we were reading it, she put on some mood music in the background.  The music sounded like the soundtrack to the story.  It was all instrumental, but the instruments used went up and down with emotion-just like the story.  So, when you are writing the next event to the story, you have this music driving you.  I think that the music she chose to play helped drive my writing, and it helped me be more creative because I felt inspired by it.  Sounds silly, but most of the class felt the same way too.  I think playing appropriate music while our students work would help them think more creatively and help them relax.  I have a non-fact founded thought that with some music playing, the students that have a hard time sitting in silence, would have an easier time not speaking out because the room is not silent with the music playing, and they won’t feel like they need to stir up some excitement.

(15) October 25, 2000

I am very glad we got to do an activity that focused on people with disabilities today.  I really liked the video we watched on the technological advances some handicapped people have created because of their impairment.  One thing in the video angered me though.  I was upset with the insurance companies that only fund the cheapest wheelchair.  It makes me angry because the people who need products that make them more accessible to getting around do not get them because of money issues.  I just wish the policy makers would run into trouble with their cheapness and not have the best care/products so they would change their minimum coverage.  It is just dumb.  I did like hearing about all the inventions made.  I never knew most of them existed.  A stand up wheel chair is an awesome idea.  It was also interesting reading the timeline that covered the progress of people with disabilities.  I just cannot imagine why people were treated so cruelly for so long.  Lack of education can make people do dumb things. 

(16) November 4, 2000

I have been working on my culturally compatible classroom unit a little bit everyday so I can avoid having to do a lot of work at one time.  I decided to create a science unit on Georgia.  For example, topics will cover the caves, rocks, minerals, and crops of Georgia.  Since I am not teaching, I started from scratch, but I am glad I got this opportunity because I now have an excuse to spend some time learning more about Georgia.  I have lived here all my life, but I do not know a lot about our resources.  I also wanted to do some searching for caves in Georgia because my brother enjoys caving, but that was not a big enough topic to create an entire unit on so I am incorporating other resources of Georgia.  The issue I am running into when trying to use the thirteen principles is that the principles cover an expansive amount of information.  For example, SE2: “Appeal to the full range of student intelligences: linguistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, logical/mathematical, spatial, musical, and bodily kinesthetic.”  I know you could make a class lesson covering all of this, but that would be an undertaking to try to cover all of that in one day, and most of the principle cover this large of a gamete.  I figured I just do the best I could each lesson to cover a few points in one or two principles.  So, when I take about how each lesson is culturally compatible, I list the principle and then I talk about what the lesson meets of that principle.

September 9, 2000

Weeks have passed since we moved in, and I am the one who has done a lot of the cleaning.  The boys take no initiative.  The entrance door way is dirty because of all the shoes so I sweep and sweep.  The trash is overflowing so I take it out.  Yesterday I went home to see my parents, and I did not empty the trash on purpose.  It has been full for the last two days so we will see if they bother to empty it over the weekend.  I did not clean the bathroom, sweep, or vacuum.  I guess we will see if they do anything.  I am getting very little help.  So far they have only done their own dishes.    So, starting today I am not going to do a thing.  I am going to observe how things fall apart when I do not do all the work

September 10, 2000

When I came home tonight, the trash was taken out and almost full again!  Jim told me he vacuumed, and it looked like he had.  Roy and I share a bathtub because I only have a half-bath downstairs.  It was not cleaned, and it is starting to grow black mold.  The kitchen floor was not swept, but at least they did not pile up dishes in the sink.

September 12, 2000

Tonight I reminded Jim to take the garbage to the curb because it gets picked up on Wednesday mornings.  I know I shouldn’t have said anything because I am supposed to be just observing, but we are trying to slowly get rid of all the trash left on the driveway; so, I do not want to risk missing a week.  I also left him a note on the message board near the door.  I know he will forget, so I’ll call him from work tomorrow.  The dishwasher has still not been run, and the entrance door is still filthy.

September 13, 2000

I left a message on the phone for Jim to take the garbage to the curb.  When I got home tonight and asked him if he remembered, and he said he did when he listened to my message.  Harassment may be a tactic that works with Jim, but I think he will get aggravated with me after awhile.  It also puts too much stress on me to baby-sit him and Roy.  Speaking of Roy, I do not know him too well so I do not really want to put him on the spot or harass him about the cleaning.  The dishwasher was run tonight though. 

September 14, 2000

I got home very late from class, so I just went to bed.

September 15, 2000

One more day and I can do some cleaning.  I emptied the dishwasher (bad me) when I got home from work.  The floor is still not swept and dishes are sitting in the sink!

September 16, 2000

This morning I got up and swept the kitchen floor, cleaned the counters, racked the leaves off the front walk, and vacuumed the living room.  I had the chairs in the living room so I could sweep, and Jim asked if he could walk on the floor and I said yes unless you plan to mop it.  He laughed and got his cereal.  The entire time I cleaned, the boys sat on the couch and watched football.  Roy and my tub is getting very gross.  He doesn’t care if it gets all moldy!

September 17, 2000

This afternoon my dad came over to work on the yard and plant some grass so the boys were forced to help.  Jim cut the grass with the weed whacker, Roy swept the driveway off, and I pulled weeds.  After awhile, the boys planted some left over sod my dad had from his house.  As soon as my dad left, the boys stopped working in the yard.

September 18, 2000

Nothing big happened today.

September 19, 2000

When I got home from school, I asked Jim if he wanted help taking the trash to the curb or did he just want to do it by himself tomorrow.  He said he would do it in the morning (he was playing on his computer so he did not want to be bothered).  I left him alone and put a sticky note on the board.  After I ate dinner, I had to take out the trash because it was so full, things were starting to fall out.  What will it take to get them to take the trash out?!

September 20, 2000

Jim remembered to take the trash up, and Roy brought it back down to the house…all before I came home from school tonight.  How nice.  Roy even ran the dishwasher.

September 21, 2000

When I came in from school, Roy got up and unloaded the dishwasher.  I said, “Roy, you’re acting domestic!”  He said loudly in response so Jim could hear him, “I’m the good roommate!”  I was glad he decided to help.  Both of the boys did laundry too.  When Jim came down to start his, he noticed his green basket sitting on the dryer.  He was like, “oh, this is where it was.”  It had been sitting there for two weeks!  Two weeks ago he did not finish his laundry, so the rest of the dirty clothes sat on the dryer until today.

September 23, 2000

This morning I cleaned up the house a little.  I swept the kitchen floor.  I did not do much else because I had to do some cleaning over at my boyfriends before he came home from Romania.  He left his room a mess when he left, and I did not want him to worry about the dirty laundry he left when he came home with a suitcase full.  I also took his vacuum cleaner back.  We borrowed it a while ago with mine was temporarily broken.  I vacuumed his room, picked up, cleaned his sink, and ran two loads of laundry. 

September 26, 2000

When I came in tonight, the sink had dishes sitting in it.  I went and got Roy’s teacup off the living room coffee table to add to the pile (he had a late night studying).  Coffee has been sitting in the coffee pot all day.  It must be from last night when Roy was trying to stay awake while studying.  I did not remind Jim to take out the garbage tonight just to see if he would remember.  I picked up Calvin from the airport today, and he was surprised to see his room clean (because I do not ever clean it for him). 

September 27, 2000

I took the garbage and recycling bin to the curb.  Jim forgot to.  Dishes are piling up, and the two skillets are still in the sink.  Someone must have cooked some type of sauce because the stovetop has red splashes on it…as I am writing this, I remember Roy cooking Hamburger Helper Sunday.  It must be from then!  Roy did yell in the living room if he could put my coffee pot in the dishwasher, and I said no.  I assume he cleaned it.  He probably just rinsed it out.

September 28, 2000

Roy finally put the dishes (plates, cups, silverware) in the dishwasher.  He left the skillets though.  Garbage is filling up.  Jim cleaned out his files in the living room, so he filled it up again.

September 29, 2000

The kitchen floor, counters, and stove continue to collect debris.  The skillets are still sitting, and the garbage is full.  It is obvious it needs to be taken out.

September 30, 2000

This morning I just could not stand the condition of our house anymore.  I vacuumed my room, the living room, the hall/stairs, the bathroom (which had not been vacuumed since we moved in), and our “office” room.  I vacuumed flies off the windowsill and crickets out of the corners!  I commented to Jim house nasty the house was, and he said it was not that bad…it could be worse.  I do not want to see it worse!  I also swept the kitchen floor.  While in the kitchen, I put all the plates, bowls, cups, and silverware in the dishwasher.  I left the skillets and two pots and the cutting board joined the pile.  I then cleaned the counters and stove top.  Food had been spilled and left and crumbs were all over the counter.  Neither one of them wipe-up after themselves!  The kitchen table was in the same condition.  Roy did move the coffee table when I vacuumed the living room though.  Every Saturday he is watching TV when I clean, and the sight of me cleaning does not motivate him to help for some reason though.  Our bathtub is so gross; I do not want to talk about it.  I was on the phone with AT&T and I was carrying the glass cleaner into the living room and I put it down on the table to continue talking and Roy did clean off the coffee table while I was standing there.  The glass on the table was pretty gross because everyone eats on it and watches TV.

October 1, 2000

Jim and I went caving yesterday in Tennessee, so Roy was home by himself all weekend.  He did not clean the tub, which is getting out of hand.  I finished the rest of my laundry tonight.  We all had dinner at my grandmother’s house tonight for Jim and my birthday, but Roy commented that he did Jim’s pots and skillets for him.  Later, when we got home (Roy went to the Change Committee Meeting at GT), Jim commented that he did not know they were his pots and pans.  I told him they had been sitting there for days, and he said he must have forgotten they were his because he was thinking they were sitting there for a long time and not getting washed.  I am glad something goes through his head when he sees those dishes sitting for days, but he must have let them sit for so long, he forgot they were his!  Jim did empty the trash tonight commenting he was a good roommate.  My mom asked at dinner if the boys were cleaning their rooms changing their sheets, cleaning their bathrooms…, and Calvin (trying to take up for the boys) said, “Roy vacuumed yesterday.”  I said, “I vacuumed yesterday.” And Roy said, “Roy moved the coffee table when Jenna was vacuuming.”  My mom made some lame attempt to threaten.

October 2, 2000

Tonight Roy and I were talking about whatever at dinner and privacy came up.  He said he did not care if the living room was a wreck, if the kitchen was a mess, or the bathroom was gross as long as people did not go in his room and bother his stuff.  Apparently he is real picky about privacy, but not being clean.  He keeps his room clean, but I guess he does not care how the rest of the house fares.