Blog Post #4

          In the third part of this book, Delpit discusses the future, and how teachers need to handle it.  As our country grows, we are becoming more diverse.  This means that are schools are also becoming more diverse as well.  Instead of teachers being afraid of diversity, we need to embrace it.  Delpit talks about teachers being afraid to teach students from different backgrounds.  There should never be this fear because a good teacher should be able to teach all students regardless of their cultural background. 

          Teachers should put their fears, biases, and judgments aside, and get to know the student for who they are.  Delpit talks about getting to know your students before teaching the content.  If teachers get to know their students, they will have a better understanding of how they learn, what they are interested in, and why they are the person that they are.  If teachers can figure out all of this, it will be a lot easier to teach the students because they will know what interests the students and what their learning styles are.  Once the teachers know their students, it is a lot easier to teach them, and the students will respect the teachers for taking the time to get to know them. 

          At my Novice teaching placement, I asked my teacher what she does with the students at the beginning of the year.  She told me that on the first day of school, she has the students play some ice breaker games to get to know each other.  Not only does this help the students get acquainted, it helps the teacher learn more about the students.  She also had them fill out a questionnaire about their interests and their learning styles.  This helped my teacher get an idea of what they would like to learn about, how she can relate lessons to their interests, and what types of learning styles the students have.  I think this is a great way to start off the year, and I believe that Delpit would definitely agree with what my cooperating teacher did with her students.