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Hello! I have created this blog to use for my Master's class online at Walden University - it sure beats writing a paper! For this week's assignment, we are required to take time to reflect upon some questions and then address each one. I am copying the assignment here, so that I can refer to it throughout the week as well as allowing you, the reader, an opportunity to actually see (and participate in) what I'm doing. Here is the assignment:


Begin thinking about the question “Who am I?” in relation to race, culture, socioeconomic class, language, gender, religion, and/or sexual orientation. Make a list of descriptors to help you define your identity. Next, reflect on the following questions:

How do I feel about my racial group? Am I proud? Ambivalent? Do I sometimes wish (or have wished) that I belonged to another group?
How do I feel about people from other racial groups? Do I have close friends and neighbors in other racial groups, or is my social network racially homogeneous? Would I like to have close friends of racial groups other than my own? Why or why not?
When do I notice culture? How often do I think about it?
How would I characterize encounters that I have had with people of different cultures? Have they been positive experiences? Negative? Neutral?
How does my value system relate to my culture? What values do I hold dear? Have I had experiences where my values were in conflict with another person’s values? How did I resolve these differences?
What are my assumptions about why some people are affluent and others are poor? Do I think it is fair? Inevitable?
Whom or what do I blame for disparities in wealth and opportunity? Poor people? Wealthy people? The system? What do I think needs to be changed? Do I want to be a part of that change? If so, in what ways?
How do I feel when I interact with a person who speaks a native language other than English? Do I treat the person differently than when I am speaking to a person whose first language is English? What assumptions do I have about linguistically diverse people?
How has being a man or a woman influenced my life? How has it limited me? Sustained me? Opened up possibilities?
If I had been a man instead of a woman or vice versa, how would my life have been different?

Finally, think about how your personal attitudes and beliefs might influence you as a teacher. How might your identity impact your perceptions, actions, and beliefs in the classroom?

I will read over these questions once again and respond as the week progresses. We'll see how it goes...