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Diversity Interview Reflection
University of South Carolina-Aiken
On my honor as a University of South Carolina Aiken student, I have completed my work
according to the principle of Academic Integrity. I have neither given nor received any
unauthorized aid on this assignment/examination.
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When walking into a classroom of students, it is guaranteed that there will be
students from a variety of backgrounds. Not all students are going to be similar to the
teacher, and not all the students are going to be alike. When choosing a parent for this
interview that was different from me, I wanted to choose a parent of a student who I think
would be a challenge for me. I chose the parent of a little girl who has Down’s syndrome.
Before working with this student, I had never worked with a student with Down’s
syndrome. I wanted to know the feelings of the parent and the approaches that the parent
takes to make sure the little girl is successful in and out of school. I wanted to know how
teachers can affectively help students with disabilities, like Down’s syndrome, in the
classroom. In order to find out how to do this, I interviewed the parent to gain more
insight.
1. How excited is your child about school?
My child is very excited about school. She loves going to school because she loves to
learn. She loves being with her friends and teachers. She really makes a connection
with her teachers (parent, personal communication, March 16, 2011).
Because I see and work with this child on a regular basis, I can tell how eager she is to
come to school and learn. I feel like people sometimes pre-judge students with disabilities
by thinking that they are completely different from other students. I remember having
that mindset when I was younger, but my views have changed as I have worked in the
field of education. When working with a student with a disability, teachers need to
understand that these students are just as eager to learn as any other student. I hate that
students like this little girl are separated because of the disability that puts a label on
them.
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2. What are your child’s special interests?
She loves to read and sing. She is constantly reading in and out of school. She also
loves to play with pets (parent, personal communication, March 16, 2011).
Knowing more about this little girl’s special interests can help me help her in school.
Teachers can use special interests to connect the students to their school work. Because
she loves to sing, it may be helpful to use a song to help her if she is having a behavioral
issue or a bad day. It can give her that time to calm down and do something she enjoys. I
think teachers can use this type of information to help them better understand the student
as well as help them best teach that child. I started learning that I am very similar to the
little girl in that I also love to read and sing. I can use my connection with her and our
same interests to help this little girl learn.
3. What things do you do as a family that your child particularly enjoys?
She loves going to church. She also enjoys riding the four-wheeler with her family.
She especially loves doing things with other people. She is a people-person (parent,
personal communication, March 16, 2011).
I found this question to be very helpful to me as a teacher. I like to know what students
and families of students do for fun when they are not at school. It allows me to see what
is important to those students. It can help me as a planner because I can use the
information to better plan and connect with the students and what they like to do.
Because this little girl loves doing things with people, I know she would probably like
working in groups because she loves being with people. I can take that information into
consideration when I am planning lessons for my classroom by allowing the students to
do group work assignments. I think questions like this would be important for a teacher to
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put on a “Get to Know You” type of paper at the beginning of the year for students and
parents to fill out together. It gives the teachers an easy way to bond with and learn from
their students.
4. What aspects of your family’s school experiences would you like to share?
She started school at the age of 3 which was very hard for me. I have learned that
teachers are hard to deal with. I have mixed emotions about teachers. Some teachers
beg for a student like my daughter while others look down on having her. I actually
had a 4K teacher say to me, “Why do you want her in 4K here? She cannot handle it.”
I have just seen how people are prejudice against kids with disabilities. The 4K
teacher told me that she was having trouble learning her letters, so I bought books that
taught me how to specifically help a child with Down’s syndrome learn his or her
letters. When I went to the teacher about something I learned from the book that I
thought would be helpful for her to use, the teacher told me that it was not her job to
implement something that I read in a book. I did not know what to think (parent,
personal communication, March 16, 2011).
When the parent was talking to me about her child’s school experiences, I was blown
away! I was so upset at the information she was telling me. It is clear that this parent does
not have a good view of the school system because she has not had good experiences.
She feels like her child has been singled out and separated from the rest of the students,
and from the sound of it, she has. I feel like this information is very important because
future teachers need to know that this is not acceptable. I think it is important for students
with disabilities to work with typically-developing students on a regular basis because
they learn and grow from their interactions with these peers. This student is just as
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important as every other student in the entire school. I find it so hard to believe that a
teacher can act in that manner and treat a child and parent that way. Teaching a child with
a disability may be a challenge for teachers, but it should never be addressed in this
manner. I learned from this that it is important not only how teachers communicate with
students but also how they communicate with the parents. We need to be positive with
parents and make those parents feel like we are doing everything we can for their child’s
success, and then we need to put those positive attitudes into action and do what we can
to help those students grow and learn.
5. What have you appreciated about your child’s school experience thus far?
I appreciate the teachers who have looked past her disability and saw her for who she
really is. I have appreciated the teachers who are knowledgeable and know where she
is. They know how far they can push her without pushing her too far (parent, personal
communication, March 16, 2011).
A little effort can go a long way. Like any other parent would, this parent appreciates the
teachers who take the time to get to know her child and use what they know and learn to
help her daughter grow and learn. The more the teachers get to know the students, the
more they will be able to help the students. They will know what the students like to do
and what interests they can use to help them learn. Parents appreciate teachers who care.
They want to know that their children are in good, caring, and loving hands. I want to be
that kind of teacher. I feel that, if we put the effort out, we can help all the students in our
classroom become successful learners. This also shows me the importance of really
getting to know the students for who they are and not just getting to know them in the
classroom.
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6. What would you like to improve in your child’s school experience?
I think there needs to be more awareness of special needs in general. I think teachers
need to know what it really means to have a disability. I think we (parents) need to
teach teachers what it means for a student to have a disability (parent, personal
communication, March 16, 2011).
I think this should be a school-wide class. Although there are special education teachers
in elementary schools, many students with disabilities are mainstreamed into the
classroom. Because these students are mainstreamed, I think it would be important for all
teachers to take classes on how to best accommodate for these students. It would give the
teachers information on ways they can help these students. If classes are not given, then I
think it is important for all teachers to research and find out ways they can help students
with disabilities. I have learned that being aware of how to help students with disabilities
is one of the most important things a teacher can do.
7. What are your goals for your child this year?
I would like for her to be able to count to fifty by the end of the school year. I would
like for her to be able to generate a complete sentence orally, not just in conversation
but in preparation for writing. I would also like for her to improve her handwriting
skills (parent, personal communication, March 16, 2011).
I realize that parents make goals for their students just as teachers do. I think that
collaborating these goals with the teachers is a good idea, so teachers can see what the
parent thinks is important for their child to accomplish. In fact, collaborating these ideas
and keeping communication with the parent on the progress of these goals is something
that each teacher should consider. Knowing the specific goals that this parent has set for
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her child can allow me and other teachers help that child meet those specific goals. The
goals of the parent are just as important as the goals of the teachers and schools.
8. What suggestions do you have for us to work together in the best interests of
your child?
I want you and any other teacher to look at my daughter as an individual, not as a
child with Down’s syndrome. I also suggest that I get weekly progress reports on her
IEP goals (parent, personal communication, March 16, 2011).
It is amazing to me that a parent should have to say to look at their child as an individual
and not as a child with a disability. I feel like that should be common sense for any
teacher. It upsets me that children with disabilities are labeled by their disabilities. Every
student is important, including students with disabilities. Although it is not currently
happening, I agree that if a child has an IEP that the parents should get a weekly progress
report on the progress of the goals in that IEP. Many times you hear teachers say, “I do
not have time.” I think this is one thing that teachers NEED to make the time and effort to
complete because it is important that the parents know that the IEP goals are being
worked on and met for their child.
9. What would be helpful for a student teaching intern like me to know in order to
more fully appreciate your child?
Remembering that although my child has Down’s, Down’s syndrome does not define
who she is (parent, personal communication, March 16, 2011).
As she was saying this statement, I could see the passion in her eyes about the statement.
So many times students and people are judged for disabilities, and it is not fair to the
child for this to occur. As a future teacher, I feel it is our job to look at every child as
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important. It is our job to teach that child no matter what their skin color, background,
disability, or financial background. For this child in particular, when you look past her as
being a child with Down syndrome, you can see how much of an eager to learn, funloving, and sweet little girl she is. In all reality, I see a lot of the traits I had when I was
younger in this little girl. I would not want to be treated differently, so why would I do it
her? She is here to learn like everyone else in the classroom, and it is the teacher’s job to
make sure that happens.
As a future teacher, I realize that I will be faced with a variety of challenges as I
walk through my journey as a teacher. I know that there are going to be a diverse group
of students in my classroom. There are going to be students from different cultural
backgrounds, students with disabilities, students with different racial backgrounds, etc.
This interview showed me how passionate I am about making sure every student is given
the opportunity to learn and thrive in the classroom, even if it takes more effort than one
may feel like putting out. I also realized how similar I am to this little girl and her family.
Talking with this parent showed me ways that I can help be more aware as a teacher, and
it also brought my attention to the importance of communication and collaboration with
the families of students in my classroom. One major thing I learned from this interview is
to put the effort into what you are doing. I want to make the effort to help every student
learn, no matter what. I learned how important it is to show the students that you not only
care about their learning but also that you care about them as a person. Teaching takes a
lot of heart and effort, and I think that a teacher needs to come in every day knowing that
is what is expected of them.