Learning about diversity through service

The MLK Jr. Service Day Challenge was a three-pronged event: listening to a speaker on diversity and equality, making lunches and medical kits for the homeless in Raleigh and taking part in a peaceful protest around campus. This event was enlightening, because of its strong connection to diversity. Being an educator in such a cultured society requires a diverse mindset and the conscious understanding of the undertones that come with this diversity. This service opportunity allowed for more than doing one’s share for their community, it reaches out to the community and spreads awareness of social issues still prevalent in today’s diverse society.

As an educator it is important to be able to understand where your students come from and how they identify in order to respect them. If you give them respect they’ll give it to you in return. The speaker at this service event discussed the importance of understanding how your actions affect others. As an educator you must take into consideration how your actions are perceived to your students. Our future classrooms will be so diverse it is imperative we understand how to make sure we, as well as our entire class, understand the importance of diversity and how it helps a team (which is what our classrooms are) work.

The service aspect of this event made sure to connect students from N.C. State and Ligon Middle School to the Raleigh community by extending a hand in providing the medical aid kits and bag lunches. This speaks to the ability we as educators have to make an impact outside of the classroom. At this event we teamed up with middle school students to demonstrate to them the importance of service and equality. I felt this was a perfect correlation to education, because of its connection to teaching students about social issues, instead of merely course content. And effective teacher is able to do both. This event helped me understand what this looks like and how I can accomplish it.

Tutoring at the WELL

This semester I began tutoring at the Wade Edward Learning Lab, a community center with the mission to provide “opportunities for achievement, enrichment and success” for students in the community. At this center, students are able to work on homework, projects, etc. with computer and Internet access as well as receive free tutoring from local volunteers. I volunteered as a math tutor for high school students, mainly in Geometry. This experience allowed me to work with high schoolers on a one-to-one basis, which gave me great experience with teaching the concepts of a math course. During this experience I was able to gauge how well students understood the course content while observing the obstacles they faced in fully mastering it. This was very beneficial for me as a future educator, not only for the experience in dealing with mathematical topics but to see the importance of serving my community.

From my school and society course I have learned how important it is for a teacher to engage their school’s community (students, parents, other teachers, administrators and the local community). This is extremely important, because each part of that community is a stake holder in the success of the school. The WELL helped me apply my understanding of this idea. Working with the students at the WELL and seeing volunteers at work showed me the importance of helping students outside of the classroom. I plan on taking this with me throughout my time as an educator, to engage my school’s community to fuel the success of my students inside and outside the classroom.