First Field Experience

Throughout much of the research I did regarding the diversity within Harrisonburg High School, I found that many of the numbers accurately depicted what I saw during my first Field Experience. Harrisonburg High School as well as Harrisonburg city in general, are very diverse areas and are home to a plethora of different people with various backgrounds. The graphs above are just a small portion of the great variety of people who attend Harrisonburg High School. The first graph illustrates the different ethnicity groups the students of Harrisonburg High are a part of. The data was collected by the school district and only includes six subgroups, one of which has a population of zero (Hawaiian). The majority of the students are of Hispanic background which in a way surprised me. I expected the population of whites to be the majority of …show more content…
The teacher, Jack Marcum and I were the only non-native Spanish speakers in a class of about 25 students. From my observation and experience in the classroom I think it is fair to say that the statistics on both language and ethnicity, accurately represent the student population of Harrisonburg High School. Knowing what we do about the diversity within the school, it is pivotal that equality and equity are of utmost importance to teachers. It is easy to have prejudice, but as teachers we must accept everyone and value how we are able to celebrate multiple languages, cultures, traditions, holidays, and religions. Developing learning environments that are conducive to learning for everyone can sometimes be hard but oh so rewarding. You allow your students to not only explore their own cultures and identity, but give them the resources to learn about and appreciate others. Teachers can be the change society wants to see. If we want our children to appreciate the vast cultural experiences people have, then it needs to start in the