My photojournalism class is an elective that students can sign up to take, but not really, they are put there because they did not sign up for band or another advanced placement class. Students can choose Art, Physical Education, Industrial Arts, Computers, or Music during their seventh and eighth grade careers. If they are a seventh grader they get a new elective each quarter. If they are an eighth grader they have a new elective every semester. This comes down to me seeing over 500 students a year. With that background now you know that I do not have a choice over who is in my class. I can count the white students on my right hand and the african american students on my left hand, the rest of my students are hispanic. I always have 32 students in my class because that is my cap with the computers I have, no more and never any less. My students need an elective, they do not care most of the time that it is photojournalism.
With that being said I do not have a diverse program and I cannot make it diverse except to bring in examples of news and experts that open doors to my students. When I bring in different people I often come against a wall due to the fact that my students cannot relate to the speakers or the information, so I back pedal to build more background and most of the time I lose them. When I try to connect with the students in the beginning of the year they often put me off because I am not from their neighborhood nor do I know how they live. I really took this to heart last year with my first year in middle school.
After hearing our speakers this afternoon, Retha Hill and Gerald Jordan, I came to a new realization that I need to bring diversity into my class now, more than ever. I need to bring a range of experts, like before, but they need to be relatable and that they can support the issues my students are encountering right now during their lives and make news real for them. I need to keep it local, local, local! With that being said I have a new challenge ahead of me, finding locals that the students want to hear from in their community.
Heather. I liked this presentation very much. I teach in a school that is roughly 50/50 white/black. When I am interviewing for my staff, I usually tell my students (who are doing the interviewing for the next year) to keep our staff looking as diverse as possible. It is very important for me to make sure our staff reflects the makeup of our school. I will also add that I have to recruit students sometimes, which can be challenging. Kelly
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