I would have to agree with the statement made by Lisa Delpit.  As the reading touched on, by a certain age, students begin to identify with either the religious or ethnic groups they derive from, whether it be for the betterment of their learning experience or not.  The reading spoke about a school in which english was being taught to students in a foreign country.  But the teachers began to notice that in their early teenage years, students began to turn away from the English they were being taught and speaking in their native language instead.  This may or may not have been an act of rebellion, but i believe the leading factor was the influence of belonging to their own culture and obtaining tradition or their native tongue.  The other part that I took from the reading was that a student's identity in class was not solely based off of their ethnicity or religion, it could also be from the very situation they live in.  I had a situation of my own in high school that changed the way I came to school and changed the way I looked at a classroom discussion.  As a freshman in high school having a recently divorced mother, I was forced to put my feet on the ground at home and do my part to make things run smoothly.  The same could be said for the classroom.  It was no longer about participation in  class discussion, but diverging deep into the topic to find the root of the problem and get it solved.  Teachers were no longer teachers to me, but sponges of knowledge that I would have to squeeze at in order to get what I wanted out of them.  I found my voice because of the situation or my own little "community", and I am positive the same can be said for most students, regardless of whether they are in a similar situation or not.

Is it possible for every student in any given class to have their needs met when it comes to the style in which the professor is teaching? There are so many different perspectives from which each student can look in.  How is a teacher possibly capable of connecting to each one of those facets and make sure they are all supplied with the right material that allows each and every student to stay the course?  Without a doubt it is difficult to be able to see whether or not a student is actually retaining the material or if he or she is simply able to memorize and recite.  But the difference between a good teacher and a great one is their ability to reach all different types of learners.  So what if there are students at either end of the spectrum? Say there was a student who was having a very difficult time keeping up in the class, but there is also a student who's ability to comprehend the material is far more advanced than everyone else's.  Which side of the spectrum do you compensate for? do you decide to cut loose the student that has fallen behind? Simply allow him to drown in his copious amounts of homework he cannot understand? Or do you let the student who is sitting on his/her thumbs remain in that stance.  This is the predicament that worries me when it comes to actually going out into the field and teaching.  I don't want to fail any of my students, because then I feel I haven't done my job as an educator adequately.  But I also want every student to get the most out of my class that they can, without having to compensate for my lack of performance with other students.

People Watching

Description: Middle aged woman wearing a long flowered dress with sandals and a long brown hand bag hanging off of her shoulder.  She has long frizzy gray hair that floats behind her as she walked.
Interpretation:  She looked to be in a hurry, as if to be aggravated at someone or something that had just happened.

Description: Young teenage boy wearing skinny jeans with a chain hanging out of his front right pocket.  He is wearing all black with a red and black hat to match his outfit.  Also listening to music through headphones.
Interpretation: He appeared to be completely oblivious to his surroundings and only focused on what he was looking at on his phone.  He looked as if he was trying to give off a rebellious look.

Description: A brunette teenage girl wearing black rimmed glasses, a white tank top, exercise pants, flip flops and pearl earrings.  She had an interesting way of walking almost as if she was strutting on a runway.  She was also talking on the phone.
Interpretation: She had a very bright facial expression and appeared to be having a happy conversation on the phone with whoever she was talking to.  She seemed as if she was living care free with nothing going wrong at that moment.

Description: An elderly couple walking out of Sears.  The gentleman wearing a button down shirt and high waisted dress pants and sneakers.  The Woman wearing black pants and a pink wool sweater with a duck on the front.
Interpretation: The couple was only focused on one another.  The husband was curious and kind to his wife, looking her in the eye every time he spoke and listening intently at every word she spoke.  They had to have been married for a long time by the way were interacting with each other.

Description: A middle aged man with long mangled brown hair wearing multiple shirts and old dirty jeans.  He also had tennis shoes caked with mud, and an untamed beard.
Interpretation:  The man looked to be run down, as if life had gotten the best of him.  He could have possibly been homeless, or simply having a rough day.  He moved in a sluggish way with pain in every step that he took.

 Parking Lot/Reflection:

In all honesty I did not enjoy this assignment in the slightest.  I felt very judge-mental while writing down my observations on people I saw.  I felt this way because I was making inferences about people I had never seen or spoken to before, and in that sense I was pre-judging them.  I went against what my mother told me growing up- I judged a book by its cover as appose to reading the first few pages.  What gives me the right to say whether or not the teenage boy walking through the food court was an ignorant, cocky kid that could care less about who is walking behind him, whether or not he is being courteous or if he is disrupting any one else’s good time in the food court. 

            Although I felt bad writing down my judgments of people, I also thought it was interesting how I was able to attach a story to the way people walked or what they were wearing.  After making that connection, I found that I was divulging much deeper than I should have been able to just by looking at the clothes someone was wearing, or the expression on their face.  It was also interesting to see how some people looked similar and yet they carried themselves in completely different ways.  In all, the scenarios that played in my head were triggered in ways that I had never thought about before, it was an interesting expereicne.

Hi, my name is Chris LaLiberte.  I'm from Boston, Massachusetts and I am interested in Secondary Education, preferably History or English.  I have a passion for Hockey and Baseball, playing both sports at the Varsity level in high school, and looking to further my love for competition by playing baseball at John Carroll University.  I have always had success when it comes to communicating with young people, but also feel as though I am most useful to those who are able to converse with me, and not just take what I have to say and run with it.  Classes in which there is much conversation and debate are the ones I am able to thrive in.  Although sometimes discussions turn into heated arguments, my sense of humor tends to always ease the tension. I've always had a bit of a knack for procrastination, which is something I must overcome in order to be successful and orderly.  But my sense of drive and commitment to the task at hand will allow me to rid myself of bad habits and put me on the path to be an influential teacher.  I'm never afraid to ask questions, regardless of how I will be perceived after the words have slipped out of my mouth.  Although I do believe there is such a thing as a stupid question, I feel as though a lot of people may have that question in their head and might be too shy to speak up.  Luckily for them, I don't mind one bit.  Repetition has always been my way of learning.  Whether it be a vocabulary word or a style of offense, being able to have it layer out in front of me numerous times is how I am able to imprint it in my brain.  When I was in 7th grade I had a teacher by the name of Mr. Zuckerman.  He was one of the best teachers I've ever had.  within the first week of school we had begun to talk about different types of government.  Before class he pulled me aside and told me, "just go with what I'm about to do alright?".  To help exemplify what it would be like to live in a totalitarian society, where all of the power is held by one individual, Mr. Z kicked me out of the classroom for no apparent reason. Scenarios like this occurred often in my 7th grade History class, making it both fun and easy to learn.  Mr. Zuckerman's style of teaching intensified my aspiration for becoming a teacher.  One of the most significant issues I have seen in classrooms today is the idea of "pushing cattle through" and making success out to be all about numbers.  Once a student has squeaked through a course he or she is no longer that teachers concern, regardless of whether or not they understood any of the material covered in their classroom.  Mr. Zuckerman did a great job in this respect.  I for one am not the quickest learner, but his dedication to his work and his elaborate teaching style allowed me to excel in his class. Just for clarification I am the one on the left in my photograph, heard there was some confusion with that earlier.