Reflections eport

{Diversity} One of the reasons I became a teacher was due to the growing need in society to be one of thriving inclusion. Children are what they see. I remember this Australian tv ad that ran close to ten years ago.

The ad showed the adult world doing careless things like, smoking, polluting, disrespecting each other, beating their wives. And, they would show their children standing right beside them, doing exactly the same thing. This is basically what education consists of, leading by example. And, everyone leads by example. The thing is whether thats a moral example or not. Diversity, how we learn from it and embrace is something that should come natural to us, but culture and one's context could influence both negatively and positively.

In Puerto Rico, due to it's location and island factor, there isn't a good representation of diversity. This creates a sense of isolation. It is this feeling of isolation from the world that I try to counteract in the classroom. Traveling helps with this. I have been to a number of countries and experienced diverse scenarios which have served as a scaffold formation of who I am now. Life doesn't orbit around us. We are not guardians of the truth, nor do we possess it. The challenge in the classroom is how to translate that into the teaching experience with the students. This is where the transversal themes come in and or the very topics and themes that will be covered.

There are times when you intentionally plan to address such topics as diversity, transversally in the unit. There are times when you don't exactly plan it out, but the situation unfolds by itself. And, there you are, with a great opportunity by a grim chance of serendipity to go ahead and address the topic.

That's an aspect where one as a teacher has to be perceptive and creative with such opportunities.

Something as typical and daily as a student continually teasing another student. It isn't that one should long for these type experiences, as some masochistic type troubadour longing for material for his next blues hit. But one has to be ready for it. In my mind this was usually present because I have an inclining passion for everything concerning social justice.

I expressed to my students in word and in action the power of inclusion. Whenever a student would whine and argue about not wanting a certain student on his team or group, right there I would stop the dynamic and make a statement. With as much love and grace as I could muster, I'd remind the class in general of the powerful effects of rejection and how none of us likes to be rejected. I used that plenty for my class, the golden rule analogy. Living in a diverse world means that not everyone will think like you. I encouraged all my students to speak out their perspectives, no matter what it was. In doing this I was trying to loosen them up and to expose themselves to different points of view without having the need to agree 100%. If there was something I continually reminded the students of, by word and action, was to respect each other, be inclusive, not fear the unknown and never underestimate the power of working together(as different as they may be).

There's power in diversity!

{Creativity} We have an instinctive desire and longing to create. Every day we create. We create with our minds a ridiculous amount of thoughts. In these thoughts reside an infinite realm of possibilities. We make up stories in our minds to elaborate how unacted/unlived situations might play out in the material world.

We imagine love stories. How will it feel when we fall in love with that special person. Creativity is within all of us. Now, how can we get it out and communicate it via praxis, that might be the challenging bit.

Creativity is something we are pre-packaged with-like I said earlier. Though we all share this quality or gift, everyone has their very own and unique sense of creativity. This is a message I attempt to communicate to the students. Whatever you don't create, no one will do for you. That very same thing you did, someone may copy, but it'll never be your creation. This is why creating is so important. The creative process is scary at times because you are entering into the unknown. And, this can be a scary thing. This is where I step in and try to gradually ease them to trying the experience.

Education is vitally held together by creativity. A teacher that is not creatively tuned with his students, is a teacher that might as well reconsider careers. It's like the equivalent of a dried up well. Creativity in the classroom will have plenty to do and help with interpersonal conflicts. Creativity allows for open spaces of reflection and bouts impulsivity.

Relationships, and everything that circumvents around them were a main and ongoing theme in my classes. It is the lack of relationship skills that has provoked a moral social debacle. Our inability to get along and agree to disagree has us throwing social tantrums. Providing a space for these kids, where they can freely explore, try new things, flirt with new ideas, interact with new people will boost their confidence and therefore increase their creative instincts. Like I mentioned in the introduction, creativity is something thats instinctive for us humans. It's a matter of stimulating its growth. Applying agricultural principles with educational can be very fruitful.

As a student and a teacher I have learned to not under estimate the power of creativity, especially in the hands of our fellow young companions. Create in your students the intrigue to produce new things. We are living in a society where being creative is mimicked with fashion trends and modalities. Fashion at times becomes the epitome of its very own contradiction. In its attempt to innovate it does the very opposite. Being creative will mean that you will have to endure criticism at times. Being creative means you will be ridiculed. Being creative means that you will be alone many times. All of this will not be in vain. Carry on. Push forward. Keep on keeping on because your character is maturing and will blossom into a fully humane human.

{Leadership} In a culture sweeping with trends, we are far more willing to be blind followers than leaders. When I say leaders I don't mean the glamorized type, but leadership that has more to do with serving than being served. Leadership founded in humility and compassion. These are principles that could be easily tainted with the glamour that is often portrayed in positions of power. This tends to happen with teaching. Being a teacher means you have a number of students that look up to you and this could become an ego stimulating factor for some.

All too often being a leader is confused with being and “orderer�. If you give orders around and have people fear you then you are a leader. I tried to place myself in the classroom as someone who the students look up to, but not fear. I always tried to be very approachable for the students. Often, I reiterated that I was open to any questions and I encouraged them to always feel free to come to me.

This type of relationship or teacher and student is not one that simply comes with the title. As weeks go by you start to know the students as they open little by little to you. It is understandable. You are a new figure of authority and it will take time for them to trust you.

Whether in direct form or implicitly, leadership should be modeled out for the students to see and experience. The communities where we live in crave for true leadership. Many of these students don't even have a proper example of leadership at home. This is proven on a daily basis by seeing them interact with one another. Kids will see, and therefore kids will do. A lot of the attitudes and intolerances you see in the classroom are either learned at home or simply not addressed. This makes teaching a motherly/fatherly type role at times. You don't replace their parents, but you do end up teaching them the morals and ethics parents don't at home. It is by this very initiative that you embody leadership to all the students. Another way you embody leadership is by entrusting them with their decision making. This might seem rather scary because they might overturn and make a mess of things, but by trusting them you are sending them a powerful message. Meanwhile other forms of authority do not place such trust upon them, you in the other hand are taking the risk, playing high stakes, but in the turnout- this will reap results.

As a teacher a good example on a daily basis, relating with the kids with genuineness will get your students and you a long way. That semester, or year long relationship you will experience together could embark them on lifelong paths of leadership. No matter how minimal or underrated every teacher-student interaction may be- it could be catalytic for each students' lives.

{Social Transformation} Another reason for which I decided to become a teacher is because of it's potential to transform society.

It goes without saying how much of a social influence a teacher could be within a community. Every single position of influence and power, must have had to go through the workings of a teacher. Social transformation isn't a magical potion or a formula, but a daily process that takes patience, dedication and heart. Every teacher will end up affecting each and every student he or she has. It's ultimately a matter of how that student sees himself or herself after encountering and having gone through your teaching experience. This is why being a teacher is something to not be taken lightly. Not to cause panic, but to instill a sense of awareness of how important a teacher's role will be for a students' life.

Every moment that a student is in your classroom is a moment that has the potential of changing the world. One has no idea of how these students' lives will shape up in the future as a consequence of how your daily pedagogical interactions were. Instilling them great values of patience, love, compassion, empathy will go a long way. Yes, we as teachers have enormous academic responsibilities, but our main duties as teachers is to guide these students in a path of life that is worth living fully. For students to value their life you have to value them first. No matter how unruly they might be and lacking in discipline, one must never lose heart because patience and resilience will definitely go a long way.

Meanwhile others, many others, have given up on them, a teacher has the opportunity of being that one person who hasn't. And, that itself is the beginning of social transformation.

Social transformation starts in the classroom when you are a teacher. The classroom will be a laboratory of sorts to try out what a new world would look like. A world with human beings that value each other for who they really are and not for what they look like or what social status they have.

Simple things like respect, and kindness will go a long way. Possibly as long as these kids' lives. So there should never be too little thing that should be overlooked when it comes down to providing a safe atmosphere for these students to safely develop, evolve, mature and grow into better human beings for the societal world they live in.