Impact of cultural diversity
There is a moment in Joseph Masiello's video when he talks about how in his class everyone was just like him, caucasian. I have memories of my class in school being very european too and I was actually surprised when I went back and looked at my school photos and saw that there were actually more māori students than the two I remembered. I recall when we gave one of our classmates the nickname 'burnt toast' completely due to his skin colour. I recall having no idea at the time that this was a terrible thing to do. We shortened it to toast and he was known as Toast from then on. A few years ago I heard a story of him introducing himself to someone as Toast and I think he has it in brackets after his name on his Facebook page. This was the 70s and I was growing up in my own little bubble. I recently told my young, new choir director the story of how when I was growing up we had a black cat called Mandy but we called her Nig. I had no idea until I was an adult about the origin of this name and it horrifies me that my family and I would stand by our gate and call to our cat 'Here, Nig, Nig. Nig'. I had a chat to my brother about a few years ago now and we both had no idea about it. It was just something that we had grown up with so I guess it was part of our culture. My dad used to say some things that are now considered casual racism. That was just who he was, he was a product of his generation just as I was a product of my generation. I would never do that now and never give my cat that nickname. I would discourage my students giving each other racist nicknames.
So how does what Joseph Masiello said about how everyone in his class looks like him relate to me? My very first teaching job, that I stayed in for 17 years, was in Wainuiomata which is a suburb of Lower Hutt and is only accessible by a hill. Here is my view of the hill from one of my bedrooms.
This suburb is culturally and demographically very different from where I grew up. When I was asked why I wanted to teach there (of all places) I said I wanted a challenge to which the reply often was 'You'll get it there'. What was the challenge that I wanted? I think it was the diversity. Another factor that influenced my decision was my final placement, my sole charge placement, was in a local Intermediate where my sole charge class was 33 students. 32 were New Zealand European and the 33rd was Chinese. Absolutely no diversity there. I can't remember the exact ethnic makeup of my first Wainuiomata class but, on looking at the photo, there are 24 students and 15 of them appear New Zealand European and the rest are Māori, Pasifika and Fijian Indian. Already a more diverse group than my previous experience.
Another aspect of my sole charge class was that there was a teacher aide in there because two of the students were reading below their chronological age. They were reading one year below and were supported by a teacher aide for this. Again, I don't remember the exact abilities of the students in my first class but I can remember there were at least two who were reading four years below their chronological age. I had no teacher aide support for this.
I remember all the Wainuiomata students I taught fondly. They are brutally honest and refreshingly naive. they have their own way about them and it is hard to put your finger on exactly what it is. I have had talks with at least three of my former colleagues who are now working in schools in the area I work in and they also miss Wainui kids. They are just different and are great. I got my challenge alright and along the way I learned some good stuff and met some great people.
So how does what Joseph Masiello said about how everyone in his class looks like him relate to me? My very first teaching job, that I stayed in for 17 years, was in Wainuiomata which is a suburb of Lower Hutt and is only accessible by a hill. Here is my view of the hill from one of my bedrooms.
This suburb is culturally and demographically very different from where I grew up. When I was asked why I wanted to teach there (of all places) I said I wanted a challenge to which the reply often was 'You'll get it there'. What was the challenge that I wanted? I think it was the diversity. Another factor that influenced my decision was my final placement, my sole charge placement, was in a local Intermediate where my sole charge class was 33 students. 32 were New Zealand European and the 33rd was Chinese. Absolutely no diversity there. I can't remember the exact ethnic makeup of my first Wainuiomata class but, on looking at the photo, there are 24 students and 15 of them appear New Zealand European and the rest are Māori, Pasifika and Fijian Indian. Already a more diverse group than my previous experience.
Another aspect of my sole charge class was that there was a teacher aide in there because two of the students were reading below their chronological age. They were reading one year below and were supported by a teacher aide for this. Again, I don't remember the exact abilities of the students in my first class but I can remember there were at least two who were reading four years below their chronological age. I had no teacher aide support for this.
I remember all the Wainuiomata students I taught fondly. They are brutally honest and refreshingly naive. they have their own way about them and it is hard to put your finger on exactly what it is. I have had talks with at least three of my former colleagues who are now working in schools in the area I work in and they also miss Wainui kids. They are just different and are great. I got my challenge alright and along the way I learned some good stuff and met some great people.
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