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Showing posts from August, 2017

But What About the Kids?

Last Fall, I landed a 30-hr/week job as a Kindergarten teaching assistant with one of the large metro schools here.  I had worked in the neighborhood of my assigned school a few years back and was aware of the demographics and what that might mean for the students I would interact with daily.  I knew, or at least assumed based on past experience, that this job would be a place that stretches me because this side of town was so different than my upbringing.  I knew I wouldn't fit in, even if I didn't mean to stand out.  But I was excited to do this job well, regardless of the challenges I might face. My students, for the most part, were from low-income families, often with just one parent, and in many cases, they were already considered to be at-risk children.  Almost all my students were people of color (non-white).  The school itself had been reinforced with community programming, services, and intervention programs to help support families with whatever their daily struggle