Day 4 of Being Grateful

It all started with this plate and several others like it.

And then the conversation got really deep and really interesting, really fast.

You see tonight is the first night I, along with several other teachers at my school, met for an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) certification class. This class will last the duration of the school year, and it involves meeting every other Thursday from 4:30 til 8 p.m.  There is a lot of reading, assignments, and discussions involved in this course.  The majority of the population at my school is Hispanic. Thus, taking this course is a good idea and it will help me become a better teacher and help me serve my students more.

We were instructed to take a simple paper plate and divide it into portions or slices (such as occupation, religion, age, race, etc. etc.) that best represent our culture and help to explain what makes us who we are. Then we each had to present our plates to the whole group.

First up was my colleague and a diabetic, Mr. Potter.  He shared a recent personal story of how he got into a car accident due to complications from his diabetes. When a police officer arrived on the scene, he just assumed that because Mr. Potter is Black, he must have been drunk or high on drugs. Because of his assumption, paramedics were directed to assist the other White victim involved in the accident. Luckily, Mr. Potter regained consciousness and was able to tell someone he is a diabetic and then he was looked after by emergency personnel. Mr. Potter shared this story with us because being "Black" is a huge part of who he is and affects how he is treated. He also told us that the officer admitted to his very wrong assessment of the accident.

Wow! You hear of stuff like this on the news, but it certainly hits home when someone you know becomes a victim of such racism. Mr. Potter is a professional. He comes to work every day in a shirt and tie, and yet this happened.

When it was my time to present, I told everyone how grateful I was to be part of this conversation. Here we were, some of us, okay all of us, dreading being stuck in a room until 8 p.m. but then appreciating the frank and rich discussions we were having about race and culture. I then asked everyone in the room to take a look at me and guess my race. Of course I heard the usual, "Asian, Hispanic." No one ever thinks Jamaican! I shared with them that I am Jamaican and I never had to think of race until I moved here, to the United States. Since moving here, I have had to put myself in a category, check a box, on every application I have filled out, and always never finding the "right" box to check.

Anyways our conversations continued with the group growing really comfortable and having some really good discussions about race, ethnicity, cultures and stereotypes. I knew right then and there that day four of being grateful would be centered around this.

First, I'm grateful to be a student again in this ESOL course. Being among other interesting people from every different background imaginable is, no doubt, the real lesson. Second, even though I've added yet another "thing" to my plate, and I won't be getting home until 8 p.m. every other Thursday, I am thankful for this opportunity to learn and grow, and become a better teacher for the huge ESOL population at my school. And third, I was so thankful that after a long day, The Hubs had takeout Chinese for dinner...waiting at home.