My schooling has had a huge affect on the person I became today. I grew up with a very Westernized way of schooling and had all white teachers throughout my schooling. It has a strong affect on the bias that I have today but my upbringing also has a big affect on that. Growing up, I would do and believe in things that my parents, sisters and friends believed in because I didn’t know better when I was younger. The media also had a big affect on what I should believe. The books that I read taught me about imagination,love and honesty but they also showed privilege and racism. T.V and movies also affected who I am today. The media and books still have a huge affect on me to this day, but I am getting better at researching what is real and what is false. My father is a Ukrainian Catholic Priest, so I grew up in a very Christian household, where I was taught different morals but still biases were built in me based on family, friends and media. The lens that I see the world though now and what I will bring to the classroom is that we shouldn’t be quick to judge people as we don’t know what they are going though and to live life as best you can. Be honest and kind and open up your heart and you will have a great life. These are the things that I will bring into the classroom. However I still have biases in me such as white privilege, and being quick to judge different people. I am trying to undo these biases by realizing that everyone has their own story and that we need to know both sides of a story before we get to judge or make an opinion about something.
Some “single stories” that were present in my schooling was very one-sided towards white people and not learning about the whole story. Another thing is that we were taught that our high school years was to help us prepare for collage and “real life” but looking back it didn’t prepare us for what was outside of the school walls. School taught us about math and English, but it didn’t prepare us for real life. As a teacher, I want to make sure that my students know the whole story before making a decision and that they feel prepared for when they leave the school. I also want to make sure that my students know important morals such as honesty and respect, so that they can go though life being the best people they can be.
Nicole's Blog 
While in the classroom, though you may come in with a bias aware approach to teaching, that doesn’t mean that your students will be or even that they will be willing to see things from a different perspective. How will you actively show the students the way that biases affect our everyday life? Or will you use a lead by example kind of approach to this issue. Overall I do like that you brought in the idea that we frequently talk about in ECS courses and that is lenses that we see the world through based on our experiences to do with our upbringing, schooling, race, culture, etc.
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