Robert Lake's An Indian Father's Plea

Reflection: 
     While reading An Indian Father's Plea by Robert Lake, I began to think about multiple issues with education. Of course I began to think about cultural acceptance within the classroom, but I also began to think about the many types of learners and the different learning styles that children can have. Wind-Wolf could be considered a kinesthetic learner. He learned with his family through experiences and by incorporating the lessons into his daily life. This brought me to think about the many different learning styles that can be found within one classroom, which may not be addressed with every lesson a teacher plans. That's why it is important for me as a soon-to-be teacher to be vigilant of this issue and to incorporate every learning style into my lessons one way or another. In this way, I know that I will have done my job to reach out to every student to accompany the way that they learn the best.
     I also thought about cultural acceptance within the classroom, and it honestly did not surprise me to read this letter discussing how culturally intolerant the teacher was along with the mother of Wind-Wolf's friend. When I was at Salve Regina, one of the professor's had us do an activity that was similar to the list from McIntosh's White Privilege where we checked off any scenario of white privilege that applied to us. She then proceeded to tell the class that as teachers we have to be culturally aware of the many types of children that we will encounter throughout our careers. No matter what type of school we may work in, there will always be some diversity, whether it is outwardly apparent or not. She will always be one of my favorite professors because she was so aware of her surroundings and was extremely knowledgeable about her field, plus her passion for teaching was admirable. The lack of cultural knowledge and acceptance within that classroom was infuriating, and since it was written in 1996 means that this issue should not have been commonplace. As teachers, we need to step away from our own biases and prejudices, but see that our students are all there for the purpose of learning and their culture should be praised and accepted rather than downright rejected and mocked. It made me very upset reading about the bullying Wind-Wolf endured and how ashamed he was for his own culture that raised him to be strong and independent. The fact that he demanded a haircut made me upset, because after his father discusses the purpose of long hair within the family, showed how embarrassed Wind-Wolf had become from only a short time within the school setting.
How would you have reacted if you were Wind-Wolf's father? What would you do if you had Wind-Wolf in your classroom? 

I feel one of the best ways to incorporate cultural awareness in a classroom is through reading activities. This picture shows how little different cultures are represented within children's books based upon a survey done in 2012:

• 3%-African Americans
• 1.5%- Latinos
• >1%- Native Americans
• 2%Asian Pacific Americans
• 93% Caucasian

With these statistics, it's not a surprise that diversity issues still exist within a school setting. 

This video is an advertisement for a workshop to create culturally responsive educators. It shows many different reactions that current teachers had when they first started teaching in diverse classrooms and effective steps into creating a better environment for students overall.