My Positionality

My Positionality

            I am a white, middle- upper middle class, Jewish 23 year old female.  I identify with the American Family, my parents are still married and they have always encouraged me to do my best in all educational endeavors and have supported me throughout my schooling experience.  My mother attended one year of college and my father received his bachelor’s degree from a four-year university.  They have both worked very hard to make sure that I would receive a strong education in college.  I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.  I attended public school from Kindergarten until and went to an in-state public college.  My school district was somewhat economically diverse.  Most students were upper middle to middle class.  I few were lower middle class.  My school district was also somewhat culturally diverse with a strong African-American and Caucasian presence along with some Asian and Hispanic populations.  I have done volunteer work in Malawi, Africa that has opened up my eyes to the education in under-privileged countries.

            My school experience differs from that of the classroom I am interning in this semester.  I grew up in the suburbs much unlike the large, urban city that my students live in.  The students in the school that I am interning in are much more diverse than any other school I have worked in.  I student taught in a middle class elementary school in a rural town in southwest Ohio with a somewhat diverse population consisting of many Hispanics and Asians.  My intern experience in the fall semester is in an upper elementary class public school in the Chelsea area of Manhattan.  I received my bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  I am currently working toward my master’s degree at Teachers College in New York, New York.