RESPONSE TO Ch11 ADOLESCENTS AT SCHOOLBEYOND CATEGORIES

My expectation for the field experience that we encountered this fall was to work with and get to know students from more challenging backgrounds than the one I came from. I was not sure of the range of differences, but I expected the experience to open my eyes to a different spectrum of students than I have worked with before. One student that I have spent a lot of my time with comes from a situation that I could not even imagine handling at her age. From first glance I felt a connection with her because I noticed that she drew on herself, something I did a lot in high school. I inquired about the drawings and it led to a conversation about movies. The three dots were a symbol from one of her favorite movies and we discussed a few more I had never heard of. I had her make a list for me because I wanted to understand the symbolism. That weekend I went and rented the movies and watched them to become closer to this student. I related to this student through the fact that my interests were often drawn on my body and that I would tend to redraw symbols while bored in class. But what separated us was the meaning of the symbols. The movies the student had me watch were all related to her Chicano heritage, something I knew little about. I enjoyed watching each movie and made sure to come back with questions about the different terms and phrases I did not understand.
This student’s identity has a lot to do with her race and it is something she is proud of. The pieces that she worked on while I was in the classroom reflected one of her favorite places in San Diego, the Chicano Park. She explained to me all of the different aspects of the park that made it so special, as well as the experiences she had there. We worked together to represent this feeling of pride while recreating each segment of the park. I loved listening to her stories and watching her eyes light up as she explained the car shows that went on there. Part of this student’s identity is her race and the traditions she found through her connection to the Chicano Park, as woman with European heritage whose family came over from Sicily three generations before her, I do not feel the same connection to my heritage. Even though I am Sicilian, one would not be able to tell by looking at my face or by the traditions that I practice. From this student I have learned to investigate a part of my identity that I do not want to lose, even though my family has become more and more ‘Americanized’ through out the years.