Ch. 3- This chapter is told from the point of view of Lisa Boskovich and David Hernandez-Saca. This chapter deals with how having a learning disability structured their schooling experience. While a learning disability is not something that I have personally experienced that doesn’t mean that I am not aware of it. School has been difficult for me, and I have always been jealous of the people who are able take tests without studying and pass, but while school has been difficult I know that it has not been anything close to what people with a learning disability face every day.  As a teacher I think it is extremely important to ask each student if they have a disability that needs extra attention while in class. I feel like as teachers it is our job to accommodate and help make the learning process as easy as we can. I feel like there should be more resources available in school to accommodate with any and all learning disabilities. I also think that people with learning disabilities are all lumped into one category and then looked at as lesser than. I feel like the word disability in general has also had a bad reputation no matter what it is associated with and I think it is important that students (and people in general) are taught about disabilities in a way that makes them no longer seem like a disadvantage.

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Ch. 5- This chapter is written in more of a poem form by Paloma Villegas. This poem to me stood out for a number of reasons. In the beginning with the references to food and it really puts into perspective of how “Americanized” everything is. How tacos are considered Mexican food but the likelihood that when you go to a Mexican restaurant it is actually authentic food really says a lot how about little we know about other cultures. I think it is important that students are told the difference between authentic foods and then the Americanized version. Food is such a big part of culture and I think it is important to show accurate representation. Also this shows the behind the senses of the sacrifices that parents have to make especially parents that are dealing with the racism that exists in todays society. This has told me that everyone has a different home life that they go home to and I think as a teacher it is so important to realize this. Especially when it comes to help at home some students may go home to their parents only being home for a few hours before they have to go work their second or third job and don’t have the help they need at home. As a teacher it is important to be accepting and understanding of everyone situations as they differ from person to person.

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Ch. 6- This chapter talks about Susan Leonard who is Korean but was adopted by a white family. Susan describes herself as being a white woman trapped in a Korean body. Susan discusses the pain and privilege of being Korean  but having an America perception and experience on life. Before reading this chapter I guess I never really thought about how looking one way but having no connection to the body you inhabit could have on the mental health of the individual. I think that this chapter is important to read because it puts it into perspective that you cannot judge a person by their outside appearance. With Susan as the example, just because she looks Korean does not mean that is what she identifies as or relates to. Something that made me think in this chapter was the fact that the family that adopted her really didn’t seem to embrace her Korean background it really made me think about other families out there and people who are thinking about adopting could really benefit from this chapter. I also really like how Susan pointed out that how people tend to lump all the stereotypes of Asian culture onto all the different individuals that fall under Asian cultures. I think her chapter would be great for anyone that is in a similar situation as her and I’m glad that she makes comments that she laughs when people put stereotypes onto her that really do not apply. This just furthers the point that the stereotypes often come from an uneducated individual that doesn’t understand and only sees a person at the surface level.

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Ch. 7- This chapter talks about the idea of being “woke” which is being awake or aware of what is going on around us. This chapter really is all about self-reflection as a teacher and honestly as a person. The questions that the chapter lists really helps with looking at identity and raising awareness about identity how we can help. I am going to list a set of questions that I think are important and could provoke a lot of great reflection and discussions:

• Am I teaching just to teach?

• What has (not) worked in my classroom curriculum?

• What messages are we sending/receiving about student identities?

• What makes me “me” and you “you”?

• What would it look like if a student calls you out about you putting them in boxes.

When teaching and planning lessons I think that these questions, along with the others, will be good to keep in mind so that the lessons are inclusive. I think as a teacher it is so important to take time to self-reflect and evaluate lesson plans and teaching styles. Taking time out of class to talk with students about what they like and dislike in the classroom can be beneficial as well. As a teacher you may think that a certain activity is fun and engaging but the students might think differently. Getting feedback from the students is honestly the most important thing to drive a classroom forward. I hope to always do check ins with my students to try and improve.

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Ch. 9- This chapter is told from the point of view of Jessica Samuels (Sika). She comes from a mixed background of being White, Black, and Native American. She talks about the struggles that she has faced about the constant judgement from others of “witnessed faces go from a smile to disgust at the thought of her with a Black man” (pg. 134) . While yes this was during a time period that interracial mingling was still frowned upon it really can still apply to today’s society of people judging people who are homosexual. It is sad to me the way that others treat and disrespect others for things that they have no control over. It is not a choice to be White, Black, Asian, Gay, Straight but it is a choice how you react to different people. As a teacher I hope to bring acceptance into my classroom and bring a sense of uniqueness to everyone; that it is okay to be different. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and I think that it is important to teach about those different backgrounds and not to judge on outward appearances alone. I was watching a show over the weekend and it was about a student who was mixed and how she was “too black” to fit in with the white students but also “too white” to fit in with the black students and watching her struggle really made me think about Jessica and how much she must have struggled and it really was interesting to visually see everything unfold because it is something that I personally have never experienced. I think recognizing that this sort of thing happens within a school is important because I can make an effort to help bring the students together when doing group projects. I think that sometimes it is important to push students together that maybe wouldn’t normally work together rather than always allowing them to work with friends.