As I look at the class list before me, I am yet to meet the 32 six-year-old students that I will grow to love. They come from the surrounding Chicago neighborhood that I have worked in for the last 12 years. Their families are Latino, Arab, and African- American. I have smiled at them from across the hall as they grew in the kindergarten classroom. I have looked at their artwork hanging in the halls. I have taught their older siblings and watched their families grow. My school is a community center where parents take classes such as sewing, Zumba, or ESL. Students go to school and stay after school for soccer, music, or tutoring. Most of these programs are free or low-cost because the average family income is poverty level. Despite the economic hardships, the families are present, involved, and active in the school and community. However, the risk-factors for school failure are still there- poverty, second language learning, single parent household, and so forth.
About my class
As I look at the class list before me, I am yet to meet the 32 six-year-old students that I will grow to love. They come from the surrounding Chicago neighborhood that I have worked in for the last 12 years. Their families are Latino, Arab, and African- American. I have smiled at them from across the hall as they grew in the kindergarten classroom. I have looked at their artwork hanging in the halls. I have taught their older siblings and watched their families grow. My school is a community center where parents take classes such as sewing, Zumba, or ESL. Students go to school and stay after school for soccer, music, or tutoring. Most of these programs are free or low-cost because the average family income is poverty level. Despite the economic hardships, the families are present, involved, and active in the school and community. However, the risk-factors for school failure are still there- poverty, second language learning, single parent household, and so forth.
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