When I arrived at the Leaders Preparatory school I was escorted into the gym where

Mrs. Carberry’s 3rd grade class was in the middle of a rehearsal. I stood in the back while the

children sang Colors of Islam. Some of the students were sing with such heart and feeling I

couldn’t help but smile. I wasn’t sure of all the words but, I could tell that it was about love for

a religion/faith (281-311). It spoke of filling the world with color and that Allah would be your

guide. It mentioned the sun and the moon and reminded me of “God has the whole world in

his hands” song that I sang in Sunday school growing up. Although our cultures and religions

are different we all wantacceptance (157) and love for those around us. After the song the

teachers in the front of the room directed the student’s back to Mrs. Carberry. My first

impression of Mrs. Carberry was unfortunately a stereotypic one I thought “she doesn’t look

like she is from this culture.” Although after doing my teacher interview I in fact learned that

she is not Muslim it was not correct for me to assume first off that the teacher would have the

physically appearances of a specific ethnic group. (69) It reminded me that as innocent as a

stereotype may appear it is still a stereotype. It is not right to assume something, making a

generalization (96) about cultures will be appropriate in the classroom or in my personal life.

Once we entered the classroom Mrs. Carberry set the tone for the class. She had them

remove their planners and start discussing the tasks of the day. They were broken out into two

desk sections and they were equally split between boys and girls. I did make an observation

that the girls were seated next to each other there was no mixture of gender in seating

arrangement. Mrs. Carberry gave out a science test during my first hour of observation. During

the test she walked around and allowed the children to ask her questions but, she also provide

feedback to some prior to them asking. On numerous occasions she would look over the test as

it was handed in and if she found something that was wrong ask them to double check before

they turned it in. I found this was very good approach to test taking at the 3rd grade level. After

each lesson in the class she would quickly move on to the next. If students finished early they

knew to get out their library books and read. She did not need to tell them to find something to

do. There were a few students who would become disruptive during the class and she would

give them “the look”, just say their name or have to take a moment to speak to them about

making proper choices. She had a color system for discipline everyday a student starts on

green and progresses through 5 colors the final being red and in the principal’s office. During

all the lessons I observed it was apparent that Mrs. Carberry’s the curriculum was a cultural

general approach (75). There were no references to a specific religion or culture. It was math

as it would be taught in almost any culture, science etc…

I enjoyed my time at the school it was an interesting experience to see a school that has

an enculturate (73) view of educating students. While I was not able to ask the children if their

parents immigrated(455) to this country or themselves did it was interesting to be in a different

environment. The environment was similar in many ways to mainstream schools but, also had

a non-Anglo-conformity (38) about it. Speaking with Mrs. Carberry also made me think

beyond my own beliefs when pursuing a job in a school. She had a perspective consciousness

(216-217) about her and although her beliefs may be different the goal is to educate and to

respect and appreciate all. I think that is a wonderful thing to remember and to teach our

youth.

I was able to sit in with half of Mrs. Carberry’s class as they took basic Arabic. It was very

interesting they read a story in Arabic and the teacher would correct their pronunciation. It is a

very unique language to listen too. During the Arabic lesson the students break into a basic

level and intermediate level in another room. Both are taught by someone other than Mrs.

Carberry.

By far the best part of my day was prior to the class breaking into two sections of Arabic lessons

was the student singing me another round of Colors of Islam. It was just wonderful to have

them so excited about singing about their beliefs. One boy brought me over the words so I

could sing along. It was so catchy I did just that.