My Education Journey

Good afternoon.

My name is Tawanda Hunt, and I am the fourth

grade share pricing at the Holly Springs Intermediate School.

Today, I'm going to talk to you about how diversity

equity and inclusion begins with me on my educational journey.

To begin this journey, we're gonna start with some background

knowledge about me.

I completed my undergrad studies at Rust College while I

was an undergrad student.

I was assigned to complete my field hours at the

Holly Springs Intermediate School, where I am currently employed.

While I was completing my field hours, I noticed that

even though Holly Spring was a diverse community, the intermediate

school was predominantly African American.

These are the demographics at Holly Springs.

As you can see, the community is 78% African American

and 19% white, and the other minorities in the area

are a very low number.

Now these are actually the student demographics at the Holly

Spring Intermediate School, currently, and as you can see, it

is 92% African American, and only 2% of the student

body is white and less than 1% of the other

minorities. As a part of my field observation, I had

to talk to my professor about what I observed at

the school.

At the time, there was only one white in the

top. There was only one white student in the entire

fourth grade.

My professor challenged me to find out where the rest

of the white students in the community were going to

school. Mhm.

After speaking with a veteran teacher at the school, I

discovered that there was a private school in the area

and most of the white students attended that school.

The name of that school was Marshall Academy, and this

is the demographics at Marshall Academy.

As you can see, Marshall Academy has 287 students, and

only 13% of those students are students of color.

And those students of color do not only represent African

American students, but they also represent the Mexicans in the

area, as well as the Yemen students.

Uh huh.

Another thing I observed on my field hours was the

fact that most of the Caucasian teachers lack the ability

to respond to student behaviors related to adverse childhood experiences.

Some of the teachers also let cultural competency and classroom

management, so they depended on punishments.

An explosion Eri discipline The school lacked the necessary infrastructure

to support all students equally.

Yeah, as you can see by these diagrams, Holly Springs

has a crime index of six.

That means that Holly Springs is only safer than 6%

of all the states in the United States.

Now, the safest cities get a rating of 100.

So think of this as if you were taking a

test and 100 is the highest that you can get

on the test.

And the lower numbers are, uh, as a great low.

So six is the number that you would give Holly

Springs on a test to determine how safe it was.

But if you look here, Chicago Chicago's crime index is

at eight.

Which means that actually, Holly Springs for as small as

a city as it is, it has a higher crime

index than Chicago.

And here is another chart.

And at the top of this chart, this is Holly

Springs, um, violent crime comparison per 1000 students.

The national average is about four violent crimes per 1000

people. And as you can see in Holly Springs, that

number is right at 14% and in Mississippi, the total

number is approximately about 2 to 3%.

And on the bottom we have the violent crime comparison

part 1000 citizens in Chicago, and that number is about

9.5. And, um, for the entire state of Illinois, that

number is exactly about four.

So, as you can see, Holly Springs is a very

high crime area, and therefore the students actually see lots

of violence.

Um, most of our students have parents that have been

incarcerated. A lot of them are being raised by grandparents.

Um, on a Monday on a Monday, you can get

some very interesting stories about the things that the students

have experienced over the weekend and usually on Monday, everything

you put into them, you usually have to start to

pour it back into them and in order for them

to get back on track.

And not all of the teachers at how springs enemy

to school.

While I was doing my observations actually had what I

thought it took to deal with these types of students.

Now, me personally, I am from Chicago, Illinois.

I was raised there.

I moved to Mississippi when I was I believe I

was 17.

I did my junior.

I was 16.

I did my junior and my senior year and Ashlyn,

um, Mississippi, which is only about 10 minutes away from

Holly Springs.

And so I feel like I could relate to the

students while I was doing my field space.

Most of the students have witnessed violence, crimes, and many

parents are incarcerated.

These experience affect how they interact and relate to things

in and outside of the classroom Again, I was raised

in Chicago.

I moved to Ashland, um, when I was 16.

My mother is actually from Ashland, Mississippi, and she often

says that the big city was just not somewhere where

she wanted to raise her Children.

I am the oldest of all my three siblings, and

I am quite sure that my behavior and the groups

that I was hanging with once I reached high school

played a vital role in my mom's decision to move

back home.

Because of my own childhood experiences, I believe that I

could help the youth in Holly Springs community.

After all, I was raised on the west side of

Chicago, and I have seen many things As a child,

I believe that I could truly make a difference in

the lives of these students.

During my field observations at the House Spring Intermediate School,

I was assigned to a mentor.

My mentor was the fourth grade chairperson.

This person had been at the school for several years

and she offered me a word of advice.

She told me that these students are not capable of

learning at great level because they did not have the

support they needed at home to be successful in the

classroom. She explained how she dummied down lessons so that

they could get their basic understanding, but nothing more.

I was very disappointed.

I felt as though she was doing these students for

a great disservice.

I made up my mind at that moment that I

wanted to make a difference in the lives of these

students. I was currently in my senior year among away

from graduating, and my major was child care management.

There was no way I could settle for opening a

daycare when these students needed me in the classroom.

I spoke to my professor about my dilemma and she

told me about the alternative teaching and directed me to

a program in my area at Belhaven University, I started

classes at Belhaven two weeks after I graduated from Rust

College. I was hired as 1/4 grade reading teacher at

the intermediate school.

My former mentor was now my grade level share, and

I was not going to let her train of thought

ruined my mission.

After two years, I was appointed as the culture that

had never been a culture before this and my fourth

grade year and my fourth year, I was actually appointed

as the great chair without a co chair.

My former mentor is still employed at the intermediate school,

but she is no longer a chair.

Me and her work closely together, and I usually try

to help her understand what it takes to make her

lessons more diverse.

And I try to help her to be able to

relate to the students and to help them to be

the best that they can be and to not water

down things just because she thinks that they can't learn

at the level that they should be learning.

I know that equity plays a significant role in student's

ability to succeed academically.

I started the program at the intermediate school called Best

Me and Best Friends.

The program is designed to teach students the importance of

community service and good behavior.

Each year, the mentor programs the students are taken on

a trip if they have performed their community, saved service

and maintain behavior throughout the year.

So far, I have taken students to New York, Washington,

D. C, Atlanta, Birmingham and a couple of other places

in the future.

I intend to take students to the Grand Canyon.

I want to take him to Texas to see the

Alamo and those types of places.

I want the students to realize that there is no

limit to the possibilities of where they can go or

what they can do in life.

I want them to know that they do not have

to spend their entire life in Holly Springs or in

the nearby town of Memphis.

Students work hard to earn these troops, and therefore they

also one of the importance of hard work.

And that is my equity journey.

I have made up my mind, and I am determined

to make a difference in my student's life and to

help make things as equitable as I can, so that

all of my students can succeed equally.

Thank you

My Education Journey

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