III: Being the Other
For this assignment, I attended a church that my sister used to attend when she lived in Saratoga Springs, UT. This church is a non-denominational church and she and her husband loved going to it. I am LDS so this was definitely a new experience for me. I attended several churches when I was on my mission in Germany, but I had never attended another church in the US besides my own.
The music was christian rock which I really enjoyed and it was a fun chapel.
(Disclaimer: I was given permission to take this photo, even though there were a couple of kids in it :)) This was the room for the nursery age kids and it reminded me a lot of the nursery in my own ward.
My experience honestly went as I imagined it, for the most part. I introduced myself to the pastor (I think he's a pastor? Church leader for a non denominational church...) and was curious how the meetings would proceed. It was actually very similar to the meetings that I'm used to attending. It was a day where their version of the primary was performing different songs and displays of Christ. It was honestly a great experience and a place that one can totally feel the spirit. I honestly expected to get approached a good amount and was not disappointed. A good amount of members of the congregation introduced themselves to me and made me feel welcome.
I participated by singing the hymns with them and they gave a lesson on Christ and his role in our lives and I talked about how I never really understood how much of a role he had until I served a mission. Because many of them are either former LDS members or associate with them, they were very supporting and kind towards me. With their interactions with me and the comments I made, they obviously knew I was an "outsider" but they didn't treat me in any way that made me uncomfortable, to be honest.
Despite their kindness, I still have never been one that really enjoys the feeling of being the "other". Being "the other" requires you to get out of your comfort zone and be put in situations that you're not familiar with. When you're not "the other" it is very easy to become content and comfortable with your familiar settings. I feel that both of these things have potential for good and bad. Like I said before, being the other would definitely require you to get out of your comfort zone and this has the potential to lead to a lot of personal growth. However, being the other also can obviously have very negative side effects of loneliness, resentment, anger, etc. and a large part of this is dependent on the group that the "other" is now introduced to. For me, I was greeted and welcomed and still felt a little weird being the other. So I can only imagine how somebody feels who has been "the other" in basically any community that they've been in their entire life.
This is something that I could definitely see affecting students in my future classroom. While I felt welcomed and was treated with kindness, that is not always the case with students, especially when dealing with peers their own age. I would need to be aware of individuals in my classroom who feel left out, unaccepted, different, etc. This is probably one of the more difficult tasks that teachers need to master, the ability to read body language. After recognizing the students who feel uncomfortable or like "the other", I would go out of my way to make sure the student has the same experience for a healthy and rich learning environment as those who don't feel like "the other". This could be using activities that this particular individual relates to or really enjoys, gradually having them work with the friendlier students in the class, etc. I feel like every student is different, but it is crucial that we recognize who feels like "the other" or else it will be so easy for that individual to not get nearly as much out of the class.
The music was christian rock which I really enjoyed and it was a fun chapel.
(Disclaimer: I was given permission to take this photo, even though there were a couple of kids in it :)) This was the room for the nursery age kids and it reminded me a lot of the nursery in my own ward.
My experience honestly went as I imagined it, for the most part. I introduced myself to the pastor (I think he's a pastor? Church leader for a non denominational church...) and was curious how the meetings would proceed. It was actually very similar to the meetings that I'm used to attending. It was a day where their version of the primary was performing different songs and displays of Christ. It was honestly a great experience and a place that one can totally feel the spirit. I honestly expected to get approached a good amount and was not disappointed. A good amount of members of the congregation introduced themselves to me and made me feel welcome.
I participated by singing the hymns with them and they gave a lesson on Christ and his role in our lives and I talked about how I never really understood how much of a role he had until I served a mission. Because many of them are either former LDS members or associate with them, they were very supporting and kind towards me. With their interactions with me and the comments I made, they obviously knew I was an "outsider" but they didn't treat me in any way that made me uncomfortable, to be honest.
Despite their kindness, I still have never been one that really enjoys the feeling of being the "other". Being "the other" requires you to get out of your comfort zone and be put in situations that you're not familiar with. When you're not "the other" it is very easy to become content and comfortable with your familiar settings. I feel that both of these things have potential for good and bad. Like I said before, being the other would definitely require you to get out of your comfort zone and this has the potential to lead to a lot of personal growth. However, being the other also can obviously have very negative side effects of loneliness, resentment, anger, etc. and a large part of this is dependent on the group that the "other" is now introduced to. For me, I was greeted and welcomed and still felt a little weird being the other. So I can only imagine how somebody feels who has been "the other" in basically any community that they've been in their entire life.
This is something that I could definitely see affecting students in my future classroom. While I felt welcomed and was treated with kindness, that is not always the case with students, especially when dealing with peers their own age. I would need to be aware of individuals in my classroom who feel left out, unaccepted, different, etc. This is probably one of the more difficult tasks that teachers need to master, the ability to read body language. After recognizing the students who feel uncomfortable or like "the other", I would go out of my way to make sure the student has the same experience for a healthy and rich learning environment as those who don't feel like "the other". This could be using activities that this particular individual relates to or really enjoys, gradually having them work with the friendlier students in the class, etc. I feel like every student is different, but it is crucial that we recognize who feels like "the other" or else it will be so easy for that individual to not get nearly as much out of the class.
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