As has been evident throughout other parts of my portfolio, diversity is

something that is near and dear to my heart and has developed into a
significant part of my interests and future career plans throughout my
college career. This passion was not only started through my education and
Spanish courses, but it was also fueled in many of my peripheral classes as
well. For example, in my History 202 course, we were given the opportunity
to choose any topic in history to write a research paper on, and with this
freedom, I decided to further explore this interest by choosing to research
and write about El Movimiento. This is the civil rights movement of the
Mexican American immigrant population.
This paper (Supporting Document #3: El Movimiento Research Paper)
fulfilled the purpose of the History class by broadening my understanding of
the complexity of the society of the United States during the given period,
but it also gave me a better understanding of the history of the MexicanAmerican population and their perspective. The treatment of Mexican
immigrants is often overshadowed and forgotten in the midst of the accounts
of other minority groups such as Native Americans and African Americans;
however, throughout my research and work in writing this paper, I
discovered the cruel details of El Movimiento. The political, social and
economic realms of daily life included maltreatment, abuse, exploitation and
sometimes gruesome treatment. Throughout my research I discovered that,
like other minority groups, their treatment was injustice; however, their
maltreatment is barely recognized in American history.

As I wrote this paper, I continually thought of the Smithland

Elementary students described in my diversity profile (Support Document
#1: Smithland Elementary Diversity Profile-Data Analysis) within my
Personalized Education Program section, and I wondered if their families had
undergone such maltreatment or if even the students themselves had ever
been the victims of these injustices. By learning about the civil rights
movement of Mexican-Americans, I now have a greater appreciation for
these families and the trials they endured to gain their rights and freedoms
in this country. I know that as I become a teacher, my heart will be even
more opened to these students and others like them. I want to ensure that
the trials they endured are not repeated and that they receive equal
educational opportunities.
As a middle class, white citizen, I had a very limited perspective with
not much experience in diversity; however, this assignment along with
working with these students during numerous practicum experiences and my
work with the Boys and Girls Club has helped me to develop a more diverse
perspective. I know that because of these factors, I will be a better, more
empathetic educator.