Cultural Awareness in the Classroom; Prompt 4

In order to become a culturally competent teacher, we all must learn to leave any bias we have behind ourselves the minute we step into any classrooom. As a teacher, and for us as tutors, we simply cannot hold any bias for any students in that classroom, it is not fair, and it is immoral. My personal history and my sociocultural characteristics intersects with my students because I come from a different background than a majority of the students I work with in my classroom. I hear the stories of the students I tutor and I can't help but think, "Wow, that would have never happened in my house". Although I think of things like this, obviously I never say them aloud when I am in the classroom. I feel, however, even though I realize these students are experiencing a different childhood than I did, I do not judge the students nor do I judge their families. This non-judgement is very important for us tutors as well as teachers because teachers encounter a variety of students, families, socioeconomic statuses, etc. and teachers cannot judge any of these situations.
One thing I found to be somewhat alarming in my SL classroom was when my students started talking about being drunk and drinking! I couldn't even believe what I was hearing; these were first graders talking about drinking! They were talking about how 'silly' people act when they are drunk and then one of the students proceeded to act like he was drunk. It saddens me to know that even at such a young age, these children are being exposed to drunken adults. In order to take control of the situation, I told the students to settle down and I told them that although being drunk looks funny, it is very dangerous and is only meant for adults. I felt I handled this situation pretty well, but it definitely caught me off guard!