Being the "Other"

Yoga mats are used to lay on and do the poses on.

The poses are all about balance and finding your center

Music was played the whole time. It was soft and soothing music.
It really set the mood.

That symbol above the elephants means OM.  It represents oneness and we all said this in unison at the very end of our session. 

There were plants all over the room. 

Going into the yoga class I was scared for two reasons, one, I hate going to places by myself.  If I ever have to go somewhere by myself I just don't go. And two I have not taken a yoga class before. I had no idea what was going on. When I had looked up the class it said it was a beginning class so I was hoping for a little more guidance than I was given. Each pose had these weird names and the instructor would just go from one to the other like everybody knew what he was talking about.  And for the most part everybody did, but to me it was like a whole different language and so each time he would say a different pose I had to look around to see what everybody else was doing. Being unfamiliar with the terms set me apart from the group, because it did take me longer to figure out what was going on than other. Sometimes he would say things like downward dog and child's pose and I gained some confidence because that was in a language I knew and I could actually do a headstand so I felt pretty cool.
I consider myself a pretty athletic person. I did sports all growing up, but yoga is a different kind of athletic. It is all about balance. At one point they were doing some kind of hand stand and there was no way I was going to be able to do it so I just sat there and watched. One girl thought I needed help so she asked if I wanted a spot and I just laughed to myself and was like no I'm just watching. These people would just go right up into the poses so smoothly like it took them no effort to get up and I was over there struggling to stay balanced and shaking.
When I walked in I felt like everybody could see right through me and knew that I had no idea what I was doing. The racial demographic was white so I didn't feel out of place in that area I just felt out of place in ability. I had this sense that everybody was judging me. But the class got going, nobody seemed to care that I had no idea what I was doing, meaning nobody was making fun of me and laughing. They were actually very helpful, the instructor came over and corrected me and helped to stretch even further and that one girl asking if I wanted a spot. They were all very nice so even though at first I felt uncomfortable and out of place, by the end of the class I wanted to come back with my roommates to do more classes.
So I think that is important to realize as a teacher that there are going to be students in my classroom who feel like they are the "other". I can't get up in the front of my classroom and start naming off all of these mathematical terms and assume everybody knows what I am talking, as this instructor in yoga did. Mathematics is like a whole other language and I need to make sure that I can get everybody on the same page by first explaining the math terms.
When the instructor and the random girl in class asked to help me or came to help me they had done it in a way that didn't make me feel stupid. As teachers, when giving students help or asking questions to the class we cannot make them feel like they are stupid even if it is clear that they have no idea what they are doing. If they feel like we already think they are stupid then they aren't going to try and improve. We need to approach those situations carefully.
Also each student has strengths that we, as teachers, need to recognize and play off of. Using those strengths will make them feel comfortable knowing that they aren't completely the odd ball out and then they hopefully will be more willing to participate in and learn those things that are foreign to them, just like I was when we were doing headstands and downward dog.