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Managing diversity in the classroom
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In this article summary, I answer the question of whether extra emphasis should be placed on culturally relevant curricula in schools. Using varied researchers in the field of education, I first examine culturally relevant curricula and how culturally and ethnically diverse students do not receive the curricular support they need. Since students do not live in a bubble, neither can the school curriculum be isolated from the lives of the students, so I also examine the relevancy of involvement with the students and how the knowledge gained can be used to adjust curriculum. The issue of cultural relevancy often comes up when students are not proficient but cultural relevancy also is involved when culturally diverse students are gifted, so I also examine that side of the problem in academia.
Summary I
In her research article, Gloria Ladson-Billings (Ladson-Billings, 1995) discusses the implementation of a curricula in schools with a large African American population (and other minorities), that will empower the students as a whole, not just as individuals to be responsible for their learning. By researching teachers with an excellent reputation for academic success with African American students, she is able to give insight into what it takes to help these students. In her article, Ladson-Billings presented valuable information and insight into linking culture and academics with a brief history of other researchers who attempted to insert culture into the school setting.
Ladson-Billings proposed that students have to be academically successful, retain their cultural identity, and also develop a “critical consciousness” to question social, political, and economic situations that allow for inequities in their education. Her rese...
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Ford, D. &. (2003). Providing Access for Culturally Diverse Gifted Students: From Deficit to Dynamic Thinking. Theory Into Practice , 42 (3), 217-225.
Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for Culturally Responsive Teaching. Journal of Teacher Education , 53, 106-116.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). That's Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Theory Into Practice , 34 (3), 159-165.
National School Boards Association. (1994). Violence in the Schools. Alexandria: NSBA Press.
Ogbu, J. (1995). Understanding Cultural Diversity and Learning. In J. &. Banks, Handbook of Research in Multicultural Education (pp. 582-593). New York: Macmillan.
Smith-Maddox, R. (1998). Defining Culture as a Dimension of Academic Achievement: Implications for Culturally Responsive Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. The Journal of Negro Education , 67 (3), 302-317.