The Importance of Educational Improvements in California Schools
“The competitiveness of Americans in this global market is coming to depend
…on the functions that Americans perform—the value they add—within the global economy.”
United States citizens devote a significant portion of their incomes to educate future generations through the taxes they pay, and the resultant expenditures of federal, state, and local governments on education. As the epigraph of this essay suggests active participation in a competitive global economy will be required of future tax payers, if we (the people of California) desire to create an environment in our state in which individuals can continue to pursue personal, public, and economic growth. The California Educational Master Plan puts it this way. “If unity, equity, quality, and efficiency are to be achieved, the Governor, legislature, and people of California must provide the required financial resources.” Moreover, as those responsible for implementing this plan work toward educating the diverse student population of California for a variety of ends—citizenship and economic participation among them—it behooves teachers, administrators, and policy makers to consider carefully the practical implications of the linguistic diversity of California’s students. This seems especially urgent when we consider the importance of meeting students at their actual level of knowledge and ability, while looking toward developing them into full participants in the American experiment. Specifically, stakeholders must consider the variety of developmental categories and other characteristics of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds if we are to improve teaching and learning in California’s ...
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...engagement and research into best practices for teaching LEP students a top priority instead of leaving new teachers struggling to “reinvent the wheel” in California’s multi-cultural classroom. Such a commitment can only benefit students, the profession of English, and the body politic as a whole. If we fail to teach LEP students comprehensively and explicitly to succeed as English speakers and writers we are undercutting our own political and economic futures. Moreover, a lack of ESL teacher preparation represents a failure to realize the uniqueness of ESL speakers and writers within California’s complex (56 distinct languages) teaching environment. And while many teachers will not be called upon to teach an entire course in ESL writing, the fact that 1 out of every 4 students is an English Language Learner is something no serious English teacher can ignore.
These differences in origin accounts for diversity in socio-cultural backgrounds and nurses must develop the knowledge and the skills to engage patients from different cultures and to understand the beliefs and the values of those cultures (Jarvis, 2012). If healthcare professionals focus only on a narrowly defined biomedical approach to the treatment of disease, they will often misunderstand their patients, miss valuable diagnostic cues, and experience higher rates of patient noncompliance with therapies. Thus, it is important for a nurse to know what sociocultural background a patient is coming from in order to deliver safe an effective
I reported that my school was guilty of “‘fairyland’ multicultural education” (Nieto & Bode, 2008, p. 2). We hold dinners, culture days, and special programs to bring awareness to different cultures, but we don’t go any further than that. This course has given me countless tools that can be used to make my school and classroom better for students. The school that I teach at has a high percentage of students who live below the poverty line and who speak English as a second language. Countless research has been done about students in both categories. Students who live below the poverty line tend to do worse than students at a wealthy school (Bainbridge & Lasley, 2002). This understanding about students living in poverty should drive instruction in the classroom. As a teacher, it is my job to inform and discuss with my colleagues strategies for better educating these students. Most importantly, there must be a belief that these and all students can learn if teacher use various teaching strategies (Bainbridge & Lasley, 2002). This understanding about students living in poverty should drive the efforts at my
...provements might help impact our ever evolving multi-cultural California state. As teachers we can incorporate students native language as a part of learning while teaching them the requirements that California has set as a standard language.
Transcultural nursing requires us to care for our patients by providing culturally sensitive care over a broad spectrum of patients. The purpose of this post is to describe cultural baggage, ethnocentrism, cultural imposition, prejudice, discrimination, and cultural congruence. I will also give an example of each term to help you understand the terminology related to nursing care. I will definite cultural self-assessment and explain why it is valuable for nurses to understand what their own self-assessment means. Finally, I will describe the five steps to delivering culturally congruent nursing care and how I have applied these concepts in my nursing practice.
Years after most school districts in the United Stated have initiated some type of “strategy” for educating America’s, increasing ELL population,; questions about how well teachers of English Language Learners (ELL) are being trained and the effectiveness of ELL programs have arisen . For many, such topic may not be as important to some as it is to others. In retrospect, the number of ELL students grows every school year as schools districts absorb the increased enrollment. Based on state-reported data, it is estimated that 4,999,481 ELL students were enrolled in public school (pre-K through grade 12) during the 2003-2004 school year (Mckeon, 1). With this in mind, school districts are still witnessing a tremendous growth of their ELL population as educators prepare for the tidal wave of non-English speakers. Unfortunately, in lieu of the data, school districts are still not ready for the influx of students who are arriving every day, and teachers are not fully prepared. Additionally, many school districts are failing to support their teachers and to evaluate their ELL programs effectiveness. In fact, the lack of success in many ELL programs is due to the insight that many states are implementing programs with no proof that such programs are effective or working. Simply put, many school districts are not evaluating the efficacy of their program, providing support to teachers, and initiating diversity training and skill buildings.
The front doors of Chamberlain Elementary School in Goshen, Indiana are plastered with advertisements for GED courses for Spanish speakers and bilingual memos reminding parents of the upcoming parent-teacher conferences. Colorful posters in either Spanish or English, with the corresponding translation posted alongside them, deck the hallways. Over a third of the student body belongs to a linguistic minority group, with Spanish being by far the most common language. Thus, Chamberlain administrators and teachers face the daily challenge of meeting the needs of a diverse student body within the context of an English-speaking public institution. The school is well known throughout the area for its efforts in embracing diversity, projecting itself as a multicultural institution, and connecting with families regardless of their cultural background. However, in meeting the linguistic needs of its diverse population, Chamberlain falls sadly short. Volunteers or trained teachers pull students out of their classrooms for a brief lesson each day in English as a Second Language (ESL). Language minor...
As nurses entering the medical field understanding the culture of our patients is crucial to proper care. Each culture has their own set of beliefs and values that are shared among groups of people which influences personality, language, lifestyles, house hold, level modesty, social standings, foods, health treatment and identity. Culture affects how people view health and illness; dictating when, where and what type of medical treatment they will receive and who will be their care provider.
The California State Public Education System. “All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” -Aristotle- It has been said many times that children are our future. That is a scary thought considering our lack of investment as a people in that future, for without a solid base of education now the bright future we hope for may never come to fruition.
Understanding cultural differences not only improves the effectiveness of the treatment the patient receives, it is also help the nurse to prevent negliency of care. It is impostant to maintain a curiosity about each patient no matter how much we know abouth that person's culture.
As the number of immigrants increase, there is a dire need for teachers and schools to become more knowledgeable on the diverse needs of their students. Teachers not only gain awareness about their actions, but there are important implications on how a teachers classroom behavior relate to perceptions. It is important that the focus needs to be with creating an environment that is appropriate for our ever-changing learning environment and the need to construct quality education for heritage language learners.
Characteristics can be as diverse as ethnic background, language spoken, gender status, physical appearance, race, and religion to name a few. Migration from various countries is creating a diverse population with different cultures and languages within the United States. Due to these cultural differences and lack of knowledge, disparities are increasing. Studies have shown that both language barriers and lack of cultural customs can hinder the services provided to the patient by the healthcare worker (Renzaho, Romios, Crock, & Sonderlund, 2013). This study provided a positive outcome when communication and cultural mutual understanding took place and patients had a more positive health outcome. It is very important that nurses are diversified in various cultures in order to better care for our patients. According to Mareno and Hart (2014), cultural competency has become one of the core values being taught in nursing programs. Their study showed that the perceived level of cultural awareness and skills among the nurses provided was low. Awareness and knowledge levels increased with higher education. It was highly recommended that self-awareness exercises be incorporated into the nursing course and continued to be addressed during the remaining curriculum until
...fer, M., & Rivera, H. (2006, October). Practical guidelines for the education of English language learners. In Presentation at LEP Partnership Meeting, Washington, DC. Available for download from http://www. centeroninstruction. org.
Some school districts have implemented programs for teaching English Language Learners (ELL) but there isn’t a one size fits all approach that will work for all students. The problem we have discovered is in language acquisition; “the amount of time required for English proficiency depends on multiple factors such as age, prior schooling experiences, parents’ education level, the instruction provided, exposure to English, and teacher quality” (Johnson et al.,175). A popular debate centers on whether or not to use the students’ native language in the instruction or to immerse the student solely in English for instruction.
In order for ELL students to succeed, there needs to be a good teacher. Despite what approach is taken to teach ELLs, it falls on the teacher whether the student succeeds. The fastest growing group of students is ELL students. These are the students that passed the English proficiency test. Add in the students who passed the test but are below average and the group doubles. “Although the number of ELs is rising rapidly, the preservice training of teachers lags behind, particularly for mainstream teachers who have ELs in their elementary or secondary classrooms” (Short, 2013, 119). There are seven steps to creating successful teachers from professional development. Step one “start with an empirically validated intervention focused on the knowledge and skills teachers need to work with English Learners” (Short, 2013, 121). Step two requires time to be given to teachers to get good at it. Step three says to design the program to be job embedded in both presentation and practice. Step four: support. Step five requires explanation of the theories that support the intervention. Step six engages school administration. Step seven measures the implantation of the
Overall, language and culture are very similar in array of ways. When ELL students assimilate to a new culture they learn new behaviors and habits which is regulated by language usage. Language and culture are effectively implemented into ESL classrooms through the use of authentic materials and texts, like T.V sitcoms or sample writings. Teacher’s own identity shapes the way he or she teaches in the general or ESL setting by emphasizing what was critical during their educational experience, such as punctuality, independence and collaborative work. Lastly, inviting in parents to participate in read alouds’ and use a variety of multimedia material are just a few ways to instill goals and skill in ELL students.