As a child, the classroom is where we spend most of our time. Every day of the week, students spend the majority of the day learning and growing. We learn things about our peers around us, read and write stories about our new interests and current life, and mature into who we are today, one day at a time. Our early years of education are the most influential in creating who we are going to be. Our teachers are the role models in which we look to them as an example. The children in classrooms today will create the environment in which we all live tomorrow. So how do we create a classroom environment that encourages students to grow into inclusive and kind human beings? Creating a classroom that is culturally responsive is one step toward cultivating …show more content…
These biases or stereotypes within a teacher will most definitely be transferred in some way into their teaching. Because of this, it is incredibly important for teachers to recognize where they may fall short or practice more unbiased and inclusive teaching. This is something that should be constantly evaluated. The article titled “Steps to Make Classrooms More Culturally Responsive” explains the steps to understanding where you as a teacher stand in terms of being culturally responsive. It lays out the steps in order from apathy to awareness to application and lastly apathy. Apathy is understanding, where we may fall short in understanding the importance of something. Awareness is the step of understanding what changes need to be made in our own understanding and beliefs. Application is when we apply these changes to our lives and begin to incorporate them into the classroom. Advocacy is taking it a step further and encourages teachers to continually check their beliefs and work towards a culturally responsive classroom. At the same time, advocacy is learning how to help students understand that they are seen and valued and acting upon …show more content…
These beliefs can be inclusive and respectful, but they often create diversity and misunderstandings. Teaching children the facts about the cultures and people that surround them can help to eliminate that. The article “Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies: Importance, Benefits, and Tips” explains, “Culturally responsive teaching is not a secondary or supplemental approach to education. Instead, every learning opportunity and school activity should take the ancestral and contemporary cultures, beliefs, and traditions of students into account.” It is crucial that cultural learning is incorporated into every aspect of the classroom. Create ways to celebrate differences and address culture in the classroom, day to day. Examples of this could be learning about a holiday that is celebrated by someone in the class, showing and telling of important art or clothing for their personal culture, and incorporating cultures into the stories being read in class. All of these work to eliminate boundaries, stereotypes, and diversity. The article “6 Ways Teachers Can Foster Cultural Awareness in the Classroom” explains what a culturally inclusive classroom should look like if a teacher takes
To be brief, culturally relevant teaching "is a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Ladson-Billings, 2009, pp. 20)." The emphasis of culturally relevant teaching is to understand that children have different needs and in order to deal with them in the best way possible is equitably. The inability to recognize these differences causes teachers to limit their ability to meet the student's educational needs and prevents them from being culturally relevant (Ladson-Billings, 2009, pp.37). Contrary to culturally relevant teaching, assimilationist teaching is a style that disregards a student's particular cultural characteristics. This teaching method follows a hierarchical model. According to the assimilationist perspective, the teacher's role is to ensure that students fit into society (Ladson-Billings, 2009, pp. 24). The book is full of amazing teaching strategies, teaching styles, and methods that would help benefit educators working with children of any grade
These lessons are important in the classroom for several reasons. First off, we as teachers need to find ways to make sure that students from all ethnic backgrounds are included in classroom discussions and that they have the ability to apply themselves to the material taught in the classroom. However, teachers also need to realize that these practices need to be implemented so that stereotypes among the different cultures do not
As Powell asserts, “a culturally responsive classroom climate is safe…characterized by respect and care. Teachers establish trusting relationships that allow students to take risks.” In addition, Richard claims, “When students are subjected to unfair discrimination…the result can be low achievement.” Therefore, a central task of teachers is to create a classroom environment in which all students feel fairly treated as respected.
In the United States today there is a great amount of cultural diversity, but unfortunately the predominant American culture causes other cultures to be overshadowed causing difficulties for students of other cultures to succeed in our school system. This is what we see in the story of the Indian Wind-Wolf as he begins going to kindergarten. For Wind-Wolf, this is his first time outside of the Indian culture and it is very difficult for him to be the only Indian in his classroom. It causes him to feel like an outcast. As teachers we have the responsibility to create an environment in the classroom that makes each student feel that they belong there. For Wind-Wolf, and any other cultural minorities, the typical classroom does not have these
As an educator one must understand that the children you will be teaching will all come from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different homes with different values. No one student will be the same, and no one student will learn the same. The role of a modern educator is to harness this idea of diversity and channel it into a positive learning atmosphere for children of all backgrounds. “I define culturally responsive teaching as using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (Gay, 2013, p.50.). The hope for all teachers is to capture the minds of their children, as educators we must learn how our students learn, adapt to their skill set and channel our curriculum to their strength.
Students who are enrolled in elementary schools with a diverse population usually develop an understanding of insights and perspectives of children from different backgrounds and learn to function in a multiethnic, multicultural environment (Morrissey, 2014). Therefore, students need to learn how to interact in diverse environments. Teachers face challenges of making lessons and instructions “culturally responsive” for all students to avoid favoritism (Griner, 2012). Some students’ cultural backgrounds may have a negative impact on them in a modern classroom (Burt, 2013). It is imperative for elementary school teachers to be knowledgeable of different cultural beliefs and practices to help students adjust to traditional classrooms (Nigma, 2015). Defining the
Culturally responsive teaching is very important in today’s day and age. Classrooms are filled with students from different backgrounds, races, and ethnicities. Teachers need to put into consideration those differences when building curriculum and creating a classroom atmosphere. Subcultures might also need to be considered when teaching, such as the culture of the disabled. The culture of students with disabilities is one that may appear within many classrooms due to the increase of students with disabilities. Teachers who are able to maintain a culturally responsive classroom and curriculum will provide ideal learning opportunities for all students and encourage them to succeed. (Darrow, 2013)
Introduction The landscape of education is perpetually changing, with an ever-increasing emphasis on the need for methods that cater to diverse and inclusive classroom settings. Within this broad spectrum of pedagogical strategies, Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) present themselves as two major instructional approaches. Both CRT and UDL aim to address and accommodate the varied needs of students, but they do so through different means and with different focal points. This essay critically examines the characteristics, strengths, and educational implications of CRT and UDL, comparing how each contributes to the creation of inclusive learning experiences and environments.
Diversity in classrooms can open student’s minds to all the world has to offer. At times diversity and understanding of culture, deviant experiences and perspectives can be difficult to fulfill, but with appropriate strategies and resources, it can lead students to gain a high level of respect for those unlike them, preferably from a judgmental and prejudiced view. Diversity has a broad range of spectrums. Students from all across the continent; students from political refugees, indigenous Americans, and immigrants bring their cultural and linguistic skills to American classrooms. Students not only bring their cultural and linguistic skills, but they bring their ethnicity, talents, and skills.
There are many challenges that teachers encounter when teaching children with learning disabilities, learners that are English language learners, or learners who are culturally and linguistically diverse. As a nation we are faced with the challenged that our schools are becoming more diverse. The majority of our schoolteachers are still predominately white females, but our student population is slowly changing. We are seeing more minority groups in our schools that are facing different challenges. The scary part of it all is that our teachers do not have the skills to accommodate those differences. “The nation’s changing school demographics are creating a demand for new teaching skills” (Utley, Obiakor, & Bakken 2011, pg. 5). Our student population
I really enjoyed Dulce’s presentation on translating vs. interpreting. I had never really thought about the difference or if there was a difference, so I was surprised to learn that the difference between the two is a pretty significant one. People use the word interpreter and translator almost interchangeably, and I think it is because so few people know there is a difference. It makes sense that there is a difference though;.When I took American Sign Language in high school, I never heard someone call an ASL interpreter an ASL translator, so when I heard Dulce explain the difference, I was able to connect what I knew from ASL to help make sense of the difference between translator and interpreter.
The world is currently undergoing a cultural change, and we live in an increasingly diverse society. This change is not only affect the people in the community but also affect the way education is viewed. Teaching diversity in the classroom and focusing multicultural activities in the programs can help improve positive social behavior in children. There is no question that the education must be prepared to embrace the diversity and to teach an increasingly diverse population of young children.
I can identify with the multicultural concept of the classroom because I am African American, a woman, and a soon to be a teacher. This subject is one that is of extreme importance. The multicultural classroom is a learning environment that should be most effective because of the simple fact that it should encompass everyone. As a future teacher one of my goals for my classroom is to make it as diverse as possible. Not only because it should be a standard operating procedure, but because I feel students will be able to learn more effectively in an environment where they feel that their heritage is included.
Throughout my research, family values, and experiences I will be able to be accepting and understanding of the culturally diverse children that I may have in my classroom. To make my classroom a welcoming and safe environment for those who are different I want to incorporate their culture into projects, lessons and crafts. In doing this I want the class to learn more about each other and their cultural
When evaluating myself on the Cultural Proficiency continuum, I’d place myself at “Cultural Competence” part on the continuum. This evaluation takes into account my experiences and practices while working in various schools and interacting with students of varied cultures, needs and ability levels as both a teacher and a learner. An effective educator is continually maintaining this dual role of teacher and life-long student in order to not grow stagnant within the classroom; this dynamic allows for growth along the continuum toward maintaining cultural proficiency.