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The importance of equity in education
Importance of culturally responsive teaching
The importance of equity in education
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Teachers and administrators that strive to increase motivation and academic success in their students have to become of aware that their student body is becoming more diverse and so many aspects of the school’s culture must be changed. Many schools have alienated their students that come from different ethnic backgrounds by failing to make that connection between self-identity and school identity. There are many different strategies that can be implemented by school staff to make these changes and increase motivation and academic success in their students, but it comes with hard work and dedication. Culturally responsive classrooms are a way to help teachers bridge that gap between self –identity and school identity and increase motivation in their students.
What are culturally responsive classrooms?
A culturally responsive classroom is an environment where teachers and administration address the needs and interest of children so that the children can reach academic success. The way the curriculum is created and presented to the students is major. When students feel included and feel like their identity is being represented in their learning they become motivated and engaged. When the students do not feel included they become disengaged and feel as if their teachers do not care. (Ford, 2010) Teachers who change their curriculum, behavior management strategies, and praise to be more culturally responsive see dramatic, positive changes in their students. Not only do the students respond openly to the change but there is a difference in their academic success. They are much more engaged, motivated and they are actually eager to learn. It is very important as a teacher to know your students and know what methods or strategies will wo...
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...ucation: A Conceptual Framework for Educational Researchers and Practitioners. Educational Psychologist, 46(4), 222-238.
Shin, R. Q. (2011). The Influence of Africentric Values and Neighborhood Satisfaction on the Academic Self-Efficacy of African American Elementary School Children. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 39(4), 218-228.
Trumbull, E., & Rothstein-Fisch, C. (2011). The Intersection of Culture and Achievement Motivation. School Community Journal, 21(2), 25-53.
Ware, F. (2006). Warm Demander Pedagogy: Culturally Responsive Teaching that Supports a Culture of Achievement for African American Students. Urban Education, 41(4), 427-456.
Warner, C. B. (2008). The Role of Ethnicity and Grade Level on the Motivational Orientation in Urban African American Middle School Students. Journal of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research, 4, 135-147.
Gloria Ladson-Billings supports this idea in her essay titled “’Yes, But How Do We Do it?’ Practicing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy” and also expands upon its importance by adding the insight of how teachers think about the social contexts, the students, the curriculum, and about instruction, all impact the students because how teachers regards these contexts get woven into their pedagogy, which create the very classrooms for learning.
Richards, H., V., Brown, A., F., Forde, T., B. (2006). Addressing diversity in schools: culturally responsive pedagogy. Retreived March 30th 2014from http://www.nccrest.org/Briefs/Diversity_Brief.pdf
A baby boy is born in a clinic within an impoverished village in Thailand. The mother, who had no immediate family and was unwed, deceased during childbirth, leaving her son an orphan. The baby was placed in foster care and soon adopted by an American couple. The couple then raises the boy in their home as their own. He grows up in a suburban neighborhood, learns English, attends public school, lives within an entirely American culture, and embraces it. He is aware that he comes from a different familial background and is of a different nationality than his parents, but he has made the choice to identify himself with the ethnicity that he has grown to love. He believes that his ethnic identity entirely up to him. A Thai boy choosing the ethnicity of an American child as his own goes against the widespread belief that ethnicity is in our DNA, and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, he is setting the example. Being able to make a meaningful choice in your ethnic identity is something everyone should be allowed to do, no matter the situation. Nobody should be expected or forced to believe in an ethnicity determined by their race or heritage because everyone has their own beliefs. Your personal notions give you the power to decide who you want to be, just like the Thai boy. Ethnicity is the choice everyone can make to be the individual they want to be and the origin of a person’s ethnicity is not inherent or defined by race, it comes from personal beliefs.
Taylor, R., Casten, R., Flickinger, S., Roberts, D., & Fulmore, C. (1994). Explaining the school performance of African-American adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 4(1), 21-44. doi: 10.1111/1532-7795.ep11301469
I classify my race, ethnicity, and culture as a white, Irish-Italian- American, woman. My mother was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and my paternal grandparents are from Sicily, Italy. I imagine being first generation Irish and second generation Italian helps me relate with my ethnicity.
In chapter 5, Motivating the Unmotivated, Kuykendall discusses the lack of motivation among Hispanic and Black students. Many youths who exhibit low motivation may fail to reach their full potential not because they do not want to learn but, because it is impossible for them to learn (p. 93). Setting low expectations, having an incongruent teaching style, grouping students based on ability, and test bias are all ways to debilitate a student’s motivation. Many Blacks Hispanics are in a survival state, therefore it is important that teachers are educating students for the real world to keep them motivated in the classroom. Kuykendall mentions ten techniques that are helpful to motivate unmotivated students (p. 97).
According to Steinberg (1996) many believe that biculturalism is more successful than the other four. With biculturalism minority youth have access to the norms of the majority and minority culture depending on the situation.
The human species is made up of those who dared to immigrate to the rest of the world from Africa. Most of human ancestry dealt with migration by venturing into the unknown and eventually establishing a culture that begins to create social mores that the population begins to believe as fundamentally theirs and what their country represents. The majority always seems to have a mob rule in cultural etiquette. By comparing the concepts of ethnicity, nation and nationality I will cover the similarities and the differences that make up each of the given terms for a culture. In a culture, groups that may not think that they form a circle for their existence will be discussed in my review of “Focus on Globalization: The Gray and the Brown” (Kottak,
To start with, culturally responsive teaching practices recognize the validity of the cultural custom contained by several ethnic groups. In other words, it considers whether different approaches of learning are necessary and worthy in the formal learning. Furthermore, culturally responsive teaching practices are fundamental because they create links between school experience and home and between lived social cultural realities and academic abstraction (Gay, 2000).
Ethnicity significantly influences the formation of an individuals identity and experiences of belonging. Every cultural background has its own guide of morals and values which places expectations on each individual to follow. The various elements of a certain background influence family life and general structure, greatly influencing a persons formation of identity, and ways an individual may experience belonging. Other impacts that may have an effect on ethnicity for various people today include globalisation, increased mobility and migration.
Geneva Gay (2002) combines these two concepts of sociocultural consciousness and culturally responsive teaching in Restructuring Attitudes and Beliefs. Gay refers to culturally responsive teaching as a way of addressing “universal marginality, powerlessness, and disadvantages” within the classroom by taking a critical view of the curriculum (p.1). Culturally responsive teaching starts with the teacher’s identity and an awareness of their own ideologies and theories that influence how they act as a median between the student and curriculum. Similar to understanding their own identity, the sociocultural consciousness is how the teacher views the students’ identities in their community. Gay explains these relationship by saying, ”teachers’ instructional behaviors are strongly influenced by their attitudes and beliefs about various dimensions of student diversity” (p.3). The historical context of the community allows the teacher to use their individual students’ background as resources for scaffolding entire class’s curriculum and help meet the needs of the individual students. Assuming the role of public education is to act as an equalizer, culturally responsive teaching is a means of creating
Wlodkowski, Raymond J. & Woodkowski, Raymond J. (2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Diversity & Motivation: Culturally Responsive Teaching in College (2nd Ed.). San Francisco, California. Keller, John M. (2006).
Adolescences has always been the most crucial time for developing identity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between racial identity development of African American adolescents and the role of education. This paper will discuss the effects race has on identity and adolescent development. Following, it will compare students education from a racial perspective and the lasting effects after adolescence.
There are many factors that play a role in the learning process for every human being. Race, religion, language, socioeconomics, gender, family structure, and disabilities can all affect the ways in which we learn. Educators must take special measures in the delivery of classroom instruction to celebrate the learning and cultural differences of each of their students. As communities and schools continue to grow in diversity, teachers are searching for effective educational programs to accommodate the various learning styles of each student while promoting acceptance of cultural differences throughout the classroom. It no longer suffices to plan educational experiences only for middle-or upper class white learners and then expect students of other social classes and cultures to change perspectives on motivation and competition, learning styles, and attitudes and values that their homes and families have instilled in them (Manning & Baruth, 2009).
Culture is a powerful influence plays a big role in our interactions. Culture may also impact parenting style and a developing child. Having a strong sense of their own cultural history and the traditions associated with it helps children build a positive cultural identity for themselves. This also supports children’s sense of belonging and, by extension, their mental health and wellbeing. This class is crucial in understanding and working well parents, staff, and children. An effective educator understands how students’ cultures affect their perceptions, self-esteem, values, classroom behavior, and learning. As director, I need to use that understanding to help my students and staff feel welcomed, affirmed, respected, and valued. One way that I can do this is by using multicultural literature, especially children’s literature, to honor students’ culture and foster cross-cultural understanding. If cultural differences are not understood by teachers and management, it can lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings on both sides. It will be my job to do all I can to overcome both language and cultural differences to ensure a positive learning environment for