Billings Technical Schools Case Study

This paper is intended to explore and report upon the topics posited by Tyrone C. Howard in his book, Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in Americas Classrooms. Closely examining each and every chapter as they come and how the structure of this book gives a detailed framework and guidance system for novice and experienced teachers to take their pedagogical skills to more diverse and multicultural levels. Also, this paper will review a few lessons or projects that can be adapted and used within my personal educational institute in order to create

Culturally Responsive Teaching is an emerging field that focuses on student cultural backgrounds and experiences in the development of pedagogy. According to Kea (2013) cultural difference is the single largest difference in U.S. schools and also the most neglected. The goal of Culturally Responsive Teaching is to provide an equal opportunity for all students to learn in school, regardless of their gender, social class, ethnic, racial or cultural characteristics (Banks 2005). Ladson-Billings (1994) suggest that the historic failings of educators in educating non-white students is that educators attempt to insert culture into education rather than insert education into the culture. In other words, educators are not providing an equal multi-culturally relevant education by bringing tokens of culture such as food, national flags, or maps from around the world into the classroom alone. Although these actions promote a sense of multiculturalism, an education that is relative to a diversity of cultures is not necessarily being provided. Culturally Responsive Teaching attempts to bring the various experiences of the student’s cultural home life into the classroom. Schmidt (2005) identifies seven characteristics that must be incorporated into curriculum in order to provide culturally responsive instruction. These characteristics are high expectations,

Teachers must learn about their student’s cultures if they want to educate them to the best of their ability. Many of the students in culturally diverse classrooms will want to learn in different ways. Some will want to learn in pairs, groups, as a class, or just alone. If the teacher is educated in their culture then lessons can be adjusted to appeal to every student as much as possible instead of forcing some to forget about their culture and learn like others. Students from

I performed my field experience at Chiefland Elementary. Chiefland is a very small town with the population of six thousand. There are over eight hundred students enrolled at Chiefland Elementary. There are fifty-two instructional staff members and two administers. In those fifty-two staff members, there is one African American teacher and one male teacher; the rest are women. This is a white dominate school. In the school there is 73% Caucasian students, 17% African American students, and 4% Hispanic students. There is only 3% of students that are ESOL and 5% are Gifted and Talented. This semester we learned that in small areas and with low income schools, there are more Hispanics and African American people. In this case, Chiefland Elementary

However previous to this discussion the classroom was a learning environment that was systematically equipped to assimilate. We as students fell into the curriculum but often times had difficulty identifying with the material presented. Essentially, the presence of diversity is useless if we do not dig deeper into each culture represented. Equally important, is the significance of each culture finding themselves within the curriculum. When topics such as racial tensions in America are presented in the classroom individuals from different cultural backgrounds and walks of life are not only present but seen vividly throughout the courses of society. This transition from a homogenous community to an imagined community can at times be

Furthermore, I understand that in order to create a curriculum that tis culturally responsive it needs to reflect the diversity represented in the classroom. When we work in a partnership with children’s families children are able to make a connections between school and home. Also, they feel they are valued and respected. For instance, when we invite parents to volunteer they are able to share songs, books, pictures, and other valuable information about their culture. We are also able to include many of these materials in the classroom which allows us to reflect children’s

Palmer Lake Elementary School refers to a public elementary school located in Brooklyn Park. The school has 678 students with majority being Whites and non-Hispanics. The teachers; population is between 40 and 50 teachers: 6 speech teacher, two reading teacher, 3 gym physical, two music teachers, 28 for regular classes, one media. Accordingly, the ratio of students to teachers is approximately 15:1. Each class has varying number of students ranging from 19 to 28 students. Approximately 54 percent of the students are male and 46 percent are female. The percentage of students eligible for subsidized lunch is 65. This essay examines the leadership skills and styles of Dr. Tim Brown after an interview in his office. Dr. Tim is the principal of Palmer Lake Elementary School and plays the following roles. First, he shapes the vision of academic success and instructional competence for all students and teachers respectively. Second, he plays the role of creating a climate and environment that is hospitable for learning. Third, he cultivates leadership in other teachers. Fourth, he is answerable to external stakeholders such as parents and state education authorities concerning the school’s performances and use of resources. Effective educational leadership is a continuous process that involves self-examination, learning from others, collaboration and sustainable use of resources to accomplish the goals and

The text concludes with four examples of schools that have shown success for culturally diverse students and also examines the future of culturally responsive teaching. The schools studied had to meet certain criteria in order to provide validity of the research. During the research the author examined public schools, and some charter schools. Each school had to have a large percentage of non-whites. Research by the author focused on five practices that made these schools academically successful. All five of the practices suggested in the text are beneficial for all school buildings.

Culturally Responsive teaching is improving the school success of ethnically diverse students. It prepares teachers in preservice education programs with the knowledge, attitude, and skills needed to improve the schools ethnically diverse students. It is recognizing the importance of including students ' cultural references in all aspects of learning. Teachers now have to completely reshape the curriculum, learning within the context of culture, and making sure that communication is of high expectations. This literature considers culturally responsive teaching by discussing the following:

This will cause the child to be left behind without any understanding of a nurturing environment that includes knowledge about his cultural background. A teacher’s method of accepting diversity in the classroom with students and parents should show evidence that the proper guidance and knowledge are taught in the classroom. Developmentally Appropriate Practices are outlined in the guideline of NAEYC and the DAP Curriculum with the appropriate activities and material available for children at all

In the book Social and Emotional Curriculum With Gifted and Talented Students, authors Day-Vines, Patton, Quek and Wood (2009) pointed out an important role that school personnels need to employ. They said that all school personnel need to demonstrate cultural competence. Why is there a need for all school personnel to demonstrate culture of competence? School personnel must have the knowledge and awareness of the different cultural characteristics in order to avoid race-based biases and stereotypes. Whether we are truthful or not, reality is, we have preconcive notions about people/children of a specific race, skin color, etc. have a specfic ability/capability. An example would be,

No one can deny the fact that United States is rapidly becoming a more culturally and ethnically diverse nation. If the information from The Census Bureau which projects that by the year 2100, the U.S. minority population will become the majority with non-Hispanic whites making up only 40% of the U.S. population is anything to go by, it is clear beyond any reasonable doubt that we need to prepare the coming generations to comfortably embrace this change (Great Schools Staff, 2015). The subject of social diversity can therefore no longer be ignored since as a matter of fact, its impacts are already here with us. Public schools are becoming more diverse, and both the teachers and the students are feeling the impact. Teachers should therefore be actively involved in preparing their students to be tolerant to this change and teaching them how to interact in a diverse environment.

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

The public-school system has “turned away from their traditional emphasis on assimilating newcomers into the national melting pot. Instead they have put a new emphasis on multicultural education, deemphasizing the common American culture and teaching children to take pride in their racial, ethnic, and national origins” (p. 2). Today, teachers must demonstrate they are culturally competent by demonstrating they have “certain knowledge, dispositions, and skills to work effectively with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds” (p. 52). Culture can be defined as “a pattern of human behavior that includes thought, communication, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of a racial, ethnic, religious, or social group” (p. 53). The word competence “implies having the capacity to function effectively” (p. 53). Becoming culturally competent is a process that takes commitment, effort, and time, and when both words are put together, culturally competent denotes an individual or educator acknowledges and incorporates the importance cross-cultural relations (Ford & Whiting,

This authors discuss the importance of a principal's leadership on the school and student achievement. They establish a link between principal leadership and student learning by discussing how leadership is second to classroom instruction and how leadership effects are largest when and where they are needed most. Principals affect leadership by shaping a vision, creating a positive climate, cultivating leadership, improving instruction, and managing people, data, and processes. Good principals can retain and hire quality teachers as well as manage their priorities and personal time to focus on the right things. Finally, the authors discuss the elements that stand in the way of effective leadership.