Brian Sztabnik's Song Talks With Teachers

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,

Upon hearing the word culturally responsive classroom one envisions a class where the teacher “emphasizes a comfortable and academically enriching environment for students for all ethnicities, races, beliefs, and creeds.” (Lynch, Matthew 2011) Yet in reality most classrooms and schools are not culturally responsive in my area. Most schools are doing the best they can to differentiate instruction as well as make modifications and/or accommodations. However, as the number of diverse students rises, it our responsibility to educate ourselves on being culturally responsive.

Culturally Responsive Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning (Ladson-Billings, 1994). This approach to teaching encompasses how knowledge is both communicated and perceived by the students. The teacher must have a good relationship with the parents, have high expectations, learn about their students culture, have culturally mediated student-centered instruction, willing to reshape the curriculum, and be a facilitator in order to accomplish this method of teaching. These are key points a teacher must be willing to do if they intend to be an effective teacher especially in a highly culturally diverse area like central

The debate regarding exactly how much homework is too much homework has been an ongoing debate for years. As of right now, there seems to be no end in sight for this debate. Various adults believe that if children do not obtain homework, then they are not learning properly. However, numerous children are obtaining a substantial amount of homework per night, as well as per each class. Once a child exceeds a certain amount of homework, then it is no longer beneficial for the child’s education. An excessive amount of homework can essentially become harmful to the child’s education. As a result, teachers are struggling with finding the right amount of homework to assign to students. The National Education Association as well as the National Parent-Teacher Association endorse the “10-minute rule” for teachers to follow when assigning homework to students. If a child is assigned an excessive amount of homework, then the child might experience more harm than good when attempting to complete the assigned homework.

After reading Geneva Gay’s article Preparing for Culturally Responsive Teaching I realized my pedagogy is culturally responsive in many ways. For one, I always

The limit according to the National Education Association and the National PTA support a standard of 10 minutes per grade level. For, example their standard 7th grade would have 70 minutes of homework. I also support this amount because I know homework helps you but too much can also be bad for you. However, some schools that they did a

Even a professor by the name of Harris Cooper at the Duke University found connections between students and spending time on homework. Firstly, he found that elementary school students improve study habits with only a small amount of homework. Secondly, middle school students are willing to do homework within ninety minutes each night, and thirdly, high school students are willing to do homework within ninety minutes and two and a half hours. Anything after those times, they start to think of it as busy work and lose the interest in learning (DeNisco).

The first step for me to become a culturally responsive teacher is to learn not to judge others. Working with students from diverse backgrounds requires us to question our reactions to families and students. We need to stop judging different as “abnormal” and embrace what the differences can teach us (Rosenberg, Westling, & McLeskey, 2011). Embracing the differences

2. The Best Practices in Culturally Responsive Teaching: The second part of the study will focus on providing teaching strategies and frameworks that utilize culturally responsive teaching methods. This method includes teaching that integrates students’ backgrounds and experiences into the curriculum and learning experiences that take place in the classrooms. In doing so, teachers must: 1) hold high expectations for all learners, 2) assist students in developing cultural awareness and tolerance, 3) providing room for all students to make meaningful connections to learning

Creating an understanding and sharing of one’s culture should be facilitated by the educators of the students. Teacher’s set the tone of what is acceptable and unacceptable through classroom management, teacher-student relations, and teacher-parent relationships. We must foster a culture of united we stand divided we fall through practices such Responsive Classroom and enhanced by the concept of Cultural Responsive Classroom Management (CRCM). CRCM is classroom management based on methods to formulate a caring, respectful environment that facilitates learning—and discipline out of a sense of personal responsibility (Weinstein,

As an educator it is important to be aware of the various learners in the classroom as well as being able to shift lessons accordingly to adapt to a greater number of students. In addition it is essential that culturally responsive practices is adapted in the classroom in order for all students to have a sense of belonging and are able to participate. For this reason, a teacher must actively use culturally responsive practices to engage students and their families because it helps to develop a relationship and maintain a level of communication. Learning “facts” about different cultures is not enough, it is more important that we make

Hsiao (2015) conducted a quantitative study to create a multidimensional scale known as the Culturally Responsive Teacher Preparedness Scale (CRTPS) based on a teacher’s self-report. By defining the term responsive as expressing appropriate reaction in instructional contexts, the exploratory study measured how prepared preservice teachers are with implementing teaching practices and its concomitant effects on culturally responsive teaching (CRT). To holistically cover the dimensions of education, Hsiao (2015) lists five elements that encompass CRT: diagnosing students’ needs; curriculum content; counseling and guidance; instructional strategies; and performance assessment (p. 241). The study evolves as Hsiao distinguishes the scholarly interpretations

When I was first presented this task of interviewing another educator, I was apprehensive because the concepts that are being addressed in the prompts are so important to a teacher’s personal teaching philosophy. These prompts almost appeared to be questions that one might hear at a job interview for a teaching position. I did not at first want to subject a colleague to these questions, as they require so much deeper though and inquiry from the teacher. That is why I first answered the questions myself. I feel that the responses to these questions are the center for a teacher’s approach to culturally responsive teaching.

Students should only spend enough time on homework so that the subject is reinforced and not just a waste of time. The national PTA suggest that from K-3 grades there should be no more than 20 minutes a day, for 4-6 grades there should be 20-40 minutes of homework, and from 7-12 grades time varies do to types of subjects and number of subjects taken(KidSource). Anymore than these recommended amount of times is seen excessive by the national PTA. Surprisingly U.S. students are working as hard as Asians: 24% of eighth graders do more then two hour of homework compared to Japans 28% and Germanys 17%(Brimelow108). Are we working to hard, researchers don't think so, U.S. student grades are improving. As of 1996 one in every sixth grader does more than an hour of

Today in schools the average amount of homework a typical high school student gets a night is estimated at 3.5 hours. That is spaced out between 5-6 classes which a student has to remember each of the subjects throughout the day to understand and complete the homework. This is after a long day at school learning about what our homework will be later, when half of the class time should be set for finishing our homework in each class.