Cultural Diversity In Public Schools

Overcoming stereotyping is a challenge educators can encounter when it comes to ensuring that teaching strategies are appropriate for culturally diverse children. Some educators may compare one child to another child that comes from the same cultural background and use the same teaching strategy. One way to overcome this is to make sure that educators know each of the students individually instead of comparing one to another or relying on stereotyping. “To truly engage students, we must reach out to them in ways that are culturally and linguistically responsive and appropriate, and we must examine the cultural assumptions and stereotypes we bring into the classroom that may hinder interconnectedness.” (Teaching Tolerance, 1991) Once they know more about each of the students then they can avoid stereotyping and adjust their teaching strategy to meet the individual needs of the students in the classroom.

Diversity is very visible in the schools within the United States. When you enter most classrooms you see students from different nationalities. As the immigrant population continues to grow in the U.S., teachers need to make sure they take everyone’s culture into consideration when teaching. It is important for teachers to create an atmosphere where all cultures are recognized and respected. Teachers should ensure to use culturally responsive practices in order to be able to engage all the student and their families, despite where they come from.

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,

Public schools are beginning to see a shift in demographics in the United States. There is now a culturally diverse student population and educators need to respond to this shift in order to ensure an equal education for all students. Culture aids in determining how students learn, and culturally responsive teaching is a way teachers can educate culturally diverse students and provide an equal education for all. Culturally responsive teaching is defined by Geneva Gay as using the various characteristics, perspectives, and experiences of many cultures to effectively teach culturally diverse students (2000). Culturally responsive teaching prepares teachers to work with and teach a culturally diverse classroom of students and allows teachers to create a classroom environment that is similar to their students’ home environments so students do not have to assimilate to the dominant culture or change from their home culture to their school culture depending on their setting (Brown). Multicultural education is not only important for ensuring equal education for all students, but also creates youth who will be able to function and be effective citizens in a pluralistic society (Gay 2003). In order to implement culturally responsive teaching, teachers must acknowledge potential biases and reconstruct their attitudes, create a diverse knowledge base, be caring and empowering, and create a classroom environment that is conducive to a culturally diverse

Immigration had the greatest impact on schools in America because without an influx of people coming to the United States we would not know about diversity in schools. Immigration helped our schools become more diverse with having different races and colors go to school together, which then led to changing the way students were being taught and with more students going to school it opened the communities to urbanization.

This first chapter has quick insights of how Cultural Competence could be so effectively with children. What this chapter made me recognized is that it’s essential to building a relationship with students. As the text points that students may be more comfortable with a teacher of their own background, regardless of the teachers background the true success of having a learning environment is based on a sensitive, caring and committed teacher. Having teachers getting to know their students would be encouraging for a teacher-student relationship student might discovery acceptance and comfort in having someone who provides stability and structure by getting to know them. Additionally, teachers should not be scared to permit themselves to be taught

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

According to the 2014 Public School Review Diversity Report, the state of Maryland is rated the third most diverse public school system in the nation, with 43% White students, 37% African American students, 11% Hispanic students, 6% Asian students, and 3% Unknown. With a significantly higher population of African American students compared to the state average, the Baltimore City School District is a far less diverse agency than the state school system as a whole. Collectively, the Baltimore City Public School District is comprised of 85% African American students, 8% White students, 5% Hispanic, 1% Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1% American Indian, Multiracial, Native Hawiian/other (Baltimore City Public Schools, 2013a). Considering

Policies that Miamifield should implement are a required class on race, diversity and culture, club that meets once a week about race, diversity, and culture, a room in the school where students can go and talk about their issues with no judgement or consequences, changing the mascot, change the way that teachers are hired, make clear rules on what will cause a student to be suspended, and full day of school every year where the mayor, community, students all talk about what is happening in the school with race and other issues and how it can be solve. By requiring a class on race, diversity, and culture will allow for the students to learn about people that are different than they are and it will open up their eyes to a new perspective. I would make this class mandatory for all students

The teachers chosen for this study were recommended by both parents and principles. These teachers have a passion for learning and created a community in which the students felt safe. The teachers also created a bond with each of their students to prevent competition between each other. They also were not dependent on the standards or textbooks

Culturally responsive classrooms are important in our schools because we are a culturally diverse society. There is a relationship between culturally responsive classrooms, inclusive education, and specialized instruction. When teachers provide a culturally responsive classroom, this in turn creates an inclusive environment for students of all cultures. Additionally, being culturally sensitive, responsive, and inclusive within the classroom will help teachers provide specialized instruction for culturally diverse students. Culture plays a large role in a student’s behavior and academic performance (Lerner & Johns, 2015). Ignoring one’s culture, and essentially their identity, could cause problems with students who are from a different culture

I really appreciated the perspective you have on the regional differences and impact on this phenomenon as well as how the issue plays out in schools that are more integrated (Fryer, 2006). It encouraged me think more deeply about if this could be a contributing factor at my own school. Our elementary school has a reported 80% minority rate (n.d. 2017). Based on Fryer's (2006) article I initially thought the acting white issue would be reduced with a high minority rate and potential lessening of the social isolation associated with it. The problem with my assumption was that I did not consider the diversity of our minorities; Hispanic, African American, and Native American. Our students tend to stick with their neighborhood friends, who

Within education teachers come in contact with a large population of culturally diverse individuals (students,

Education is one of the most important factors in every person’s life regardless of where they’re from, their race, or their culture. Becoming educated not only makes life easier for us but also can help people become more successful in all things. However with so many people of various races, ethnicities and backgrounds in the United States it is difficult to create an education system that attends to each student’s individual culture. Ones own culture influences their actions and lifestyle, therefore this can create conflict if it is different from their schools cultural teaching style. Multicultural and multilingual classrooms have become the norm in many educational and professional settings throughout the U.S. because of changing immigration patterns caused by globalization (Institute for Educational Leadership, p. 2). For teachers today, it is essential to understand the role of culture and have the ability to interact interculturally in the classroom to create an effective learning environment. Analyzing cultural issues or differences can help teachers to understand some of the unconscious processes that shape individuals’ actions and interactions, as well as their language use and communication. “Teachers who understand cultural diversity…are more likely to be successful in their multicultural classrooms” (Samovar, Pg.2).

As a culturally responsive teacher, one must “accept all students as they are” (Glickman et al., 2014, p. 374) and take the responsibility to help students learn. Howard recommends, as noted in Glickman et al., (2014) building relationships that convey genuine feelings for student’s success. A caring teacher accepts all students just as they are and, encourages them to learn and to be fruitful. A culturally sensitive teacher that incorporates all students’ backgrounds and linguistic diversity propagates a multicultural classroom (Glickman et al., 2014, p.374). In such a classroom, bilingual students feel included and perceive that the community will benefit from their input; therefore, they participate actively in daily activities.