Culturally Relevant Learning Experience

Choosing an unfamiliar place within the small town of Athens, OH was a difficult task for someone with a diverse list of interests to do. Personally, I had to think about where I wanted to spend my time ‘culture watching’. There are many places that I have spent much of my time, like coffee shops, multiple basketball and football games freshman year, and three well known dining halls across campus. I had to think to myself where have I not spent time in Athens, and then it came to me, church. For the cultural immersion project, I spent three Sundays observing the Athens First United Methodist Church, each service being one hour long focusing on different areas each time. The location of the church is extremely familiar to me being that I live

Einstein said: “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Now imagine the various students that enter the classroom. They come from all walks of life with different backgrounds and stories to tell. If educators don’t recognize that these differences do in fact exist then some of the fish that pass through those school doors will leave the building believing that they are incapable because of the trees presented for them to climb. Enter culturally responsive teaching. This method or pedagogical device is the answer to bridging this gap that students may encounter when they are not given the opportunity to show their particular geniuses or to act as their own agent in their education.

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,

6. Create a diverse learning environment that support families’ culture differences that promotes children learning within the classroom.

The life experience during the kid’s time is one of most important time in the life. I have learned this by the hard way. When people looking for how should their kids to learn, I think people should pay more attention to what are their kids learning. Times are changing, the old thought of teaching might not fit in today anymore. I am always hoping one day today’s student could teach kids， because today’s student knows more about what kids like, what should kids know at this time of the day. SEU’s CCU class’s Cultural Engagement Assignment have given me a chance to see my childhood dream in life. I have decided to go one of the activity on Saturday. I have gone three times, first time I want is because I have to; the second time I want is because I like it and I want to do something I can to help the kids, also I want to know about the kids grow up in the family that not so good. Before I want the activity, my understanding of “Cultural Engagement,” is the connection between the people and the cultural, but after I want the activity, my understanding of “Cultural Engagement” has changed, it became what kind of culture for the kids have been growing up have affected to their dream and behavior. I will never forget a point that so many pastors have mentioned - Christians should never need to tell others that they are Christian but people should able to tell that we are Christian. As being Christian, we need to show the love to others and share the God’s words and

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 aspire to help minority students excel in life. The current fundamentals of public school are not helping these students to succeed. The foundations of the school system need to change to reach these students. Making students lifetime learners is one goal that will help children of color. Another worthy goal is teaching student social-emotional skills to work through their problems.

As an ESL instructor, I teach a diverse classroom full of migrants with a variety of backgrounds. It’s as multicultural as a classroom can be! I try to incorporate my students’ cultures into our lessons. After all, everything we know and understand comes from the lens of our culture. Take for example our own education. Think about how much influence our point of view had on our education. Now, how much is our point of view affected by culture? I try to be as culturally responsive as possible. However, I know that there is always room for improvement.

I’ve always I thought I was a pretty good teacher. I’ve been selected as a STAR teacher and Teacher of the Year. But after reading Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, I had to seriously self-reflect, and I came to the realization that if I had read and implemented the suggestions in the book perhaps I would have touched student’s lives on a deeper level, a long-term neurological life-changing level. My heart and intent were pure, but did I reach as many students as I could have? I have always been focused on getting my students to be interested in their studies and to give it their all. I’ve been told many times by them, “You do too much.” I took that as a compliment because I have always tried to motivate them to want to excel, not just in school, but in life. After reading Hammond’s book, I see that I must overhaul my thinking and my methods. By following the techniques suggested in Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain I can grow in my individual approach to each student and grow more confident that they can each reach and achieve their best.

My multicultural experiential project consisted of attending multicultural presentations at IVCC and interviewing people of different backgrounds on their experiences with discrimination, with a focus on educational settings in particular. I attended two events in interviewed five people (some for two hours, some for only one), this work totaling in ten hours.

of certain cultures that are represented and if that affects their way of learning, will allow for

In each of Ms. Cruz's classes, examples of culturally responsive instruction can be identified. Her teaching strategies are used to make sure that all students, regardless of background, level of achievement, or learning style are engaging and applying themselves. This can be seen through Mrs. Cruz's connections between the content being taught and real-life experiences. For example, while teaching the integers, Mrs. Cruz drew an ocean on the board and identified the negative numbers under the sea, positive numbers in the sky, and the origin/0 on the surface of the ocean. This activated the student's prior knowledge and allowed them to remember these concepts thoroughly. Further, the students were personally asked to relate integers

A culturally responsive environment in the classroom is essential in building the bridge between home culture and a school culture. Also it is vital to ensure that all students are able to succeed by incorporating and understanding students cultural beliefs and practices. As becoming a culturally responsive teacher means being able to appreciate, understand, and work with children and families from different cultures. ( Coleman, p.177). Developing a positive mind set and the reality check #2: Teachers need not give up on their own family values in order to resect the family values of others.( Coleman, p28). It is important to be open minded to other people different family structures and beliefs.

Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people. It is learned and transmitted from one generation to the next. Culture will change as situations and the needs of people change. A school environment itself constitutes a subculture within a larger society. Each school has a culture of its own, like a minuscule society. The school culture reflects the community in which the school is located and its students’ characteristics. This will consist of the values, attitudes, beliefs, norms, and customs of those making the system. This is because of the racial and socioeconomic segregation of residential communities. A school’s culture is formed by its history context and the individuals in it. Each school has a

School culture is important to school improvement, but it is complex. It needs to be