Essay On Culturally Responsive

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,

Cartledge, G., & Kourea, L. (2008). Culturally responsive classrooms for culturally diverse students with and at

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

In today 's ever changing world teachers need to understand the importance of a multicultural education. It’s becoming essential to provide opportunities for their students to learn about the many cultures represented in america and the world around them. Studies have shown that by the year 2040 as surveyed by the U.S. census bureau, that “white non-hispanics will make up less than half of the school aged population” (Smith) Our country is ever growing and it doesn 't seem right to exclude cultural education to students when our nation was built by immigrants. Building curriculums that acknowledge different cultures,

America’s schools are challenged to meet the academic and interpersonal needs of all students regardless of culture, race, or ethnic background. Hawley and Nieto (2010) claim that race and ethnicity significantly impacts students’ learning in their article, “Another Inconvenient Truth: Race and Ethnicity” (p. 66). They contended that educators should be “race and ethnicity -responsive” to effectively understand the challenges students from diverse races and cultures face (Hawley & Nieto, 2010, p. 66). Moreover, the article noted that schools should have practices in place that promote an inclusive, supportive, and enriching learning environment for all students including students from different races and ethnicities.

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

Culturally responsive pedagogy was a fascinating topic to read. Several items in the Richards’ article connected with me. I began my teaching career as someone who migrated from the north to the south. As Richard states a teacher may need to have conversations with family members to understand cultural biases (Richards, 2007, p. 65). I spoke with my mother to grasp how my upbringing impacted the connection I could have with my students. Also, she explained ways I would not be able to relate with my students as a result of my learning experiences. Another point brought out in the Richards article was fostering community involvement (Richards, 2007, p. 67). During one of my district meetings, a principal share how she took the PTA meeting to

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

A classroom is only truly culturally relevant when it has student academic success, paired with a development and maintenance of cultural competence, for which students also develop cognizance where they desire to challenge the status quo of the present-day social structure (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p.160) According to Ladson-Billings (1995), it is behoove of teachers to have pedagogical excellence in good teaching, also referred to as culturally relevant teaching with collective empowerment. Often times for students of culturally diverse backgrounds, school is a place where they cannot be themselves. Most school’s cultural norms are typically

Prior to taking this course I was unaware of all the different ways diversity and multicultural aspects could be used in the classroom. My eyes have been opened so many different ways in incorporate the community and many differences throughout it. I feel that through my lesson plans you are able to see the growth from the first assignment all the way through the last. Throughout this paper we will discuss how I used cultures within the community as a vehicle for learning, how I was able to bridge student’s learning in the community by acknowledging their cultures, how I was able to include parents, and family members within my activities, how the community’s cultures were acknowledged in my activities, my knowledge about the diversities within the school system and community, and how I will educate myself on developing a culturally competent perspective and instruction.

The inclusion of multiculturalism into schools has become an increasingly hot topic as of late. Being a future teacher I have taken a natural interest in the topic as well. It seems that most of the push to incorporate the multicultural issue into the school system has been a reaction to the thought that the American “melting-pot” metaphor is on the decline. Knowing that the demographics of the United States is changing continuously, the main issue about the inclusion of multiculturalism is not whether to place it into the schools, but rather how to position this controversial topic into the curriculum. Many people think that the incorporation of multiculturalism must begin with the teacher education

and curriculum. The discussion of the historical and philosophical background of multicultural education teaches educators how race and culture influence educational policy and programs. Multicultural teaching and curriculum is also crucial for the development of equitable education for diverse students. The author asserts that multicultural education can lessen biases while also furthering democratic beliefs and practices among students. The text’s discussion of multicultural education is significant to the field of multicultural education as it demonstrates how multicultural educational practices help students become culturally literate and prepared for today’s diverse and globalized world.

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

A multi-culture curriculum is vital in exposing students to culture diversity, prejudices, biases and prejudice, help students understand and advocate for diversity awareness. This paper will focus on developing a multicultural curriculum to facilitate better learning for students. The curriculum will focus on incorporating many cultural concepts of different students in the school.