Important Elements Of Teaching Towards Understanding Cultural Identity

According to the Hay’s addressing model, my cultural identities as a Latina woman of low socioeconomic status makes me part of non-dominant groups. My identities set me apart from the majority population which means that; I am perceived inferior than those of dominant groups. My lineage constitutes of indigenous ancestors that like me, share a darker skin tone that till this day is seen imperfect.

Nieto& Bode mentioned that young people felt the need to de-emphasize their identity, culture, or language in school. Yet this de-emphasis may have had negative consequences for their learning. (Nieto& Bode, 2008) I became more proud of my origin and background. Especially throughout this semester, my perspectives on race, diversity, and equality have altered to a better understanding. I become more proud of my own culture and being who I really am. Also, I learned that as a teacher I should be more aware of culture diversity in classroom. I should take my diverse background as an advantage because it helps me to “design an appropriate instructional strategies to ensure equal outcomes for diverse students.” (CSU San Marcos, 2017, p.4)

Individuals should learn to accept themselves for who they are, not what society wants them to accept. As we continue to evolve, we build up our own characters, and they are typically a mix of the ethnicity and culture we inherit from our family, various encounters in our life, distinctive identity and personality we have. Our character and identity is not something that we get easily, it's an intricate process. The story “The Other Family” by Himani Bannerji is based on a mother and a daughter who immigrates to Canada. They belong to a black family, but after the immigration they are living in the dominance of the white society.The school is considered as the hegemony of Canada and teacher is considered as the mainstream, it is a sort of social institution that a hegemony shape but they does not know the awareness of marginalized groups. The mother feels anxious when she sees a drawing of a white family by her daughter. It was the misperceptions of the kid that lead to forget her identity or she was too small to identify it. So to examine about the identity of the marginalized individual the beginning is to focus on the quality of the education. It is necessary for every school system to teach equality and inclusions of every group status so that the marginalized group are not left isolated from the society. Secondly, the fear of the marginalized parents from losing their kids in the mainstream society shows their lack of confidence in their own cultural pride. Since

Though it does not come up in everyday thought, cultural identity is an idea that all humans possess. Abridged, cultural identity can be simply explained as the sharing of a similar culture by people of various ethnicities. However, cultural identity is more complex than that, defined by an individual’s values, beliefs, and ideas of moral behavior influenced by their culture. Furthermore, cultural identity is ever changing from individual to individual. This means that although two individuals may be of the same ethnicity, differences in circumstances may cause variations between the individuals’ personal beliefs. As a result of interracial interactions, multiculturalism has grown during the twenty-first century.

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.

As a teacher, it is important to know and understand the racial and cultural identities of both yourself, and your students. Knowing about your students’ backgrounds is a great way to make the classroom a safe and welcoming environment. Not all educational settings emit a feeling of safety to its students, and that needs to be changed. In this paper, I will discuss how my racial and cultural identity may be the same and may differ from my students, as well as some ways in which the institution of education can be changed to be more racially and culturally inclusive.

In the reading, Culture and Power in the Classroom: A Critical Foundation for Bicultural Education, Antonia Darder argues that education is a critical tool and necessity for the advancement of people of color. She highlights that education is tied to status, which in turn, then gives you power in society. She helps us see many of the flaws in the school system that prevents students of color from excelling in the academic world. She points to us, that although there are many things within the school institution itself that fail students of color over and over again, the blame is always placed on the individual. She also highlights that there are many myths about students of color that say that their failure is tied to coming from cultures and backgrounds that do not value education. Finally, Darder argues that conservative educators hurt bicultural student’s education, and liberal educators, although may seem the better option, still fail to attack the institutions that help foster failure in the education setting. They also end up alluding to student failure to individual failure.

There are a number of strategies you can use to enrich children’s understanding and respect for cultural identities. The first would be to establish a good knowledge of all the different cultures and backgrounds of the children and families who attend our centre, this is initially done through enrolment paperwork. Talking and forming good relationships with families is another way to gain insight into different cultures. Once this has been done you can incorporate this knowledge into the program and curriculum within the room. By incorporating different cultures into the room you are showing children that everyone, interesting and valued. Show and tell group times are a great way to showcase a culture, for example, a child could bring in a

Race, Gender, Class, and ethnicity are the fabrics that form a Multicultural Society. As a teacher, it is important to think about my students’ various cultures and influences their cultures possess over their learning. After all, students are taught within the context of culture. Culture is what we teach whether it is explicit or institutional. Culture is integral to learning, considering culture is dependent on education for its survival. Culture is transferred from one generation to the next using informal or formal education (Convertino, Levinson, Gonzalez 27). As teachers, we should ensure our instruction is relevant to our students, otherwise they will lose interest, and then, they will never learn (Banks 2013). So, teachers should approach their students within a culturally relevant pedagogy.

Does someone's cultural identity affect how they look at the world an other people? Cultural identity affects how someone looks at the world and how they look at others. The culture that someone creates for themselves determines how they look at the world and someone. Your childhood, lessons you learn throughout your life, and your cultural heritage all effect your culture and how you look at people and the world. There is also some people that are not affected by their culture only affected by their childhood and lessons that they grew up with in other words there not affected by their parent's culture heritage their affected by their culture they made for themselves. Culture affects everyone and the extent of the effect determines how

Significant learning can only occur in a setting based upon mutual trust and understanding within a culture of inclusiveness or to put it simply “Seek first to understand, then to be understood (Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion | TED Talk | TED.com, 2013) The Australian Curriculum has been designed with the specific goal of addressing the needs of all students and their individual learning needs (ACARA, 2010) while the Early Years Learning Framework lays out ‘cultural competence’ however the specifics are left to the classroom teacher and their school to decide. Australia claims that it is a multicultural society, tolerant of differing views and cultures, however the reality is quite different with the Index of Social Cohesion report by Scanlon Monash finding that attitudes toward different cultures has worsened in the last four years( Ewing, R p 75) . With forty four percent of citizens either immigrants or the first generation of immigrants without consideration and integration of different cultural norms into the classroom room learning experience these children may be left behind (Lawrence, Brooker & Goodnow, 2012 p 75), . Children of low socio-economic backgrounds fare worst of all in all measurable outcomes including lower literacy and numeracy skills, reduced higher education enrolment and graduation rates (Gorski, 2013 p). The Australian Curriculum has been designed with the specific goal of addressing the needs of all students and their individual learning

All students in education come from different backgrounds. Australia is a diverse, multicultural country with 44% of Australians born overseas or have one parent born overseas, Lawrence, Brooker, & Goodnow, (2012, p. 75). Its diverse population is manifested in students who bring to class their ‘virtual bags,’ (Thomson, 2002), full of different cultures, languages, religious practices, value systems and customs which may alienate them from the dominant culture. Educators must create educational environments, which cater for all microcultural groups to experience educational equality, (Banks, 2006, p. 78); otherwise the learning spaces will become hotspots for issues of diversity and difference. The Australian Curriculum recognises that all students are entitled to high quality education and acknowledges that students’ needs and interests vary, and that schools and teachers will plan from the curriculum in ways that respond to those needs and interests, Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (ACARA, 2013). Therefore, educators have a greater responsibility to appreciate diversity and difference by examining their attitudes and beliefs and confront the biases, which influenced their value systems as it helps them to appreciate children’s perspectives that are different from their own. This will increase students’ success as educators apply strategies and pedagogy that welcomes and supports all students irrespective of their culture, ethnicity or race, gender, ability

In the article Creating the Conditions for Cultural Democracy in the Classroom Darder examines the issue of why institutions fail to provide for students who fall outside the dominant culture. Darder calls for the creation of a more inclusive bicultural pedagogy laying out various means by which to achieve such a pedagogy. The article dissects academia’s perceptions of culture and language usage, with specific attention paid the ways in which those perceptions reinforce the power dynamics in teacher training programs. Beyond calling for reform of practices that take place in the classroom, Darder looks at the school as an institution and concludes that as such it inherently reinforces hierarchical relationships; not only between teacher and

We live in a universe of complexity and uncertainty. The global connectedness of the twenty first century means that everything in this world is interrelated and connected. Within the Australian context, due to globalisation and mass migration, Australia is ethnically and culturally diverse. Australia is also enriched with Indigenous Australian culture. A unique and multicultural community, Australia is therefore dynamic, diverse and constantly growing. This means that our schools are also dynamic, complex and culturally diverse. Students attending schools in Australia will come from diverse cultural backgrounds and will consequently have diverse needs. Using critical theory and post-colonialism, this paper will focus upon how teachers’ intercultural sensitivities about difference and diversity (more specifically, cultural diversity) might impact upon students learning.

Cultural identity is the basis in which identification is used to express different aspects pertaining to identity and heritage. A person's cultural identity may be created by social organization, as well as traditions and customs within their lives. The two aspects that construct my cultural identity are the frequent chores I must complete every day in order to fulfill my behavioral expectations, and the youth group I attend weekly. These aspects are important to my family and me. Therefore, my identity has an immeasurable effect on my upbringing into this multi-cultural world I live in.