Culturally Responsive Classroom

General education classroom teachers are responsible for providing the primary instruction for English Language Learners (ELLs) development in English literacy skills (Thompson, 2004). Supplying ample resources to accommodate ELLs inside and outside of the classroom are essential as the number of ELL students has grown steadily. According to research, “one out of four of all children in the United States are from immigrant families, and in most cases these children speak a language other than English at home” (Samson & Collins, 2012 p. 4). Further research suggests, “students from a non-English speaking home and background account for the fastest growing population of children in the kindergarten through twelfth grade setting (Short &

“What it takes for English Learners to Succeed?” is an article written by Jana Echevarria, Nancy Frey, and Doug Fisher that illustrate concepts that will allow English Learners to become fluent in English. The purpose of this article is to discuss four accessible teaching practices that will allow English Learners in U.S. classroom to become academically successful and attain fluency in English. To clarify, the authors use access, climate, expectations, and language instruction as the practices that will eliminate education inequality and enable students to be able to fully participate in rigorous course work without excluding English Learners. Ultimately this provides an approachable school reform, creates additive integration of multicultural perspective and approach and lastly brings a way for language diversity to be seen in the classroom.

Recently, as the schools in the United States become more diverse in cultures, the needs for new English learners to learn the basic of English and grow in fluency has expanded. Nevertheless, a major of English learners receive insufficient education and have low achievement at school. Therefore, the approach of the schools for English learners might not be sufficient for them to unchain themselves from the boundary of differences in language and culture. As a result, the article “What It Takes for English Learners to Succeed” from Jana Echevarria, Nancy Frey, and Doug Fisher provides a guideline for teachers to help their English learners by using the four practices of “Access, Climate, Expectation, and Language Instruction.” The four practices can be divided into two categories. Access, climate, and expectations focus on educational settings, while language instruction focuses on teaching contents.

When an educator walks into her classroom for the first time, she needs to be prepared to encounter students that come from a variety of backgrounds. The children will be in different stages of language development, and the educator must accommodate for each of these students. Magruder, Hayslip, Espinosa, and Matera (2013) state, “The US Census Bureau projects that by the 2030s, children whose home language is other than English will increase from roughly 22 percent to 40 percent of the school-age population” (p. 9). This increase in second language learners will cause the educator to accommodate for those needs. Second language learners “need teachers who welcome them and recognize their unique abilities, what they know, and what they need to learn” (Magruder, Hayslip, Espinosa, and Matera, 2013, p. 10).

I believe the fundamental goal of teaching is to foster, support and respect a safe learning environment for all students. In addition, to be passionate and commitment to give high equality education by providing an equal opportunity. Furthermore, my goal for students to explore, express themselves using effective communication and provide an open ear to listen to every in relationship and partnership in connection with each ELL/Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students to be successful Academic Achievement in learning. I believe learning takes place in many different learning styles, contexts, within a multicultural setting using different age appropriate activities, clues, learning strategies, and updated research through technology

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

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.

Gaining learning and experience about other cultures background will enrich my multicultural knowledge. Therefore, as an educator I must learn about others culture. As I begin to learn about others cultures I will understand how values influence the ways families interpret the instruction that feels right to them. A close study on Figure 3.1 implies that a teacher’s point view or the way the students are treaty can affect their learning. It keeps narrating the story of a teacher that had to learn her students’ roots, their culture values, to get to know them in order to reach them in an academically level. The cultural values are very important and cannot be overlooked, they shape our intrinsic motivation. Many families try to keep their values and belief intact at home, so their children when they step in a classroom. Monica Brown, is the Department editor of Diversity Dispatch, argues in her article, Educating All Students: Creating Culturally Responsive Teachers, Classrooms, and Schools, that nowadays it is noticeable the diversity growths in schools, however, this is not the problem. The problem is the way teachers have responded to the diversity growth. (Brown, M. 2007). Therefore, this will affect the students learning. Brown cross with a strong point in regarding the lack of sensitivity some educators show towards their students’ culture. As educator I don’t want to be one of many teachers Monica Brown speaks on her article. I will understand that I must respect my

“What it takes for English Learners to Succeed?” is an article written by Jana Echevarria, Nancy Frey, and Doug Fisher that discusses four accessible teaching practices that will allow English Learners in U.S. classroom to become academically successful and attain fluency in English. To clarify, the authors use practices such as access, climate, expectations, and language instruction to eliminate educational inequality and enable students to be able to fully participate in rigorous course work without excluding English Learners. Ultimately, this provides an approachable school reform, creates additive and transformative approach, as well as integration of multicultural perspective and lastly brings a way for language diversity to be seen in the classroom.

Our understanding of language, as languages educators becomes part of our professional stance and, as such, influences our curriculum, planning and classroom pedagogies. Teachers who view language simply as code make acquiring grammar and vocabulary the primary, if not the only, goal of language learning. Within such a limited approach, students do not begin to engage with language as a communicative reality but simply as an intellectual exercise or as a work requiring memorising.“It is primarily a conventional symbol system concerned with communication or coorperation between people” (Lyons, 1981) “Individual and social (Gee & Hayes, 2011) – people talk like others and yet all have their own style (Bakhtin, 1981, 1986). Every language shares the same basic design properties – nouns, verbs, sentences, and clauses (Chomsky, 1965).

There are many different qualifies a teacher must possess in order to be an effective teacher to all his or her students. Herrera discussed many qualities needed in her first two chapters, in order to be an effective teacher of CLD students or culturally and linguistically diverse students. One of the ways to becoming an effective teacher is understanding theories that relate to learning. Vygotsky’s Zone of proximal development and Krashen’s input hypothesis are critical theories that explain learning and language development. Another important way to become and effective teacher is to understand what students and their family’s circumstances are in order to see what experiences drive their lives. This allows us to have a deeper understanding of our students and draw from their experiences in order to allow student sot make connections to their learning,

Multilevel classrooms provide many benefits and challenges for all stakeholders involved. Often time’s multilevel classrooms have students at varied levels in their respective and expressive language skills and cognitive develop. Providing differentiated instructions allows slower, and delayed learners to work within their Zone of Proximal development, while more advance learners can continue to exceed without being held back. Equitable classroom practices provide individual help for all students. Students are at different levels of literacy in their native language and for English Language Learners (ELL) have the additional challenge of language acquisitions in their second language. Principles and Practices of Sociocultural Assessment: Foundations for Effective Strategies for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms delineates assessment principles for ELL students in a sociocultural

As we discussed earlier, Mainstream English language development (MELD) program’s goals are first to develop English language fluency, second, to provide an equal opportunity for native speakers as well as bilingual students to accomplish academic success and to facilitate academic support, and finally to promote each student 's sense of self-worth while, at the same time, enhancing his or her familiarity with key cultural factors. Language is part of the culture and culture was described as a capital that gives identity to each individual. Therefore, it is essential for us as educators, to understand the importance of culture and language of the immigrants or bilingual students, especially Spanish speakers (Hispanics) and to value them by integrating their language and culture as part of their educational process. This integration will facilitate the teaching and learning process for both teachers and students. But the question is, whether the Mainstream English language development program has been successful not only to achieve its goals, but also to integrate the language and culture of the students as part of the teaching process?

In American, it is a given that there will be moments in life where a person may encounter barriers. A car can only go so far without gasoline and there is only so far in life a person can go without encountering a language barrier in America, the land of the culturally diverse. Most of today’s American youth are not being equipped the skills that can be more valuable to them in their futures besides the basic core focuses. The American education system lacks arts and language education programs that are needed that help enhance student performance in more than just their studies. To improve the communication and understanding skills that children have, the American education system needs to improve foreign language education in all grade levels and schools need to focus more on arts education to improve the overall student performance.

As I read all the literature and watched the videos that were provided to us, I kept thinking about how diverse our nation is. The United States is the most culturally diverse nation, and that is what makes it such a great country. Unfortunately, having such great amounts of diversity can bring forward many problems for health educators who are not well prepared to teach individuals of different cultures and customs. Cultural competence can be defined as the ability to be responsive and effective with students of all cultures. Having cultural competency is what allows a teacher to successfully serve a culturally diverse classroom. Many teachers lack the cultural awareness that will allow them to successfully teach, and have trusting and respectful relationships with students of all cultures.