My Culture And Intellectual Analysis

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,

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

Culturally Responsive Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning (Ladson-Billings, 1994). This approach to teaching encompasses how knowledge is both communicated and perceived by the students. The teacher must have a good relationship with the parents, have high expectations, learn about their students culture, have culturally mediated student-centered instruction, willing to reshape the curriculum, and be a facilitator in order to accomplish this method of teaching. These are key points a teacher must be willing to do if they intend to be an effective teacher especially in a highly culturally diverse area like central

Gay (2000) defined culturally responsive teaching as “using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them. It is culturally validating and affirming” (p. 29). A quality education requires all students to be exposed to a variety of cultural perspectives that are representative of the nation at large. According to Ladson-Billings (1994), culturally responsive pedagogy must meet three criteria: “An ability to develop students academically, a willingness to nurture and support cultural competence, and the development of a sociopolitical or critical consciousness” (p. 483). Educational institutions have the charge of providing culturally diverse students with equitable educational opportunities as all other non-minority students.

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

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.

For supervisors and teachers to promote a school culture that embraces and supports a diverse community, they should be culturally responsive. That is, they must believe that all students could potentially attain success in their academic endeavors. Students should also be provided with access to quality programs and services. Acknowledging their culture, language, and experiences can be helpful as well. These aforementioned factors must be utilized to facilitate the students’ learning and development. Glickman, Gordon, & Ross-Gordon (2014) made a powerful and profound statement about embracing and supporting culturally responsive schools. They said, “If we need to change schools and the way we teach to close the achievement gap, then addressing

Culture is a way of life of a group of people, the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. Culture can be seen in our food, religion, family structure, and more. I was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. My parents were born in Mexico. Well my whole family were born in Mexico. We are just any hispanic family. My cultural identity is pretty much the basic hispanic culture. We do everything that involves having fun and being with family.

Standard A: Culturally-responsive educators incorporate local ways of knowing and teaching in their work. (ACEI 3.2) (ABTS 3)

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

Culture is the makeup of someone’s past combined with their current surroundings. Culture helps to form people into themselves. While culture is not only where your ancestors are from, this can be a big part of it. In terms of the countries my family is from, I am miscellaneous. To simplify things, the majority of my ethnic background is Belgian, Polish, French, and Native American.

Culture is something that we all have; it is something that defines who we are. A person's culture is the reason we value certain aspects over another and the reason we act the way we do. My cultural background is far more complex than I could ever imagine. Although I am a citizen of the United States, my heritage does not include one fraction of Native American in it. My ancestors actually derived from all over the European continent. I have found that I am minuscule amounts of English, Irish, Swedish, French, and most importantly Norwegian. I emphasized Norwegian because that is the culture that my family and I most closely relate to. Neither of my grandparents are from Norway, but they both grew up in a strong Norwegian environment

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

Culturally aware students can move up a continuum of acceptance. Tolerance is met when students are aware of differences and minimalization can then be realized by emphasizing human qualities verses origins (Koppelman, 2011). Last, students can become “understanding”, accepting differences without judgment (Koppelman, 2011).

As the weeks have progressed, one thing that I noticed was that I began incorporating more aspects to what I considered parts of being a culturally responsive teacher. Initially my idea was based more heavily around the ethnic origin, culture in terms of where you grew up and language. During my study I have added many more aspects such as values, values, education, faith, perceptions, family and friends. I have found that when I considered cultural responsiveness over the weeks, more and more important variables were adding themselves to what needs to be considered. I believe that I have experienced growth in the aspects of what I consider culture.