What I Believe (for now) About Teaching, Learning, and Schooling

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)

Another challenge educator’s encounter is the cultural gap that is between students and teachers. It is important for educators to understand that some culturally diverse children may need things explained to them in a different way for them to gain an understanding.

Currently, general education classrooms have increasingly become diverse with both disable students and students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. In order for educators to ensure that they effectively teach these classrooms, meet the needs of each student both successfully and individually, effective research that is based on strategies need to be implemented. The U.S. Department of Education suggest that, the current school-age population is becoming more diverse as time passes, yet, majority of the teachers in these schools are white non-Hispanic women. According to another report by The Condition of Education in 2006, American schools are portraying increased diversity and growth. The report suggested that, forty two percent of students in public schools were ethnic or racial minorities in the year 2003; this increased from twenty two percent since 1972. Owing to these reasons, teachers in these schools are expected to educate a diversified class of students including those that come from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Teachers are therefore, required to implement a number of key strategies that will ensure that every student in specific classroom feels that he or she belongs there (Worrell, 2010).

Research has been conducted and the study showed that, "Latino students perceived that teachers' actions escalated disciplinary problems and believed that administrators used unfair and discriminatory practices"(90). Educators will never be able to teach students if the students perceive them as being racist. The degree to which education for cultural diversity is realized depends on the teacher's attitudes, knowledge, and behavior. They make the mistake of mismatching their own life experiences and professional training. Le Roux realizes that an increasing diverse school population encounters a mostly middle-class teaching force that is inadequately prepared to manage the reality of diversity in schools, and that is due to lack of knowledge of diversity (46). He also states that some teachers make the mistake of generalizing about particular ethnic groups and cultural groups, as a result of being exposed during training to information about culture; that is very dangerous in itself. Educators also focus mostly on general characteristics of a group instead in a single individual, and this is wrong because each individual is unique and should not be generalized by culture (Le Roux 46).

Some researchers argue a key reason this achievement gap has persisted, even grown, is the cultural mismatch between White teachers (who continue to comprise the majority of teachers in the U.S) and their Black students (Bergeron, 2008). The term cultural mismatch refers to the phenomenon where teachers of one race or ethnicity (usually White) teach students who are predominately from another race or ethnicity (Bergeron, 2008). Researchers agree this mismatch can lead to misunderstanding between teachers and students which can lead to their academic needs not being addressed and ultimately causing them to underachieve academically (McGrady & Reynolds,

Glickman, Gordon, & Ross-Gordon (2014) noted that “educators need to take a two-tiered approach to the issue of inequitable treatment of diverse groups” (p. 369). This includes educators understanding their personal cultural identity and welcoming different cultures as well. They may need to thoroughly analyze the ways they hypothesize learning and performance so they can renew their sense of thinking within the diverse settings to ensure all students are not disadvantaged by certain assumptions and thoughts. The authors went on to pinpoint that “supervisors and teachers need to become directly involved in efforts to change public policy that works against lower-socioeconomic and racial/ethnic minority children” (p.

Being a culturally responsive teacher is more than implementing multicultural activities and programs within the classroom. It involves confronting issues of power and privilege that arise in the face of diversity, and recognizing the influence this has on a child’s ability to learn. This is particularly difficult in the field of education. Teachers are required to respect the values that are associated with every child’s culture, and the many differences amongst them including, physical and mental ability, gender, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, language, religion, sexual orientation, geography, and age. As a result, today’s teachers have to be able to separate their professional and private lives and ignore any bias in the latter.

Flores: “What would you say, to a teacher that says, but that [culturally relevant practices] doesn’t influence test scores?”

However, Foley (1996) demonstrates that there may be cultural misunderstanding in the classroom between minority students and teachers. It is easy to judge an individual without knowing their culture. However, when teachers simplify how minority students differ to what is considered normal also shifts the blame to the students. As TK states, the English learning classes hurts more than helps the students. As Ladson-Billings (2004) states in the following quote, “Whenever [teachers] seem not to be able to explain or identify with students, they point to students’ culture as the culprit.” What TK argued in the interview resonates strongly with this. If only the classes were more inclusive to minority students, as Foley (1996) demonstrated with the Meskwaki children, maybe they would find more

In the practice of teaching, it is the responsibility of a teacher not only to teach students subject matter, but to teach students in order to enable them to grow and develop as a person. While it is essential for students to have an understanding of academic material, it is also equally as important that when students finish their education they have skills to use in

It is crucial that teachers develop the knowledge and skills to teach children from diverse racial, language, and social backgrounds because classrooms today are growing in diversity. Without direct attention to cultural and individual differences in the classroom, some students have

All children deserve equity in access to an appropriate education. Every child deserves differentiation that facilitates equity in learning. Educators have the power to craft a learning environment that can meet every student’s needs. The skillset required to differentiate seems mystical to some and incomprehensible to others in the environment of state standards and high-stakes test (Ahram, 2001). The reality is that every teacher already has the primary tool to differentiate in powerful ways for all learners. The core of differentiation is a relationship between teachers and students. The teacher’s responsibility is connecting the content, process, and product. Students respond to learning based on readiness, interests, and learning profile (Ahram, 2011). Three critical ways that teachers can address the intersectionality of race and learning differences it to reframe the teacher role as a mentor and facilitator of learning, set the bar high for learning, and create cohesive networks that include community agencies, the school, and their families.

The first step for me to become a culturally responsive teacher is to learn not to judge others. Working with students from diverse backgrounds requires us to question our reactions to families and students. We need to stop judging different as “abnormal” and embrace what the differences can teach us (Rosenberg, Westling, & McLeskey, 2011). Embracing the differences

Within education teachers come in contact with a large population of culturally diverse individuals (students,

Education is one of the most important factors in every person’s life regardless of where they’re from, their race, or their culture. Becoming educated not only makes life easier for us but also can help people become more successful in all things. However with so many people of various races, ethnicities and backgrounds in the United States it is difficult to create an education system that attends to each student’s individual culture. Ones own culture influences their actions and lifestyle, therefore this can create conflict if it is different from their schools cultural teaching style. Multicultural and multilingual classrooms have become the norm in many educational and professional settings throughout the U.S. because of changing immigration patterns caused by globalization (Institute for Educational Leadership, p. 2). For teachers today, it is essential to understand the role of culture and have the ability to interact interculturally in the classroom to create an effective learning environment. Analyzing cultural issues or differences can help teachers to understand some of the unconscious processes that shape individuals’ actions and interactions, as well as their language use and communication. “Teachers who understand cultural diversity…are more likely to be successful in their multicultural classrooms” (Samovar, Pg.2).