I was struck by a few interesting points while reading the article Educational Demographics: What Teacher Should Know by Harold Hodgkinson. I found it true and interesting how the author mentions that teachers are often not involved in policy decisions and discussions that affect the schools. I know it’s true in my district. State and federal policy makers are often not teachers, and don’t always promote what is actually best for schools. The people making the decisions are often more business orientated, and don’t take the recommendations of the teachers. It is often hard to get teachers involved in policymaking or even local union decisions. My district is approaching a negations year, and the leaders of the Union are having a hard time recurring members to speak up, and fight for the teachers in the district. I am often a teacher who does not participate for a variety of reasons. FIrst, I don’t think I’d be very good at representing the teachers, as I don’t like to be confrontational. Secondly, I sometimes feel like my voice is not heard, and that the older more experienced teachers know what is best for us. This article made be realize that times are changing, and in these changing times, all opinions, especially those of the teachers need to be voiced and heard.
I also found it interesting about the different ‘rings’ of the suburbs, and how the suburb that is closest to the city will often have the biggest flux in population. My district is closer to the fourth or fifth ring, so it made sense to me why we see small expansions in populations each year. The transiency issue was also interesting to me. I had one student this year that was in and out of states and different schools, living in hotels and different family member...
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...ng with the two (or more) different groups fighting for different ideas on what each group thinks is best. By understanding each other’s cultural perspectives, a solution to the conflict may be found quicker and easier. Maybe if I understood the older teacher’s cultural perspective more, I wouldn’t stereotype that group into being negative. I think if more teachers understood cultural perspective, even in my not very diverse school district, we could achieve more and have positive relationships. We started with a consensus idea at our staff meetings, which seems to work to compromise on our differing ideas. The goal of school should be to educate the children and prepare them for the world. Culture is an important part of that, and I’m glad I’m learning more about the different perspectives, so that I can be a better educator and continue to grow as a person, too.
Goldstein argues a problem with education policy is, “American policy makers require every public school to use the same strategy…” (261) When facing the problem of inequality in education a teacher needs to be fluid with his or her curriculum. In fact, one of the best ways to allow for fluidity is through peer-to-peer help. Goldstein states, “(teaching hospital model) allows best practices tailored to a specific school to be passed from professional to professional.” (255) Peer-to-peer help not only does this allow for constructive feedback, but also it allows teachers to learn from one another. While policy makers might not know a schools demographics and unique situation teachers in the school will. Thus, teachers can help one another on their unique problem through a collaborative process. Peer to peer help allows for the design of, “creative curriculum materials and to lead school turnaround efforts.” (232) The problems associated with inequality can be thought out and explored through teachers working
3. Delpit, Lisa D. Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. New York: New, 1995. Print.
The role of school boards “is to establish a vision for the community's schools that reflects a consensus of the board, community and district staff.” Although this is their main purpose, they also have to balance a district budget, create a district-yearly calendar, negotiate contract, construction, and approve district curriculum. (Stover 1) Although it might seem harsh to argue with school boards even though they do a lot, it is their job. They were appointed to lead and better the community, guide our children. If they are not mentally ready to be a leader, then why run for a school board member, the focus should be on the children, how to better education for them, and how to make sure they get the most out of every day coming to school.
The article talks about how teachers need to have cultural compatibility. While it might be difficult for some teacher to grasp and understand the different cultures behaviors and beliefs. For those teacher that can are more likely to provide a learning environment that is enriching and responsive to the children’s different cultures. Teacher should have “meaningful interactions with members of other cultures and promote cultural disequilibrium (Colombo, 2005, p. 2).” Activities that have this are more likely to increase cultural competence.
We as educators must always act in the best interests of the children, while we seek to understand and embrace the different cultures by talking, listening and learning from the families and communities that surround us.
...tention and turnover rates for minority teachers highlight the discrepancy that exists in education programs that are unsuccessful at keeping educators in the classroom. Dilworth makes a bold move by addressing these concerns as the problem currently has failed to be acknowledged or directed.
Living in a democratic society, we as Americans have the right to vote on just about all aspects of our lives. The votes that we cast either have a direct or an indirect representation of our beliefs. In cases such as city and statewide laws, our beliefs are directly represented; in all national and organizational matters our votes have an indirect impact. The decisions are made by elected officials who we vote into office to represent our beliefs. One example of this indirect representation can be found in any citywide school board where the elected members make decisions on everything ranging from teacher employment to class curriculum. It is debatable whether, on situations as sensitive as class curriculum, we should be directly involved in such decisions or have them made for us by our elected officials. As we will find, however, class curriculum is something that must continue to be an indirect representation of the public’s beliefs, rather than the direct result of a democratic vote.
Even though this increasing awareness of the multicultural issues, many supervisors are not being trained how to deal with this issues in the daily practice. As a school administrator it is important to be a motivator for the teachers that are under your supervision, it is necessary to stimulate enthusiasm in all the staff (McNair, 2011). In order to cultivate passion for a change, even when people has the tendencies of not wanting changes (Glickman, et al., 2014). As humans changes are seeing as other’s plans, sometimes feel that they being imposed to someone else’s plans, when communication it is not establish it is perceived as imposition, something that it is imposed on them, feeling threat if they do not realized what they being told. People perceived different when they feel that they are in control and the supervisor is there to collaborate...
In 1995, Delpit published Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. Although the excerpt analyzed in this paper is from a larger work, it was written by Delpit (1995) as a self-contained speech. This excerpt includes many of the concepts Delpit believes to be the basic cultural conflicts in the classroom, which are stereotyping, child-deficit assumptions and student isolation and invisibility. Delpit's goal is to "remove the dynamic of oppression that are inherent in any classroom…that come together when (primarily white) teachers spend time with 'other people's children'" (Delpit, 1995, pg.69). Through Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom, Delpit lays the foundation for multicultural education and details ways teachers can solve the inherent problems that arise as a result of many cultures interacting in the classroom. The purpose of this paper is an analysis of this text through an analytic, interpretive and normative reading.
Culture is a powerful influence plays a big role in our interactions. Culture may also impact parenting style and a developing child. Having a strong sense of their own cultural history and the traditions associated with it helps children build a positive cultural identity for themselves. This also supports children’s sense of belonging and, by extension, their mental health and wellbeing. This class is crucial in understanding and working well parents, staff, and children. An effective educator understands how students’ cultures affect their perceptions, self-esteem, values, classroom behavior, and learning. As director, I need to use that understanding to help my students and staff feel welcomed, affirmed, respected, and valued. One way that I can do this is by using multicultural literature, especially children’s literature, to honor students’ culture and foster cross-cultural understanding. If cultural differences are not understood by teachers and management, it can lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings on both sides. It will be my job to do all I can to overcome both language and cultural differences to ensure a positive learning environment for
It is very important for teacher educators to develop self-awareness of cultural biases and discriminatory practices as well as to exam the effects of their beliefs, their attitudes, and expectations for teacher
We need to be aware of the diversity in the classroom. Cultural diversity includes: bi-racial, adoptive, immigrant, gay, and step-families. It is a large majority of the students today even in my generation. Focusing on making a balanced curriculum that exposes the students to all of these different backgrounds is very important. I know that it is likely that a teacher will not be able to cater to every student, but it is important to involve each of them. There is a large percentage of students that have dropped out due to the lack of having a connection with the curriculum. It is frustrating that we are lacking progress in our schools to help these children connect when studies show that each cultural group will soon be equal in numbers. We need to form a better
Teachers’ principles shape their behaviour, interactions with students, and curricular decisions. I aim to become a teacher who can create an effective teaching by developing habits of mind. In order to do so, I would have to continuously reflect, observe, assess, and evaluate. Assessments for learning, as learning, and of learning are crucial when developing a deep learning. At the beginning of a year, I would see the baseline of where each student is at and observe his or her progress. Then, I would make students self-regulate by making goals and assessing with peers since teachers won’t always be with them throughout their lifetime. Finally, I would question myself if I did my job well enough and if they learnt the materials. Different learning styles of each student are needed to perform the diverse educational system. As well as applying these ideas to classroom practice, I would need to think about how multiculturalism enables different beliefs and value systems to co-exist, creating tolerance, diverse society. Every culture and their languages should be respected in order to help students to keep a part of who they are. In Canada and other parts of the Western World, schools are no longer simply academic environments; they are also social sites where identities and power relations are negotiated and renegotiated with language issues featuring very promptly in the process. My
As you can see the school board handles many issues from budgets, to tenure, to performance scores, to conferences. Although this paper did not cover everything in the meeting, it summarized what took place, and what affects it would have on teachers. The decisions made no matter how big or small can influence how and what task a teacher performs. The school board meeting was interesting because you are able to see how the changes could affect you personally.
How do we make change happen in education? Considering current framework in light of the ever-changing context of schooling, appear to view classroom-based teachers as having little to no authority, as being incapable of initiating school wide change according to their will. Mostly, teacher has been considered in two roles. The first role of the teacher as a receiver and implementer of the strategies & practices formulated by others, i.e. national policy efforts or principal change initiatives. The second role of the teacher as a leader of official reform initiatives, such as those found in policies created by school district and school level principal. Moreover, both roles of the teacher also place more value on the school’s context rather than on the teacher’s potential to make change independently. Under these prevailing roles of teachers, it is very hard for teachers to initiative for school improvement without the help of traditional school leaders. The time has come to enforce new role of the teachers that is more consistent with the 21st century’s learning framework and can provide better service to the students, where Teachers are more active than recipients and more central to school improvement than taking the lead on implementing externally-driven reforms. Thus, by studying the two dominant roles ...