More handpicked essays just for you.
Promoting equality and diversity in school
How does poverty affect academic performance
Promoting equality and diversity in school
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Promoting equality and diversity in school
While thinking back on my observations in the Middle School particularly, I realized there were three different cultures. There were the students that were of Hispanic culture, the African American and the Caucasian American culture. These cultures were then subdivided into whether they were underprivileged or well-off students. It was interesting to see that the students weren 't focused on the culture as much as they were more focused on hanging around with the individuals that had the same financial background as they did. When I was in the classrooms watching the teachers, they did not focus on the premade grouping; they focused on whether the student was performing at the needed level.
When in a science class, When in the science class the way Mrs. Lansford engage the different cultures was not worry about what their individual culture. She focused more on who they were as a person and made them feel good about themselves. She got to know each student by their culture and respected their culture but didn’t put down one culture or another. She engaged them by talking to them and including them in the lesson.
…show more content…
She then showed them the schedule for the week on how she was breaking it down into smaller parts. As she was breaking it down into smaller parts she explained why it was important for each of these mini-lessons and how this was going to connect in the real world. the teacher would go and help the struggling students. She would work one-on-one or in group of students, if they were all in the same area. She didn’t help one more than another, they were all treated equally. The way she teaches reminded me of the cognitive belief system, since no two individuals have seen things in the same way; this science teacher did a lot of group discussion so everybody 's perspective on the topic was taken into
Diversity includes not only the student’s abilities, but also their learning styles and cultural backgrounds. In addition, the teacher’s educational philosophy, which is comprised of their own values, beliefs, cultural and socioeconomic background, are factors in how the diversity of the classroom is perceived and addressed. Research by Khan, Lindstrom, & Murray, stated that, “teachers’ beliefs about diversity and their varying levels of cultural competence can positively or negatively influence their ability to effectively work with culturally diverse students” (2014, p.55). When educators are aware of these differences, they are able to appropriately plan, modify and conduct meaningful
Teachers tend to disentangle race and culture instead of suture those two. They use “cultural” as a catchall phrase to described cultural students’s misbehavior. In the second piece where it decribes the culture with African American and Whites, Culture and Education. Whites, as political privilege, determine what counts as culture. But, as in the the example that a children from working-class African American was considered as “cultural-deprived.” . In “Whose culture has capital” by Yosso included six types of capital that educational leaders may use to frame their interactions with students. Aspirational capital is defined by Yosso as the “hopes and dreams” students have. She explains that African American and Latina/o students and their families continue to have high educational aspirations despite persistent education inequities. The culture of power as the “norm” as Whites. As Nieto mentioned, “Whites do not experience their culture as a culture, they believe they are “cultureless” because as the sanctioned and high-status culture in which they
It has been shown time and time again that a child’s family and background plays a substantial role in the future of a child. There have been a plethora of studies regarding the idea that students with a higher cultural capital, such as middle-class children, receive more assistance from teachers or rather just simply do better in their classes. It has been demonstrated that many of these middle-class students were instilled with this sense of entitlement and with that they have no fears of being looked down upon because they have been encouraged to speak out.
This mixing of inner-city and suburban cultures creates new challenges for students and teachers alike. Children from the inner city characteristically have lower GPAs, attend very few AP classes and have a dropout rate that is much higher than their suburban counterparts. This has been an area for much exploration and study throughout the years, but yet the trend of a knowledge gap among children seems to continue. Perhaps one area that needs to be further explored is the differences in cultural identity in these two groups of students and its impact on the education these students wish to achieve.
I reported that my school was guilty of “‘fairyland’ multicultural education” (Nieto & Bode, 2008, p. 2). We hold dinners, culture days, and special programs to bring awareness to different cultures, but we don’t go any further than that. This course has given me countless tools that can be used to make my school and classroom better for students. The school that I teach at has a high percentage of students who live below the poverty line and who speak English as a second language. Countless research has been done about students in both categories. Students who live below the poverty line tend to do worse than students at a wealthy school (Bainbridge & Lasley, 2002). This understanding about students living in poverty should drive instruction in the classroom. As a teacher, it is my job to inform and discuss with my colleagues strategies for better educating these students. Most importantly, there must be a belief that these and all students can learn if teacher use various teaching strategies (Bainbridge & Lasley, 2002). This understanding about students living in poverty should drive the efforts at my
For years, much has been written about school culture and school climate. Often times, they are used interchangeably, but they are vastly different. School climate is thought to represent the attitude of an organization. This could also be referred to as the mood or the morale of the school. School culture is the set of expectations that have evolved over a period of time. These eventually become the unwritten rules that are followed within the group. Simply put, culture is the personality of the school (Gruenert, 2008).
Education in America has evolved through out its history and has become a major necessity to excel in the work force, just imagine 100 years ago graduating high school in many areas was rare, twenty-five years ago a high school diploma was a must to find a good job and now college and mostly likely grad school is expected by many young adults in order to ensure financial security in life. So if education is evolving then the instructors which provide the information and lessons to our children must also evolve with the ever changing tides the educational field presents today. One of the most notable differences is the students in the class rooms, with different ethnic groups more intertwined than ever teachers have been exposed to a much different class room setting than those that had came before them. Today’s teachers must open their minds and evolve into the next generation of instructors and in order to do so they will have to become more aware and sensitive to a more diverse classroom
“We are all different, which is great because we are all unique. Without diversity, life would be very dull” (Catherine Pulsifer). Understanding diversity as a teacher is one of the most important concepts to be an effective teacher. It is important for us as teachers to recognize a variety of student needs including those of ethnicity, language socioeconomic class, disabilities, and gender. As teachers and as a school it is important to promote acceptance of cultural and other differences not only in the classroom but also in the community. In many schools, it is a useful idea to incorporate the concept of culture competence. That is, bring together a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies in a system to enable that system to work effectively in cross-cultural situations.
“An array of knowledges, skills, abilities and contacts possessed and used by Communities of Color to survive and resist racism and other forms of oppression” encompasses the main idea of Community Cultural Wealth. It is vital to understand that students will step foot into the classroom with a variety of cultures zipped up in their backpacks, and it is our job as educators to make sure that equality is instilled/taught in our classrooms. The second a student feels a sense of discrimination, whether from ourselves or their fellow classmate(s), is when the safe and comforting environment of the classroom begins to diminish. Here I will discuss just how important it is to see the differences amongst students as an advantage
The sole purpose of this interview paper is to help us as future teachers, identify the cultural capital that diverse students bring to the schooling or classroom setting. This information will help serve as an aid for identifying cross-cultural communication and teaching strategies, which will allow us as teachers to better accommodate and facilitate student success in school. My Interviewee is an African American male who has moved and lived around the world and was not born in America. He is 21 years old and attends school here in Central Washington University.
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
While both interviewees stated they did not feel their institutions were ignoring different races and groups and lesson plans were designed around promotion multiculturalism, schools that primarily white often fail to be as cultural diverse as schools with a healthy racial composition. Lesson plans are often ambivalent towards understanding the struggles and hardships of certain racial groups, such as the Native Americans during the time of European exploration. In addition, students at mostly white institutions often associated success with how hard an individual works rather than any hardships or racist or sexist acts thrown upon that person. Ironically, the little multiculturalism that is introduced in prominently white schools has been ill received by parents and teachers. Both parties, especially parents, argue that the children growing up today are “color-blind” and that no explicit efforts to inject multiculturalism should occur in the classroom outside of settings considered appropriate, such as history courses (Lewis, 2003:
“Schools are changing in ways that, up until a few years ago, we thought unimaginable. Today, schools are more diverse than ever, and those trends will continue into the future. Unfortunately, teachers and schools have not always met the challenge of linguistic and cultural diversity” (Laureate, 2014). We must take the opportunity to get to know our students in order to recognize and value their uniqueness. “Teachers must work to understand the cultures of their students in a meaningful way, which involves recognizing the beliefs, values, and behaviors that characterize the various cultures of their students. Students themselves can be a valuable resource in learning about a culture” (Trail, 2000). Observations are a valuable method of assessment. Through observations, teachers can take note on students’ development, learning styles, students’ needs, and cultural influences. Teachers can use these notes to make better choices that impact student learning. These observations and interactions will also help us learn about other cultures. Having the opportunity to observe and interact with the students will equip you with information that cannot be learned from a book.
The class activity was simple: draw a self-portrait. As Ms. Caldera began to look through her students' work, one stood out to her. The drawing was of a young fair-skinned, blond-hair, and blue-eyed girl. Normally this would not be a problem, but in this case it was. The girl who had drawn herself was actually quite the opposite: rich dark skin, brown hair, and brown eyes (Caldera). Considering that the United States is such a large melting pot of cultures, it is normal for children to have difficulty balancing between two cultures. Culture, is really important for a child's development because it ultimately influences their morals and values. Although it is difficult for children to balance the traditions and such of two cultures, they are recompensed with a greater knowledge about the world, and understanding of people.