Importance and Benefits of Educational Research
“When a student is ready, the teacher appears” is an ancient Buddhist proverb that is packed with wisdom (Smith, 2002). No matter how hard a teacher tries, if the student is not ready to learn, chances are good he or she will not bet. Luckily, students are present in the classroom because they want to be.
Introduction
When school-age children first enter the classroom, there is apprehension and uncertainty. What they have learned from informal education generally started within the home, or a non home-based learning environment. Whereas for most adults, being out of the classroom for even a few years can make going back to school intimidating. If they have not taken a class in decades, it is understandable that they would have some degree of apprehension about what it will be like and how well they will do. It is the job of the educator to listen carefully for teaching moments and take advantage of them. Therefore, it is imperative for an educator, at whatever level of their teaching capacity, to be culturally aware of differences that are present within the classroom, have the ability to embrace and enhance the educational environment, even when challenged with perceived multicultural barriers. Due to the multi-nationality, language-based classrooms that apparent within the educational realm, it is imperative to incorporate unlimited possibilities to review the information presented. No one student learns alike, therefore, a variety of different deliveries are needed to impact student retention, as well as content knowledge.
Theory of Learning
Learning is a lifelong activity. Learning occurs intentionally in formal instructional settings and incidentally through experience....
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...eting of the American
Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
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Smith, M. K. (2002). Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction and andragogy, The Encyclopedia of Informal Education, www.infed.org/thinkers/et-knowl.htm.
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The multicultural movement in education is deeply rooted, and the movement as we know it today dates back to the 1960s, when the civil rights movement was in full swing. Stemming from the Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) decision and out of the demand by ethnic groups to be included in public schools, colleges, and universities, the main thrust of the mo...
Over the past several weeks, I have researched, read, and learned many new things regarding the topic of multicultural education. I have learned that all children should be taught to treat others with dignity and respect not matter what their culture, race, or family structure. I have also learned how important it is for teachers to explore multicultural education on a daily bases because it is necessary for the academic success for students how originate from different backgrounds.
Zirkel, Sabrina, and Nancy Cantor. “50 Years After Brown v. Board of Education: The Promise and Challenge of Multicultural Education.” Journal of Social Issues 60.1 (2004): 1-15.
Convertino, C., Levinson, B. A., & González, N. (2013). Culture, teaching, and learning. In J. A. Banks & C. M. McGee Banks (Eds.). Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives (pp. 25-41). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
As an educator one must understand that the children you will be teaching will all come from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different homes with different values. No one student will be the same, and no one student will learn the same. The role of a modern educator is to harness this idea of diversity and channel it into a positive learning atmosphere for children of all backgrounds. “I define 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” (Gay, 2013, p.50.). The hope for all teachers is to capture the minds of their children, as educators we must learn how our students learn, adapt to their skill set and channel our curriculum to their strength.
The world is made up of many different types of people, each one having his or her cultural background. Over the years, the United States has become increasingly populated with cultural diversity. This influx has prompted school administrators to recognize the need to incorporate multicultural programs into their school environment including classroom settings, school wide activities, and curriculum as it becomes more evident that the benefits of teaching cultural diversity within the school setting will positively influence our communities, and ultimately the entire nation’s future. The purpose of this paper is to share the pros and cons of multicultural education in the classroom. Additionally, I will express my views compared to those in the reading requirements for this assignment, as well as, new knowledge obtained through the research. Finally, I will share situations where I was challenged introducing a multicultural issue during a class.
Schools throughout America have seen an increase in the cultural diversity of their student population. Census results from the 1990’s indicate that more children from other countries have immigrated into the United States than ever before. Results seem to indicate that the current move and increase in cultural diversity will soon lead to more than 50 percent of the student population being culturally diverse according to Mid-continental Research for Educational Learning. This increase in diverse population should certainly prompt us to develop educational practices that address these students’ needs.
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Manning, L.M. & Barruth, L.G. (2009). Multicultural education of children and adolescents (5th edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Students in the United States experience varying degrees of Multicultural Education. To my benefit, I was brought up in a learning environment that was culturally accepting and engaging. I was enrolled in the Franklin Pierce School District for my entire public education career and at Pierce College during my last two years of high school. Since the beginning of my academic career, I’ve been exposed to a learning environment filled with a rich amount of diversity among students which in turn produced well-roundedness in myself. In my experience as a FPSD student, I’ve shared experiences with fellow peers of different races, cultures, and socioeconomic standings. Pierce College boasts an even more specific type of diversity within the student
The concepts included in providing a more diverse, multicultural education are requiring teachers to review their own issues and prejudices while expanding their knowledge of the many cultures that make up the classroom. These efforts help the educator recognize the various individual and cultural differences of each student, as well as gain an understanding on how these differences impact the learning process. The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon individual and cultural difference research and why diverse students struggle to succeed in school. Furthermore, I will share some instructional approaches I could implement in the classroom to accommodate diverse students. Finally, I will discuss the responsibility of educators in addressing the issue of how our o...
Parrish, Patrick, and Jennifer A. Linder-VanBerschot. “Addressing the Challenges of MulticulturalInstruction.” Cultural Dimensions of Learning 11.2 (2010): 10 pgs. Web. 8 June 2015.
The cultural diversity in society, which is reflected in schools, is forcing schools not to solely rely on content-centered curriculum, but to also incorporate student-centered lesson plans based on critique and inquiry. This requires multicultural education to a dominant part of the school system, not just an extra course or unit. Further, it demands that learning itself no longer be seen as obtaining knowledge but rather, education be seen as creating knowledge. Multicultural education should be seen as affirming the diversity of students and communities, promoting the multicultural ideas of the United States, and building the knowledge and behaviors needed for students to be a positive and contributing member of society and the global community as a whole.
In conducting her research, the author understood that she needed to describe key issues of culturally diverse students, recommend a curriculum approach to address the issues, and discuss the challenges and benefits expected. In reading Cultural and Linguistic Diversity: Issues in Education (2010), s...