How Can Teachers Become More Culturally Responsive?

How Can Teachers Become More Culturally Responsive?

I found an interesting article written by The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCREST).  Their goal is to support state and local school systems to assure a quality, culturally responsive education for all students.  The authors state that "teachers must create a classroom culture where all students regardless of their cultural and linguistic background are welcomed and supported, and provided with the best opportunity to learn." They focus on three dimensions to create a culturally responsive school: institutional, personal, and instructional.  I'm going to focus on the personal dimension, which refers to the cognitive and emotional processes teachers must engage in to become culturally responsive.  Students behave differently at home then they are supposed to in school, depending on their culture and background.  This article aims to help teachers bridge the gap between home and school to teach a diverse group of students.  I've noticed this both in my own work experience and during my observation hours at the elementary school.  Students from different cultural backgrounds behave differently in classrooms because they are used to acting a certain way at home.  Teachers need to be understanding of this instead of yelling at the students.  One example of this at my work is a new student we have from India.  At first, he didn't follow any rules, and would just leave the room without permission.  He acted this way because he had never been in a school setting with structured rules, so at home he was used to behaving that way.  This is why it is important that teachers become culturally responsive to students.   

Specific Activities for Becoming a Culturally Responsive Teacher

1. Engage in reflective thinking and writing; discern personal motives that govern teaching behaviors, first step to changing behavior regarding racism, ethnocentrism, etc. 
2. Explore personal and family history; explore early experiences that contributed to their understanding of themselves as racial or nonracial beings, will help relate better to other individuals after realizing the historical shaping of their own views
3. Acknowledge membership in different groups; recognize affiliation with different groups in society, see the advantages/disadvantages of belonging to each group
4. Learn about the history and experiences of diverse groups; understand how different historical experiences have shaped attitudes and perspectives of different groups
5. Visit students' families and communities; going into students community and become familiar with their home lives, gain insight on students attitudes and behaviors
6. Visit or read about successful teachers in diverse settings; observe and gain exemplary models for developing their own teaching skills
7. Develop an appreciation of diversity; view difference as a norm in society and reject notions that any one group is more competent than another
8. Participate in reforming the institution; question traditional policies and practice

These are some ways that the authors suggest a teacher can have culturally responsive views.  The article also has an interesting section on activities teachers can use for culturally responsive instruction.  I think that a teacher having these views is important, especially in a diverse school setting.  The author states that "teachers must be culturally responsive, utilizing materials and examples, engaging in practices, and demonstrating values that include rather than exclude students from different backgrounds and by so doing, teachers fulfill their responsibility to all their students." If I were to go into the field of teaching, I would try to incorporated these suggestions in my own attitude towards teaching and being culturally responsive. 

Home Schooling vs. Traditional Schooling: Which Provides a Better Overall Education?

Home Schooling vs. Traditional Schooling: Which Provides a Better Overall Education?

I have become increasingly interested in the idea of homeschooling in comparison to education at a regular public school.  I work at the YMCA, usually in the after school program for elementary aged children grades K-5.  On Thursdays, however, from 8-2 before that I work for the home school program with children of the same age.  There are about 20 home schooled children that come in every Thursday, and our job is to supervise them as they interact and play with each other during different activities throughout the day.  I find this very interesting that parents need to set up a time to bring their children together for their only social interaction with other children, where as most kids that age see their friends all day in school as well as after school.  Now that I have a basis of comparison I can see that these home school children behave completely different than the children who go to traditional public school.  On one hand, the home school children are very well behaved, and there is little need to ever yell at any of them, where as children in a regular school setting take a lot more effort to deal with.  On the other hand however, I have noticed that many of the home school children are not only well behaved, but socially awkward, and have a hard time making friends and interacting with their peers.  Many of the children still have a hard time leaving their mothers when they drop them off and they are in 3rd or 4th grade! Although we don't deal with the home school children in terms of academics, I was SHOCKED to see the little amount of information that the older kids knew, such as basic information like the capital of Massachusetts or the current president.  After witnessing this I am interested to see the benefits and disadvantages of the two types of schooling.    

Home Schooling: Pros

• Allows curriculum to be adjusted to the students individual needs
• Religious beliefs can be taught while home schooling
• One on one attention for student 
• Freedom to choose your own schedule
• No exposure to problems that come along with public schooling

Home Schooling: Cons

• Parents may not be qualified to teach
• Less opportunity for children to interact with a diverse group of students
• More expensive than public school
• Time consuming for parents
• Harder for student to apply to college
• Child may feel isolated from others their age

Public School: Pros

• Learning in a group setting
• Many extracurricular activities: sports, chorus, drama, clubs, groups, etc.
• Socially diverse education
• Free to attend
• Convenient: buses provided, close to home
• More resources for students: computers, libraries, gym, etc. 

Public School: Cons

• High student/teacher ratio
• Less independence due to scheduled learning
• No say in curriculum
• Possible problems with peers: bullying, learning bad habits, or exposure to drugs/alcohol
• Too much emphasis on state testing

Overall, there are clearly positive and negative aspects to both types of schooling.  From my own experiences, and after reviewing this information, in the future for my own children, I will choose traditional public school.  I feel this way because I see these home school children every week and I feel as though they lack sufficient social skills as well as educational awareness of current events.  I'm sure their parents intended to home school so they could get a good education, but I think it has back fired in many of these situations.  These parents may not be qualified to teach, lack the time it takes to truly educate their children, or do not focus on a broad enough curriculum.  Looking back on my own time in public school, I would never want to miss spending time with friends, going to prom, high school graduation, playing on sports teams, going on school ski trips, etc.  I feel like all children deserve these opportunities, and home schooling makes it hard for them to live the life of a normal child.  I don't personally know anyone my own age who was home schooled their whole life, but it would be interesting to get their perspective.  I think home schooling can work if parents are truly dedicated to teaching, but I think that the cons outweigh the pros in this case, and I would stick with public school for my kids. 

Will American Students Begin Learning Chinese in Public Schools?

Will American Students Begin Learning Chinese in Public Schools?


I have always found other languages exciting and interesting to learn, although I always wished that we started learning foreign languages at a younger age.  In the public schools that I have attended a foreign language option was not offered to us until late in middle school. It has been proven that the best time to learn a language is when children are at the young, elementary school age because they will absorb new information better at this time in their lives.  Lately there has been a lot of talk about whether students in all schools will eventually be taught Chinese as a foreign language.  I think this is interesting because China is becoming increasingly powerful economically, so learning their language could be beneficial.  I think that if students in schools begin getting taught the Chinese language that it start while they are in elementary school.

In the New York Times Online there is an interesting debate section that highlights many reasons that experts in the subject discuss the likelihood of American elementary school aged students being taught the Chinese language in public schools.  Author, Bruce Fuller urges that Americans better start learning Chinese, and soon.  This is because the U.S. and China have such a fused economic connection and China holds 1.8 trillion dollars in U.S. bonds.  East Asia is growing at an exponential rate in terms of population and economy and will soon surpass the U.S., which is why it would be advantageous for us to learn their language.  Statistics show that

"Mandarin Chinese is already the most popular first language on the planet, beating out English by 500 million speakers."  

The Voice of America News Online has an article that explains how the Beijing government has funded the teaching of Chinese to American Students and how it has already been implemented in some U.S. schools.  The Chinese government is spending 25 million dollars per year to start the spread of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. In the first World Chinese Conference last year U.S. diplomats and teachers were sent to learn how to teach and export Mandarin ways. It is estimated that about 1,600 U.S. public and private schools are teaching Chinese which is over 300 more than last year. This trend is catching on, and a lot of school systems are accepting because the Chinese government is paying for most of these teachers salaries.  

So will students really all begin learning Chinese? I believe this is not a change that will take place overnight, but it is beginning to catch on and we can expect to see it being taught or offered in most of our schools in the future.  I think that children now learning the Chinese language will greatly benefit them and give them an advantage in their future since they make up such a large amount of the global population.  It also shows that the U.S. has opened itself more towards learning the culture of others.