Why Cultural Diversity

Adopting a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in the Classroom

The importance of Adopting a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in the classroom is one of the topic that has sparked my interest. Today’s education system faces a growing number of students who come from diverse background. Students often feel a sense of isolation and discrimination from both their peers and their teachers. Research has clearly supported the need for a more culturally responsive pedagogy by educational leaders and practitioners within our schools. When school leaders and teachers integrate the cultural experience of the students within the curriculum, students will become more responsive towards learning. According to Colbert (2010), ‘’Culture is integral to the learning process. It is the organization and way of life within the community of students and teachers and directs the way they communicate, interact, and approach teaching and learning.’’

The Role of Culture

In the Western world, culture plays a massive role in who we are. Our national dress, dance, food, language, and music are just some of the symbols we hold dear. Furthermore, our history, and politics is heavily integrated into our curriculum, so that helps us to make connections with our cultural heritage. In addition, we have a lot of cultural pageants, festivals, and celebrations throughout the year that commemorate our heroes, and persons in our country that have made a significant contribution to our culture. Our children are taught a myriad of songs, poems, and dance that also helps to cement the culture. Years ago while in Jamaica, one of my aspirations was to travel to different parts of the world to experience the culture of the people. Therefore, when the opportunity came for me to travel to the United States I was excited. I embraced the idea of learning something different, and expanding my knowledge of the way of life for other people.

Professional Connection

While teaching in the United States I realized that the students I taught loved my culture, and wanted to learn more about where I came from. Furthermore, as I began to introduce them to our Jamaican cuisine they were super excited, and wanted more. However, being an international teacher in the United States, I could easily identify the stereo-types of students from other ethnical background. Most times students are labeled as non- performing, or having a lack of interest in class. However, as I began to build a relationship with the students I noticed that was not the case. During our regular wrap sessions, some of the students from minority groups related to me that they felt they were treated differently by their teachers. Furthermore, they were overlooked by their teachers, and not given same opportunities as other students from majority groups. This really, sparked an interest in me, and made me want to find the real cause of the problem. According to Grewal, Kataria,& Dhawan (2016) ‘’Research problem is typically a topic of interest and of some familiarity to the researcher. It needs to be channelized by focusing on information yet to be explored.’’

Implementing the Cultural Responsive Pedagogy

Upon research, the literature recommended that teachers integrates the students cultural background in their lesson; by doing this the students will become motivated, and teachers will see higher academic gains among the students of minority groups. According to Riley (2017), ‘'Culturally Responsive Pedagogy ask teachers to recognize the strengths and learning styles of students cultural backgrounds and use those strengths as the basis for their teaching choices. Through the use of these practices minority groups will begin to feel valued in the classroom setting. In addition, school leaders should support the cultural diversity in their school by having workshops, and by hosting annual cultural programs that will serve to bring awareness to students, teachers, and the community. Additionally, schools and district can improve the quality of instruction by implementing research-based strategies such as culturally responsive instruction to engage students from diverse backgrounds. The research further recommends that school leaders recognize the importance of language, culture, and the experiences of the students to who they cater.

It is important for those with management and policy-making decisions in a school to recognize that where language, culture and experience are ignored or excluded, what students have learned about life is dismissed as irrelevant and, for those students, there are few points of connection to the curriculum (Wearmouth, 2017).

Reference

Colbert, P. J. (2010). Developing a Culturally Responsive Classroom Collaborative of Faculty, Students, and

Institution. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 3(9), 17–26.

Grewal, A., Kataria, H., & Dhawan, I. (2016). Literature search for research planning and

identification of research problem. Indian Journal of Anaesthesia, 60(9), 27–31. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5049.190618

Janice Wearmouth. (2017). Employing culturally responsive pedagogy to foster literacy learning in schools. Cogent Education, 4(1).

https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2017.1295824

REILLY, E. (2017). CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY IN NOVA SCOTIA'S

SCHOOLS. OurSchools / Our Selves, 26(3), 12-15.

Sohmen, V. S. (2015). Reflections on Creative Leadership. International Journal of Global Business, 8(1), 1–14.

Planning Effective Classroom Instruction

Why Differentiation Matters?

In the past I have had to make some very strategic decisions when it comes to differentiating activities for my students. Teaching students who are culturally diverse have made it clear to me that what works for one group of students is not what will necessarily work for another group of students. Hence, I had to adjust my teaching style, and assessment as was necessary to meet the needs for each group of students. According to the article, ‘’ Institute on Academic Diversity’’ Differentiated instruction is both a philosophy and a way of teaching that respects the different learning needs of students and expects all students to experience success as learners.’’ Throughout my teaching career, I will say that last year was one of my most successful years with differentiation because I was effectively able to group my students based on data, and provided the instruction and activities needed to cater to their needs. After reading the article, Four Proven Strategies for Differentiated Instruction’’ I agree with Jill White in the use of technology to enhance Learning. Like Jill White, the use of technology has been a major piece in my differentiation strategy. Last year I had a small guided group lesson, next I had another small group solving problems on their own, and last I had a small group working on their skills on the computer. This was effective because I was able to help everyone based on the level of need.