Technology Teacher 07/19/2016

• Becoming Culturally Responsive Educators: Rethinking Teacher Education Pedagogy

  -Some schools of education have acknowledged the urgency for developing culturally competent teachers, while others grapple with ways to fit appropriate programs into their curriculum - s. A major part of the resistance comes from teacher educators’ discomfort, if not fear of, addressing issues such as race and racism in their courses, or even on their campuses - Research suggests that when teachers have had the benefit of multicultural teacher education preparation, they are less likely to embrace cultural deficit views - r, teachers who have learned culturally responsive pedagogy are more confident and believe they are effective in their instruction of diverse children - Teacher educators need to: • Develop cohesive and comprehensive multicultural curricula in general and special education TEPs • Infuse multicultural principles throughout to prepare teachers to respond to the needs of diverse learners and their families • Identify critical teaching behaviors and essential best practices for diverse students Below is a brief description of the six characteristics. • Sociocultural consciousness means understanding that one’s way of thinking, behaving, and being is influenced by race, ethnicity, social class, and language. Therefore, prospective teachers must critically examine their own sociocultural identitiesand the inequalities between schools and society that support institutionalized discrimination to maintain a privileged society based on social class and skin color. Teacher candidates must inspect and confront any negative attitudes they might have toward cultural groups. • An affirming attitude toward students from culturally diverse backgrounds significantly impacts their learning, belief in self, and overall academic performance. By respecting cultural differences and adding education related to the culture of the students, programs become inclusive. • Commitment and skills to act as agents of change enable the prospective teacher to confront barriers/obstacles to change, and develop skills for collaboration and dealing with chaos. As agents of change, teachers assist schools in becoming more equitable over time. • Constructivist views of learning contend that all students are capable of learning, and teachers must provide scaffolds between what students already know through their experiences and what they need to learn. Constructivist teaching promotes critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and the recognition of multiple perspectives. • Learning about students’ past experiences, home and community culture, and world both in and outside of school helps build relationships and increase the prospective teachers’ use of these experiences in the context of teaching and learning. • Culturally responsive teaching strategies support the constructivist view of knowledge, teaching, and learning. As teachers assist students to construct knowledge, build on their personal and cultural strengths, and examine the curriculum from multiple perspectives, an i Exclusive, the lowest level, represents traditional mainstream perspectives of diversity. Inclusive, the next level, represents a mixture of normative and nontraditional diversity perspectives. The highest level, the Transformed curriculum, represents a structural transformation. Guidelines for a Culturally Responsive Curriculum (Schmitz, 1999) (1) Define Learning Goals - What do students in your field need to know about: - the history of diverse groups: their writings, theories, and patterns of participation? - the social dynamics of identity formation and change? - structures of power and privilege in society, prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping? - patterns of communication and interaction within and among different cultural groups? - theories of personal, institutional, and societal change? (2) Question Traditional Concepts - Have traditional ways of organizing content in this course obscured, distorted, or excluded certain ideas or groups? - What new research is available that addresses past distortions and exclusions? - How will the course change if I include this new research? - How might a change in this syllabus affect its relationship to the rest of the curriculum? (3) Understand Student Diversity - What kinds of diverse perspectives and experiences will students bring to the class? - How can I assess students’ prior knowledge of race, class, gender, etc.? - How can I incorporate diverse voices without relying on students to speak for different groups? - How will my own characteristics and background affect the learning environment? - Will some students see me as a role model more readily than others? - How can I teach to all students? (4) Select Materials and Activities - If the course topics remain the same, what new research, examples, and writings can illustrate these topics? - Is there a new thematic approach to this material that will help to put cultural diversity in the foreground? - How do I integrate new material so that it is not simply an “add-on”? - What teaching strategies will facilitate student learning of this new material? (5) Evaluate Effectiveness - What are my strengths and limitations relative to the new content and teaching techniques? - How will I assess student learning? -culturally responsive teachers in preservice courses: • Creating classroom communities of learners— learners construct meaning individually through cognitive processes and socially through a collective participatory process involving interactions with others. • Developing dispositions, knowledge, and skills of culturally responsive teachers by engaging students -Cultivate and require early field experiences, practica, and internship sites in culturally diverse classrooms and communities - Place preservice teachers with cooperating teachers who have a thorough knowledge of and extensive experience with culturally responsive education - Implementing curricula and field experiences that are committed to diversity enables future practitioners to engage in pedagogy with insight and view all communities as resources for learning and social justice.

• Culturally Responsive Teaching

  -The notion of culturally responsive education is premised on the idea that culture is central to student learning - It is an approach that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes. - This link between culture and classroom instruction is derived from evidence that cultural practices shape thinking processes, which serve as tools for learning within and outside of school - Each practice includes an explanation, a summary of each story that exemplifies the practice, a research summary - Communication of High Expectations − There are consistent messages, from both the teacher and the whole school, that students will succeed, based upon genuine respect for students and belief in student capability - Active Teaching Methods − Instruction is designed to promote student engagement by requiring that students play an active role in crafting curriculum and developing learning activities - Teacher as Facilitator − Within an active teaching environment, the teacher's role is one of guide, mediator, and knowledgeable consultant, as well as instructor. - Positive Perspectives on Parents and Families of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students − There is an ongoing participation in dialogue with students, parents, and community members on issues important to them, along with the inclusion of these individuals and issues in classroom curriculum and activities - Cultural Sensitivity − To maximize learning opportunities, teachers gain knowledge of the cultures represented in their classrooms and translate this knowledge into instructional practice - Reshaping the Curriculum − A reshaped curriculum is culturally responsive to the background of students - Culturally Mediated Instruction − Instruction is characterized by the use of culturally mediated cognition, culturally appropriate social situations for learning, and culturally valued knowledge in curriculum content - Student−Controlled Classroom Discourse − Students are given the opportunity to control some portion of the lesson, providing teachers with insight into the ways that speech and negotiation are used in the home and community. - Small Group Instruction and Academically−Related Discourse Instruction is organized around low−pressure, student−controlled learning groups that can assist in the development of academic language. -Teachers have at their command a repertoire of teaching approaches to reach students in a range of culturally appropriate ways - Teachers scan continually for feedback from students, looking for indications of understanding or confusion -Cultural sensitivity is not equated with a focus on easily stereotyped artifacts of the culture, such as food and art. - Cultural sensitivity requires that teachers interpret their students' behaviors within the cultural context of the student -Children who experience discontinuity in the use of language at home and at school are often misunderstood in classrooms - Once teachers understand home and community norms, they can help students expand their discourse repertoire. -

• ​8 Proven Ways to Help Close the Achievement Gap | EdSurge News

  • Ample evidence shows that almost all students can achieve at high levels if they are taught at high levels.
  • The curriculum should feature balanced instruction, emphasizing basic skills for increasing comprehension
  • Struggling students often need more instructional time coupled with an increased intensity of instruction in small groups and more repetitions or doses of instruction.
  • Supplemental instruction is intended to fill in students’ learning gaps as quickly as possible and return them to core instruction.
  • Using formative assessments, teachers can pinpoint where students have gaps and intervene accordingly.
  • When tasks are not matched to students and they are asked to perform skills they do not have, their motivation and engagement decrease.

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