Diversity in the Classroom

Diversity in the schoolroomSchools are the places where the children pattern their personalities and behavior. Like a child who formulas his or her personal outlook, even off the school volition be shaped by various(a) cultural practices and values of the society. In essence, schools overly reflect the existing norms of the society for which they set up. relate and closely bonded beliefs and values are very common the polish of the schooling.In this chapter, an attempt was made to relate the basic ideology that chthonianlines the culture in the US with many core values and beliefs. In addition, a link was made to relate the basic ideology as a means of divulging the deeper meaning of culture. child rearing is a very meaningful approach that one s legal instrument function to reveal the deeper meaning of the culture. Rearing children in a classroom has a strong link with the underlying culture of different ethnic groups.Several authors in the past have tried to explicat e what childrearing is, especially in the mount of existing cultural practices. Al close all authors believe that childrearing is a mirror of contrastive cultural ideologies along with practices and values of different cultures. Ogbu (Ogbu, 1981) believes that parents prepare their children for the society and the demesne as they know and experience it. Society can easily influence and shape our schools. The core values and practices of the society are some of the little factors that shape our schools.Educators, students and parents may never understand the deeper meaning of culture within the ambience of school acquire. Traditional definitions of culture given by noted anthropologists may not be sufficient for designing and executing school learning experiences that are so common in culturally different settings. In this section, we will insure objectifying culture as the basic step in the process of designing and constructing a simple and take a shitable definition of cult ure. This simple working definition will help us streamline planning school learning experiences among different people.What is objectifying culture?A simple depersonalization process that helps us in conducting critical examination of the ideologies that support accepted and acknowledged accessible behavior and cultural practices. Ideologies and beliefs can reflect different aspects of deep meaning of culture. Schools are the learning centers that also reflect the cultural norms of a larger sized society. Deeper meaning of the culture can also be revealed through inspecting and evaluating ideologies and any interconnected beliefs and values. One can also reveal the deep meaning of culture by including communication among parents, teachers and students, and different social interaction patterns, as well as childrearing methods and practices.The Culture of design in a Struggling SchoolEvery teacher is different. Each one of them has own ideological stance and understanding of cultu re. In fact, these two viewpoints shape how they see school curriculum, learning process, pedagogy and social context that allow learning in school. In nutshell, the way and manner in which a teacher understands the culture influences in the school, will ultimately influence his or her ability to take into account meaningful and productive learning experiences to the students. This chapter will provide two briny benefitsIt provides you a solid groundwork to comprehend cultural diversity in a classroomIt also helps you learn how to teach traditionally underserved students, who come from diverse and experiential backgrounds.Hollins (Hollins, 2006) describe or so an approach, which was identified as a structured dialogue, playing an important tool to assist convert the culture of practice followed in a low performing school. In such schools, teachers also learned how to teach traditionally underserved urban students. The first part of this chapter presents you the study as reported by Hollins. On the some other hand, the second section of this chapter deals with the things that teachers learned in their classroom, in the form of a structure that is planned at divulging the deeper meaning of culture within the ambience of a school.The most critical components of this framework areCulturally mediated cognition andCulturally mediated instructionThe important finale of this dedicated discussion is to bring an awareness of the culture of practice in very low performing urban schools. This expertise will empower you to try your own progress as a dedicated classroom teacher and shun executable scenarios where you will be introduced unconsciously to the prevailing practice of culture.What is a structured dialogue?It is an intricate process of learning, where all teachers come together in a study group styled format, to discuss and learn more about their classroom dialogues. In the process of conducting a series of dialogues, teachers can describe the unique succ esses and special challenges they encounter in their classrooms along with evidences and testimonies from each of the participating teacher. The most significant benefit of a structured dialogue process is the teachers ability to learn from other on different methods that can help in meliorate classroom practices and student learning proceedss.Identifying a Developmental TrajectoryHollins (Hollins, 2006) also worked on matureing a developmental flight for modifications in the culture of practices in many of the underperforming urban schools. This trajectory involved tether positions and three markers.The positions wereA Natal or initial culture identified in many of the underperforming schools vindicatory at the initiation of the study.A transitional position, when old practices and values were replaced or changed with bracing ones by the participating teachersA transformed culture, where all participating teachers vary new and fresh values, practices and perceptionsOn the o ther hand, three important markers suggested for changes in the teachers culture of practices areTeachers perceived perceptions and opinions about students,Teachers perceived perceptions and opinions about instruction andinterrelatedness among different teachersLearning more about different positionsThe natal position is a simple, yet effective approach to structured dialogue. The teachers of a school link as a group, in low performing schools, to hold a deficit viewpoint of their students to focus on a number of issues like pretermit of skills, knowledge and information among studentsA perceived negative view of a students conditions of livingAn attitude that parents show disinterest in their childrens educationIn fact, each classroom is bound to lead to differences in learning outcomes. These differences could be due to a number of reasons likeStudents effort and dedication towards studies,Intelligence, skills and perceived smartnessFamilys social status in the societyIn a natal position, teachers may or may not visit each others classroom or they may or may not talk to each other regarding their instruction methods. In fact, classroom instruction delivered by teachers was private and confidential. School authorities ensured that new teacher inductees were formally socialized into this new culture.Next, will be the transitional position. During this position, teachers may never talk negative about a student. However, it is quite demanding to realize similar outcomes with all the instructional approaches used by the teachers. This issue resulted in a serious discussion about the existing relationship between the direction approach and the student-learning outcome. Dialogues about individual teaching practices veered towards personal, although individual teachers were careful about assuming responsibility for learning outcome among students. Senior teachers started giving separate attention to the induction of new teachers by setting up informal and pers onal mentoring sessions. These sessions always included provision of guidance and help about teaching methods and approaches. On the other hand, transformational position is the last position that emerges during the third year of the study. The electropositive aspect of this position was that teachers always talked positive about their students. In fact, positive outcome was the most significant benefit of this position. With the initiation of this position, teachers talked more aboutThe information students know and understandWhat should they know more aboutWhat instructional methods accumulation them the mostTeachers also found time to discuss many other issues likeThe existing relationship among teaching methods and approachesAttributes of the student communityLearning outcomes and resultsTeachers catch more responsive by taking full responsibilities for their students learning outcomes. Teachers also start talking more about their students strengths, weaknesses and other rela ted issues. In fact, everyone in the pubic knew about what students are doing and how they are performing. Teachers took each others suggestions seriously, visited others classrooms and later assumed full responsibility for their own classroom actions. All senior teachers started taking excess responsibilities about the new inductee teachers.Hollins (Hollins, 2006) presented the concept of developmental trajectory that is closely related to the typology subject discussed in Chapter I. The trajectory and typology discussed here gives you three important positions with relating categories of indicators for conceptualizing teaching methods. When you compare positions and indicators in the typology highlighted erstwhile in the first chapter of the book, with those of Hollins, many similarities may exist between the indicators, across many positions in the typology and the trajectory.For example,You can observe that the fictional character I teachers mentioned in the typology are almost similar to the teachers that were mentioned in the natal position, especially in the trajectory on indicators for teachers viewpoint on students and instruction.On the other hand, many indicators in the transformational position lying on the developmental trajectory and in the Type III in the domain of typology indicate towards the application of a teachers knowledge and awareness aboutThe intricate relationship between many student attributes and experiencesInstructional and teaching practices adapted by the teacherLearning outcome as a meaningful support for teaching that is productive and result oriented.As mentioned elsewhere in the book, a structured dialogue is an efficient tool for assisting the complete transformation of a community of teaching practice and practices of individual teachers. If you are a beginning teacher, who is just starting to interact with your students, you can use this tool to improve your teaching methods and practices. The typology and the trajectory are very beneficial to teachers, old or new, in many different ways.The term typology is descriptive it tries to explain the perceptual position, and response of teachers who are hired to teach in K-12 schools.It is a very convenient tool for analysis, evaluation and introspection for planned personal growth.On the other hand, developmental trajectory means the transformation of the practice of culture in an underperforming school with that of a learning community that focuses on enhancing student learning outcomes.Tip When you recognize different indicators of position in a culture of practice followed in a school, you can easily understand how to interact and speak with colleagues and in what manner you can monitor and evaluate your own individual growth after participating in a community of practice. Both trajectory and typology are very beneficial to teachers in many ways.However, the typology model presented before in the first chapter, only detected the basic characteristics of teachers perception and practices along the lines of three positions, and it did not provide a structure for comprehending the existing relationship between different culture and school practices. Hence, the remainder part of this chapter will provide a platform for understanding the existing association between learners cultural backgrounds, classroom learning mode and learning outcomes.Cultural Diversity in a ClassroomThis course framework will provide you a theoretical perspective for culling knowledge base from other chapters and elucidate the structure to assist application to practice. The main concepts embedded in the framework will give a broader meaning for locating self-identity within the ambits of a culturally diverse society forMaking an interrogatory into students cultural and experiential background,Undoing sensitive elements from purposeful learning for students who from diverse communities and study in elementary and secondary schoolsThe other objective of this chapter is to make pass away the existing relationship between culture, cognition, pedagogical practices and many learning outcomes. The underlying structure for comprehending cultural diversity in a typical classroom consists of two major parts, namelyCulturally intervened cognition andCulturally intervened instructionThe former refers to the manner in which a students brain, memory structures and critical intellectual processes enhance, support and develop within a given cultural context. On the other hand, the latter includes a number of important components like culturally intervened cognition and prized knowledge and skills in school curriculum and culturally correct social scenarios for learning experience (see Table 7.2).Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (1999) pointed out that, all learning involves transfer from previous experiences (p. 56). The monumental work of Piaget and Vygptsky provides a theoretical ground for understanding cultural diversity in a classroom. This theor y draws on available information processing to explain different structural components among different cultures, cognition, and pedagogy and learning experience for different cultural backgrounds.Note that you can find structural components among the participating individuals and groups, who are studying under different school settings. On the other hand, culture is unique and dynamic with constant changes and modifications.Journal ActivityHow do you handle a culturally diverse classroom? Explain how you want to teach and train your children, especially in the context of existing cultural practices. Explain how you will develop an ability to provide meaningful and productive learning experiences to the students, who are studying in a culturally struggling school. Differentiate between culturally mediated cognition and culturally mediated instruction. Explain your plan of action to make structural dialogue a success.Pause and ReflectAs a teacher, why do think of that a structured di alogue is an efficient tool for assisting the complete transformation of a community of teaching practice and practices of individual teachers. Provide reasons for your argument. What are the possible bottlenecks and potential problems that are likely to crop up, when you are using structured dialogues? Think of some strategies and plans to use different perceptions.