Read through the information on this web page -
http://newhorizons.org/strategies/styles/guild.htm
(By one of the authors of our book by the way)
focusing on the second part starting with the section on culture.
Comment on the ways in which differences in an individual learner's culture, family background, and socioeconomic level affect his or her learning.
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18 comments:
Culture and Learner Diversity
“When my culture supports my individuality, I grow and develop in healthy ways. When my family encourages my uniqueness, I learn to trust my own innate predisposition. If, however, I do not innately fit the expectations of a "typical girl" or "typical African American," I become aware of the lack, of congruence of my inner self with external expectations, and I have to reconcile those differences. Sometimes that reconciliation gives me more strengths and a wider range of behaviors. At other times, it leads to conflict and uncertainties. Both results confirm the important roles of nature and nurture in shaping a person's approach to life- and to learning.” This quote by Guild says so much. Attitude is more than half the battle. I think that if teachers do their best to support and encourage their students’ uniqueness in all areas, then they will be able to tackle the cultural and learning style challenges as well. I know that when students’ feel safe and valued in a classroom setting they will perform at a higher level. This positive social setting is a major factor when addressing student needs, and I believe that an effective teacher considers all students as individuals. I think that being aware of the cultural and learning style differences can only add a deeper and more meaningful understanding of each student.
Finally, just as our world is diverse teachers must take a diverse approach to meeting the individual learning and cultural needs that affect our students today. Education is ever changing and educators must adapt to these changes. I wonder what changes will need to be addressed in the future? I enjoy change and love the challenge of learning how to adapt to change. However, that is not to say that I always find it easy. Just as our children face difficulties in our changing world, so too must teachers. We need to strive to be lifelong learners and to implement the techniques, skills and methods that will facilitate effective teaching.
I do believe that an individual's family background, socioeconomic status, and culture highly affects a person's learning style. Not everyone is brought up to go to their rooms and do their homework as soon as they get home. It may be a student from a low-income, poverished home who will have to take care of his/her siblings while their parents are working 12 or more hour shifts to support the family, which enables that student from focusing clearly on homework and school. That is an example of how important it is as an educator to look deeper into the picture and realize that not all students will achieve and reach their goals on the same level due to different lifestyles and cultural standards that the student is surrounded by.
~Joy~
Excellent analysis Dori -
Thanks
Great points Joy! - Thanks for posting
I do believe that there are outside factors of the classroom that affects ones personal learning style. Not all people have the same supportthat they need to be effective or sufficient learners. There are several reasons that these learning styles exsist. The key to these students being effective is for us as educator to be culturally sensitive and more receptive to different ideas, ways of achieving goals, and overall differences in general. I think that it is also important to be more accepting of change. So many of we educators are scared of change and sometimes change is good. The article stressed these key points directly and indirectly. Learning style, diresity and culture are inner connected.^^^^^Tim
Good points about resistance to change. Thanks Tim
I agree that to teach a child, you must be familiar with their background and culture. I also agree that the background is influenced by nature and nurture. In the article, I felt like it was saying teachers should do more to help students connect culture to their learning. But the article never gave specific ways to do that, it just gave evidence to say we need to do that. The article did mention collaboration, discussion, active projects, and cooperative learning. At the high school level, I must say, maybe I have given up and this is why I am taking this class. I have done cooperative learning and modeled what I wanted the groups to be doing and given rubrics, etc. Still, I have a problem with absences, Hispanics not wanting to work with African Americans, and even though part of the assignments grade is that they work together…I still have some do the whole project alone. It is so hard to get a cooperative learning assignment to work smoothly when the adolescents only want to work with their friends and the teacher assigns the groups. So, the cool kid may have to work with the unpopular kid and I never hear the end of it. It just honestly makes me not want to even try it, and yet I still do it frustrated. It is also hard to have kids who can’t even speak English in my math class. I do no speak Spanish, so it’s very tough. We have an ESOL teacher who talks to them but it’s still hard. You can’t call home unless you have someone who can translate for you because the parents don’t speak English either. I understand that we need to reach these kids, but with the economic status we are currently in; programs get cut. We were told at our school that we would not be having any more professional development with people coming in to teach us new teaching techniques because there was no money for it. We were also told not to go away to any professional development unless we wanted to pay for the substitute ourselves. I also have kids affected by this economic state, who never bring paper or pencil to school and I let them borrow mine, which I pay for out of my pocket. I also have kids who work at night after school and then dose off in my class. I know Hispanics and African Americans are more social, but with an End of Course Test, you do it on your own. The article talked about how we do the same old thing with curriculum and content. That really frustrates me because we have to teach the South Carolina State Standards. Will my students ever use some of the stuff I teach in Algebra and Geometry? No, not unless they become a math teacher or go into engineering of some sort. I think I may have taken this article the wrong way. I feel like we as teachers get talked about so much in a negative light and yet we are stressed out to the max with trying to create creative engaging lessons, handing those lesson plans in to our administrator, taking after school time to help students or sit in a faculty meeting only to hear that the budget is getting cut again or that our tests scores came up last year but not high enough. I feel sometimes that I am in a job that never values what we do try to do in the little time we have to do it. I still agree that we “perceive & gain knowledge,” “form ideas & think,” have “emotional responses and values,” and “act” differently. I would like more information on how to apply teaching to accommodate more students and not just an article on why we should. I apologize for going off on a soapbox. I am not a teacher resistant to change, but I want concrete ways to show me how to implement new effective teaching practices in my classroom.
Good points and definitely things we all struggle with. Hopefully you will get some answers in this course (If I had them all I'd have my own island somewhere :-)
Thanks for posting April.
I think how one is raised and their experiences impact how one learns. I love how the article states that not only does a person's culture affect how they learn, but so does their social and emotional state. As educators we need to learn about different cultures especially if we have students from these different cultures in our classroom. We must learn about are students and respect their differences. As an educator it is important to create an atmosphere where a student can feel loved, valued, and comfortable. By doing this my students will learn better and I as an educator will learn more about the different cultures around me.
Culture, socioeconomic level and family background definitely affects the way a child learns. I think that home visits are a good way to let teachers know what kind of socioeconomic background and family background a child has before they come into their classroom. You have such a diverse group of learners in a classroom and you can’t possibly expect them all to learn the same way or at the same rate. When you have a child coming to school everyday with no homework, not bathed, late, folder or book bag has never been looked at, you know that this childs learning is being affected in some way. When you are able to see the neighborhood that they live in or the house that has holes in the roof and no heat, it gives you a wake up call. The child may not have slept the night before because they live in a house with 10 people and an uncle plays loud music all night. You have to adjust for these situations. You definitely have to look at these things and realize that there is not one best way to teach all of these children.
Great points Sarah & Jessica. You have hit on much of the essence of the article.
Thanks for posting.
In my opinion, I believe that all students have the capacity to learn. To help promote success within the environment, educators need to make sure that students feel safe and nurture. Thus, omitting either feature can cause a pupil to become an underachiever. We as educators need to make sure that our students are equipped with the proper resources that will help them prosper with their education. At the beginning of the school year, teachers should identify all of their students learning styles by using surveys or other resources. This information can be used to help you prepare your lesson plans. As you are planning make sure you are targeting the learning styles that accommodates YOUR students. However, this means that the teacher may have to do more research and identify activities that align with the standards and with her student’s learning styles. Like that article, I agree that there are other factors that contribute to the decline in education. Culture, language barrier, parental involvement, and social are some of the many factors that effects as child’s learning ability. In order to be completely effective, the teacher needs to have access to an unlimited supply of resources to their students perform. (Who can provide this with the numerous budget cuts we have today?) Like all educators, I want to witness the growth within my student’s education. However, I feel there are more things that should be done to help the students. All teachers need become familiar with the various cultures that embrace our world (or at least your school). We can do this by taking advance courses, incorporating the information in professional development meetings, and doing our own research about culture. Here again, I believe parental involvement is a major contribution to success. The schools needs to be active in the communities and inform parents about how they can help serve their students with a valuable education. Do not just depend on the parents to come to you, go see them at their churches, community meetings, sporting events, and etc. A lot of us, educators, need to change some of our actions or thoughts. Needless to say, many of us are receptive of change (veteran teachers). You hear many people saying we have always did this way why change now. I have an answer to that we change because our students are changing, we are not providing services to the same students that walked the same halls five years ago. In the long run not accepting change, contributes to the decline in student achievement. Overall, teachers are held accountability for a lot of things. To some extent, this intensity causes us to shut down or not perform to the best of our ability. To better help teachers educate students, we need to have a sense of high mural in our atmosphere. In conclusion, I want to say that this article had a lot of valid points that all educators need take into consideration when educating the world. Educators have the most valuable occupation in the world and we need to continue to strive for excellence in all we do.
The article by Guild on diversity and culture summarized what is happening in our schools today in terms of meeting the needs of all learners. I agree with the statement at the end of the article that stated that most educators do not link multiculturalism with learning styles. Culture goes well beyond race; it includes gender, religion and SES. I think that the question of how culture affects learning is still being explored. As educators I do think that we have enough information to know if students who share a culture share the same ways of learning. Do birds of the same feather all flock together? It is definitely a sensitive subject of how to best meet the needs of all our students regardless of race, gender and SES. Teachers do need to know each learner’s style and fit their instructional approach. I believe that doing what is right for each child does not mean doing the same thing for each child. But many teachers feel overwhelmed by the demands of teaching and could not imagine learning the needs of each child and then teaching to each learner. Teachers need explicit training on culture and learning styles in order to be successful. One or two professional days will not provide the training that is needed to provide a school where learning diversity is the root of the curriculum and drives instruction. National, state and local policies make it difficult for schools to meet the needs of all students. Teachers use certain styles learning styles (reflective, linear and analytic) because they fit the demands of preparing students for high stakes testing. I feel fortunate that I do not have those demands in first grade, so I have the time to provide other types of learning style activities. But I am sure older grade teachers feel overwhelmed by the pressure of the tests and feel that they do not have time to had one more thing to their plate. Unfortunately, if they had the proper training in culture and learning styles then the instruction in their classroom would greatly change and have a positive impact on test scores.
I believe the relationship between the values of the culture in which a child lives or has roots and the experiences in the classroom are inter-related. They both affect students academic, social, and emotional development. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to understand my students and their cultural backgrounds. Within my 12 years of teaching, I have often heard teachers say I don't see color. Well, I totally disagree. I see color and I believe everyone should see color. When we acknowledge the color of a person's skin, I believe we are showing respect for the history and struggles of that particular ethnic group. As a teacher, I try to always consider the cultural differences among my students. By acknowledging their differences, I believe teachers can make a significant difference in their students' learning experiences. Every child deserves an equal opportunity to learn. As Guild so vividly points out, knowing a child's cultural background is essential to providing successful learning opportunities to our students. We must all learn to see color.
I agree student’s culture, family background, and socioeconomic does affect their learning styles. As educators we have to understand our student’s environment which will affect their learning in your classroom. As educators we have to do our research on our student’s. This includes understand the student’s ability and capability. The article said it best, “Early life experiences and the values of a person’s culture affect both the expectations and the learning process.” For example, when teaching a lesson a good tool would be to incorporated examples from their own environment in order for them to understand. When you can bring good outside experiences to the students, they seem more interest in what they are learning. As educators we need to make sure we develop our lessons to our student’s needs, not to what the teacher’s manual tells us what to do.
I believe that there is a very strong correlation to a student’s cultural background and a student’s level of success in school. “The relationship of the values of the culture in which a child is currently living, or from which a child has roots, and the learning expectations and experiences in the classroom is directly related to the child's school success academically, socially, and emotionally.” I immediately thought of three ideas when reading this section of the article. First, students come to school with different expectations that stems from the home. There are many ways for a child to view school. It can be a place to learn, a safe place where there is heat and food, a place to come while parents are at work, and so on. Next, the connections and relationship that students make on lessons taught in class are directly related to their experiences at home. For example, if you are reading a science book that is talking about sand, a teacher cannot assume that every student has felt sand before. Or more intensely, if you are reading a class novel and discussing the ethical dilemma, it is likely that the teacher’s idea of the ethical decision is going to be very different than several students. Finally, as soon as the bell rings at the end of school, some students will leave and go home to a completely different environment. It is a fact that children only go to school for 180 days of school and only spend about six to seven hours in the building. The student’s cultural background is a greater majority of the child’s life. It is important to remember children’s home life at school because that is where most of their social and emotional development has evolved.
Everyone has their own unique learning style. It is difficult as a teacher to reach everys student and accomadate their learning style, especially when you have so many students. However, by recognizing their style and putting forth extra effort to accomadate them, it will be rewarding in the end. By understanding how my students learn, I can teach them better. I won't be wasting time with futile methods or strategies that will not benefit my students.
I think, as educators, we all know that children learn differently. However, there are certain aspects of their life that affect how they learn. An individual's cultural background could influence how a child learns. For example, if they come from a family or culture that does not value education, chances are, the child will develop the same view toward education. The family situation and socioeconomic status of a student will also have a huge impact on how the child learns. The first step in allowing a child to reach his/her full potential is for the teacher to create an enviornment where all students feel comfortable. Any student, no matter how intelligent, will not participate and put full effort forth if he/she is not comfortable in the learning environment. The teacher should understand the students and their cultural backgrounds, and should include the diversity of the classroom into everyday activities. In order for the teacher to be effective, he/she must know the students, and must be informed on their cutural differences and appreciate them for their individual differences as well.
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