What are you willing to do to educate all children?
As educators, we see all different kinds of groups and people that come from different backgrounds and go through their own different life experiences. Some of us are more privileged in certain areas than others and we tend to forget that. If we want all of our students to succeed, we have to learn about them and find ways to be culturally responsive in our lessons. It's also important to be socioculturally conscious, we can't depend on our own life experiences to teach our students.
Being culturally responsive is NOT using gimmicks into teaching such as rapping subjects in a Hamilton type way to make lessons more fun. Being culturally responsive is about mimicking student's cultural learning styles and tools that come from home and their own experiences. This includes the strategies that their parents, family members, or community peers use to teach them life skills. In my classroom, I will make an effort to learn about my student's history, family, personality, strengths, etc. By learning these things, I can take that information and use it in lessons to make education equal for all students. One way I can do this is by taking a lesson and making a game out of it. Games keep their attention and help absorb information. Another way is make use of storytelling. Students can take what they're learning about and make a story out of it. This gives them an opportunity to use their own culture and experiences and put it into their imagination. I will also ask my students what they already know and help improve their knowledge from there.
When I learn about students and their backgrounds, this can also help me be more socioculturally conscious. Being aware of multicultural issues will help shape my teaching strategies and make sure my students are being taught in the way that they need to be.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteI agree that students background and culture affects them in education and that's why its important to learn about them. A teacher has to accommodate to them, and not decide what they think is best. It is about learning of these cultures as well as teaching it to the other students, that way everyone can show respect towards each other. Your lesson plan sounds like the 3 tips to make a lesson culturally responsive. Its the gamify it, make it social, and storify it. This will help you as a teacher and keep them engaged.
Thank you! I did take inspiration from that article when writing this blog. It was very helpful and taught me things I hadn't known. I agree with you, keeping the students engaged will make learning fun for them and make the knowledge really stick.
DeleteHey Alyssa, this is a great post. Nothing makes me happier than seeing that so many people who are studying to become teachers are already so passionate and care so much for their future students. It's also so wonderful that you care about learning about all of your students diverse backgrounds. I know you're going to be a stellar teacher some day!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! You're so kind. I know you will be too.
DeleteHi Alyssa! Great blog post! I absolutely agree that many people tend to forget the privilege they have, including myself unfortunately. I really appreciate your use of the terms from this module and I agree that it is crucial to be a part of our students' lives in more ways then just in relation to the classroom. We must dig a little deeper into their home lives and personal preferences in order to truly understand how we can reach them both as their teacher and as their friend. I also really enjoyed the article that addressed how being culturally responsive isn't about embarrassing yourself for a reaction from your students, but that it is more so about making learning exciting and engaging for the different types of students in our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI like your way of thinking. Making students feel safe in the classroom and making them feel like we're their friend is a sign of a great teacher, which is what you will be! Also, when we make learning exciting, then students will love coming to school to learn new things.
DeleteHey Alyssa! Wow it seems like you have such a great idea of what you need to do in order to be a successful teacher! I love that you already have different strategies and ideas in mind that you want to implement into your classroom that will help you be more socioculturally conscious. I love that you made the comment that we can't depend on our own life experiences to teach our students. I think this is crucial for all teachers to understand. As future teachers we are also learners and we need to be eager to grow and obtain new information because we don't know it all! I think it's important that we acknowledge that because we might get ahead of ourselves and think that we share the experiences that everyone has but in reality our students might have way different experiences than us. That is why we must remain open to learning about what makes our students who they are!
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
-Kenzie Jones
Exactly! Everyone has different lives, experiences, opinions and preferences so I think it's important to get to know what each student needs to succeed and feel safe at school.
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ReplyDeleteHey Alyssa! Great post! I love that you are so passionate about learning about your students background! I think learning about peers, and students' backgrounds can tell you a lot about them and how they will respond to a lesson. I love that you want to do this to make sure your students have a equal opportunity for learning. Sadly many teachers do not do this and that is why we have to work towards equality in the classroom! I think you will make a great teacher since you are already thinking in the students best interest! It is important to keep these thoughts with us when we plan our future lessons. I think this will also allow students to feel that they are safe in your classroom and can be themselves with you and their classmates. Allowing students to be themselves and not feel uncomfortable in school is so very important.
Even in high school I always felt like my teachers went at their own pace and disregarded students that needed to find a better way to understand the lessons. I hope I can successfully teach all of me lesson as equal as possible to all my students.
DeleteHi Alyssa.
ReplyDeleteI like that you point out how everyone has their own privileges in life and that not everyone has the same experiences. One of the biggest takeaways that I had from this module was that we should always walk into our classroom and push away the things we think we know about a specific culture. It's so important to see the world through the student's eyes and learn about their experiences so we can input this into our teaching. It's a simple yet fun way to enhance education for all of our students to be successful. Another thing that I thought was important about this module was to always ask our children how they are interrupting the way we teach. Without asking, how will we ever grow as educators and figure out ways to better ourselves for our children? It's so important pause and evaluate ourselves and how we are affecting our students.
Yes! Self-awareness is great and will only help us improve as teachers for the better and for our students.
DeleteI admire the amount of effort you're willing to put into your students! I also like how you mentioned empathy. It really is key to understanding our students! You're going to be a great teacher
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa
ReplyDeleteI agree I think that finding ways such as creating games or allowing the students to possibly create a story about themselves, their culture, or a personal experience, are really good ways the students can learn and express themselves in a way that doesn't take away from who they are or invalidate their ways of learning. Engaging in culturally responsive teaching, and really allowing the students to bring some of who they are to the classroom can not only set them individually up for success by encouraging the addition of new cultural ideas, but it also provides the opportunity for other students to gain new knowledge and perspective they might not have learned in their environment. I do like your example of having the students take what they're learning in the classroom and make it their own by adding things that they relate to.