Chapter 14-Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices

Our schools are constantly become more diverse each year. It is important for teachers to adapt their teaching styles to become more culturally responsive. I have taught several students from different cultural backgrounds. Each year that I've taught these students, I've learned more about their culture and ways that I can help these students succeed in my classroom. We are fortunate to have great ESOL teachers in our district that are willing to help our students in and out of the classroom. Over the years, I learned some things to do to help my teaching become more culturally responsive. First, I form relationships with my students and learn about their lives. I want my students to know that I respect their cultural background and want to learn more about their culture. I form relationships with their families so they know I care about their child and want the very best for them in my classroom. I also work hard to make connections for students while I am teaching. I love teaching about different cultures and having my students share their thoughts with the class. When my students are able to make connections to their culture or traditions, they will be better able to understand what we are studying.

I feel there are several things that I don't do right when dealing with cultural diversity. First, I don't give my culturally diverse students enough time or opportunities to share information about their culture. Their culture and background is so important and I would like to give these students the opportunities to share with the class about their culture. I would also like to add more culture diversity to my lesson plans. I need to use more multi-cultural literature and learn more about cultures while teaching social studies and reading. I want my students to be open to different cultures and traditions.

I am always looking for ways to improve my teaching for culturally diverse students. First, I enjoy professional developments and classes that teach tools to help these students. I wasn't taught a lot of strategies while in college, so I am open to finding ways to help me in my classroom. Secondly, I hope to improve on the communication with my parents of students from different cultural backgrounds. It is sometimes hard to communicate with these families and I want to do what I can to relay information to parents about their child. Finally, I want to continue to learn from these students so I can make connections to the curriculum and use their prior knowledge. I hope to learn from these students just as much as they are learning from me.