1. Samantha King
6 Responses to Cultural Essays
Creating a Culturally Responsive Classroom
1.) Reading this article really opened my eyes to how a culturally responsive
classroom can be correctly be implemented amongst students and the
teachers facilitating it. Teachers all over the country strive to understand
how students learn, think, behave, and analyze behavior in and out of the
classroom. It is so important to have an understanding of each student’s
background and prior learning experiences. There are many methods that
teachers can use to understand the students in the classroom. Reaching out
to parents is always a positive approach, although not always reliable if they
are unwilling to cooperate. The first ten days of the school year are the most
important and standards/expectations should be made clear to students so
they can arrive at their fullest potential. The classroom should be user
friendly and consist of a wide variety of learning activities for the students to
be able to reflect and work positively in. In the classroom I am placed in
now, there is a variety of learning centers that assist to different types of
learners.
2.) Family, school, and community partnerships are essential to providing
cultural exploration for students and educators. There are many different
ways that a teacher can implement these strategies in the classroom and the
school. A future teacher should know what resources are available to them
inside and outside of the classroom. Exploring other cultures helps students
understand and connect to the world and other students in the classroom. In
the classroom I am in now, at least one third of the students are from another
country or their parents are. Teachers should encourage student’s parents to
come in and share anything that they can about their heritage to connect the
students understanding to the classroom. My school offers a ESL program
for adults in the community to provide whatever help they can. There are a
lot of students in my school that have speech problems or are ESL Learners
and their needs are accommodated. I also really liked the idea of students
teaching other students some words in their native language. My Spanish-
speaking students always share certain words with me each day and I have
learned a lot so far.
3.) I really agree with the statement that “A major goal of effective teaching is to
make learning meaningful for individual students.” In order for students to
gain their fullest potential in the classroom, they must be able to connect to
past experiences and content to move forward in a positive light in and out of
the classroom. A good teacher should try to synchronize students’ home
experiences and school environment to move forward in a positive light.
This allows students to reach their maximum potential socially and
academically. There have been many mixed feelings towards this type of
environment. Some theorists argue that “social and economic stratification

2. leads to rejection of schooling by some groups when they see that schooling
does not necessarily translate into social and economic gains.” (Ogbu)
Researchers have found that differences between the school and home
culture may undermine the students’ enthusiasm for learning and their
ability/capacity to learn. (Entwisle) Making a student feel comfortable and
making the learning environment appropriate takes time but maximizes the
potential for student understanding.
4.) As Native American author Jameke Highwater once said, “We do not all see
the same things.” In schools today, there is a high rate of diversity amongst
students however that is not the same for the rate of new educators across
the country. As each class grows at an alarming act in the opposite direction
it creates an issue of using different methods and styles in the classroom for
students. A very important strategy to seeing the full picture is to reflect our
selves as educators. Recognizing the limits that we possess due to our
culture, prior learning experiences, values, beliefs, etc. allows us to accept
other ways to connect to students. These methods of teaching should be
implemented into the daily activities in the classroom, not the overall
method of teaching in the classroom. Understanding our nation as a whole
helps students and educators connect with one another regardless of their
beliefs. In the classroom I am in now had a student from another country
and my cooperating teacher told me that the students were very accepting of
her heritage and customs. Allowing students to construct their identity
based on their culture is encouraged because it stays clear of a dominant
view. This collaboration should start at an early age in the school system
because for so long educators have viewed students who speak other
languages than English as deficient. For so long, the lack of English has been
has been seen as detrimental to a student’s learning career, but that theory
has been disproved. Even when teachers cannot speak the language of all the
students in their classroom, they can ‘communicate to the students and
parents that their language and culture are valued within the context of the
school.’ (Cummins, 1986) Students are presented with diversity everyday
and are encouraged to take things in strides. Also, by allowing students to
ask and answer questions appropriately amongst each other can increase the
number and quality of answers from the class. I found it to be most
beneficial when using visuals (charts, graphs, etc.), chants, poems, dance, etc.
because it encourages students for social interaction while being educational
in a enjoyable way. It is imperative for schools to build a sensitive
environment that is responsive and demanding for students and educators.
5.) As stated before, the first ten days of the school year are the most important
out of the entire year. It is imperative to make a good impression to the
students and set expectations and rules ASAP. I believe in great classroom
management because if the students are on task and know what they have to
do when done a certain assignment, it lessens the behavior modifications and
problems that the teacher has to deal with. There are many factors that help

3. teachers understand their students. Parental interaction is a huge factor that
every teacher should take advantage of, however not all parents are willing
to be as engaging as others. Parents know their students the best and it is
very beneficial when parents can share their child’s information with the
teacher. In the beginning of the year, the teacher should get in contact with
the parents and have them fill out some sort of sheet telling the teacher about
their child; information such as strengths and weaknesses, learning style,
problems/successes in prior grades, etc. can help an educator on how to go
about planning and implementing the school year so the students can get the
best learning experience possible. There are three main goals that should be
implemented early with the parents in the learning community. Help parents
feel welcomed and valued: show them that you are excited to have their child
in the class and want to do everything possible to help their child succeed.
Welcome parents as an active role: make sure at the beginning of the year
you reach out as much as possible. Providing different methods of contacting
such as email, cell, personal number, etc. really shows parents that you as an
educator are doing everything possible to have positive communication.
Even if it is not for something negative, teachers should always reach out to
the parents even if it is to praise about work/behavior. Teachers need
parental involvement to successfully run a classroom all the way around.
Last, make sure to build community among families. By having involvement
in the classroom, it allows parental interaction that helps bring families
together and promote positive classroom support.
6.) The last article that we had to read was bit of a two way for myself. The idea
that schools are actually considering to ask teachers to take more education
classes to expand on their “Growing concern on how to meet the educational
challenge of learner diversity” is a very bold statement. I do believe that in
order for teachers to be well rounded in understanding their students, they
must be kept up to par with dealing with the challenges that are thrown at
them in the educational setting they are teaching in. To better meet the
needs of their students, an educator must explore ALL their opportunities to
better understand their students and help them meet their full potential
educationally and socially. Multiculturalism is such a huge heated debate
topic in the educational setting because classrooms these days are not a
predominant race or nationality. Many people believe that in order for a
classroom to be run successfully, the background knowledge of
multiculturalism should be a MUST for both the benefit of the teachers and
the students. On the other side, I believe that too many educators are not
equipped with this knowledge presently in their classrooms; even if they
have been teaching for years hence the need for them taking this class. I
believe that this sort of knowledge should be taught at an educational level
before professional teaching. Over the past years I have noticed that a lot of
older professionals in my classes who have to take them in order to gain the
knowledge required to keep their jobs. Younger educators who have the
required knowledge to maintain the classroom smoothly are replacing so

4. many older teachers. From personal experience, I am qualified to teach a
Special Education classroom because of my Endorsement, however a lot of
teachers who have been teaching do not have that certification and will have
to compete with those who do. Education is such an ongoing task to
maintain because one constantly has to keep up with the standards and
issues that arise with the changing of students/learning in the classroom.