CHAPTER 2 ASSIGNMENT Read Chapter 2 (pp 17-28) Supporting the Teacher Instructions for ALL chapter assignments: Summarize the chapter by answering the following questions: What? What information did

Chapter Two Supporting the Teacher

“Education must be not only a transmission of culture, but also a provider of alternative views of the world and a strengthener of the will to explore them.”

—Jerome Bruner

When language and culture of a student’s home does not closely correspond to that of school, the child may be at a disadvantage in their learning cycle. The result can include the student becoming alienated and eventually completely disengaging in learning. People from different cultures learn in different ways and have different expectations of education. Children are no exception. Teachers need to gain knowledge of the cultures represented in their classrooms and create lessons and activities that are formatted in ways that are familiar to the students. There are four cultural components. The first is communication (language and symbols): The core of all cultures is language and the backbone of symbolic interaction is symbols. Symbols can be unique to various cultures and therefore teachers need to correctly understand and interpret them. Pictorial symbols are seen in everyday life in the forms of traffic signs which convey a message.

Examples include pictures of students located at school crosswalks, or “no smoking” signs with a picture of a cigarette with a diagonal line through it.

The second component is cognitive ideas (ideas, knowledge and beliefs, values, and account). These are necessary to organize stim-ulus and use mental representation to link ideas into larger systems of information, thus leading to knowledge. Information of facts or assumptions that are able to be passed down from one generation to another define knowledge. The acceptance of beliefs as facts true in nature are often influenced by government, religion, or science rather than proven fact from direct experiences. Guidelines for social living are what we know as values. In cultural terms, they are the standards for what we believe is desirable, good, and beautiful. Justifying, explaining, or rationalizing defines the term accounts in which people use language to legitimize behavior toward them-selves or others.

The third component is considered a major element known as behavioral. These include norms such as mores, laws, folkways, or rituals and their purpose is to determine how we act. Most are familiar with the term norms which are considered the rules and expectations set by a particular society to serve as guides to the behavior of its members. Sometimes norms vary in terms of the degree of importance which causes them to change over a period of time. Norms are usually broken down into reinforcement by sanction in the form of rewards and consequences. Customary behavior patterns which have taken form of moralistic values are an example of norms known as mores. Laws are formal important norms that translate into legal formalizations. Behavioral patterns of a particular society that are repetitive and organized are known as folkways. Highly scripted ceremonies of interactions which follow a sequence of actions are rituals, for example, baptisms, holidays, weddings.

The last component is the material component. This involves

humans creating objects or materials for practical use or artistic reasons. This allows for individual cultures to express many characteristics of the society.

As with most educational resources, how the teacher implements

the program determines the success of curriculum. In-service training is most effective when the training provided is:

1. Specifically designed for the curriculum to be implemented

2. Teachers are given ample opportunity for hands-on practice

3. On-site observation and feedback are provided by a supportive mentor over an extended period of time

4. Teachers are encouraged to reflect on and evaluate their new practices (Bowman, Donovan, & Burns, 2001).

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTACTIVITIES THAT FOCUS ONCULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS

High-quality professional development opportunities that address how to effectively instruct culturally diverse students are limited for educators. This results in the majority of teachers feeling unprepared to address issues that culturally and linguistically diverse students face. These students have historically also been taught by teachers without appropriate teaching credentials and/or with little classroom experience (Rumberger & Gandara, 2004).

Few states have implemented policies or standards for teacher preparation and credential certification that specifically address di-verse populations (Ardila-Rey, 2008, p. 341). This creates concern in that teacher preparation institutions involved with ongoing professional development are responsible to prepare educators who have competencies to work effectively with diverse students (An-strom, 2004). However, despite continuing efforts to attract a balanced representation of teachers for various cultures, there is mini-mal diversity among teachers and the numbers who do exist are dwindling. Gay (2002) states that it is increasingly a cross-cultural occurrence that teachers are frequently not of the same race, ethnicity, class, and language dominance as their students. This demo-graphic and cultural divide is becoming even more apparent as the number of individuals in teacher preparation and active classroom teaching dwindles (p. 1).

Student learning can be enhanced by focusing on improving the instruction practices of teachers through effective professional development. This must be supplemented with providing active learning opportunities, regularly occurring in interactive environments among teachers and providing opportunities for regular feedback (Palardy & Rumberger, 2008).

Instead of conventional teacher training that consists of one-time

meetings or all-day workshops, professional development sessions need to include classroom visits throughout the year as well as development activities that apply what teachers have learned in the classroom.

When changes in instructional practices occur and are sustained, teachers have experienced intrinsic motivation and transformation-al learning. Instructors of adults need to serve as cultural activists who promote agency among teachers through the use of transformative learning theory. According to Ginsberg (2011), such instructors strive to facilitate the authority of teachers, keeping in mind four pedagogical principles:

Supporting the Teacher

1. Introduce a relevant experience, prior or current, that solicits learners’ interest and desire to make meaning.

2. Collaborate with learners and use critical self-reflection to consider the information and ideas generated.

3. Facilitate reflective discourse, a discussion in which learners are able to redefine meaning for themselves based on the reciprocal sharing of information and insights with peers.

4. Initiate effective action determined in concert with learners.

Relevant experiences in which positive mutual regard is established in order to teach students more effectively is achieved when teachers visit the homes of their diverse student groups. During these visits, the educator looks for strengths in student families in order to create a curriculum that matters to the students. By experiencing the cultural conditions and emotional realities of their students, the home visit provides the teacher with real-world everyday life understanding.

Teachers can also keep a journal to critically reflect on their experience. Their writing creates an opportunity to examine their own underlying beliefs and assumptions in order to generate their own meaning of these experiences. This also allows teachers the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with peers and to search for a clearer understanding and interpretation of their experience. Allowing teachers the chance to experience and create self-generated knowledge (generated by teachers, not told to them by an outside professional development specialist), they are more inclined to use their own agency to explore possibilities for changing teaching and curricula as ways to take effective action.

When teachers experience something that is relevant and dis-orienting and have the time and support to understand their feelings and to gain insight into their personal and professional beliefs, they are at a place conducive to becoming more competent in their instruction through culturally responsive teaching (Ginsberg, 2001).

ENSURING ALL FACULTY RESPECTS THE CULTURE OF THEIR STUDENTS

Culture plays a key role in shaping our values, attitudes, and beliefs. Because of this, it is an intrinsic part of who we are and how we identify ourselves. It molds our experiences as well as how we interpret life’s defining moments. Everyone, including classroom teachers, school administrators, and policymakers, carries their cultural experiences and perspectives into their everyday decisions and actions—educational and personal—and so do students from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Gay, 2000).

Cultural competence is built upon effectively serving students from diverse cultures. According to NEA (2008) four skill areas must exist for basic cultural competence. These skill areas can apply to individual educators, the schools where they work, and the education system as a whole.

1. Various cultural backgrounds, communication differences, traditions, and customs need to be respected and accepted if diversity is to be valued.

2. All educators bring their own cultures, experiences, back-ground knowledge, beliefs, values, and interests with them that define their place in the family, school, and society. They must be aware that these cultural characteristics also define how they will interact with students.

3. The many dynamics involved in cultural interactions must be understood, as it is within this understanding of the various factors such as historical experiences and relationships be- tween the cultures in a community that educators gain a sense of cultural value.

4. The learning environment needs to be adapted to better serve the diversity in today’s classrooms. This can be done by using the knowledge of various cultures as the basis for educational services offered.

Talking, thinking, and learning must be taking place regularly if effective teaching is in place. No one person can possibly know everything about all cultures. Today’s technology presents the op-opportunity to utilize research, participate in relevant professional development, and show educators how to develop new ways of using cultural strengths to improve learning. Parents are also another great source of cultural information. Teachers should make every effort for parents to feel welcome by inviting them to participate as speakers and volunteers as often as possible.

All good teachers have the ability to build a bridge between what the student knows and what they need to learn. Although this is common knowledge, one detail left out of debates about what makes an effective teacher is the process of embracing students’ cultural backgrounds. Culturally responsive teaching often requires confronting some of the most painful divides in American life (Quinton, 2013).

If the time is not taken by an educator to learn and find out about their students’ everyday life experiences, their dialects, their cultural backgrounds, or their families, the manner in which they teach will be based on instructional styles from their own experiences. Culturally responsive teaching is not lowering standards, but the focus is targeted on creating a link between home and school to strengthen the community and understanding of various cultures’ value. By inviting parents to speak about their culture or profession or have students critically think about articles or text and explore them for cultural bias, it deepens understanding and better prepares students for the real world.

VALUE AND CELEBRATE CULTURE

If our educational system truly is for all students, then differentiated instruction must be provided to ensure students feel they are included. This is not accomplished by merely being tolerant, but by providing a link between feeling included and academic achieve-ment. Students learn much quicker in an environment in which they feel included and able to relax (Haynes, 2007).

Including one cultural day in the curriculum is not an effective

way to build students’ cultural knowledge. Educators must integrate lessons and activities that convey a variety of multicultural perspectives. Today’s diverse students need teachers to move be-yond the surface level and work to both understand and teach cultural information.

The individual and personal accounts along with real-life experiences need to be celebrated in today’s diverse classrooms. One resource that can provide a springboard for ideas to accomplish this is found at http://www.appreciatediversitymonth.org. This website shares eighty-eight ways to celebrate and appreciate diversity. The activities are divided into eight categories including arts, business, connections, education, food, history, outreach, and traditions. These activities can be:

1. Individual experiences or group events (done in pairs, small groups, or even through the Web-based conversation bulletin board on the Web site)

2. Magnified or minimized based on the audience

3. A single event or a series of events done over time

4. Enhanced with facilitated dialogues that promote “conversations of connection”

5. Communicated through a variety of vehicles, such as hand-outs, index cards, or follow-up emails

Some activity examples include:

• Cultural Art Exhibit

Description: Feature the work of artists of various cultures and backgrounds. Include signage that tells the story of the art and the artist. If enough local artists, invite the artists to join one or more of the showings to share their perspectives.

Connection Activity: View the art at least with one other per-son so at the conclusion of the viewing you can talk about what your individual experiences were like.

• Cultural Values Conversations

Description: Have a discussion with someone from another culture about their cultural values related to various cultural variables like time, gestures, appearance, and how they view the elderly. Use a resource book like Gestures: The Do’s and Taboos of Body Language around the World or Bridging Cultural Conflicts: A New Approach for a Changing World to inspire ideas. Connection Activity: Think about a time when you have been frustrated, misread, or misunderstood something because of your own personal expectations around time, appearance, or gestures. Start your conversation with a nonjudgmental question like, “Does your culture tend to . . . ? or “How are elders in your culture viewed?”

• Life Events Photo Board

Description: Create a corkboard display related to students’ personal, important life events, such as weddings, births, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Quinceañera, family reunions, etc. Connection Activity: Ask students to share photos or other paper memorabilia.

TAKE AWAYBARRIERS THATIMPEDE PROGRESS

The effect of politics is evident in the unequal funding determined by the economic class of the students served in our schools. This attitude is also present in the use of grading and tracking policies as well as the physical conditions of classrooms and buildings. For this reason, many teachers, administrators, and parents view their school’s increasing diversity as a problem rather than an incredible opportunity.

According to AACTE (1999) Colleges of Education programs are graduating a significant number of white female teachers (87 percent white; 74 percent female) which results in 90 percent of public school teachers being white and as little as 7 percent being African American (Synder, 1999). If schools and faculties do not acknowledge the need for culturally competent teachers in today’s classrooms, the resistance will increase, resulting in children from ethnically and linguistically diverse backgrounds continually being underserved or unserved. Teaching styles and content of instruction need to be adapted by teachers but many are unsure how to accomplish this in order to be responsive to student values and cultural norms. DeSherbinin (2004) recognizes the disconnect that occurs “when faculties that are overwhelmingly ‘white’ are expected to be effective teachers and mentors for students of color who hail from ethnic or socioeconomic backgrounds unfamiliar to middle class white academics.”

Helping staff to develop a culturally responsive pedagogy can assist in fostering active thinking, intellectual engagement, and democratic participation based on student perspectives and back-grounds. Collaboration between all faculty members allows sharing of stories that detail the interaction within a society where the focus is race and class.

For these reasons, unequal educational attainment among students is no coincidence. Michael Fullan (2002) suggests that levels of multidimensional change in schools require three components for successful implementation:

1. Revised material

2. Revised practices

3. (Most important) revised beliefs

A great resource for materials to train staff can be found at http:/ /www.whatsrace.org/pages.html. This Web site provides sample agendas, discussion questions, tips for effective facilitation, and a list of suggested follow-up action steps for different groups on cultural responsiveness and identifying the barriers that they may not have realized exist. The activities are designed at three different levels depending on the faculty needs:

1. Low risk: containing trust-building activities and icebreakers which help to foster an inclusive atmosphere.

2. Medium risk: helping to uncover existing disparities and help staff connect issues raised by a video to a larger social context.

3. High risk: helps teachers explore their personal stake or vantage point by putting them in another’s shoes. These activities are designed to expose blind spots or sensitivities.

The rapidly growing demographics of U.S. schools demand that educators engage in a vigorous, ongoing, and systematic process of professional development to prepare all educators to function effectively in a highly diverse and demanding environment. A transformation in schools is desperately needed. Blame and excuses are no longer viable as schools are forced to transform in order to serve all students well.

Chapter Three

Learning Within the Context of Culture

“Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.”

—Cesar Chavez

Vygotsky (1962) examined how social environments affected the learning process. He stated that learning takes place through inter-actions students have with their peers as well as other individuals. This learning ability can be maximized when the teacher creates a learning environment in which students interact with each other through discussion, collaboration, and feedback. Vygotsky (1962) also emphasized that culture is the primary determining factor for knowledge construction. This means that individuals learn through a cultural lens in which they interact with others and follow the rules, skills, and abilities shaped by their culture.

Today’s teachers need to use instructional strategies that pro-mote literacy across the curriculum. Opportunities for students to discuss their learning must also be evident. This discussion must have a purpose that includes comments that build off one

another in a meaningful exchange not only between students but also between the teacher and students to promote deeper understanding.

Chapter 3

CULTURAL COMPONENTS:

Researchers differ on how many components culture entails. One view is supported by Damen (1987) who presents six characteristics of culture:

1. Culture is learned

2. Cultures and cultural patterns change

3. Culture is a universal fact of human life

4. Culture provides sets of unique and interrelated, selected blueprints for living and accompanying sets of values and beliefs to support those blueprints

5. Language and culture are closely related and interactive

6. Culture functions as a filtering device between its bearers and the great range of stimuli presented by the environment

Additionally, Damen suggested that culture can be examined

from the point of view of its individual components (such as dress, systems of rewards and punishments, uses of time and space, fashions of eating, means of communication, family relationships, beliefs and values) or from the more social point of view of its systems (such as kinship, education, economy, government association, and health). Below is a more detailed description of each:

1. Language and Communication Style: Wide variety of verbal and nonverbal patterns and behaviors including social customs about who speaks to whom

2. Health Beliefs: Range of assumptions about the causes of disease as well as the proper remedies for illness

3. Family Relationships: Primary unit of society, in it, children are socialized into human society and into culture’s particular Learning Within the Context of Culture

beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors. Family relationships include family structure, roles, dynamics, and expectations

4. Sexuality: Enables people to feel good about how their bodies look and feel. It allows them to enjoy the pleasure their bodies can give to them and others. The need to be touched in loving ways. The feeling of physical attraction for another person, body image, and fantasy are all a part of sensuality

5. Gender Roles: What is considered appropriate and accept-able behavior for men and women

6. Religion: Specific set of beliefs and practices regarding the spiritual realm and beyond the visible world

7. Level of Acculturation: Process that occurs when two separate cultural groups come in contact with each other and change occurs in at least one of the two groups

8. Immigration Status: Whether or not an individual is classified as a refugee, an immigrant, or an undocumented (illegal). How one is labeled by the U.S. government has important implications for the kinds of services one can expect

9. Political Power: Group’s level of formal involvement in local, state, and national government as well as in informal advocacy organization

10. Racism: Prejudice + Power = Racism. Prejudice is unreasonable feelings, opinions, and attitudes especially of a hos-tile nature directed against any group

11. Poverty and Economic Concerns: Ties to racism in this country. Particularly the assumption that all poor people are African American or Latino. It is not true; highest percent is white

12. History of Oppression: Government policies harmful to racial and ethnic groups in U.S. history such as: anti-mixed race marriage laws, forced removal of Native Americans from their land, internment of Japanese during WWII, and Jim Crow laws regarding education of African Americans.

An important component of effective culturally responsive classrooms is the use of a range of instructional methods (Bromley, 1998). Varying and adapting methods that are tailored to suit the setting, the students, and the subject increases the chances that students will succeed. Using a variety of instructional strategies and learning activities can provide students with opportunities to learn in ways that are responsive to their own communication styles and aptitudes. Some examples are:

a. Use cooperative learning especially for material new to the students

b. Assign independent work after students are familiar with concept

c. Use role-playing strategies d. Assign students research projects that focus on issues or concepts that apply to their own community or cultural group e. Provide various options for completing an assignment.

BRIDGE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES THROUGH EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Today’s classroom evidence shows the range of students represent-ed across cultures and age groups and reinforces the need for changes across the curriculum. Using these processes, student achievement and self-esteem at all levels results in gains in both developmental and cultural perspectives related to identity and learning.

Learning Within the Context of Culture

Focusing on the transmission of information in the learning de-sign can result in long-term ineffectiveness. It is viewed as an active and recursive process by most contemporary views. Learning context is pivotal in knowledge construction and understanding and is what drives the perspective of constructivist learning. This learning style is grounded in the belief that learning and cognition are most effective when used in a meaningful context as well as within the community and culture in which learners live. Prior knowledge and beliefs are used by learners to make sense of new ideas and experiences they encounter in school.

The constructivist view of learning is one in which there is a process of developing understanding through problem solving and critical reflection. As an active process, learning is most effective and efficient when learners are engaged in what is known as learning by doing. Students’ thinking is as important as the products of that thinking in classrooms guided by constructivist principles. Within these principles, a student’s problem-solving process is as important as the solutions that result from it. Villegas and Lucas (2002) state that a constructivist education is more likely to prepare children to fulfill their roles in a democratic society than an education that is rooted in conventional thinking (p. 76).

Teachers’ main goal should be to support students’ construction of knowledge and help them build bridges between what they know and believe about a topic as well as new ideas and experiences they are exposed to. This takes the form of questioning, interpreting, and analyzing information which is used in the context of problems or issues relevant to students. Following the constructivist view of learning, curriculum should be anchored in the following reasons according to Villegas and Lucas (2002):

1. All students are depicted as capable learners who continuous-ly strive to make sense of new ideas. By acknowledging that diversity plays a central role in learning, constructivism places a responsibility on educators to adjust standard school practices to the diverse backgrounds of their students.

2. Constructivist teaching promotes critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and the recognition of multiple perspectives.

3. Emphasizing higher-order thinking and problem solving, constructivists’ classrooms promote academic rigor to a greater extent than transmission classrooms which rely largely on recall of information.

Unless prospective teachers experience the knowledge construction process as learners, they are not likely to adopt constructivist views of education or use constructivist strategies in their own teaching (Feiman-Nemser & Melnick, 1992).

North Americans’ approach to business is very much a “my way or the highway” mentality. Americans tend to think that once foreigners are living and working in this country, they should im-mediately change their ways to be more “American.” But as Herzog, Schlottmann, and Johnson (1986) point out, “A lot of the labor force is foreign-born or first generation American, which means that there are still strong connections to the cultural norms and styles.” The expectation that other cultures should immediately for-get their upbringing and adopt our North American ways is unrealistic.

As with the labor force, there are no specific teaching techniques to make diverse students feel that they belong in a new culture, but as successful educators, there are ways for you to make them feel welcome in your classroom. In today’s society, people from all

cultures are better able to appreciate and accept the diversity of not only their own heritage, but also others that are similar and different to which they are exposed.

Students also need to strengthen their appreciation of individual differences which will lessen the desire to make fun of those with various differing beliefs. The best way to understand others is to step into their shoes. Learning is more effective when the student has lived it, felt it, and experienced it. Some useful strategies include:

Learn their names

Take the time to learn how to pronounce students’ names correctly. Ask them to say their name. Listen carefully and repeat it until you know it. Ifa student’s name is Pedro, make sure you do not call him /peedro/ or Peter. Also, model the correct pronunciation of stu-dents’ names to the class so that all students can say the correct pronunciation. This is the first step in knowing who your students are. Using their name communicates respect, helps them feel recognized as individuals, and helps to draw out and include shy students in class discussions. A few ways to implement this are:

• Have students wear nametags, or have them write their first names on the front and back of tented index cards on their desk-tops.

• Schedule a set time during the day and have the students intro-duce themselves to their neighbors. An extension of this activity would be to then have each student introduce a neighbor to the class, along with one interesting fact about him or her.

• Take a photo of each student. Write the student’s name on the photo and keep them as a reference or you can post them in the room for other students to reference.

• Have students create “business cards”—using a 4x6-inch index card. Include some specific information about themselves such as a brief bio, something they are an expert about, and other strengths they have. They can then share these in small groups or a “show and tell” and then you can collect them to learn more about your students.

Offer one-on-one assistance when possible

Some culturally diverse students may not answer voluntarily in class or ask for your help even if they need it. Some may smile and nod, but this does not necessarily mean that they understand. Go over to their desk to offer individual coaching in a friendly way.

Assign a peer partner

Identify a classmate who really wants to help culturally diverse students. This student can make sure that the other understands what he or she is supposed to do. It will be even more helpful if the peer partner knows the culture or first language.

Post a visual daily schedule

Even if some of the students do not yet understand all of the words that you speak, it is possible for them to understand the structure of each day. Whether through chalkboard art or images on Velcro, you can post the daily schedule each morning. By writing down times and having pictures next to words like lunch, wash hands, math, and field trip, all students regardless of language can have a general sense of the upcoming day.

Use an interpreter

Although budget constraints make this difficult, having on-site interpreters can be very helpful in smoothing out misunderstandings that arise due to communication problems and cultural differences. If an on-site interpreter (a paid or volunteer school staff position) is not available, try to find an adult—perhaps another parent who is familiar with the school or “knows the system”—who is willing to serve this purpose. In difficult situations, it would not be appropriate for another child to translate.

Students can make unintentional “mistakes” as they are trying hard to adjust to a new cultural setting. They are constantly transferring what they know as acceptable behaviors from their own culture to the U.S. classroom and school. Be patient as students learn English and or cultural norms and adjust.

Invite their culture into the classroom

Encourage students to share their language and culture with you and your class. Show-and-tell is a good opportunity for diverse students to bring in something representative of their culture, if they wish. They could also tell a popular story or folktale using words, pictures, gestures, and movements. The students could also try to teach the class some words from their native language.

Use materials related to your students’ cultures Children respond when they see books, topics, characters, and im-ages that are familiar. Try to achieve a good balance of books and materials that include different cultures.

Label classroom objects

Labeling classroom objects will allow students from different cultures to better understand their immediate surroundings. These la-bels will also assist you when explaining or giving directions. Start with everyday items and build as you go.

Include diverse students in a nonthreatening manner

Students from different cultural backgrounds may be apprehensive about speaking out in a group. They might be afraid to make mis-takes in front of their peers. Their silence could also be a sign of respect for you as an authority—and not a sign of their inability or refusal to participate. Find ways to involve these students in a non-threatening way. Asking students their preference is a good starting point.

Involve all students in cooperative learning

Some students are used to working cooperatively on assigned tasks. What may look like cheating to you is actually a culturally acquired learning style—an attempt to mimic, see, or model what has to be done. Use this cultural trait as a plus in your classroom. Assign buddies or peer tutors so that diverse students are able to participate in all class activities.

Help your culturally diverse students follow established rules

All students need to understand and follow your classroom rules an unpleasant or even dangerous experience for message encoders” (Rugsaken, 2006). Argyle (1978) states humans have more than 700,000 forms of body language. It is no wonder that not only educators have such misconceptions of behaviors of students, but also that the students have misconceptions about the teacher and their actions as well. These are just a few examples, from various researchers, as to how body language is interpreted across cultures:

Head: In most societies, a nodding head signifies agreement or approval. But in some cultures, like parts of Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Turkey, a nodding head means no. In most Asian cultures head is where spirit resides and one should not touch an-other’s head.

Face: Facial expressions reflect emotional feelings and attitudes. While expressing true feeling and emotion is valued in the West, it is prohibited in the East. The Asians who are taught to practice self-control are often labeled as “emotionless” and of possessing mixed-up emotions. Smiling in the East is not necessarily a sign of happiness, rather it signifies yes, I don’t understand what you said, or can be a cover-up for embarrassment. Northern Europeans as a group smile with much less frequency, reserving the expression to show felt happiness.

Eyes: While good eye contact is praised and expected in the West, it is seen as a sign of disrespect and challenge in other cultures including Asian, Latino, and African where the less eye con-tact these groups have with an individual, the more respect they show. For Muslims, direct eye contact between members of the opposite sex is considered bold and flirtatious. Arabs have greater eye contact than Americans among members of the same gender.

Handshaking: This is a common form of greeting and leave-taking in the Western culture. While it is accepted in Asia, the Asians still prefer a different form of greeting the right hand has special significance and the left hand is dirty in the East. In Middle Eastern and some Asian countries it is best to accept or offer cards or gifts with the right hand or with both. The OK sign (the thumb and the forefinger form an O) means fine or OK in most cultures. However, it means zero or worthless in France and many European countries, and in Turkey means that one is homosexual. The same signal is an insult in Greece, Brazil, Italy, and Russia. A thumbs-up sign indicates an OK or good job in most cultures, but it is an insult in Australia, New Zealand, and in most African countries. It also translates into a rude and offensive gesture in Islamic and Asian countries.

Time: The way we use time in America also sends messages without a word being spoken. In American business culture, respect is communicated through punctuality. In Latin and Middle Eastern cultures, which place high value on interpersonal relationships, respect means continuing a meeting or conversation until it reaches a natural conclusion, even if it makes you late for the next one.

Relationships with the principal, teachers, and even other par-ents can often be influenced by the customs and experiences families from diverse backgrounds have. Many times, these families are experiencing challenges in meeting the basic needs of food and shelter for their family; are affected by a negative experience they had in school; or may feel intimidated by school staff or the school environment. A few suggestions of how educators can assist with this are:

• Nonreading or nonspeaking parents can participate in home learning through the use of newspapers. Parents and children can look through the ads and make price comparisons, discuss the weather which is often pictorial with weekly forecasts

• Holding family math and science nights so children and parents can explore together math or science activities including games that families can play at home

• Twice a year schools may wish to dismiss students at 1pm to make time for a one-and-a-half-hour hands-on workshop for par-ents and their children. Topics could include language and math skill development, reading, or, if resources are available, cooking with children

• To build a trust between home and school, home-school lessons can be used to reach out to parents of different backgrounds resulting in building oftrust between home and school

One very important principle to remember when communicating with parents from different cultural backgrounds is that mutual respect is present and the foundation for success in any communication.

STUDENT-CENTERED INSTRUCTION

Student-centered instruction breaks many of the traditional boundaries governing how students have been conditioned and expected to learn. It integrates student engagement, immersion, and personal responsibility. Action-oriented instructional formats promote student self-reliance (Felder & Brent, 1996), including:

• Open-ended problem solving requiring critical and creative thinking

• Role-playing and participation in stimulated situations • Nontraditional writing assignments • Collaborative team projects • Individual self-paced assignments • Community engagement

In relation to curriculum design, student centeredness includes the idea that students have choice in what to study and how to study. Student-centered instruction is a different method from the traditional teacher-centered instruction. Learning is cooperative, collaborative, and community-oriented. Students are encouraged to direct their own learning and to work with other students on re-search projects and assignments that are both culturally and socially relevant to them. Students become self-confident, self-directed, and proactive.

Children develop cognitively by interacting with both adults and more knowledgeable peers. These interactions allow students to hypothesize, experiment with new ideas, and receive feedback (Darling-Hammond, 1997). Some ways to implement a student-centered instructional approach are:

1. Promote student engagement

• Have students generate lists of topics they wish to study and/or research • Allow students to select their own reading material

2. Share responsibility of instruction

• Initiate cooperative learning groups (Padrón, Waxman, & Rivera, 2002)

• Have students lead discussion groups or reteach concepts

3. Create inquiry-based, discovery-oriented curriculum • Create classroom projects that involve the community

4. Encourage a community of learners

• Form book clubs or literature circles for reading discussions (Daniels, 2002)

• Conduct student directed sharing time (Brisk & Harring-ton, 2000)

• Use cooperative learning strategies such as jigsaw (Brisk & Harrington, 2000)

Culturally relevant teaching is built on the key component of what students already know. Students use knowledge needed to address relationships within and outside the classroom. Utilizing student voice is critical in every learner’s experience as it requires students to be active, responsible participants in their own learning.

THE CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE CLASSROOM

According to Gray (2012), there are five ways to create a culturally responsive classroom:

1. To learn about the students, teachers must be committed to finding out about families, cultures, and interests that make up the classroom family. This can be done by talking with parents and community members, reading books, watching movies, making home visits, and developing opportunities for students to share about their family traditions and cultures.

2. Life experiences that students bring into the classroom should be built upon. Curriculum can be connected for students by using real-world examples which allow for deeper engagement that will provide clearer understanding of the community national and global identity.

3. Providing a model that emphasizes students caring for one another and being responsible for each other “both inside and outside” the classroom creates a culturally responsive learning environment. Routines should be consistent to help students feel valued and safe as well as reinforcing accountability to one another. Natural light, moveable chairs and desks with ample space to highlight student work, and cultural arti-facts communicate that the classroom is for the students to create.

4. High standards and expectations assist students in reaching their goals and beyond. Students should be treated as competent and lessons should be designed with the most under-served student in mind.

5. Understand your own cultural identity, and its consequences. Rigorously examine your cultural behavior patterns, especially when it comes to classroom management and discipline. Be yourself with your students—honest, caring, and human.

The culturally responsive teaching approach views current schools’ inadequacies as the primary reason for students’ academic failures. Academic success is closely tied to feeling effective, intelligent, and valued and today’s educators must adopt new pedagogical approaches to create such feelings in their culturally diverse students.