One major portion of How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You by Bonnie M. Davis concerns how to teach diverse students in the classroom. In chapter two, Davis explores the diverse students in our classrooms. She discusses the different communication styles that they may bring, the varied backgrounds they come from, and the different responses our diverse learners may have to stereotypes.
Throughout this chapter and Part IV, Davis offers numerous strategies for teaching diverse learners and making sure that instruction is culturally relevant to our students’ lives. First and foremost, Davis believes that the best way for an educator to prepare him or herself for a diverse class is to develop relationships with the students. By getting to know the students, their families, and the various cultures and customs they come from, teachers can make their students feel more comfortable and cared for in the classroom. Doing so will also help the teacher understand the social cues that students may be giving from their cultures, which may reduce misunderstandings and tensions.
Additionally, Davis offers some ethno-centric suggestions for reaching students of different backgrounds. She suggests the use of rhythm and movement for African-American students, group work for Latino and American Indian students, and long wait times for American Indian students. Davis also suggests making sure that different ethnic groups and types of people continually present themselves in the texts and literature students are exposed to. This increases investment and creates meaning in the material. Certainly, these “strategies” are not solely for these groups; to act in such a way would be stereotyping. Rather, these strategies should be thought of and utilized as best practices to keep all students engaged and to address the multiple ways that kids learn.
Beyond these more obvious strategies differentiated along racial/ethnic/cultural lines, most of Davis’ suggestions are fundamentally best practices for teaching literacy and differentiation along learning styles. For example, Davis devotes two chapters to utilizing read-alouds and setting up a balanced literacy block. Then, she offers examples of differentiated projects and activities. These suggestions fell mostly across the lines of learning styles (e.g. visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc.) and were truly applicable across all cultural and ethnic lines.
Davis’ suggestions are not particularly revelatory. For a book that purports to be primarily about differentiating along the lines of culture, a surprisingly small amount of the content deals specifically with the issue of culture. Rather, the true takeaway from these strategies may be that the most important strategy for differentiating and being culturally responsive in a classroom is to get to know the students as individuals – not as stereotypes and not as a single entity with uniform ability levels. Student from any culture will struggle and excel at different things – beyond understanding the different cultures, perhaps seeing and addressing students for themselves is the most important strategy any teacher can use.
Jeff
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteI think you brought up some very interesting points in your post. I really resonated with what you said at the end, “the most important strategy for differentiating and being culturally responsive in a classroom is to get to know the students as individuals…beyond understanding the different cultures, perhaps seeing and addressing students for themselves is the most important strategy any teacher can use.” This point just seemed so relevant to my classroom and my students right now. I’ve found that the neighborhood around my school has so many different stereotypes, and it’s hard to know what’s really true. But I think I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t matter what’s true out there…it only matters what’s true for the 19 students inside my classroom. My students and their families could not be more different. They are dealing with such personal issues and struggles each and every day that to generalize about the population as a whole would be doing them a huge disservice. Recently, I had two kids both miss about a month of school. I could not get ahold of parents but the school ensured me that they would be returning. Before their absence, these students would cause me “serious” problems in the classroom: talking during the lessons, rolling around on the carpet, throwing tantrums when they didn’t get their way, etc. Yet I never took a step back to wonder what was going on outside of school that made them act out. Turns out, one little girl is dealing with the divorce of her parents and the fact that her father no longer lives in Maryland. Another boy and his family were evicted from their house and found themselves homeless. In these situations, making generalizations about the culture of my students was no longer relevant. Right now, for me, in my classroom, I need to understand my students and their families as unique individuals. Because only once I begin to do that will I be able to be culturally responsive to their needs.
Jamie - I have had very similar experiences this year with my students. With some of my best students, I noticed changes in their behavior and after looking further, discovered how the birth of a new sibling or a change in living situations. One thing that I've struggled with is how to balance the academic and behavioral expectations and the understanding of what is going on outside of school. The idea that the relationship with the student as an individual is paramount is spot on. However, I have found it difficult to balance my expectations with the awareness of their home situations. It is of course my first concern to help them learn. But when I know they are not sleeping enough or having their needs met, I find myself at odds with a desire to ignore certain behaviors that would not be acceptable normally or to allow the students to rest during certain parts of the day. As Jeff post suggests, it is all about knowing the student and from there, knowing how to work within their scope to get them where they need to be. For me, the knowledge of my students' outside lives requires constant balance with the behavioral and academic expectations that I have in my classroom.
ReplyDelete-Michelle
Michelle, I totally agree. Where is it appropriate to draw the line? When it is okay to show preferential treatment to a student because you know something is not okay at home? I see my students acting out against me and defying classroom rules and procedures. Yet I also know that their behavior is directly linked to what is happening inside their homes. When do we, as teachers, have to put aside the personal and hold students to the highest expectation? Or on the reverse, when is it appropriate to cut a student some slack because of difficult challenges they are facing at home? How do we explain to other students that this little girl is allowed to roll around the classroom and not sit still, just because her parents are getting a divorce? I struggle with finding this balance. I want to be sensitive to their needs and keep their best interests in mind. But I also want to help them see school as a stable environment where they are expected to act accordingly. I know this post became slightly off topic. But this is a something I feel like I struggle with on a daily basis with my students. Anyone else experiencing similar situations?
ReplyDeleteJamie -
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I have students in and out of foster care, dealing with more grief and resentment than I have dealt with in my 21 years (and they're only six!). It's difficult to hold them to the same expectations as I hold the other students. In fact, it seems utterly absurd to demand that they sit in "PAWS Position" and walk in "line position" and say please and thank you and work relentlessly toward their daily goals. But as ridiculous (and selfish) as I feel when I ask them to conform to my expectations, I believe school has to be a place of consistency for these kids, especially when they lack such consistency elsewhere.
That said, it's a struggle I deal with daily. It doesn't feel natural. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't always work. But I think it's important to try.
Chloe
Chloe and Jamie -
ReplyDeleteYour laments are similar to mine. Like both of you have mentioned, many of my students come from backgrounds that I cannot even fathom, much less begin to understand. Drug busts occurring at all hours of the night; fathers in jail for first-degree murder; and those poor children who are diagnosed with a learning disability but do not have the funds to keep up with affording the monthly medicine. In my classroom, I try my hardest to make each child feel special. My personal mantra is: "Fair isn't always equal." And my students are finally beginning to understand it. By having a personal relationship with all of my student, it is easier to "do for some" and "do less for others." My 5th graders are unbelievably understanding, and surprisingly, they are my sources of information about what is going on in other students' lives. As such, they are supportive of their peers.
My biggest struggle, however, comes with dealing with students who have disabilities. Of course, I am not at liberty to discuss my students' disabilities with other students; however, I sometimes need to treat my students with disabilities different from my mainstream kids. This may come in the form of reading portions of texts aloud or providing extended time. Other students often get upset and ask why I "like" the other students more. When I am working so hard to be fair in just about every aspect of my classroom. it is disheartening to think that some of my students view me as a teacher who picks favorites just because I am following IEPs.
I need to find a balance (and the right words to say) so that my students can understand that I truly believe in consistency. I want all of my students to be able to access learning through whatever differentiation they need, and I yearn for my classroom to be a safe haven, a home away from home.
Katie P.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI think your concluding point about treating students as individuals is very important. Each students needs enouragement to pursue their own interests and see themselves as worthy, capabale students. Part of each students is their background and homelife. I have not found the proper way to invite families into my classroom. While I do not discourage help or visitors, I have not invited all of them into the class te proper way. I hope to improve this element to my classroom culture next year.
Katie, to your point on disabilities. I frequently use my sister as an example, but you could really make up people to help your students learn. I would talk about people you know that learn differently or need extra time. My students really enjoy helping each other, and I have tried to use this as a way to differentiate and create some awareness. But consisteny is definitely something that I struggle to do every day... especially on days when I am not feeling 100%.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteYou make an excellent point that we need to teach not to cultures, but to individuals. (So excellent a point in fact, that everyone above me already commented on it. Don't be jealous of how original my thoughts are.) They tell us from day one of TFA that building relationships is key. When do we get to take a class on that?
I love the conversation that has developed in the rest of the thread. To speak to your point Katie, I am also dealing with two specific students with the issue of fairness. I have had many conversations about how everyone learns differently, and it's not a matter of fairness, it's a matter of allowing everyone to learn in the way they learn best. These conversations have helped a little, but it's still really discouraging to have students complain that I am doing someone's work for them when they receive a scribe as an accomodation.
To the fairness crew above,
ReplyDeleteBeing a middle school teacher, fairness is obviously a critical issue. It pertains to all facets of the classroom, and has even got me in trouble with some parents when their child (maybe correctly?) has accused me of singling them out on occasions. While instances like these obviously not the norm as I use a big bag of tricks to combat against these accusations now-a-days, the issue of fairness still permeates my classroom and many of my decisions. The one in which I am continually forced to make the toughest calls thoughts certainly comes from how to allow my IEP students their accommodations and modifications without setting off a riot or making them feel excluded. To this day, I have not found an easy way of doing this with many of the activities, but I at least accommodate consistently with guided notes, extended time, reduced workload etc. without must notice by the rest of my students.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteExcellent post. What I really appreciate is the way you highlight one of the author's points: developing relationships with our students is paramount to being able to reach out to each of them.
When my family back home in South Dakota asks me what is the key to teaching, particularly in an inner city school, I always say, "getting to know your students on a personal level. Not knowing their favorite color or favorite restaurant, but knowing about their family, their background, where they live, and what is important to them."
Once you know this information, only then can you truly be culturally responsive. I believe it is impossible to be culturally responsive without knowing these students personally. For example, it is unfair to simply give American Indians more wait time, Vietnamese students more group work, etc. That is, in my mind, ridiculous. If i were American Indian, like most of my friends back home are, I would be appalled and offended to hear someone write in their book that we should generally get more wait time.
Instead, I would ask, "Learn about ME. Learn what I need. Then help me."