Final 680- Reflections

1. How does understanding culture and power impact your teaching?

Culture is integral to the core of a person, and our students are no different. The history of education has neglected to importance of an individual’s culture, and subsequently removed some of the power that the individual felt. As educators in the current age, we are called on to provide a holistic plan pf learning for our students. Part of this plan has to take into account the importance and value of the culture that our students bring into classroom. By recognizing the cultural relevancy of our students, we can empower them to realize the importance that they bring to the world around them.

2.  Pick three terms that resonate with you from the Multicultural Education word wall. Define the terms and discuss why you chose these three terms.

As a teacher, we have the power to influence our student in a myriad of ways. We can change how our students view the world, impact the lifestyle decisions they make, and adjust their perception of self. Students are influence in a variety of ways, and in some case they are not positive. In the most tragic cases, some students may not have a single positive influence in their life. It is our duty to try and be as positive an influence as positive.

As a positive influence, our students can gain a sense of empowerment. Empowerment is such an important part to a person’s self-confidence. And self-confidence is key to a person’s success.

The last word on our Culture Term Wall that spoke to me is Hope. This class has given me a huge amount of hope for the future. It has opened my eyes to issues in society that I hadn’t considered, but it has also exposed me to 40+ individuals that are all excited about creating change. And change can be a very good thing.

3.  Describe your plan to teach in a culturally responsive way in the coming year. Include teaching strategies you might employ as well as content/units you will implement

Teaching in a culturally responsive way requires the employment of several tactics to get students excited about learning. One of the first tasks as a teacher is to understand the background that each student comes from. Our students will bring with them a variety of experiences, and each one is valuable in its own, unique way. Being a culturally responsive teacher requires that we acknowledge those values and experiences, and we do our best to incorporate them into the lessons.

Along with recognizing students’ previous experiences, the content of the lessons needs to be put into a context that is relatable and understandable. The context that we frame our lessons needs to be accessible for all of our students in order to insure that no one group or individual is left out of the learning opportunity. By using project-based learning, expert/elder involvement, place-based education, and cultural identity recognition, I hope to be successful in teaching in a culturally responsive way for my students.