Transcript Chapter 4 Student Diversity Culture, Language and Genderx

Learning Objectives:
• I can explain how cultural diversity
influences learning and how effective
teachers respond to this diversity.
• I can describe the major approaches
to working with ELL students.
• I can explain how gender differences
influence school success and how
effective teachers respond to these
differences.
Teachers begin their careers
expecting to find classrooms like the
ones they experienced when they
were students.
Classrooms are changing, however,
because our students are coming from
increasingly diverse backgrounds.
Read the case study p. 103.
Think about this diversity and how it
will influence your life as a teacher.
Culture and language are two of the
most important dimensions of the
current diversity in schools.
In addition, we have both boys and
girls in our classes, and this dimension
of diversity can have a powerful
influence on learning.
Diversity
Culture
Language
Photo from http://self-reflection-arif.blogspot.com/
This I BELIEVE
For each item, circle the number that best
represents your thinking.
Use the following scale as a guide.
4 = I strongly believe the statement is true.
3 = I believe the statement is true.
2 = I believe the statement is false.
1 = I strongly believe the statement is false.
1. Although students from different
cultures have varying attitudes and
values, these variations have little impact
on student learning.
1
2
3
4
2. Culturally sensitive teachers treat all
students the same way.
1
2
3
4
3. Students who aren’t native English
speakers learn English most effectively
by hearing the teacher use correct
English.
1
2
3
4
This I BELIEVE
4. Most differences between boys and girls
are due to heredity.
1
2
3
4
5. Boys generally get better grades in school
than girls.
1
2
3
4
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Culture - The knowledge, attitudes,
values, customs, and behavior patterns
that characterize a social group.
What specific “things” make up your
culture?
List and be ready to discuss.
Cultural diversity – The different cultures
encountered in classrooms and how these
cultural differences influence learning.
Questions????
• Do you sit down to dinner at 6 in the
evening or do you often eat at 8 or later?
• Does your family sit down together or do
you eat on the run?
• Do you eat with a knife and fork or use
chopsticks?
• Do you use a piece of bread to push food
onto your fork?
Ethnicity – A person’s ancestry; the way
individuals identify themselves with the
nation they or their ancestors came from.
• Experts estimate that nearly 300 distinct
ethnic groups currently reside in the USA.
• In 2004, the U.S. Bureau of Census
reported that 1 of 10 people in the USA
are foreign born, the highest number in
more than 100 years.
Percentages of Public School Students by
Race/Ethnicity
Public School Students
White 58%
Hispanic 20%
African American
16%
Asian/Pacific
Islanders 4%
Students of more
than one race 2%
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (2007a)
By the year 2020, experts predict Whites
will drop to around 50% and all other groups
will increase.
By 2050, no single group will be a majority
among adults.
Cultural Attitudes and Values
Our students come to school with a history
of learning influenced by the cultures of
their homes and neighborhoods. Some of
these attitudes and values complement
school learning; others do not.
Language is one example. Students are
sometimes hesitant to drop the use of nonstandard English dialects in favor of “school
English” because doing so might alienate
their peers.
Minorities in “resistance cultures” find peer values
either don’t support school learning or actually
oppose it; low grades, management and motivation
problems, truancy, and high dropout rates are
symptoms of this conflict.
Students’ attitudes and values can complement
learning; academic success of Vietnamese and other
Asian American students’ found that hard work,
perseverance, and pride were heavily emphasized in
the home. Indian students also have high success
rates; emphasis on hard work and study.
I Believe statement – “Although students from
different cultures have varying attitudes and
values, these variations have little impact on
student learning.”
Is not true! Students’ attitudes and values have a
powerful effect on student learning.
Cultural Interaction Patterns
Because our students learn to interact with others
at home, cultural conflict can occur when they enter
our classrooms.
Read the scenario on p. 106.
Why do you think she will not answer?
Native American students are not use to the fast
paced, give and take patterns that characterize
many American classrooms.
Educational Responses to Cultural Diversity
Are we a “melting pot”?
Assimilation – A process of socializing people so
they adopt dominant social norms and patterns of
behavior. ( making minority “similar” to major
cultural group)
Does it work?
Multicultural Education
Multicultural education – A general term describing
a variety of strategies schools use to accommodate
cultural differences in teaching and learning.
Instead of a “melting pot” the terms “mosaic” or
“tossed salad” are more appropriate.
Multicultural education recognizes and builds on
students’ cultural heritage.
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Read passage p. 108
Culturally responsive teaching • Accepting and valuing cultural differences
• Accommodating different pattern of cultural
interaction
• Building on students’ cultural backgrounds
This allows teachers to communicate that all
students are welcome and valued.
The challenge for teachers is to help students
learn about the “culture of schooling,” the norms,
procedures, and expectations necessary for
success in school, while honoring and valuing their
home cultures.
Building on Students’ Backgrounds.
Read about Jack Seltzer’s class p. 109
What are the advantages to using local real-world
applications?
This I Believe – “Culturally sensitive teachers
treat all students the same way.”
Not true!
Effective teachers adapt their instruction in
response to students’ cultural backgrounds.
Check Your Understanding
p. 110
Section 2
Language Diversity
Imagine trying to help students make sense of a
topic you are teaching if they do not understand
the words you are saying. And, what if you can not
understand what they are trying to say to you?
This is the task many teachers in today’s schools
face.
Language is one of the most important parts of
any culture, and language influences learning more
than any other single factor.
Read about Ellie Barton p. 110
English Language Learners (ELLs) Students whose first language is not English and
who need help in learning to speak, read, and write
in English.
The number of ELL students increased by more
than 60% between 1995 and 2005. Over 10% of
the student population in the US are ELL students.
Over 440 languages are spoken in the US. Most
common are English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Hmong,
Chinese, and Korean.
Language Diversity: The Government’s Response
1968 - Congress passed the Bilingual Education Act
which provided federal funds for educating
nonnative English speakers.
1974 – Lau v. Nichols case, the Supreme court ruled
unanimously that the San Francisco School District
unlawfully discriminated against minority students
by failing to address non-English-speaking children’s
language problems.
More recently, the English Acquisition component
of NCLB mandated that the primary objective of
schools should be teaching English without any
attempt to preserve minority languages.
2006 – U.S. Senate voted to designate English as
the national language.
Language Diversity: Schools’ Responses
Different Programs for ELL students
Type of
Program
Description
Advantages
Disadvantages
Bilingual
Maintenance
First language
maintained through
reading and writing
activities in 1st
language while
English introduced.
Students become
literate in 2
languages.
Requires teachers
trained in 1st
language.
Acquisition of
English may no be
as fast.
Transition
Students learn to
read in 1st language
and are given
supplementary
instruction in ESL
Maintains first
language.
Transition to
English is eased
by gradual
approach.
Requires teachers
trained in 1st
language.
Acquisition of
English may not be
as fast, 1st
language is
dropped
Different Programs for ELL students
Type of Program
Description
Advantages
Disadvantages
Immersion
Students learn
English by being
“immersed” in
classrooms where
English is the only
language spoken.
When effective,
quick transition to
English. Does not
require teachers
trained in 2nd
language.
Loss of native
language. Sink-orswim approach
hard on students.
English as a
Second Language
(ESL) Programs
Pull-out programs
where students
receive
supplementary
English instruction
or modified
instruction in
content areas.
Easier to
administer when
dealing with
diverse language
backgrounds.
Students may not
be ready to
benefit from
content
instruction in
English. Pull-out
programs
segregate
students.
Check Your Understanding - p. 113
Taking a Stand in an Era of Reform
pp. 113-114
You Take a Stand
Should schools make efforts to retain
students’ native languages, or should they
move students into English as quickly as
possible?
Write and be ready to share.
Exploring Diversity
Language Diversity in the Classroom
- pp 114-115
Answer Questions to Consider - p 115
GENDER
Read the scenarios on p 115.
Gender and Society
Girls
Boys
More extroverted, anxious and trusting
More rough and tumble play
Verbal and motor skills tend to develop
faster
More assertive
Have advantage in reading, small motor
tasks; using pencils and scissors
Higher self-esteem
Able to sit still for long periods of time
This I Believe.
“Most differences between boys and girls
are due to heredity.”
This statement isn’t true.
Both heredity and environment play a role in
shaping boys’ and girls’ behavior, it’s
difficult to say which is more powerful.
Genetics predisposes each sex to certain
types of behaviors, but the environment is
important in determining how these
predispositions are shaped.
Gender and Classrooms
Differences between boys and girls should
generally be celebrated, but gender bias
becomes a problem when forces in schools
and the larger society limit the growth and
academic potential of either boys or girls.
Gender–role identity – Differences in
expectations and beliefs about appropriate
roles and behaviors of the two sexes.
These identity differences are not a
problem unless they perpetuate stereotypes
or negatively influence behavior, learning, or
expectations for school success.
Stereotype – A rigid, simplistic caricature of
a particular group of people.
This I Believe
“Boys generally get better grades in school
than girls.”
This statement is not true.
Girls generally do better than boys on a
number of academic measures, with grades
being one of the most obvious.
Gender and Career Choices
How do the career choices differ between
girls and boys?
Society perpetuates some stereotypes, but
ironically, parents – and particularly mothers
– are among the most powerful sources.
Read about a software developer – p 118.
Single Sex Classrooms and Schools
Single Sex classes and schools – classes
and schools where boys and girls are
segregated for part or all of the day. These
type of classes/schools attempt to build on
student’ strengths and remove the
distractions from the other sex.
Do you know of schools who do this?
Check Your Understanding – p 120
Discussion Questions – p 122
Select 4 of 7. Be ready to share, listen
and discuss.