EDU 6990 Reflection Eight Standard 5

Med. Program Standard 5:

Standard 5: Establish a culturally inclusive learning climate that facilitates academic engagement and 
success for all

Courses Aligned with Standard:

EDU 6589

EDU 6600

Original Assumptions:

Before I took the Culturally Responsive Teaching course I did not know much about working with 
other groups of people. Originally, diversity meant people from different backgrounds being in the 
same area. The backgrounds could be different ethnicity, culture, religion, sexual orientation, etc. In 
my case diversity is about who am I teaching in my classroom.

Since I teach to a wide variety of students such as those who are Caucasian, Hispanic, Russian, 
Samoan, Chamorro, Tongan, Tahitians, Black, Korean, Japanese I thought I had some idea about 
teaching diversity. I know there is more, but those are all the students who I am accurate on who I am
 teaching to. They all come from different cultures that have different norms. Meeting those norms can 
be difficult, but rewarding when I am able to meet to their needs.

Learning Experience:

Over the course of the quarter, the class looked at different areas of culturally-responsive teaching. As
 Banks (1996) notes, “Multicultural education involves changes in total school environment in order to 
create equal educational opportunities for all students” (p. 21)

From the readings on classroom involvement I gathered a bit of information as to why parents can get 
involved. Many of the ideas are elementary-based, but some could be used in secondary. For example, 
organizing events whether social or academic or working with teachers to help their child succeed. 
From the parental Involvement PDF I found areas I emphasize and areas I could do better in. For 
example, learning at home is a must for student achievement. Learning goes above what is done in the 
classroom. So every year I provide parents with materials for students to learn over the summer. I also 
occasionally send message to parents on how to help at home with the curriculum. As Johnson (2004) 
note, Whether parents reserve their involvement only to their child, such as meeting with a teacher 
about the child’s progress, or become involved with the school as a whole, perhaps serving as chairman 
of the fund-raising committee of the PTA, each parent’s interest in the school helps to improve the 
school.What I do struggle with is volunteering. I would definitely love to have parent involvement in 
the classroom. Maybe that could work with a group of students while I work with others. As Shartrand 
et al. (1997) found, “Widespread support for family involvement in education is due in part to
 compelling research evidence suggesting that family involvement has positive effects on children's 
academic achievement” (p.10). After looking at all the different components of teaching to different 
cultures the class created a final about the different components and what we learned. This is my prezi 
of the final.

Reflection:

The course taught me more about myself. Half way during the quarter I looked at my own ethnic 
background and religion. The goal was to see how that influenced my upbringing as a person.

Now as a white American I have a better sense of how to work with students of different cultures. As 
Howard (1996), “When White Americans learn to approach people of different cultures with this kind 
of deep respect, our own world becomes larger and our embrace of reality is made broader and richer” 
(p. 330). I also found the importance of bilingual education. I never knew the full extend of its benefits,
but if I can get the community involved with their native language it can be a benefit to getting students
involved with the rest of the community. As Ovando and Gourd (1996) found that through bilingual
programs, local communities can value learning about other languages and use the knowledge and skills
for educating the rest of the community.

Works Cited

Banks, J. (1996). The Canon Debate, Knowledge Construction, and Multiculutral Education. In J.A. Banks
(Ed.), Multicultural Education: Transformative Knowledge & Action (pp. 3-29). New York, NY: Springer.

 Johnson, H. (2004). Getting the Parent, School, and Community Involvement Guide. Mississippi Department of Education. Jackson, MS.

Howard, C. (1996). Whites in Multicultrual Education: Rethrinking Our Role. In J.A. Banks (Ed.),  
Multicultural Education: Transformative Knowledge & Action (pp. 3-29). New York, NY: Springer. 


Ovando, C. & Gurd, J. (1996). Knowledge Construction, Language Maintence, Realization and Empowerment. 
In J.A. Banks (Ed.),  Multicultural Education: Transformative Knowledge & Action (pp. 3-29). New York, NY: 
Springer.

Shartrand, A.M., Weiss, H.B., Kreider, H.M., & Lopez, M.E. (1997). New skills for new schools:

Preparing teachers in family involvement. Cambridge MA: Harvard Family Research Proj-

ect, Harvard Graduate School of Education