Community members and parents or guardians are encouraged to become involved in students' education and are given a significant voice in making important school decisions related to programs (such as resources and staffing).
Involving the community in the classroom adds to culturally responsive teaching because the community is a part of a student’s culture. The community members must be diverse and have a significant voice in to be effective. Parents/Guardians must especially have a significant voice to remind students that their education is important inside and, more importantly, outside the classroom. In addition, parents/guardians know their child in a different way then teachers/peers do and this allows access to knowledge on how to better teach the student. Having the community have a say in staffing will allow for a more diverse group of staff members and a way to involve the community in the school. Public schools are educating students of a community; therefore the school should represent the community.
a. restate three points from what you read
1.Teaching students should always be through the context of student’s backgrounds to be effective. Instead of fighting student’s backgrounds, it should be “embraced.” This is through culturally relevant teaching practices, including families and community in the classroom, embracing each student’s experiences to add to learning for all students,
2. Each student should be respected, celebrated for their differences and each have equal opportunities. This can be done through creating a learning environment that expects respect (through cooperative learning strategies, including arts, dispel stereotypes…)
3. Build relationships with students to effectively do the above
b. two questions that come to mind as you read and think
1. How do I balance it all?! Looking at the strategies, that each are essentially necessary, it is overwhelming to involve the strategies while lesson planning, juggling everchanging schedules, connecting with students and the community and integrating ELL strategies.
2. How do you unteach stereotypes that are passed down from student’s families? Racism is sometimes apart of a student’s culture, how do I keep the openness between school and home while also teaching students to respect every person while at home that is not what is being taught?
c. One AHA! that you never thought about before, new concept, idea, WOW! moment for you
An “aha” moment during the reading was thinking about how teaching students to be culturally responsive is a life skill that not only makes them better community members but will help them in their careers someday! We do live in a globalized world, so the chances of working with a person of another culture will happen. Adding to that, having a self-awareness will contribute to being more culturally responsible