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ASTL PORTFOLIO REFLECTION POINT 3: Teacher as Researcher with a Cultural

Perspective
My perspective on the role of the teacher has evolved immensely throughout this course
and I have come to understand how it is that teachers attend to the needs of culturally,
linguistically and cognitively diverse learners. The teacher, in addition to teaching effectively,
must manage a broad spectrum of learners with many cultural influences that affect their
learning. This cultural responsive reflective practitioner must assert assumptions, triangulate
data, implement monitor actions, and assume cultural awareness as an important responsibility of
their role as a teacher. Teachers must make an effort to connect with students in order to learn
more about them and their backgrounds. The better a teacher understands their students, the
more likely they are to teach them effectively.
The Cultural Inquiry Study and Report demonstrates a culminating point of personal and
professional development, as I learned about culturally responsive teaching and adopted it as part
of my own practice. Villegas & Lucas (2007) encourage teachers to learn about students lives in
order to make learning meaningful and engaging and I have found that by allowing students to
make personal connections to the material in class that they are more invested in their learning. I
believe it is important for teachers to hold affirming views about diversity and to be sensitive
towards students from various backgrounds. As a result I have made more efforts to
communicate with students and to learn more about their backgrounds that has provided me with
a stronger appreciation for their culture and individual differences.
Setting cultural norms that are inclusive help students open up, participate, and personally
invest in their learning. Nieto proposes an additive or multicultural form of identity in which she
thinks of teaching and learning not as an accommodation which inevitably implies loss rather
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than gain but rather as a negotiation among students and their families, and teacher and
schools. It must be, however, a negotiation that is mutually defined, constructed, and achieved
(1999). I have found in my experience that it is important to involve students in constructing the
classroom environment since they determine the dynamics for the most part. The Cultural
Inquiry Study and Report allowed me to connect with students on a level I had never attempted
previously. Communicating with students on their homework preferences revealed cultural
influences affecting their learning and provided an opportunity to create more meaningful
assignments by collaborating with students to design assignments. It also allowed me to get to
know them better as unique learners with a host of qualities worth acknowledging and
celebrating.
Perhaps the most rewarding of experiences in this course is the delight in appreciating
students funds of knowledge. Gonzalez (1995) notes the benefits of adopting the funds of
knowledge approach should give teachers the opportunity to act as researchers, increasing the
home-to-school connection through building relationships, and broadening the scope of the
curriculum to encompass the home. So much of effective education comes from nurturing,
coaching, and accommodating. Being an effective teacher requires sensitivity to and awareness
of individual differences. Like Gonzalez, Hollins states that the effectiveness of classroom
instruction is influenced by the extent to which it incorporates critical aspects of the home-
culture (1999). I have witnessed the effectiveness of incorporating a students home culture or
activating prior knowledge can animate a lesson and engage students. Another teacher that was
influential in my studies has been Bob Fecho, who attempted to cross cultural boundaries by
using critical inquiry to embrace cultural differences (2003). He recognized that teaching is
about building relationships and making personal connections with students. After all, students
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can feel when their teachers are genuinely invested in their success. As teachers, we should
attempt to acknowledge students home life and give it a place in the classroom, which includes
modifying our curriculum and teaching practices despite curricular demands, time constraints,
and less face time with students due to increasing class sizes that pose challenges to building the
teacher-student relationship.
Through this course, another great advancement that I made in my own practice was to
practice and embrace the research process. Like Bob Fecho and Cynthia Ballenger, I was able to
use classroom data to analyze my observations and reveal my assumptions. I was motivated by
my puzzlement and the curiosity that it sparked inspired me to seek answers for my questions
through researching literature and collecting data. I was pleased at the organic evolution of my
study and the surprises and revelations it led to. Hawley & Nieto (2010) allowed me to realize
the importance of classroom-based research, which I believe is the impetus for change in a
classroom and ultimately the key to improving education today. Teachers can use the data they
collect to make valid observations, to reinforce what they know to be true about their students
and within their content area. This awareness and information can be used to advocate for
teachers and students, so that we may all understand the relevant and current issues in our
classrooms. It is important that not just one but all teachers are taking on this initiative to
improve their practice.
At the start of the ASTL program we focused on our practice as it related to our direct
classroom experience. For example, we studied multiple intelligences, the development of
mental processes in the brain as they relate to learning, and surveyed many educational theorists,
like Vygotsky and social learning. Throughout our coursework we have been steadily graining
an increasingly broad perspective from which to frame our teaching practice. As a result of
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learning more about the cultural dimension of learning my practice has changed to be one that is
more inclusive, aware, and open to change. I find myself aware of more factors at play in the
classroom, especially cultural influences. I feel that I have developed my awareness of what Dr.
Fox describes as the multidimensional tapestry of languages, perspectives, backgrounds,
cultures, and religions to help all students succeed academically (2012). It is with great joy that I
take from this experience the ability to connect better with my students and to provide them with
more rich and meaningful educational experiences.