Perspective Paper

Stephanie Paul
National- Louis University- National College of Education

From the past few weeks of taking classes at National Louis University I have been given
the opportunity to learn vastly from the experiences of my colleagues and professors. I grew up

in a very segregated and sheltered area in the North suburbs of Chicago. These past three weeks
have opened my eyes to the urban education world. I have been introduced to the aspect of being
culturally competent, different political issues that go on in these communities, and how
important it is to have effective teachers in these types of schools. Therefore being an AUSL
resident makes me happy knowing that I can be a teacher that can help change the lives of these
underprivileged students. The main thing that I have been able to take away from all my
experiences thus far is that being a culturally competent teacher is what can pave the pathway for
success among urban students.
Being culturally competent starts with, The first asking educators to engage in reflective
self-analysis to examine their own attitudes toward different ethnic, racial gender, and social
groups. The second asks educators to develop the capacity to know each of their students well,
which includes knowing their families (Edwards, Ellis, Ko, Saifer, Stuczynksi, 2011, p.39). The
first step I need to take before stepping into the classroom is examining myself as an individual. I
need to be honest with myself to see where my own attitudes lie dealing with racism, gender, life
experiences, etc. When I can identify these areas I can then start to see how I can change my
views to being open minded. I need to be open minded because the different experiences I am
going to have in the classroom may bias my view points. I dont want this to happen since most
of these experiences are going to be very new for me. As a teacher I want to be as empathetic and
accepting as I could be and this starts with identifying myself. Since I am a white educator going
into an urban environment I need to address the idea of Whiteness. Author Cheryl Matias
explains in her article Check YoSelf Before You Wreck YoSelf and Our Kids: Counterstories
from Culturally Responsive white Teachers?.. to Culturally Responsive White Teachers! that
many White educators are unware of their privilege as individuals and the role White supremacy
places. For that reason, as an educator I need to recognize all aspects of racism and how others

perceive me. The articles I am reading in my classes are making me more aware of these issues
that need to be addressed.
After I am able to identify myself culturally, which should be done before setting foot
into my classroom, I can then start to build relationships with my students. I think that this is one
of the most important characteristics to have with a student. Without respect and trust there will
be no success in a classroom. Once these relationships are formed then a teacher can start getting
to know students based on their culture and community. In the classroom of culturally relevant
teachers, students are expected to engage the world and others critically (Ladson-Billings,
1995, p.162). In my classroom students will be able to critically think about their culture and
community, while learning from the other students funds of knowledge.
One important aspect of fully engaging students in their community and culture is
incorporating their family in their learning as well. When I plan lessons in my classroom I will at
the beginning of each unit come up with ways to have parent participation within the classroom.
As well as incorporating students families I want to have their community incorporated into
their learning. I believe that learning has to be relevant to the students lives for them to fully
take part in the learning process. Giving my students the opportunity to bring in their culture and
community motivates them to become fully engaged. Grabbing students interest in the content I
am teaching helps students wanting to keep learning.
It is important to for me to give each one of my students the chance to be successful
learners. I want to do this by being able to address all the different learners in my classroom.
When I incorporate my students culture and community into the classroom I will give them
options on how they want to incorporate this into their learning given the topic. I am aware that
not every student learns the same way, this is why it is important to for me to come up with
multiple means of representation, teaching, and engagement in the work my students are exposed
too.

One piece of being engaging students in culturally relevant teaching is to make students
aware of the societal issues in their everyday lives. In the classrooms of culturally relevant
teachers, students are expected to engage the world and others critically (Ladson-Billings,
1995, p.162). When students are involved with their communities and society we are producing
valuable citizens of todays society. When students can be educated in these societal issues the
learning environment students will be exposed to a better well-rounded education. As a result
students are better prepared for the real world, and will open more doors for future success.
Martin Haberman (1991) states in his article, The Pedagogy of Poverty Versus Good
Teaching, Before we can make workers, we must first make people. But people are not madethey are conserved and grown (Haberman, 1991, p.87). This quote reflects how I can set up a
classroom environment for my students to grow as individuals, so they can be handworkers in
our society later on. In my future classroom students will be able to prosper as culturally
competent learners, which will set them up to be open minded to being life learners. Being a life
learners is making the commitment to constantly learning from others life experiences, and
constantly reflecting on how these experiences can relate back to their own life. As a teacher I
will constantly be reflecting on my own teaching practices to make sure I am scaffolding a
culturally protective classroom environment.

References
Edwards, K., Ellis, K., Ko, L., Saifer, S., Stuczynski, A. (2011). Culturally responsive standardsbased teaching. California: Corwin.
Haberman, M. (1991). The pedagogy of poverty versus good teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 73(4),
290-94.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). But thats just good teaching! the case for culturally relevant
pedagogy. Theory into practice. 34(3). 159-165.