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Kadalena Abraham
Professor Smudde
SED322
December 1, 2015
Culturally Responsive Teaching Questions
Affirming Attitude toward Difference
Many educators would suggest that looking at a blank canvas when teaching is a strong
way to get bias out of the way. This may be the case for a few teachers, however bias is natural,
and each student has their own stories to tell based on culture. In terms of personal growth, I
learned that an attitude towards differentiation and the ability to see everyone as a unique
individual was a strong way to enhance my own personal knowledge and education. One idea
that spoke it me was from the Berliner article, and it expressed that ignoring the powerful and
causal role of inequality and poverty on so many social outcomes that we value, not merely
school achievement, is easily as shameful as having educators use poverty as an excuse to limit
what they do to help the students and families that their schools serve (Berliner, 2013, p. 7).
Inequality is much more than education, so students need strong teachers who understand what
different means without being bias.
Value and Affirming Student Background Knowledge
One of the most common phrases in todays education is the affirmation of students
background knowledge, and this is critical for the development of a topic. In terms of my
personal education history, back ground knowledge helped me grow exponentially as an educator
in my internship as well as in my own higher education courses. The value of background
knowledge for any student is helpful for specific topic areas as well as the educational long run
of absolute knowledge. Background knowledge is simple to gauge and understandable for

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gripping a topic.

Personally, I think that critical consciousness is one idea that I will focus on in my own
classroom. In terms of culturally responsive teaching, what I have learned is that it is crucial to
get to know students and build a strong professional relationship with every person that is near
you. In terms of an example, I will set goals in my classroom that allow my students to use their
own background knowledge in order to help prepare them to better understand not only their
own culture, but many others as well. This idea of culture and consciousness will be embodied
through my work as an educator as well as a friend [role-model] to the students.

In order to drive the relationships in the right way with parents, students, and colleagues,
goals, as previously mentioned will be set. One idea that I learned specifically from this course
was building strong relationships with colleagues. This can be done through professional
development hours or even providing helpful worksheets to others in your content area.
In regards to students, it can be difficult to get on the same level. I think that in order to
achieve the personal goals that I want to, ensure that every day starts with a bang! I think that if
my students are going to be happy learning in the classroom, it will be something that they
discuss at lunch. My main goal in my content area will start the majority of my units with a battle
that was unbelievably exciting. This is easy for history, but even easier because students love
hearing about battles and fights in history. In terms of academic achievement, I learned from the
Berliner article that students are more willing to listen, and less likely to drop out if opportunities
are given. From Berliner it is mentioned, since we live in a world where income and income

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stability are highly correlated with education data mean that more of the better-off children
will succeed and more of the less-well-off youth will fail to make a good living (Berliner, 2013,
p. 11). Obviously not every student will succeed, but if they are laughing in class or learning
about interesting battles that are similar to their video games, they will be interested and they
will build on background knowledge.
Parents are probably the most difficult to communicate with, even in a society where
technology has taken over. A 21st century family is much different politically, socially, and
economically; and much more diverse than it has ever been. History teaches us, from Berliner;
when income inequalities are large, they are tolerated by the poor for only so long (Berliner,
2013, p. 18). This class taught me that just because a student is in a low income family, school,
or neighborhood, it doesnt mean their ability to learn and develop as a person is tarnished.
Children need their parents as support, but it is up to educators to work alongside the parents and
mentor the students when parents cant. However, just because the teachers are helping, does not
mean they are the ones to make the decisions for the children, this is an absolute rule for all 21st
century parents, regardless of their presence.

Within my own content area, I can use past tragedy to prove to my students that culture
does not equal to race, racism, or hatred, it is just a form of culture. One way I can do this will be
to discuss the Catholic Reformation. It wasnt the Catholics that were being penalized for their
actions, but it had a lot to do with social mobility. It was important for them to change the way
that certain things were seen which was absolutely focused on culture.
Lastly, being culturally responsive is also important in the state of Arizona. I do see my students
different cultures, however some topics such as Thanksgiving or even Western Migration are

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very sensitive, especially to those who are Native. It is crucial to note that even though these
events happened, there are still many other ideas and events that were important at the same
time, so bringing up those other, not as popular topics (like the invention of a shoelace or
something) will allow students to see an imaginary timeline in their head, and will also play on
their background knowledge when taking an exam or looking back on when these events
occurred, and that is the beauty of History.

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Bibliography
Berliner, D. C. (2013). Effects on Inequality & Poverty vs. Teachers and Schooling on
America's Youth . Teacher College Record, 1-22.