EDU 6918 Course Reflection

8.2 Growing and Developing Professionally. The profession of teaching is an ever evolving field that requires educators to pursue opportunities for growth. To me, the standard 8.2 Growing and Developing means an educator recognizes the changes in society and the need to continually reflect and receive feedback on practices used. The educator is open to new pedagogical practices and strives to advance with their ever changing profession to remain an effective educator.

Across many of this quarters coursework, I have seen the term “culture”. It has been used in a variety of ways and phrases: culturally relevant, culturally responsive, differentiation in regards to culture. This repetition has really shown the importance “culture” plays in the classroom. One analogy that has stuck with me, is America not as a “melting pot” but America as a “salad bowl”. In the salad bowl, students remain distinct in their culture while enhancing the class as a whole. They mix with other ingredients (students) to form a unified dish (class) but each gets to keep its unique characteristics. In the classroom, this relates to being an educator who values diversity and recognizes cultural differences. In this way, the educator is culturally responsive. The educator values and makes use of the language and culture students bring to the mix.

Figure 1

Figure 1 is from an Intro to Teaching discussion topic. This post describes my thoughts as to the characteristics of a teacher distinguished on demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy. In it, I discuss the importance of a teacher being culturally responsive. One statement that shows my awareness of the need to be culturally responsive as an educator is, “The teacher, concerned with maintaining an engaging, culturally responsive curriculum, continues to educate themselves by visiting other classrooms with successful programs, and reading and researching materials that will help further their understanding, and clear misconceptions or bias.”

This particular posting, I wrote as a foreseen weakness in my current teaching disposition. I welcome diversity and believe all students have the right to a safe, caring learning environment. I also believe teachers must be of the disposition of acceptance and respect for all kinds of learners and cultures.  My weakness comes in a lack of experience and contact with the possible cultural variations in a classroom and community. Because I am aware and concerned with this lack of cultural experience, I will take extra steps to recognize diversity in my classroom. I will also seek out ways to educate myself in this area by engaging in some of the afore mentioned activities: visiting other classrooms, reading and researching, also reflecting on my actions and lessons, and interacting with parents. Maintaining good communication with the parents of students with cultural considerations, will be a valuable tool not only help the student succeed but also to further my cultural knowledge.

For educators the following thoughts are simple and profound, “Perhaps the most important thing diversity issues teach educators is that the opportunity to learn does not end when one leaves school with a teaching degree. Rather, the chance to learn about other people is a lifelong process that is never really "finished." (Franklin).

References

Franklin, J. (2001, March). The Diverse Challenges of Multiculturalism. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/mar01/vol43/num02/The-Diverse-Challenges-of-Multiculturalism.aspx