Friday, February 18, 2011

Going above and beyond


It is one thing to bring the students attention to all of the various beliefs and traditions of different cultures. It is a totally another component of learning when you help to improve the understanding of their community and and school improve the quality of life for everyone involved. Meaning that you make a link between actual events occurring in the world and your most likely out dated textbooks. For example a non culturally relevant teacher would just teach inside the bubble of the text, but a culturally relevant teacher will step outside that bubble and challenge the students to incorporate modern day events or problems in their curriculum. This makes the learning in the school more valuable because it is connecting students to the actual occurrences of the present time. A culturally relevant teacher will also challenge their students to think on a higher level, this teacher would pose questions as to how to fix modern day problems such as economic, political, or social issues. This would challenge the student to really think about the situation and then come up with a best possible explanation that they think is appropriate. This way of holding students at another level will instill a sense of trust, confidence, and capability in the students. These students will say to them selves that "wow Mr. Smith really thinks I can do this I guess I really can" This will allow the students to achieve greater accomplishments than they ever thought they could.

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