EDUC 2301: Introduction to Special Populations Teaching Chapter 4 A Changing Society

EDUC 2301: Introduction to Special Populations

TeachingChapter 4

A Changing Society

How are teachers powerful?

Teachers influence students to learn not only content but also worldviews and approaches for integrating incoming stimuli from the environment. As such, teachers have the power to inspire and ignite as well as squelch and deplete students’ knowledge of self and the surrounding world.

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What responsibilities are linked to the power of teaching?

Because teachers have such great powers of influence, they must examine their dispositions and fundamental expectations for students, thereby identifying deficiencies and biases that could result, not only in misuse of teacher power but also in potential harm to student understanding, motivation, empowerment, and learning.


What are qualities of successful teachers?

Successful teachers:• exhibit pedagogical content knowledge;• establish interpersonal rapport;• exhibit enthusiasm; and • demonstrate respect for their students as well

as a comprehensive knowledge of learner development, student diversity, and intercultural competence.


What are the effects of teacher expectations on student achievement?

• Students tend to internalize the beliefs teachers have about their ability and they rise and fall in achieving what their teachers expect.

• Teachers’ expectations for students—whether high or low—tend to become self-fulfilling prophecies whereby they give as much or as little as their teachers expect of them.


Define cultural consciousness.

Cultural Consciousness is the condition of being conscious of culture, the lens through which we view and interpret the world, as a human construct subject to human choice.


Culture QuizAdapted from Louise Derman-Sparks, Gita Chud, Ruth Fahlman

• Do you remember the first time you met someone from another culture?

• Do you remember how you first learned about your own ethnic identity?

• Have you ever experienced prejudice or discrimination? How did you feel? What did you do?

• Do you and your parents agree about ethnic, cultural, and religious issues?

• What is important to you about your ethnicity – makes you proud/gives pain?

Why should teachers use self-reflection to develop their cultural consciousness?

Teachers must become conscious and self-aware of their cultural underpinnings, worldviews, and preconceived notions about groups of people, and be vigilant in their pursuit of knowledge about diverse cultural groups in society in order to develop cultural consciousness.


Why should teachers use self-reflection to develop their cultural consciousness?

Teachers must become conscious and self-aware of their cultural underpinnings, worldviews, and preconceived notions about groups of people, and be vigilant in their pursuit of knowledge about diverse cultural groups in society in order to develop cultural consciousness.


What are the effects of teacher self-efficacy on student achievement?

• Having a belief in one’s competence as a teacher (self-efficacy) helps teachers positively affect student attitudes and achievement.

• These teachers believe that they can make a difference, have generally high expectations (particularly for low-achieving students), and as a result exhibit enthusiasm for engaging in the process of teaching and reaching students.


How are making strong connections with students and empathy related to student achievement?

Teachers who (1) show respect, (2) value individuality, (3) understand students’ learning styles and barriers, (4) extend themselves to find ways to engage students in learning, and (5) extend themselves to let students know that they want to authentically join with the students as partners in the students’ own education, positively affect student achievement.


For Reflection and Discussion

1. It’s often said that teachers have very little power in society. In what ways do

teachers have significant (often unrecognized) power?

2. What are teacher qualities that have direct effects on student achievement?


Assimilation v. Cultural Pluralism

Assimilation• Members of

subcultures expected to give up their own customs and learn American ways

• MELTING POT

Cultural Pluralism• Each subculture

maintains its own individuality

• Seeks healthy interaction among diverse groups

• TOSSED SALAD

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Culturally-responsive Teaching

• Takes a social justice perspective

• Responds to conflicts of communication styles, expectations between students and teacher or school– Equity pedagogy

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Historical Perspectives on Multicultural Education

• In the history of public schooling two approaches to difference, based on two different ideologies, have been utilized:– Anglo-conformity, or the assimilationist

model– Multiculturalism, or the pluralist model

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Anglo-Conformity, or the Assimilationist Model

• From 1860–1920, 37 million immigrants became naturalized citizens.

• An important task of schooling was thought to be turning these new citizens into “Americans” as quickly as possible.

• Assimilationists believed that one’s identification with one’s ethnic group should be short-lived and temporary.

cont.

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• Assimilationists believed that in order for society to advance, individuals must give up their ethnic identities, languages, and ideologies in favor of the norms and values of the larger, national society.

• The goal for assimilationists is to make it possible for everyone to be “melted” into a homogeneous whole.

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Multiculturalism or the Pluralist Ideology

• In contrast to the assimilationist ideology, a small group of philosophers and writers came forward with the notions of cultural pluralism and cultural democracy.

• Pluralists assert that immigrant groups (and, by extension, all identity groups) are entitled to maintain their distinctions within the larger American society.

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Pluralist Assumptions

• One’s social groups are essential to one’s sense of belonging and psychological support.

• It is through one’s primary groups that one learns language, as well as attitudes and values.

• These groups are so important that their interests should be promoted and recognized.

• The schools are the chosen institution to take on this task.

• Pluralists believe that the more congruent the school experience is with the experiences of the child, the better the child’s chance of success.

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Teaching the Culturally Different

• These approaches attempt to counter a perceived cultural deficiency

• Develop competence in the dominant culture

• Maintain self-identity and retain own cultural identity

• May mask an assimilationist ideology

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Human Relations Approach

• Assumes multicultural education is a means by which students of different backgrounds learn to communicate more effectively with one another while learning to feel good about themselves

• This is a fairly limited approach, and does not include attention to curriculum expansion and empowerment.

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Inclusive Multicultural Education

• Places multicultural education in the larger context of overall curriculum and school reform

• Focuses on the strength and value of diversity in a pluralistic nation

• Expanded attention to the differences in gender, religion, geographical region, and disability

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Education That Is Multicultural and Social Reconstructionist

• This approach goes beyond multicultural education by helping students critically analyze the larger social forces involved in discrimination and oppression.

• Believes that the entire education program should be designed to address the needs of diverse groups regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, religion, exceptionality, or gender

• Seeks to prepare students not only to think in multiple ways, but to be willing and able to help bring about social justice in the society

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Something to Think About

The history of multicultural education has its roots in a debate between those who think that American schooling should provide a common education to all children based on the history and culture of European Americans and Western civilization; and those who think that American schooling must recognize and affirm the rich historical and cultural backgrounds and perspectives of a population that has always been diverse and is becoming ever more so. The debate continues.

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Documents

EDUC 2301: Introduction to Special Populations Teaching Chapter 4 A Changing Society