Living in Hawaii, we are truly blessed to be called the melting pot of all cultures. It is no secret that this island we live on embraces differences and is accepting no matter what language you speak or what color your skin is. As teachers, we need to display this type of acceptance in our classrooms if we want the children in our classrooms to do the same. Professor Ladson-Billings gave three components of culturally relevant pedagogy. I really appreciated point number two when she said "an attempt to develop all students cultural competence". This means that we help children to understand their culture while learning about another. As teachers, it may be easier to teach what is familiar to ourselves and what we know. However, it does not give the children or us a chance to learn something new.
In my classroom, this year I am happy to say that I have several students that speak another language fluently and have lived in different states/countries. The children who speak different languages are eager to share words that they can translate and even bring books in their native language from home. By allowing these children to express themselves from their culture in front of their peers enthusiastically, it is exposing the other children to something that is unfamiliar and new.
In this day and age, it is no lie that society bases everything on what a person looks like. However, children have a gift of being non-judgmental, accepting, and loving to each other no matter what their wearing or what kind of hairstyle they have. If we want our children to continue this "gift", we as early childhood educators need to embrace differences in our classroom and keep trying to make everything how everyone thinks it should look like.
When it comes to the terms achievement "gap" or "debt", I agreed with Professor Ladson-Billings when she said that "gap makes it seem like you need to catch up. The debt, for me helps to evoke some shared responsibility". I relate this to the achievements in my classroom. Families are always concerned about their child hitting crucial milestones, however they blame or put the pressure on the teacher when their child doesn't achieve at their expected time line. How can we as educators get families out of the mindset "its the teachers job to catch my child up?" After this reading I can ask myself "how can I share the "debt" instead of feeling the need to always be the one to catch up?"
Ashlyn,
ReplyDeleteWe share the same thoughts. Could Hawaii's education 'deficit'/debt/gap be the result of the national debt? IF so, where do we begin to mitigate this situation? This subject makes me feel like I'm caught in a bad riddle (which came first, the chicken or the egg?). Oddly, as with all national issues there is no simple answer to fix a flawed foundation. United States could 'sell' Hawaii (to Hawaii), and allow all Hawaii citizens to move into the millions of foreclosed homes, adding jobs in the housing, and transportation sector? Socioeconomic woes would be a thing of the past, and cultural based learning would be the new standard curriculum and social norm. Problems solved?
Ashlyn,
ReplyDeleteI agree, as educators we help children understand their culture while learning about another. It is easier to teach from our own experiences and things we are familiar with, but it's not culturally relevant. Sometimes we need to step outside of our comfort zone and teach things we're not too familiar with, we need build relationships with our families and find out what they think is important for the children to know about the diverse cultures that are represented in our classrooms. At our center, we have a "Culture/Heritage" form that we include in our Parent Orientation Packet. It asks questions like cultural foods, celebrations, traditions, etc. I want to look at it again and see if I can add to it and see if families will open up more about what are some of the assets in their culture that they feel is important for children to learn.
Hi Ashlyn,
ReplyDeleteIt's very true that one of the best features of Hawaii, at least in my opinion, is the cultural diversity. Our children are lucky to grow up experiencing so many different cultures from a very early age - that's something I did not get to experience growing up in a very homogenous area of the East Coast. However, culturally relevant pedagogy asks teachers to not only examine what they teach, but also how they teach. How is your pedagogy relating to the different cultures of the children in your classroom? Cassandra wrote about ‘āina based education in her posting this week and shared this video:
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Aina-Based-Learning-the-21st-Ce
What do you think of this as a way of teaching in today's classrooms here in Hawaii? Do you think it's a feasible plan? What could be holding us back from implementing it?
I'm also going to share another video with you:
http://chrisemdin.com/portfolio/christopher-emdin-at-tedxteacherscollege/
Here, Christopher Emdin talks about what it means to be a "mindful" educator. He discusses how teaching is a revolutionary idea, one that requires risk-taking and imagination. He challenges us to shake off the status quo and strive for unconventional teaching. How do you think what he talks about plays into the conversation about the achievement gap/debt debate? What do we need to do to wake up and work towards creating a more equitable educational system? How can we challenge the others, such as the parents you mentioned, but society as a whole, to take on this problem for the greater good? Thanks!