The culturally competent teacher should be able to account for, demonstrate awareness of, and respond to the sociocultural distinctiveness of her or his students, families, and communities when planning for and delivering instruction.
The classroom that I volunteer in is very diverse. There are African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites in the classroom working together. These students notice that they are different but they don’t see it as a problem. They don’t see themselves as better than any others just because of the color of their skin. The students can all sit in a group as a part of the classroom and work together. The students are excited to be in that classroom to be with their friends and are excited to learn. Some of these students live in a home where their primary language is Spanish because that is the language of their parents or grandparents. Although they mostly speak Spanish they learn and speak English in the classroom. I have seen a few of the students speak Spanish to each other while in the classroom. They will speak Spanish sometimes with their peers while they are working in groups or during their snack time. I find it very interesting that they will sometimes speak Spanish with some of their peers but know to speak English anytime doing class work or speaking to the teacher or in front of the class.
Society could improve if they were like the students because these students don’t worry about the color of their classmates or where they came from. This asset could improve society so much because all people would be able to work together and people would be able to be friends without worrying about what they look like on the outside but by who they are on the inside. This would also make society a lot safer because of the same reasons.
According to Infoworks, in Rhode Island 74.3% of students are white, 7.9% are African American, 14% are Hispanic, 3.3% are Asian or Pacific Islander, and only .5% are Native American. For students that are receiving ESL or bilingual education there are 93.5% who do not receive any at all, 5.1% who receive ESL, 1.1% who receive bilingual, and only .3% are in both programs. In the school that I am volunteering in 52% are Hispanic, 17% are African American, 26% are white, 4% are Asian or Pacific Islander and only 1% are Native American. For students that are receiving ESL or bilingual education there are 64% are non-recipients, 16% who receive ESL and 20% who receive bilingual. Most of the students in my classroom are part of a minority, which makes them the majority of the class.
I also had a similar experience with the children in the class I volunteered in. I noticed that there was very little to none discrimination in the class socially. Everyone seemed to be friends and there was no separation based on skin color or ethnicity. While the majority of children in my classrooms were Hispanic,I did not hear them speaking Spanish to each other. There was also an assistant teacher in my classroom who was Hispanic and I heard her speaking Spanish to another teacher. I agree with your statement about how they do not see themselves as being better than anyone else on the basis of skin color. I felt this was also true in my classroom. I think that because the kids in my class were so young they were not yet aware or the boundaries society places on people. I enjoyed realizing that there is still some hope that people are viewed as equal through the eyes of a child, and agree with you in thinking that society could learn a lot and improve by recognizing that. Good Luck with your future teaching endeavors! :)
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