Tomlinson and McTighe (2006, p. 108) impress upon us the fact hat there is a clear distinction between teaching for understanding and mere coverage of content area knowledge. They assert that “understanding must be earned.” Teaching subject matter in greater depth allows students to construct and reconstruct meaning for themselves because, the authors contend, student knowledge base increases and new learning alters student perspectives over the duration of a unit. Teaching for understanding requires both teacher and learner to assume refreshing new roles within the classroom. In these new roles, students are required to think in new and innovative ways to solve problems, create problems, and apply old learning to new knowledge in efforts to effectively convey understanding. In this environment, the teacher is now the facilitator of student learning. The teacher is now focused on sparking student interest by, presenting counter arguments, requiring detailed explanations, asking probing questions, and presenting information in a manner that lends itself to authentic application; thus causing students to revisit and revise their thinking.
I believe that in an academically diverse classroom the successful teacher is aware of the academic needs of individual students and is able to maintain the integrity of the lesson while effectively differentiating instruction. I argue that the effectiveness of the differentiation is, in fact, what maintains the lesson’s integrity. Tomlinson and McTighe contend that the ladder theory of learning is severely flawed in that lower- level students are doomed to an academic life of kill and drill and rote learning. Moreover, in this type of an approach the lower-level student is rarely presented with authentic opportunities to convey understanding. These students are often excluded from opportunities to utilize acquired knowledge in meaningful ways. Primarily, this is due to what teachers perceive as insurmountable gaps in acquisition of foundational skills which, they believe, make displaying understanding a ”mirage in an academic desert.” As teachers, we are only as effective as our ability to differentiate instructional material thereby giving all students an opportunity to utilize learning in authentic ways.
Ornstein speaks of a different, yet equally significant type of diversity within the classroom…cultural diversity. Who we are as individuals, our personal schema, socio-economic backgrounds and our environment all play a major role in what we learn and how we learn. As a result, he believes that academics must be taught from a perspective of cultural relevance and sensitivity. If the material is not relevant to students they will merely digest and regurgitate sterile facts that have little to no impact on their understandings and learning outcomes. Thus, I believe that student translation will not truly be learned. Without relevant material student opportunities to revisit and revise their thinking will be largely diminished as will their understanding of the material introduced.
Educators must be aware that the term “diversity” has become an important classroom word and concept. Its implications within the classroom are tremendous. Even in a homogenous setting, diversity still exists. I believe that effective differentiation produces material that is academically relevant. Effective instructional differentiation leads to increased student understanding. While, I am unsure that differentiation of content and teaching approach alone are the key, I do believe that this approach is the most effective tool in a teacher’s arsenal for addressing the unique needs of learners.
Based on what I have stated above, I now ask……………….is there a distinction between an academically diverse classroom and a culturally diverse classroom? What are the instructional implications of teaching for understanding in a culturally and an academically diverse classroom? To what degree does diversity affect what you teach and how you teach it?
I firmly believe that there is a difference between an academically diverse classroom and a culturally diverse classroom. The reason that I believe that there is a difference is because academics pertains to teaching the basic subjects such as Math, Reading, Writing/Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and in my case since, I teach in a Catholic School Religion. In a culturally diverse it focuses more on different backgrounds and countries then academics. Both types of classrooms are unique in there very own way. Each and every student is unique in their very own way. No matter where they come from.
ReplyDeleteThe three types of instructional learning and conditions of instruction are the following: Conventional, mastery learning, and tutoring. By using the idea and concept of conventional no matter what subject you teach the students will learn in any type of classroom setting. When reading about this in Ornstein it explained no matter how many students that are in a classroom they will still learn. For example the past two years I have had 30 students in my classroom and they are still able to learn what they need to know. We do this by using different types of assessment. The idea of mastery learning students will still be able to grasp a particular concept through the idea of formative tests. The idea of using the concept of tutoring works well in a classroom. It can be used as peer tutoring. I have used this in my own classroom many times and it does work very well with my students. You have the advanced students work with the less advanced students. You can break your class into groups, or teams. The way that I do it is by breaking them up into teams and give each group a team name and a leader. The students seem to really relate very well to this idea.
I feel that diversity sometimes can cause a problem due to the fact that some cultures are more superior than others. That sometimes does cause a problem in some classrooms. But, I do feel that it makes a classroom very interesting to have mixed people from different cultures. Diversity does bring alot of things to a classroom.
I teach in a large high school of 3,300 students, where 70% of the students are Hispanic, 20% are Black, and the other 10% is a diverse mix which includes students of Asian and Arabic descent. I always encourage my students to share their holiday traditions and customs when I am teaching them the French holiday traditions. I have learned a lot from my students about how other countries and cultures celebrate holidays, as well as their local customs and traditions.
ReplyDeleteTo me, academically diverse means students of different skill levels, and culturally diverse means students of various cultural backgrounds.
I always feel enriched by my students, as they tell me about their different holidays, customs and traditions, as I am ethnically boring---WASP all the way.
I think that academic diversity and cultural diversity are interrelated. Socio-economic background, personal schema, etc. are all factors that shape a student's pre-existing knowledge base. The more students are exposed to and the greater the foundation, the easier it is for students to acquire more knowledge. Any student who is at a disadvantage will naturally encounter obstacles from an academic perspective and will need to work harder than the average person to be able to learn new information. I believe differentiating instruction to accomodate diversity from a cultural and academic perspective can alleviate some of these obstacles.
DeleteI had an ESL student in one of my classes last year whose English was quite poor. When he didn't understand a concept, he would become completely disengaged in class. As a result, he didn't perform well on many assessments in the first part of the first marking period. I spoke to the student about his performance in class and he said sometimes he gets lost during class b/c he is unable to comprehend what I am saying. I told the student to make sure he raised his hand when encountered any issues, which he did. What I noticed was that when I reiterated the concept taught, he would grasp it and would remain engaged in class. For this ESL student, his language barrier was prohibiting him from learning the material at the pace of the other students. However, after better understanding the needs of this student, I realized he just needed me to give him more individualized instruction. I made it a point to spend time with him during guided practice, etc. to make sure the learning was in fact taking place. His grades on assessments and level of engagement had significantly improved thereafter. Thus, I believe understanding the needs of the diverse learners, both academic and cultural, and differentiating instruction to accommodate those needs is critical in helping these students succeed.
There is a difference between academic diverse and cultural diverse. Academic diverse stands for the difference in students learning level ability and learning style. Whereas cultural diverse stands for the difference in the cultural background. Both are different and have to be approached differently but both should be approached in the classroom. It is important for a teacher to use differentiating instruction, to make sure that they are meeting the needs of all of their students. This is some every effective teacher uses without being told, just because they have an understanding of their students and the content that they are teaching. However cultural diverse is something that should be in a classroom. This is another thing that affects the learning of some students. There are many different cultures in our schools and this plays a role in the learning style of some of our students. Teachers also have to be aware of this when preparing lessons and when teaching them as well. I know for me this takes a little more time than just using differentiating lessons. But I do feel that it is something that should be taken in to consideration when teaching.
ReplyDeleteYes there is a difference between academic and cultural diversity.
ReplyDeleteI teach cultural diversity, I feel like I’m a gateway to the world sometimes and I know that my class is the first exposure to other cultures most of my students receive. In my class we are always looking at artists from all over the world so I get into a lot regarding the surroundings, backgrounds, celebrations… basically the where and the why behind any sort of motivation for any artist we may be covering at the time (barring anything too violent, it is grammar school).
I try to seat my students pretty diverse as well. I won’t put all the kids that speak Spanish, Arabic or whatever it may be at the same table. I spread them out on purpose because they talk during Art and I want them to be in contact with new experiences.
As far as academically diverse I teach the basics to all, all of the time and if there is a student who excels or falls behind I work with them accordingly (extra projects or simpler form projects that deliver the same idea). I differentiate as best I can and allow the students to touch samples, I work on both a dry erase board and promethium, they are allowed to speak with their neighbors while working and stand if need be and I am always at their tables working along side of them.
I have learned a few things about students that come from other cultures than my own. During my first year of teaching I encountered Asian students that would not make eye contact with me. At first I thought there was a problem but then discovered that was a sign of respect, so we always have to keep these sort of things in mind. My ESL students usually don’t have too much of an issue in Art. They get there projects done, I realize they are not getting the Art History I like to sneak in but I am still showing the work, so they are getting exposure.
In my line of teaching I feel like I am not adequately given the time (900 students, 40 mins, once a week) to really get to know most of my students so I try my best to work with what I have. I also have classroom aids that come with LD and ABA who know their students well and are able to tell me what works for them best.
I generally think that there is a difference between culturally diverse and academically diverse, however, in my teaching experience, I have experienced classrooms where BOTH of these are present. They are connected in many ways however. For example, a student may be stuggling because they are not tracked at the same level as other students in their class;and this student may not be at the same level because their early education was in another country. We are not on an "international" curriculum system in which all students learn the same things in the same time frame. Then, this student may not be able to get the extra help they need at home due to a language barrier. It becomes a "trickle down" effect in essence. This student ends up be struggling both because of a problem that is cultural in nature and one that is now labeled as an "acamdemic" problem.
ReplyDeleteOrenstein discusses various methods of instruction ranging from conventional methods in classes of approx 30 students with more "direct" forms of instruction such as one-on-one tutoring. Clearly, one-on-one instruction will most likely always win out in the end, however, it seems that the studies proved that it was the amount of feedback and attention given to the students (even in the large classes) that was the factor that actually affected the performance of the students. The home environment also affected student performance, however as the study in Orenstein illustrated, changing the home environment is not something that can be achieved by any practical means.
I think that all classrooms are culturally and academically diverse in some respect and I think that it does affect how I teach. It does not affect what I teach however. In teaching literature for example, I may have to clarify idioms or allusions for students who are culturally diverse. They may not recognize these things as easily (or even at all) in comparision to an American student. So, a teacher needs to be aware of this and make sure that an allusion does not fall flat due to the student not having the scope of "history" to recognize it. As far as an academically diverse classroom, I wouldn't change the content of what I was teaching, I would change the language of the questions I was posing to the students and vary the assessments that I assigned so that each student could have an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the material.
I love the way Kanchan articulated the interrelationship between academic and cultural diversity. I think that it is a matter of which lens we might be looking through at any given moment. Ultimately, each student is an individual with needs of his or her own. But our classrooms are not designed for more than occasional individual instruction. The idea of "clustering" students according to needs asks us to find some common instructional goals for subgroups of our classroom members. Which lenses will we use when we look for students to group together? Are we looking for those outside the dominant culture who might need help with schema or vocabulary to more deeply understand content? Might there be overlap with our dominant culture struggling readers, whose exposure to information might also be limited, but for a different reason? How do we help students from the dominant culture expand their understanding of the world by exposing them to knowledge and experiences that allow them to feel empathy for "others"? How do we inspire our advanced students to stop worrying about the grade and go for the real gold -the creative thinking that comes from considering divergent viewpoints? There are striking synergies here.
ReplyDeleteThere are many tasks worthy of our attention for every learner. Cultural diversity and academic diversity are two ways to look at our students and to cluster students for particular targeted instruction. Each member of our classroom community brings his or her own gifts to the table, along with his or her own needs. I think one of our key challenges as teachers is not only to address but also to capitalize on the diversity in our "little worlds." Our students have so much to give to us and to each other. How do we facilitate that sharing and growth across academic and cultural boundaries? Creating a true community in our classrooms requires a web of relationships that include every student, regardless of his or her individual learning needs, while simultaneously supporting those very needs.