Blog #2 “Other People’s Children” written by Lisa Delpit
Reflection:
I am an early childhood education major at RIC. I am learning about developmentally appropriate practice right now. Delpit discusses how teaching is an example of a career path that requires open-mindedness and clarity of rules to eliminate confusion. I totally can relate this topic to my education class. We are talking about how culture affects a students’ learning. Some students grow up in more passive cultures. They are taught to respect others’ opinions and rely on nonverbal communication. Other cultures are more assertive and will voice their opinion, and are not afraid to hurt someone’s feelings. Additionally, students who are more sociable tend to do better academically in school. If students are more passive, they may feel silenced. They may reach out at all and end up failing because of it. Rules made in classrooms need to be fair and developmentally appropriate. This means that teachers tailor rules to what the students are capable of doing. We need to eliminate the bias that all students understand us. We need to make inclusive classrooms everywhere.
For example, a student may be Chinese. In Chinese culture, they are taught that eye contact is rude. If this student is asking for help, he or she will more than likely have to look at the teacher to ask for help. He or she may avoid asking questions to avoid eye contact. Although no task like this is easy, teachers will come across students who are falling behind at some point. To eliminate ambiguous student learning, parents should be involved. Teachers should meet with parents to get to know them better. Culture should always be a part of the conversation. Culture is one of the things that impacts how we learn and where we are developmentally. Good teachers are very much community-oriented. We have partners like RIDE, school principals, and parents that work together to give the best education possible.
Hi Kayla, nice reflection on educators responsibility of creating an appropriate learning environment in their classrooms. It really does fall on the teachers of the world to understand their students capabilities and get the most out of them.
ReplyDeleteI like your reflection here. I also agree culture can affect a students learning and all students grow up differently so it's extremely important to know and be aware of the different cultures and how they differ between eachother.
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