Critique and Exhibit Understanding of Complex Issues with Race, Diversity, Inclusion, and Cul

equity

I N C L U S I V E P E D A G O G Y : C R E A T I N G E Q U I T Y I N T H E C L A S S R O O M

If students like myself are not reflected in this country's history,

in our classrooms, and consequently in our general

mainstream culture, then how does society expect us to be present

and contribute to our future? -Isael Torres

Cultural pedagogy: ted talk background Representation matters. Isael Torres, proud son of Mexican immigrants with a masters

from the College of Education at the University of Utah, speaks about just how

relevant recognizing and acknowledging children's diversity is to better a student's experience and ambition in the classroom. He talks of his experience as a child of

Mexican immigrants in classes with predominantly white peers, teachers, and school administrators. This dichotomy, he challenges, creates an environment where

student's education depends on them conforming to a traditional system of

schooling rather than that system evolving to meet the growing needs of a diverse

population.

C U L T U R A L P E D A G O G Y :

E D U C A T I O N A L E Q U A L I T Y F O R

O U R Y O U T H

I S A E L T O R R E S

Cultural pedagogy

Culturally relevant teaching uses student culture in order to maintain it and to transcend the negative effects of the dominant culture. The negative effects are brought about, for example, by not seeing one's history, culture, or background represented in the textbook or curriculum or by seeing that history, culture or background distorted (Ladson-Billings p. 19).

In her book The Dream-Keepers Gloria Ladson-Billings writes about how important it is to see people of color in high positions in authority rather than just the janitorial staff or cafeteria workers. I would argue that it's equally important to teach youth about the history of the nation they grow up, in particularly civil rights leaders like Dolores Huerta or Cesar Chavez, alongside MLK, Harriet Tubman, and Malcom X. It's important that kids view themselves with the potential to succeed in similar roles in their future.

The importance of bilingual education

2. Minority children who gradually lose their first language as a result of being taught the second end up limited in both languages for a time. This circumstance leads to serious academic difficulties and is believed to contribute to the high rates of school failure and dropout among the low- SES Hispanic youngsters, who make up nearly 50-percent of the U.S. language minority population (Berk 2012).

When children are taught to favor one language over their native language, they lose a part of their cultural identity. This is something that has even effected me, Spanish was my native language, but now I am more comfortable speaking English. This is maybe not as relevant today with dual immersion classes becoming more popular. Regardless it's important to remember that many Native and foreign languages and cultures are lost through this process of assimilation.

Effect of Marginalizing Communities

3. Many students—particularly those from groups marginalized because of things like race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.—do feel excluded from learning spaces. This experience of exclusion can hamper academic performance in a process that can spiral out of control, through a “negative recursive cycle...where psychological threat and poor performance feed off one another, leading to ever-worsening performance." Beyond the purely academic, a sense of alienation or exclusion can even lead to negative health effects.

-From the Center of New Designs of Learning and Scholarship at Georgetown University

Among students who started in four-year public institutions, black students had the lowest six-year completion rate (46.0 percent). The completion rate of Hispanic students was almost 10 percentage points higher (55.7 percent). Over two-thirds of white students (71.7 percent) and three- quarters of Asian students (75.8 percent) completed a degree within the same period. (Shapiro 2020)

-National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

The effects of being a marginalized community in this nation are numerous and they are widespread. An example of this is the extensive media coverage of people like Michael Brown or Trayvon Martin- people of color, black teens, being shot. Seeing kids that look like them being targeted by white police is a traumatic and stressful experiences that follows children in the form of fears, anxieties, and potential stressors (DeAngelis 2014).Only by facing uncomfortable truths of discrimination even in school institutions, can be begin to challenge this system and start adequately preparing and training our teachers, revising curriculum standards with equity in mind, and putting to practice recognition.

I chose to research inclusive pedagogy because as a future teacher, I want to be aware that my experience as a woman of color does not reflect the same challenges and barriers that limit other minorities, like black or lgbt+ students, from reaching their full academic potential.

I focused on cultural pedagogy because it most closely reflects my own experience in my as a proud child of immigrants in an environment where biases and social stereotypes exist to challenge my success as an educator, however there are many marginalized communities that require representation.

The aim of culturally relevant teaching is to assist in the development of minority children to choose academic success, but also identify with and be proud member of a culture uniquely their own.

Acknowledging the difference in race, religion, socio- economic background, culture, sexual orientation, helps us teach more equitably.

key vocabulary inclusive pedagogy

A student-centered approach to teaching that pays attention to the varied

background, learning styles, and abilities of all the learners in front of you. It is a

method of teaching in which instructors and students work together to create a supportive and open environment that fosters social justice and allows each individual to be fully present and feel

minority a relatively small group of

people, especially one commonly discriminated against in a

community, society, or nation, differing from others in race, religion, language, or political

persuasion.

Discrimination the unjust or prejudicial treatment of

different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or

sex.

The quality of being fair and impartial. Distinct from

equality which is typically defined as treating

everyone the same and giving access to the same

opportunities, equity refers to proportional

representation in those same opportunities.

How can educators create a supportive/

inclusive learning environment? What are it's benefits?

Essential Questions What are biases you recognized within your own

education?

Identify consequences of maintaining the

educational system as is.

What are some of the ways discrimination

persists and how can we mitigate its

spread in the classroom?

List a plan of action to support

children's education that is equity centered.

Berk, L. E. (2012). Infants, children, and adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson

/Allyn & Bacon.

Cultural Pedagogy: Educational Equality for Our Youth | Isael Torres | TEDxSaltLakeCity [Video file]. (2017, November 14). Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=AbmyxZaBnhI&ab_channel=TEDxTalks

DeAngelis, T. (2014). Building resilience among black boys. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/10/cover-resilience

Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of

African American children. San Francisco, CA, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Maloney, E. (n.d.). The Teaching Commons. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://commons.georgetown.edu/teaching/design/inclusive-

pedagogy/

Shapiro, D., Dundar, A., & Huie, F. (2020, August 28). Completing College - National – 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://nscresearchcenter.org/signaturereport14/

equally valued (Maloney n.d).

HǍO

equity

I N C L U S I V E P E D A G O G Y : C R E A T I N G E Q U I T Y I N T H E C L A S S R O O M

If students like myself are not reflected in this country's history,

in our classrooms, and consequently in our general

mainstream culture, then how does society expect us to be present

and contribute to our future? -Isael Torres

Cultural pedagogy: ted talk background Representation matters. Isael Torres, proud son of Mexican immigrants with a masters

from the College of Education at the University of Utah, speaks about just how

relevant recognizing and acknowledging children's diversity is to better a student's experience and ambition in the classroom. He talks of his experience as a child of

Mexican immigrants in classes with predominantly white peers, teachers, and school administrators. This dichotomy, he challenges, creates an environment where

student's education depends on them conforming to a traditional system of

schooling rather than that system evolving to meet the growing needs of a diverse

population.

C U L T U R A L P E D A G O G Y :

E D U C A T I O N A L E Q U A L I T Y F O R

O U R Y O U T H

I S A E L T O R R E S

Cultural pedagogy

Culturally relevant teaching uses student culture in order to maintain it and to transcend the negative effects of the dominant culture. The negative effects are brought about, for example, by not seeing one's history, culture, or background represented in the textbook or curriculum or by seeing that history, culture or background distorted (Ladson-Billings p. 19).

In her book The Dream-Keepers Gloria Ladson-Billings writes about how important it is to see people of color in high positions in authority rather than just the janitorial staff or cafeteria workers. I would argue that it's equally important to teach youth about the history of the nation they grow up, in particularly civil rights leaders like Dolores Huerta or Cesar Chavez, alongside MLK, Harriet Tubman, and Malcom X. It's important that kids view themselves with the potential to succeed in similar roles in their future.

The importance of bilingual education

2. Minority children who gradually lose their first language as a result of being taught the second end up limited in both languages for a time. This circumstance leads to serious academic difficulties and is believed to contribute to the high rates of school failure and dropout among the low- SES Hispanic youngsters, who make up nearly 50-percent of the U.S. language minority population (Berk 2012).

When children are taught to favor one language over their native language, they lose a part of their cultural identity. This is something that has even effected me, Spanish was my native language, but now I am more comfortable speaking English. This is maybe not as relevant today with dual immersion classes becoming more popular. Regardless it's important to remember that many Native and foreign languages and cultures are lost through this process of assimilation.

Effect of Marginalizing Communities

3. Many students—particularly those from groups marginalized because of things like race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.—do feel excluded from learning spaces. This experience of exclusion can hamper academic performance in a process that can spiral out of control, through a “negative recursive cycle...where psychological threat and poor performance feed off one another, leading to ever-worsening performance." Beyond the purely academic, a sense of alienation or exclusion can even lead to negative health effects.

-From the Center of New Designs of Learning and Scholarship at Georgetown University

Among students who started in four-year public institutions, black students had the lowest six-year completion rate (46.0 percent). The completion rate of Hispanic students was almost 10 percentage points higher (55.7 percent). Over two-thirds of white students (71.7 percent) and three- quarters of Asian students (75.8 percent) completed a degree within the same period. (Shapiro 2020)

-National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

The effects of being a marginalized community in this nation are numerous and they are widespread. An example of this is the extensive media coverage of people like Michael Brown or Trayvon Martin- people of color, black teens, being shot. Seeing kids that look like them being targeted by white police is a traumatic and stressful experiences that follows children in the form of fears, anxieties, and potential stressors (DeAngelis 2014).Only by facing uncomfortable truths of discrimination even in school institutions, can be begin to challenge this system and start adequately preparing and training our teachers, revising curriculum standards with equity in mind, and putting to practice recognition.

I chose to research inclusive pedagogy because as a future teacher, I want to be aware that my experience as a woman of color does not reflect the same challenges and barriers that limit other minorities, like black or lgbt+ students, from reaching their full academic potential.

I focused on cultural pedagogy because it most closely reflects my own experience in my as a proud child of immigrants in an environment where biases and social stereotypes exist to challenge my success as an educator, however there are many marginalized communities that require representation.

The aim of culturally relevant teaching is to assist in the development of minority children to choose academic success, but also identify with and be proud member of a culture uniquely their own.

Acknowledging the difference in race, religion, socio- economic background, culture, sexual orientation, helps us teach more equitably.

key vocabulary inclusive pedagogy

A student-centered approach to teaching that pays attention to the varied

background, learning styles, and abilities of all the learners in front of you. It is a

method of teaching in which instructors and students work together to create a supportive and open environment that fosters social justice and allows each individual to be fully present and feel

minority a relatively small group of

people, especially one commonly discriminated against in a

community, society, or nation, differing from others in race, religion, language, or political

persuasion.

Discrimination the unjust or prejudicial treatment of

different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or

sex.

The quality of being fair and impartial. Distinct from

equality which is typically defined as treating

everyone the same and giving access to the same

opportunities, equity refers to proportional

representation in those same opportunities.

How can educators create a supportive/

inclusive learning environment? What are it's benefits?

Essential Questions What are biases you recognized within your own

education?

Identify consequences of maintaining the

educational system as is.

What are some of the ways discrimination

persists and how can we mitigate its

spread in the classroom?

List a plan of action to support

children's education that is equity centered.

Berk, L. E. (2012). Infants, children, and adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson

/Allyn & Bacon.

Cultural Pedagogy: Educational Equality for Our Youth | Isael Torres | TEDxSaltLakeCity [Video file]. (2017, November 14). Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=AbmyxZaBnhI&ab_channel=TEDxTalks

DeAngelis, T. (2014). Building resilience among black boys. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/10/cover-resilience

Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of

African American children. San Francisco, CA, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Maloney, E. (n.d.). The Teaching Commons. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://commons.georgetown.edu/teaching/design/inclusive-

pedagogy/

Shapiro, D., Dundar, A., & Huie, F. (2020, August 28). Completing College - National – 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://nscresearchcenter.org/signaturereport14/

equally valued (Maloney n.d).

HǍO