To be a culturally competent teacher, I will have to work with families while utilizing community resources and understanding the differences of the families of each of my individual students. The influence that family participation has on a student’s learning is immense and incredibly important as is the benefit of collaboration with the wider school community. As much as I would like things to always be easy, I know that it would be naïve to think that a conflict will never arise between me and the parent(s) of my students. Challenges that may come up would be problems that will affect the communication that I have with the parents. These problems may be things such as difference in language, and furthermore how fluent the parents speak English, as English is the language which I speak. The second problem which I may encounter in collaborating with the parents of my students could be more culturally based issues. For example, the way which I handle disciplining the student may be different than how the parent would handle it. We may even talk to the student differently. This issue is where theorist Lisa Delpit comes in.
Lisa Delpit believes very strongly in the importance of communication- communication between teacher and student, student and parents and parents and teachers. But it seems she feels the most important would be the communication which occurs between parents and teachers. In much of her discussion she refers to poor children and children of color who are the ones most in need of a productive communication between their parents and teachers. Delpit believes that “the dilemma is not really in the debate over instructional methodology, but rather in communicating across cultures and in addressing the more fundamental issue of power, of whose voice gets to be heard in determining what is best for poor children and children of color.” These ideas will help me to address the challenges which I will face with the parents of my students.
I would address the challenges that come about with the communication, or lack thereof, between myself and the parents by creating alternative ways to the methods which I will do things. For example if Johnny were to repeatedly fail to hand in homework assignments, I would have to find a way to punish him in order to discourage him from repeating the behavior. Before taking any sort of action though, I could call Johnny’s parents and inform them of the situation and then ask for words of advice, perhaps what they would do if they were in my situation. In the words of Delpit, by doing this I would be “…seeking out those who perspectives may differ most, by learning to give their words complete attention…and to listen, no, hear what they say”. Then I could combine how I would have handled the issue, with how the parents would’ve handled the issue keeping us all on equal terms and on equal levels when it came to the punishment and the influence which the punishment has on Johnny. Furthermore, I would just try to address ever challenge open mindedly, and perhaps as always being second to the parents, because after all they know their children better that I would as their teacher. This would ultimately show, I think, a great amount of respect for the contributions of the parents when it comes to the academic area of the child’s life.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree with you on involving the parents on the issue of punishment. I think that involving the parent makes them part of the classroom and helps everyone get involved. It would also help the parent and teacher stay on good terms. The teacher I tutor for always calls the parents when homework is not complete. I think this is one of good assets. She knows the parents and gets them involved in the academics. It helps the parents know what the children are learning and keeps them in the loop. When I am a teacher I want everyone to be on the same page. Delpit would also agree with you. She saw the difference between how the parent punishes a child and how a teacher does. In most cases the parent was more successful because she knows her child better then anyone else. She also talks about the way to phrase things so stucents will understand, you have to be direct and say exactly what you want. Most teachers phrase it in a question form so the student doesn't understand if they have to. With a language barrier this is hard because they definately wouldn't understand if they have to do what was asked of them.
ReplyDeleteSarah!
ReplyDeleteYour promts are put together very well!! It shows that you put lots of work and effort into them. Just thought I'd let you know :-)
I agree with both you and Kali about involving the parents when it comes to the issue of punishment. Each student is sent home to a different life style and most likely are all experiencing discipline differently than one another. In general when teachers work together with parents I feel the outcome will overall is more successfull.
I noticed that the teacher of the classroom I am tutoring in is constantly on the phone with parents or has a parent teacher meeting. She has expressed to me that it is difficult for her when it comes to some parents because their participation in their children's education is simply non existant. But for the parents that do work closely with her, she mentioned that those students seem to do better than some of the students whose parents do not.
When I become a teacher I plan to develope relationships with both the students and their families. I feel it is extremely important to understand where the students are coming from, their parents and their way of educating their own child, and to be aware of the best way possible to connect with the students.
I also thought of Delpit when I wrote this prompt. I think she comes to mind because she approaches the different ways to speak with children. Each child is different, some students are going to respond one way while others are going to respond another way. Teachers need to be aware of the overall difference in every aspect of their students. There is never going to be a case where a teacher has a classroom of students who are all the same, learn the same, respond the same, and require the same interaction from their teacher. Its just impossible. Our experiences tutoring these students have helped show us this. I'm eager to be a teacher. Hope you enjoyed your experience!
Have a great summer!!!
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI like your emphasis on respect. Keep that focus . . . it will serve you, your students, and parents well.
I encourage you to reconsider the word "punish." Punitive measures, although they might "work" in the short run, always disrupt relationships. That is not to say that lack of responsibility can be ignored. Far from it. We must recognize a student's struggle and look for ways to develop responsibility. Assigning meaningful assignments is a starting point.
Keep me posted,
Dr. August