3. Edu Sci - IJESR - No Strangers in Classrooms a Perspective of Culturally Responsive Practice

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NO STRANGERS IN CLASSROOMS: A PERSPECTIVE OF

CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICE

PEI-HSUAN LIN

National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted in SH Elementary School where students with multicultural backgrounds in USA. As

a parent volunteer, I was allowed to participate in school activities. I am interested in investigating foreign students

learning in the school. The field data came from my observations of school environment, curriculum and classrooms,

and informal interviews with school staffs. The main participants in this study included k-I class teacher Y, ESL teacher

A, and two Taiwanese kids--Emily and Erica. The study found that culturally responsive practice plays an important

bridge to provide a safe and pleasant learning environment for students. School teachers could be cultural brokers for

utilizing community resources, building positive climate, providing cultural caring, and transforming curriculum and

teaching.

KEYWORDS: Culturally Responsive Practice, Cultural Diversity, Cultural Broker

Received:Sep 24, 2015; Accepted:Oct 28, 2015; Published:Oct 30, 2015; Paper Id.:IJESRDEC20153

INTRODUCTION

School is a social institute where teachers and students bring their cultural background in. Traditionally,

with the viewpoint of cultural mainstream, cultural diversity has been seen an obstruction for students school

learning. To challenge the assumptions of the mainstream culture, multicultural educators take diversity as cultural

capitals instead of cultural hinders (Gay, 2000).

This study aimed at investigating how a school helped students with multi-cultural background. It was

conducted in SH Elementary School in USA. The 402 students came from 28 countries with 43 languages (data in

2011). As a school volunteer, I could participate in various curriculum and activities. I worked as a math volunteer

in k-1 teacher Ys class once a week (for two semesters) and ESL volunteer in teacher As class once a week (forone semester). I am interested in investigating how the school build a learning environment to support students

with cultural diversity.

I concentrated on the networks of students life experiences among classrooms, schools and their families.

The main participants in this study included k-I class teacher Y, ESL teacher A, and two Taiwanese kids --Emily

and Erica. K-1 Teacher Y was a young lady. She was one of the most popular in SH elementary school. She liked

to give her students a warm hug after class to say good-bye. ESL Teacher A was about 35 years old with sunny

smile. Emily was a 5thgrade girl. Her English ability was about 2

ndGrade level measured by entrance exam. Erica,

a kindergarten student, couldnt speak English. The field data were mainly from my observations of school

OriginalArticle

International Journal of Educational

Science and Research (IJESR)

ISSN(P): 2249-6947; ISSN(E): 2249-8052

Vol. 5, Issue 6, Dec 2015, 21- 26

TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.


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22 Pei-Hsuan Lin

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.3912 NAAS Rating: 2.72

environment, school curriculum and classroom, and informal interviews with school staffs.

SH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

SH elementary school (SH) is located in a Metropolis district. There were 62 faculties and 402 students in SH

(data in May, 2011). The students of SH were from two areas: the Village of SHwood and the housing of a university.

Students who living in the university housing were from 28 countries with 43 native languages. In teacher Ys K-1 class,

there were 16 students from 8 countries (data in September, 2010).

There were many institutes and resources near SH. The SH students were easy to access the resources--public

libraries, university facilities , Museums, community center of the university housing , community recreation center, etc.

These institutes provided various programs and activities for the residents and played important roles in social interactions.

This study aimed at investigating foreign students learning in a new school. The features of the school for support

students learning are discussed as below.

Cherishing Various Cultural Capitals

The diversities among students ethics, languages, and cultures were not seen as hinders for teachers teaching.

Instead, the administrators and teachers in SH utilized effectively parents involvement as resources for supporting

students learning, SH encouraged parents to join school activities by positive communication and interaction. Parents from

other countries did concern about their kids life in the school. SH adopted open strategies for encouraging parents to

participate in school activities, such as volunteer of administration, teaching, or after school programs.

Facilitating Learning by Administrative Support

SH employed ESL teachers with other language ability to help new comers. In SH, some of ESL teachers were

from China, Korea, Spain and French. For new comers, ESL teachers would enter their home classes to help. When k-1

new student, Erica, were in Ms. Young class in September, 2010. ESL teacher J who could speak Chinese went to the K-I

class to help Erica as possible as she could. ESL teachers were not only for teaching English but also for providing

assistance of students school life.

Library is one of most popular site in SH. Librarian, Ms. H. was a nice counselor for students. A Grade 4-5

Taiwanese student, Emily, whose English ability is about grade 2 by entrance exam. To help Ericas reading, Ms. H.

discussed with Emilys ESL teacher, then provided reading lists for Emily based on her age and language abilities.

Constructing Language Programs and Activities to Enhance Students Interaction

SH had several programs after school provide by PTA (parent and teacher association), such as language

programs, science clubs, craft classes etc. Most of the program teachers were parents with teacher certifications. Taking

language programs as an example, the programs included Japanese, Korean, France, Spanish, Chinese and Sign language.

Emilys best friend from Chili spoke Spanish. Emily joined Spanish program to learn her friends language. It was a way to

express kids friendship.

Designing Routine Multicultural Activities

SH held routine cultural activities for teachers, students and their family to share their culture and talents. Such as

variety show (students and teachers performances) in the first semester and international week (global village, food fairs,


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No Strangers in Classrooms: A Perspective of 23Culturally Responsive Practice


performances) in the second semester.

These activities taken charged by PTA were connected to classroom curriculum. For example, during international

week, K-1 teacher Y invited parents from other countries to introduce their food, customs, house and toys in her class.

The activities were designed to welcome parents participation. Parents took time to prepare the activities with

their kids. During the international week, most of the parents did their best for demonstrating their culture in the global

village and food fair. In the global village, the school became a big family.

CURRICULUM TRANSGROMATION BASED ON STUDENTS CULTURE AND LIFE

EXPERIENCE

Effective knowledge should connect to students life and experiences. In SH, culturally responsive curriculum is

muti-dimentions.

Students Learning Integration Based on Their Own Language and Culture

My family visited SH by new semester in August, 2010. Seeing us walking inside the school building, principal L

came over to say hello. She ardently welcomed my kids to the school and led us to visit it. Would the students diversity

be problems for teaching? Especially when teachers facing students who were not familiar with English. I wonderet.

Principal L expressed that she had been SH for ten years. One of the features in this school is students multicultural

background, she was glad to make friend with enthusiasm forging parents. She pointed that the diversity had been one of

important resources of this school, and never be a hinder for teachers teaching. Students would love to come and get well

along with other kids soon.

During the first week of the semester, SH took receptions for parents. As new comers, many parents worried about

their kids who might have difficulty in following school learning due to the lacks of Egnlish ability. Some of them asked

for extra programs or materials to enrich kids English after school. One of ESL teacher responded to those concerns:

school learning is hard for kids with different language. As school teachers, teaching English is our responsibility. For

students, their work is to share their new school experience with family. Please give your kids to express their experience

and school learning in their own language instead of putting pressures on them.

At PTA (parent-teacher meeting), as a parent, I entered Emilys class to meet her homeroom teacher, Mr. E. We

discussed about Emilys leaning and assignments. Mr. E expressed that he encouraged his students to write narrative after

school. I told Mr. E that I would ask Emily to do it every day. I was surprised while Mr. E faced Emily and told her: If you

think one narrative every day is OK for you, then you could do it. If you think its too much, a narrative a week is Ok, too.

I want you to enjoy the pleasure of doing narrative instead of the pressure from it.

Constructing Curriculum Base on Students Ordinary Life Experience

In SH, curriculum contents were related to seasons or school routine activities. Giving an example, main learning

units for k-l classes were regarding to spring and Global in the second semester. The following instances were my ESL

classroom observations.

3.2.1 March 15, 2011. When I went down basement to ESL classroom at 9:20. ESL teachers photos were on the

wall outside ESL classroom. Inside the classroom, there were an America national flag and a big world map. On the right


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24 Pei-Hsuan Lin


side of the classroom, a variety of souvenirs given by foreign students were set in the bookshelf. On the left side, readings

leveled 0-30 for ESL students were in the other bookshelf. ESL students was asked to bring two readings as home

assignment based on their English ability and readiness. ESL teacher A took K-1 ESL students from their own home class

to the ESL classroom. There were 8 students who were from China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Chili, and Mexico. Erica wasthe leader that day. When students sat on the floor, Erica pointed the words in the board with a point-pen and led other

students to read loudly: It is March 15, Wednesday, sunny day. The Unit of the class had been on Earth (one subunit of

Global) since February. They had learned the five Continents in the world. One Chinese student told me that his county is

in Asia by pointing the big Map on the wall with silence voice. Teacher A asked students where they lived. Then, she passed

each one a paper with M. city map. She asked the students to write I live in M... on the paper and color it.

3.2.2 March 23, 2011. The ESL class had been still on the unit of Earth. The topic was regarding to houses. ESL

teacher A opened a big book in which shows different styles of houses, such as ice house, long-stand house, stone house.

A new student from Japan was in the class that day. Another ESL teacher Mimi from Korea came to the class for helping

the new student. After finishing the big book, students went back to their seat from the front floor. A volunteer parent helped

to pass the worksheet and gave assistances. While students were doing their seat work, teachers A had 1 or 2 students to do

comprehension testing each class. She had Erica come to her desk for the testing. The test was not only to help ESL

teachers monitor students progress but also help students to know their reading levels. For Erica, her reading level made

progress to level 6-7 from 1-2 level when she was a new comer last September.

3.2.3 May 4, 2011. Todays unit is flowers and animals in spring. ESL Teacher A and students took some

pictures in schoolyards yesterday. The pictures included flowers (daffodil, dandelion, tulip) and animals (squirrel, robin,

turkey). Teacher A printed out the pictures. At the beginning of the class, students sang two spring songs which revised

from childrens songs. They were enjoying the singing. Teacher A attracted students attention by pointing the pictures took

yesterday on the board. They were excited to see the beautiful pictures and discussed the names and colors of the flowers

and animals. Then students went back to do their seat work, making a small book with 10 pages about flowers and animals

in spring. On each page of the small book, it let kids to write by a sentence: In the spring, we see . Everyone could

write his/her own sentences and picked the pictures on the board to stick it on the blank part in the page. For example, I

can see a red robin in the tree or I can see a white tulip in the garden. They were expected to do page by page. The pace of

ESL seatwork for each student was flexible. If the students couldnt finish the work in this class, they could keep doing in

next class. Its Ericas turn for comprehension testing. She was in level 9. Erica picked readings leveled 9-10 on the book

shelf for home studying today.

3.2.4 May 26, 2011. The ESL class started with it is May 26, Thursday, rainy while a leader led the class to

read loudly by pointing those words on a board. The topic is animals connected to the farm field trip for K-1 students last

week. The students saw lots of animals in the farm. They were allowed to hold a baby animal if they wanted. Erica had a

chick in her hands that day. In todays class, teacher told a ducking story with a big picture book. She also prepared

stickers, pictures for students seatwork. The seatwork was to finish the worksheet by choice one of their favorite animal

and fill out the brank by referring to the works appeared in the big book. Then they could draw or use sticker to finish a

picture with simple words.

Teacher A prepared some clean old socks for planting plant pal since the beginning of the unit of spring. Since

then, students had done their journal to trace the growth of their plant pal. The plant pals were growing green hair. Some


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No Strangers in Classrooms: A Perspective of 25Culturally Responsive Practice


of the students were busying in cutting the pals hair, some were busying in recording the length of the pals hair. Taking

care of their plant pal was much fun than doing todays worksheet.

Utilizing Symbolic Curriculum

One way for transferring culturally relevant curriculum is the application of symbolic curriculum (Tisdell, 2006)).

In SH, students could see world maps, their national flags and artworks around the school. In school, students could

introduce their national flag and traditional artworks to their friends by the map and decorations located in school corners.

They learned to know one another and different culture by the open, fresh and respect symbolic environment in the school.

Interactive Instruction and Strategies

Each student has his/her own learning style rooted in their live and culture. In SH, responding to students

differentiation, the nature of teaching was caring, flexibility and variety.

3.4.1 Caring Relationship among Teachers and Students. SH is an international school. The school welcomed newcomers anytime. Teachers showed their geniality in getting along with kids. For instance, Erica couldnt speak English

when she came to SH. She was used to give a hug to her homeroom teacher Y to express her appreciation or anxiety. Miss

Y was glad her students to interact with her by different ways. She said when a student comes to give me a hug or hold

my hands that means he/she feels safe and needs help. I enjoy the warmth with my students by different interactive means.

3.4.2. Providing Tiered Materials and Flexible Pace to Fit Students Learning Need and Readiness. Students

readiness, learning style and interest were different due to the mix-age and multi-cultural background in SH. In teacher Ys

classroom, she prepared different levels of learning files/boxes which including different materials, reading, and

assignments for each student. Responding to mix-age kids, grouping was a popular strategy in classrooms. In teacher Ys

classroom, students were divided into four groups according to their math readiness and abilities. She taught one group

each class while the other groups were doing their assignments or works prepared by teachers in their files. For younger

kids, like Erica, teacher Y gave them more time to do their work by their own pace instead of unifying the worktime.

3.4.3. Encouraging Students to Express Their Ideas and Feeling by Multiform. In teacher As and Ys classrooms,

there were lots of teaching aids in cabinets. Teacher Y indicated that it was important to learn by sensory for little kids. She

spend lots of time in collecting and preparing operational materials. In addition, she designed learning by planning games.

Her students often played cards to enhance the concepts of numbering. She thought that students could get along with one

another easily by playing games as well.

As new comers, some students had difficulty in speaking English. Teacher Y started her class by students sharing

stories with sign language every day. To give students opportunities to express their story and feeling, teacher Y adopt

several strategies, such as sign language, story books, weekly stars etc. Every kid had a story book to share her/his life

story. It could be done by writing, drawing, pictures, or photos. Week birthday star is one of favorite programs in the

classroom. The weekly stars prepared photos and told the class about their growth story. Those approaches were not only

for sharing individual growth but also the story regarding diverse environment and cultural characteristics. They learned to

know one another as well as their culture.


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TEACHERS AS CULTUARL BROKERS

Schoolteachers, as cultural organizers and collaborators (Gay, 2000; Gentemann & Whitehead, 1983), can build a

bridge among students families. Teacher Y and teacher A welcomed parents to be volunteers in her classrooms. It provided

opportunities for parents making friends with another by participating in the classes. The trust and friendship among

parents affect students positive interaction after school.

Teacher Ys students often invited their classmates to join their family activities after school. For kids, birthday

party is one of most popular social activities. Erica was invited to her classmates birthday party. She attended Natashas

panama party, Kittys cake-baking party, and so on. For her, enjoying the exotic parties would be indelible experiences.

Parents did appreciate teacher Y for her kindness and patience to their kids. Two weeks before teachers

appreciation week (May 2-6), two parents invited others to help their kids design presents for teacher appreciation day

without notifying teacher Y in advance. Students made a thank-book by cards with their words. Teacher Y was amazed at

receiving the present. How touching she was when getting the surprise!

I had entered a study field with strange culture. During this time, I learned how the school teachers interpreted

students differentiation and response to their diversity. In SH, staffs and teachers took diversity as a normal part of the

school ecology. They admitted and appreciated the differentiations. They utilized diversity as resource to build support

systems for students learning during school time and after school. Student felt safe and enjoyed their learning in SH. There

was no strangers in the school after all.

REFERENCES

1.

Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research and practice. NY: Teacher College Press.

2.

Gentemann, K. M., & Whitehead, T. L. (1983). The cultural broker concept in bicultural education. Journal of Negro

Education, 52(2), 118-129.

3.

Tisdell, E. J. (2006). Spirituality, cultural identity, and Epistemology in culturally responsive teaching in higher education.

Multicultural perspective, 8(3), 19-25.

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3. Edu Sci - IJESR - No Strangers in Classrooms a Perspective of Culturally Responsive Practice