Powerful Practices by Melanie Hadjes Special education teachers
have a RESPONSIBILITY to be aware of and sensitive to the needs of
DIVERSE LEARNERS as well as provide them with an appropriate
education. ~Powerful Practices pg. 9
Slide 4
WHAT ? Responsibility! HOW ? Learn about their cultures and
language background! TO WHOM ? Diverse Learners!
Slide 5
The competencies of teachers are just beginning to catch up to
the needs of a growing student population. ~ Powerful Practices pg.
8-9 Being a special education teacher in training, I can tell you
that is true. The expectations of and for todays teachers is
increasing. Praxis II is required before student teaching even
begins, thats a start! And lucky for me I dont have to catch up
alone. Collaboration is crucial!
Slide 6
What do you mean Collaboration is crucial? Collaboration
creates new possibilities & opportunities which wouldnt
otherwise exist. Work with parents, students and colleagues to
learn, grow and share ideas.
Slide 7
Professional Practices http://www.youtube.com/
watch?feature=player_de tailpage&v=tfa7VWxtS7k
http://www.youtube.com/ watch?feature=player_de
tailpage&v=tfa7VWxtS7k In The Culturally Responsive Teacher,
Sonya Whitaker shows you how to provide a safe, respectful, and
professional place for teachers to discuss cultural conflicts and
learn to be culturally responsive educators.
Slide 8
Culturally and linguistically Diverse Learners? How do I teach
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/teaching-
methods/resource/6039.html
Slide 9
Appreciate and accommodate the similarities and differences
among the students' cultures. Build relationships with students.
Focus on the ways students learn and observe students to identify
their task orientations. Use a variety of instructional strategies
and learning activities. Communicate expectations. Certain
behaviors and instructional strategies enable teachers to build a
stronger teaching/learning relationship with their culturally
diverse students. Many of these behaviors and strategies exemplify
standard practices of good teaching, and others are specific to
working with students from diverse cultures.
Slide 10
Effective teachers of culturally diverse students acknowledge
both individual and cultural differences enthusiastically and
identify these differences in a positive manner. This positive
identification creates a basis for the development of effective
communication and instructional strategies. Social skills such as
respect and cross-cultural understanding can be modeled, taught,
prompted, and reinforced by the teacher. Offering variety provides
the students with opportunities to learn in ways that are
responsive to their own communication styles, cognitive styles, and
aptitudes. In addition, the variety helps them develop and
strengthen other approaches to learning. Developing an
understanding of students' lives also enables the teacher to
increase the relevance of lessons and make examples more
meaningful.
Slide 11
What have we learned? Special education teachers have a
RESPONSIBILITY to be aware of and sensitive to the needs of DIVERSE
LEARNERS as well as provide them with an appropriate education.
~Powerful practices pg. 9 All teachers must be culturally aware and
culturally responsive. ~Inclusion pg. 241 The curriculum should be
integrated, interdisciplinary, meaningful, and student-centered. It
should include issues and topics related to the students'
background and culture. It should challenge the students to develop
higher-order knowledge and skills (Villegas, 1991).
