established by Ashley, Heeyoung, Angelica, & Dawna

extended by Kristin, Maria, Heeyoung, & Graciela

embelished by Karen, Victoria, Amme & Tiffany

 

 

 

Diversity in the Classroom: Pedagogy and Practice

 

 

 

 

 

“To be effective as a teacher, you must understand and acknowledge the critical role culture plays in the teaching-learning process.      ~Rosa Hernandez Sheets

 

 

The Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching

 

"I spend a great deal of time working with school districts throughout the country on efforts to close the achievement gap. While I rarely question the sincerity of those who lead these efforts I have come to understand that the reason why some schools succeed in closing or at least reducing the racial disparities in achievement while the overwhelming majority fail, has less to do with skill than with will. Schools like Edison Elementary in Port Chester, NY, Henshaw Middle School in Modesto, CA, or Fenway High School in Boston provide the proof that it is indeed possible to educate poor Black and Brown children. Their striking deviation from norms of failure and mediocrity, cannot be explained by their possession of a secret curriculum or extra resources, rather what sets them apart and makes them unique is the dedication, commitment of the educators who work there and deliberateness of the approach they take in meeting the needs of the students they serve."

                                            - Dr. Pedro Noguera

 

  

 

About the Speaker: 

Dr. Pedro Noguera is a professor in the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University. An urban sociologist, Noguera's scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and econonic conditions in the urban environment. The above excerpt is from one of his articles concerning race, schools, teachers, and the gap that exists between achievment levels and race. To get the full article just click on the link -  http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/er/pn_strat.html 

 

 

Cultural Competency in Education

 

For educators, culturally competent practice is an active, daily endeavor that must be built into all aspects of the classroom and curriculum.  Merely addressing culture as a novelty in isolated exercises does not help children better understand themselves or the broader world around them (McCracken, 1993).  In her work on Diversity Pedagogy Theory, Sheets (2009) found that effective teachers “understand and acknowledge the critical role culture plays in the teaching-learning process” (p. 11).  Teachers, therefore, must be pro-active in structuring both the learning environment and daily lessons so that they build on the existing cultural experiences of their students.  These cultural experiences establish cultural identities for students around factors such as race/ethnicity, gender, class, and religion, and form the basis of individual knowledge around which new learning will be organized (Sheets, 2009).

 

Teacher Impact

 

Diversity Pedagogy Theory maintains that culturally inclusive teachers (a) observe children’s cultural behavioral patterns to identify individual and group cultural competencies and skills; and (b) use this knowledge to guide their teaching decisions.”

                                                                        Sheets, 2009, p. 11

 

Teachers’ actions in the classroom speak as loudly as anything they may directly say to students, and in turn, their inaction sends a message no less impactful.  Cummins (2001) notes that “classroom interactions are never neutral with respect to the messages communicated to students about the value of their language, culture, intellect, and imagination” and further contends that a child’s educational potential hinges on their interactions with teachers (p. 650-651).

 

In the 1950’s Kenneth Clark conducted a famous experiment in which he demonstrated the subtleties of internalized bias against ones own ethnic group by asking African American children to choose the “best” doll in a set of dolls. When given the choice between white and black dolls, the children overwhelmingly chose the white doll.  Kiri Davis, a high school student disturbed by this idea, decided to revisit this experiment- see the results for yourself…

 

 

 

Think about it! What are the implications of this?   What impact does it have on a student in the classroom when their ethnic and cultural uniqueness is not embraced?  How does this impact their personal and academic achievement?

 

 

Student Performance and Beliefs About the Self

 

Despite how one might feel about the ethics involved, Jane Eliot’s infamous lesson on discrimination demonstrates the academic impact on students when they internalize negative messages linked to their self-identity.  In her lesson with second graders, she tells brown-eyed children that they are not as good as the blue-eyed children in the class, and then treats them accordingly.  On the second day of class she reverses the scenario and has the blue-eyed children bear the brunt of discrimination.  Take a look at the result on academic performance:

 

 

 

Educators may not be sending messages as overtly as Ms. Eliot, but they are still communicating with their students by the choices they make in the classroom.  Teachers must take care to encourage positive beliefs about the self within their students, and cultural competence in teaching practices ensures the likelihood that this will occur for a diverse student body.

 

Student Achievement

 

Classrooms have always been diverse, but the awareness of all our differences is now being used as the key to success in the classroom. As educators in the state of Texas, it is difficult to extend lessons to meet the needs of every child, especially when in the end, everybody is supposed to meet one goal - pass the TAKS. Gay (2000) found that students of color and immigrant students consistently lag in achievement scores when compared with white students. In addition, students of color typically are not following the path of academic success by completing their high school years and then continuing in higher education (Mitchell 2009).  

 

Gay(2000) suggested that the reasons for the academic achievement gap is the gap between student's home and school language. She called for a culturally responsive curriculum that represents the cultural differences of diverse students. As teachers recognize the cultural disconnect between what is taught (curriculum) how it is taught (instruction) and the student home environment, they can make a real difference in the educational achievements of all students. Change can happen when teachers choose a culturally responsive teaching pedagogy by demonstrating that they value the cultural differences of their students (Mitchell 2009).  Bucher (2000) believes that to help individual students succeed, instructors need to balance between holding high expectations for all the students regardless of who they are with the use of different techniques to teach each individual effectively.

 

 

 

 

Connecting Student Background to School Success

 

The following website contains information about how schools can connect students' home life to their school life and how parents can take part in this journey, too. "The background knowledge that children bring to the classroom provides the scaffold upon which language and literacy instruction builds. Recognizing the importance role culture has in language and literacy learning is essential to helping chilren make meaning of instruction" (literacynetwork.verizon.org 2008). 

http://literacynetwork.verizon.org/tln/files/parental-involvement-culture-1.pdf

 

 

 

Strategies in Selecting Materials

for the Diverse Learner

  

 

Phonemic Awareness

 

Phonemic awareness gaps exist for students of diversity, although these gaps seem to be largely misunderstood in professional literature, we discovered while researching this topic. As recently as the last decade, many professionals continued to cling to the “deficit thinking” model, stating that phonemic awareness difficulties exist “because of limited levels of literacy in students’ native languages, cultural disparities, and/or cultural deprivation (Artiles, Zamora-Duran, and Reyes 1997; Rueda, 1997). These earlier studies discount cultures in which there is oral storytelling that spans several generations; we now regard the storytelling traditions as culturally situated literacy practices.  However, contemporary researchers and teachers do agree on the fact that phonemic awareness requires a variety of instructional materials and media to foster individual reading acquisition skills.

 

 

Activities for Developing Phonemic Awareness in Diverse Learners
1.               Rhyme & Alliteration Rhyme: Do you see the fat cat sitting on the mat? Alliteration: Two tiny toads take time to talk. Assonance: I see three birds in the green tree. ……………………………………………………….................…. Activities * Silly Sentences: Assist students as they create silly alliterative sentences. Have the students illustrate their sentences and combine them together to make a class book. Example: Five funny frogs fell.   * Song/Rhyme: Sing familiar songs such as Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Change the stanza “Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily” to “Jerrily, jerrily, jerrily,” etc…   * Nursery Rhyme Rattle: Say three words, two of which rhyme. Have students identify the rhyming pair. Tell students to listen for rhyming pairs in a nursery rhyme such as Jill, hill. Give students noise makers and have them shake the noisemaker whenever they hear the second half of the rhyming pair.	2.                       Oddity tasks Rhyme                               * Medial Sounds Beginning Consonants        (long/short vowels)  Ending Consonants         * Medial Sounds                                                      (consonants)    .........…………………………..……………….....……………. Activities * Which Doesn’t Belong?: Students look at picture cards to see which doesn’t belong (i.e. picture cards: bat, butterfly, mouse, bugàmouse doesn’t belong because it doesn’t start with m).   * Stand, Sit, and Turn Around: Using students’ names, say a sound, such as /b/. All students whose name starts with /b/ will stand up, sit down, turn around, jump and clap (or another movement).   * Find your match: Pass out a picture card to each student. Students will find their match by finding the student whose picture card begins or ends with the same sound, or rhymes.
3.                      Oral Blending Syllables: can…dle (candle) Onset/rime: /p/…at (pat)  Phoneme by phoneme: /s/ /a/ /d/ (sad) …………………………………………………………. Activities * Guess it!: Teacher tells the student a category such as animals, numbers, colors, classroom objects, etc… The teacher then segments the word. Teacher: I’m thinking of a farm animal                It is a /p/ ig. Students: Pig   * Name Game: As you line up students for recess or lunch, model blending. Say students’ names in parts as you call them to line up. For example: /D/…an.   * Mystery Sentences: Read aloud sentences from a book or made up sentences. Segment one word in the sentence.        Teacher: I rode the /b/ /u/ /s/ this morning?                        What did I ride?        Students: The bus!	4.                      Oral Segmentation Syllables Onset/Rime Phoneme by phoneme (counting sounds) …………………………………………………………. Activities * Secret Sound: Tell students you are going to play a word game. Say three words and students listen closely to tell what sounds is the same in all three words. Be sure that the target sound is in the same position (initial, medial, or final). Examples: sun, sick, send              soap, road, note                   ship, shark, shoe           team, game, home                   doll, well, hill               robe, cab, web   * Clap Syllables: Clap out the number of sounds you hear in each student’s name. Clap words and decide how many syllables it has.   * One Potato: Teach students the rhyme “One potato.” Sit in a circle. As you say the rhyme, pass around an object. The student holding the object at the end of the rhyme states a new word that begins with /p/ since it is the first sound in potato. Repeat the rhyme replacing the word potato with a new word. Continue until all students give a word.
5.                                                         Phonemic Manipulation             *  Initial sound substitution                    * Syllable Deletion                            *  Initial phoneme in a blend deletion             * Final sound substitution                      * Initial Sound Deletion                    *  Final phoneme in a blend deletion             * Vowel Substitution                                * Final Sound Deletion ……………………………………………………………………………………………...…………………………… Activities * Initial Sound Switch: Students make new words by replacing the first sound in each word you say with /s/. If the teacher says run, students say sun. Continue with other words such as: hit, well, funny, bun, mad, bend, rat, rope. Make the game more challenging by substituting final consonants and then medial vowels.   * Consonant Riddles: Say a word, students will think of a word that rhymes with your word and starts with a particular sound.          Teacher: What rhymes with sat and begins with /p/?           Students: pat   * Sound Switcheroo: Say a word and have students listen carefully to the sounds in the word. Play switcheroo with one of the sounds by changing one sound in the beginning, middle, or end of a word. Students identify the sound that was switched. Example: Say mat and then sat, /m/ was switched with a /s/.

                                                                 (Adapted from Hillsborough County Public Schools, 1999/2000)

 

Fluency

 

Fluency involves the ability to read faster with fewer errors (McCollin & O’Shea, 2006), but fluency is also reading at an appropriate rate, with phrasing and expression (Martinez, Roser, & Strecker 1999). Fluency is the bridge that leads from word recognition towards word comprehension (Carnine et al., 2004). When teachers give students culturally relevant themes to base their learning on, concerns with fluency among culturally and linguistically diverse students can be dealt with more effectively. First, students need reading materials with visuals to reinforce fluency. Secondly, students also need to be exposed to key vocabulary words before reading a story or passage.  Finally, teachers need to select books and stories that have diverse characters and settings,  and culturally relevant themes and a plot that students can relate with (McCollin & O’Shea).

 

Poetry to Enhance Fluency

 

One way to tap into a child’s interest and cultural identity is through poetry. Webster and Walters (2008) suggest that poetic literature should stir emotions such as joy, sorrow, and nostalgia and create representations that appeal to the five senses. Children will be provided the opportunity to reminisce about their families, food, and even music. Poetry is another avenue to enhance a student's literary experience and allow them to take pride in their uniqueness.

 

When selecting poetry materials, an accurate representation of the culture is important. Before presenting new material, Webster and Walters (2008) encourage that educators review the following key points:

 

• Is the poet’s voice authentic?
• Is language used authentically?
• Is the culture portrayed from the point of view of someone inside the cultural group?
• Is the culture portrayed multi-dimensionally?
• Are cultural details naturally integrated with the text?
• Are characters portrayed as individuals without stereotyping?
• Are issues presented in their true complexity?
• Will children see “mirrors” of their own heritage?
• Will children see many “windows” into other people’s lives

 

Notable Multicultural authors and books: Notable Multicultural Poetry Resources.doc

 

 

Comprehension Strategies for the Diverse Classroom

         

Selecting and modifying content is critical in working with students who are becoming familiar with another language. When teachers purposely choose stories that reflect students cultural experience, as a result, background knowledge is activated, and motivation to read is increased (McCollin & O'Shea, 2006). Young learners especially listen more attentively in read-alouds and paired readings when they can imagine themselves as a character in the story.

 

How can a teacher increase comprehension and at the same time elicit multicultural awareness in the classroom?  It is the educator’s responsibility to initiate a diverse curriculum across the content areas. If the learning objective is to learn about comparing and contrasting in Reading, the teacher could bring in traditional folktales that relate to a variety of ethnic backgrounds. La Llorona by Joe Hayes and Prietitia and the Ghost Woman by Gloria Anzaldua offer two very different perspectives of a traditional Hispanic folktale. Students will be engaged while reading this classic tale and at the same time learn an important reading skill that meets state standards. Facilitating student learning through this type of background knowledge can improve student self-efficacy and increase academic achievement.

 

It is also important to emphasize that people of ethnic minority groups are also prominent figures in our society.  Allow students to work in cooperative groups to share their personal experiences and create a classroom environment that welcomes diversity. To reduce prejudice, Garderen and Whittaker (2006), propose grouping students in heterogeneous groups by gender and race and exploring religions in the context of holidays or historical events.

 

Using Culturally Relevant Text to Connect to Students' Lives 

 

Another way to teach diversity in the classroom is by having available to students texts that are “culturally relevant”, (Freeman and Freeman, 2004). According to Freeman and Freeman, culturally relevant books are texts that “connect to students’ lives, not just to their cultural heritage.”  It is important for teachers to know their students culture to be able to know which books would be considered culturally relevant for their students. Freeman and Freeman also suggest that by using culturally relevant texts, students may be able to better understand what they are reading, and as a result, may become more motivated to read, and therefore, will want to read more, which would help them to improve in reading.

Below is a rubric with questions that teachers and students can use to determine if a text may be culturally relevant, (Freeman, 2000). The questions focus on ways the characters and events in the text match up with the lives of the students

. Freeman and Freeman also note that this rubric can be used for mainstream students.

1. Are the characters in the story like you and your family?
2. Have you ever had an experience like one described in this story?
3. Have you lived in or visited places like those in the story?
4. Could this story take place this year?
5. How close do you think the main characters are to you in age?
6. Are the main characters in the story boys or girls?
7. Do the characters talk like you and your family do?
8. How often do you read stories like these?

 

An example of a culturally relevant text could be one such as the book “The Grapes of Wrath”, by John Steinbeck which Francisco Jimenez(Jimenez, 2004), writes he was able to connect with the plight of his family coming from Mexico to the United States to that of the Joad family in The Grapes of Wrath. Jimenez writes about how although he was struggling with the reading because of his “poor English language skills”, he writes that he could “not put the book down “ and says he  “finally understood what Miss Bell (his teacher) meant when she told him to read for enjoyment.” Francisco Jimenez writes that he enjoyed the book because he was able to relate to what he was reading. He says that when “students see themselves reflected in the curriculum, they feel valued in school and, consequently, gain more interest in their studies and develop greater self-esteem.

 

Examples for Culturally Relevant Text:

http://www.edequity.com/PDFs/culturally_relevant_books.pdf

The following is a link to PBS Kids for teaching ideas and readings that promote racial and cultural awareness in the classroom:  http://www.pbs.org/kcts/preciouschildren/diversity/index.html

 

Vocabulary Development

Of course one of the major components of comprehension is having a good grasp of vocabulary. Using a child’s first language as a guide to acquiring a second language might aid in enhancing a student’s vocabulary development.  When children’s first language is Spanish, teachers can use cognate words to help their students learn and master English reading content. Roskos, Ergul, Bryan, and James’s (2008) research study concluded that when children had the advantage of recognizing related root words, they performed better in vocabulary tasks. Diverse learners should be exposed to the same kind of vocabulary instruction to facilitate learning. Word study can be used in all aspects of reading including read alouds and comprehension.

An example cognate chart taken from Colorin Colorado site:

English	Spanish
family	familia
center	centro
radio	radio
class	clase
desert	desierto
magic	magia
gorilla	gorila

 

*Have students sort the words. Then ask them what the word pairs have in common and write responses on the board.

http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/background/cognates

  

Lesson Planning 

As educators are faced with time constraints, integrating multiculturalism in academic concepts would be the most effective method in instructing to a diverse population. Teaching cultural concepts are not only necessary to build student self-efficacy, but also a way to build tolerance among today’s youth. State standards continue to drive our educational system and DomNwachukwu (2005) provides two approaches in which students can meet state goals and objectives while taking a proactive approach in their role in society. As these approaches can be applied to any grade level, they should be modified according to student age and grade level populations.

 

The following is a literacy lesson plan that fosters diversity within the classroom: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=890 .

 

A Social Action Approach to Lesson Planning

 

One method that would be applicable to early literacy is the social approach. This method can be thought to enhance a groups’ social status while at the same time build tolerance and take action for change. Primary groups can modify this approach by focusing on teaching acceptance. The teacher can encourage children not to laugh at people that are diverse and to make friends with others who are represent different ethnic backgrounds (DomNwachukwu 2005).

Several lesson ideas are linked below:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp294-05.shtml

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp294-03.shtml

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp294-01.shtml

 

This website has many student centered activities that can also aid in lesson planning for emerging readers:

http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/studentCenterActivities2005.shtm

 

The following is a literacy lesson plan that fosters diversity within the classroom: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=890 

 

To take the quiz: How Family and Culturally Rich is Your Classroom? click here:  http://literacynetwork.verizon.org/tln/files/cultural-richness-survey.pdf

 

Considerations for English Language Learners

 

The social constructivist perspectives emphasize the dynamic nature of the interplay between learners and their peers and their teachers and others with whom they interact. Interaction and input are two major players in the process of language acquisition. Long (2000) posits that comprehensible input is the result of modified interaction(as cited in Brown). Long also states that comprehensible input is the result of native speakers and other interlocutors create in order to render their input comprehensible. In a strong endorsement of the power of interaction, Lier(2000) asserts that autonomy and authenticity lead the learner into Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, where learners construct the new language through socially mediated interaction(p.287).

 

All learners come to school with literacy knowledge of some type. The social constructivist model acknowledges that the kind of literacy knowledge and the way in which each learner develops literacy differs from student to student. Constructivism in literacy learning refers to the understanding that meaning is created trough the interaction of reader and text. Learners in the social constructivist model are active participants in constructing their own learning, based on their own backgrounds and interests (Yokota, 2008).

 

Teachers’ perspective of ELLs in mainstream classroom: participation in learning events and interaction with peers:

 

Nieto stated that by 2020 almost half of the public school population in the U.S. will be from families whose native language is not English (as cited in Yoon, 2007). ELLs education is no more restricted question to ESL teachers. It is crucial for all mainstream teachers to regard themselves as teachers who are responsible for ELLs’ education.  Students participation in learning activities and interaction with mainstream peers are crucial factors for ELLs’ learning. 

 

The following research outlines the vital role teachers play in offering ELLs possibilities to participate in learning events. The research also showed that the ELLs interaction with peers was different, although the two teachers shared the same lesson plans. Mr. Brown, a reading teacher told at the interview with researcher, “I have never seen myself as an ESL teacher. I don’t do a lot of special things for my ESL students. I don’t know how bad it is [laughs]… I think the ESL teacher’s job is to make their time beneficial” (p.218).  Ms. Young, the other reading teacher told at the interview with researcher, “I am a teacher of children. I don’t care whether they are ESL, special ed., regular ed., gifted or talented children. I did not sign on to be a teacher only to work with the brightest and the best. I signed on to work with all of them. I am supportive of their learning” (p.222).

 

Following are comparison of two teachers’ classroom;(p.219, 221)

	Mr. Brown’s classroom	Ms. Young’s classroom
Teacher’s view of role	Teacher works for general education students.   Teacher does not have full responsibility for teaching ELLs.	Teacher works for all students.   Teacher has a strong responsibility for teaching ELLs.
Teaching approach	Teacher is unaware of ELL’s cultural and social needs   Teacher uses discussion-based approach focusing on American culture.	Teacher embraces ELLs’ cultural differences.   Teacher encourages ELLs’ participation.   Teacher builds a community of learners.
Classroom dynamics	Mainstream students are highly interactive with one another.   Mainstream students have hidden power.	Mainstream students support and encourage ELLs.
ELLs’ participatory behaviors	ELLs are passive, isolated, and powerless.	ELLs are active, confident, and powerful.
Mainstream students’ participatory behaviors	Mainstream students resist ELLs’ participation.	Mainstream students accept ELLs as legitimate members.

 

 

 How Can I Foster Diversity at My School?

 

 "Making connections and bridging home practices with school practices are essential to children's learning".-(Riojas-Cortez, Flores, Smith, & Clark, 2003, p. 71)

 

With this knowledge of the vital areas that educators must focus on to support our diverse learners, we must consider the ways in which we can make this happen within schools."Parents and educators must recognize that children actively attempt to understand their world through their own language and culture. For this reason, children learn best when they acquire skills in a meaningful context" (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1999, para. 4).

 

In order to ensure that students are acquiring the skills that they need to learn and grow, educators must strive to authentically connect to students' culture and community. Schwarzer, Haywood, and Lorenzen (2003) state that "any teacher can foster mulitliteracy in the classroom without being a speaker of those languages" (p. 453). Nieto (as cited in Schwarzer, et al.) believes that although many teachers are making efforts to include multicultural literature into their curriculum, "native languages continue to be overlooked as a crucial aspect of multiculture education" (p. 455).

 

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In response to these findings, Schwarzer, et al. (2003) suggest ideas for monolingual teachers to foster native languages and mulitiliteracy in their classrooms:

 

&    Create a multiliterate print environment in your classroom.

&    Use literature in students’ native languages.

&    Create a multiliterate project to be conducted by a community member in the native language (i.e. dialogue journals,

          letters to grandparents or parents in the home country).

&    Create relevant curricular language centers supported by multiliterate community members.

&        Assess students’ ability to read in their first language.

&        Learn some words in the students’ first languages as well as your own heritage language.

&     Create audiotaped cassettes with greetings, basic conversations, songs, stories, etc. in the students’ first languages.

&       Involve community members as active participants in the class.

& Find ways to translate environmental print as well as school letters into all of the languages available in the community.

& Use the students’ culture and experiences as a catalyst for mulitliteracy development.

 

Here is an ariticle from Scholastic that states the importance of diversity and icludes a list of culturally diverse books. 

 http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3133

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The National Association for the Education of Young Children (1999) and (Riojas-Cortez, et al., 2003) expressed the importance of building the bridge between children's home and school as well. The authors provided recomendations for fostering diversity when working with children and families.  

 

Recommendations for working with children

Recommendations for working with families

v  Recognize that all children are cognitively, linguistically, and emotionally connected to the language and culture of their home. v  Acknowledge that children can demonstrate their knowledge and capabilities in many ways. v  Understand that without comprehensible input, second-language learning can be difficult.

v Actively involve parents and families in the setting v         Encourage and assist all parents in becoming knowledgeable           about the cognitive value for children of knowing more than          one language, and provide them with strategies to support,          maintain, and preserve home-language learning. v         Recognize that parents and families must rely on         caregivers and educators to honor and support the children           in the cultural values and norms of the home. v         Encourage parents to use their native language for their          family practices because traditional cultural practices, such         as telling cuentos (stories), can support school practices         (Riojas-Cortez, et al., 2003). v         Develop a relationship with families—understand their         experiences, traditions, beliefs, customs, and literacy         (Riojas-Cortez, et al., 2003). v         Help parents realize that they are their child’s first teacher-  "Rather than telling parents what to do at home,as educators,we should ask them "how we can complement their efforts" (Okagaki and Diamond as cited in (Riojas-Cortez, et al., 2003).

 

Overall, Riojas-Cortez, et al. (2003) express that "When teaching practices at school reflect the teaching practices of the home, children feel more comfortable and more likely to succeed. Therefore, educators must strive to meet the needs of our diverse students in order to ensure their success.

 

The following is a video clip on involving parents of diverse learners as partners in schools:

Parents_as_Partners__Involving_Parents_in_English_Language_Learning.asf  

 

 

 

References

 

Artiles, Zamora-Duran & Reyes; Rueda (1997) Reducing disproportionate representation of culturally diverse students in special and gifted programs Reston, VA:The council for exceptional children.

 

Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

 

Carnine, D. W., et. al. (2004). Direct instruction reading. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

 

Cummins, J. (2001). Empowering minority students: A framework for introduction.  Harvard Educational Review, 71(4), 649-657.

 

Dom Nwachukwu, C.S. (2005). Standards-based planning and teaching in a multicultural classroom. Multicultural Education, 13(1), 40-45.

 

Freeman, Y. & Freeman, D. (2004). Connecting students to culturally relevant texts. Talking Points, 15(2), 7-11.

 

Freeman, Y. (2000). Considerations for the selection of culturally relevant text. Unpublished article, University of Arizona, Tucson.                     

 

Garderen, D.V., & Whittaker, C. Planning differentiated, multicultural instruction for secondary inclusive classrooms. Council for Exceptional Children, 38(3), 12-20.

 

Hillsborough County Public Schools (2000). Elementary language arts and reading frameworks: Activities for developing phonemic awareness. In A. Grognet, J. Jameson, L. Franco, & M. Derrick-Mescua (Eds.), Enhancing English language learning in elementary classrooms: Study guide (pp. 12-19). McHenry, IL: Delta Systems Co., Inc. (Original work published in 1999). 

 

Jimenez, F. (2004). The transformative power of teachers and literature. Talking Points, 15(2). 12-14.

 

 

Martinez, Roser, & Strecker. (1999). I never thought I could be a star: A readers theatre ticket to fluency. The Reading Teacher, 52(4), 326-334.

 

McCollin & O'Shea (2006). Preventing school failure: Increasing reading achievement of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. University of North Carolina at Charolotte: Heldref Publications.

 

McCracken, J. B. (1993). Valuing diversity: The primary years. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

 

National Association for the Education of Young Children (1999). Linguistic and Cultural Diversity - Building on America's Strengths.

          Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/kcts/preciouschildren/diversity/read_linguistic.html

 

Plessis, P., & Bisschoff, T. (2007). Diversity and complexity in the classroom: Valuing racial and cultural diversity. Edcuational Research and Review, 2(9), 245-254. 

 

 

Riojas-Cortez, M., Flores, B.B., Smith, H.L., & Clark, E.R. (2003). Cuentame un cuento [tell me a story]: Bridging family literacy traditions with school literacy. Language Arts, 81(1), 62-71.

 

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