Culture

Chapter 3 from Content Area Reading brought up some very interesting ideas that I have to say are things that I have not really thought about. Growing up, I did not really experience much diversity in my classroom because I went through Catholic schooling my whole life, and it was predominantly white. I do think that it is very important for teachers to be aware of the different cultural background each individual student comes from. Having a good understanding of other peoples cultures could greatly help teachers understand why some students may act the way they do. One part of the textbook i found interesting was the section about integrating multicultural literature in the classroom.  I think it would be a good idea to use texts from different cultures especially in a history class. By choosing multicultural texts it could provide a much different side of the story in a history class. It is important to recognize different perspectives on issues when studying history, and using these types of texts could offer students that opportunity to earn these different points of view. Another part of the chapter I found interesting was the section on Linguistic differences in schools. This is important because communication is one of the most crucial things a teacher must be able to do, if not the most important. I also found it interesting that immigrant students who maintain a strong identification to their culture tend to do better academically. It is important for teachers to recognize that just because a student has a hard time understanding or speaking English, doesn't mean that they are incapable of learning. The text talks about this as being able to recognize a language difference vs a language deficit. As future educators, we all need to be aware of this distinction.