Free Essay on Cultural Diversity Consciousness in the School Setting

Introduction

Parents have a significant role in the education of their children in various schools. This is because hey based in different communities with different cultural backgrounds, which further inform the beliefs of their children, which subsequently influence their academic life. Consequently, educators have a great task of recognizing the significance of the community and remembering that cultural diversity occurs. According to Aragona-Young and Sawyer (2018), they need to develop strategies, which will ensure that strategies implemented in educating the children adequately demonstrate cultural diversity consciousness. This paper discusses how cultural insights can be used to inform multicultural perspectives in the school setting.

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Insights for an Educator

Examination of One's Own Cultural Identity

An educator has an obligation of examining and understanding the various aspects of their cultural identity. This will be an important step towards establishing an inclusive service provision to a diverse population with different cultural perspectives. Berger and Riojas-Cortez (2011) observed that examination of the cultural identity is important for an educator to develop an insight for their culture and how it may affect dealing with issues in an environment influenced by a significant level of diversity. Nevertheless, as much as an individual is expected to be culturally diverse conscious, educators should be able to develop a feeling for belonging to a given culture. This enables them to understand that parents and others in the community, as well as value their cultural identities. This will subsequently help the teachers and administrators to initiate and implement intervention strategies working with the parents and students in a cultural conscious manner.

Identification of Different Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds Represented in the School

A school is an organization with its distinct organization which should be recognized and complied by any person attached to it one any way. However, in spite of the existence of the specific form of cultural implications, the stakeholders making up the school community come from different places where different cultural issues are being practiced. Subsequently, this follows people with different cultural backgrounds are represented in a school and their representation should be balanced with limited biases (Aragona-Young & Sawyer, 2018). As a result, the educators in every school are obliged to know their original practices first in which case the parents for their students have a role to play in the cultural integration.

Using a variety of Literature Representing Children

Many works of literature have been published on the aspect of cultural diversity and identity in education most of which represent children in various contexts. This literature could be representing children from different contexts like schools or communities. Berger and Riojas-Cortez (2011) felt that these aspects of society communicate the issue of diversity. This is because children come from different communities in which cultural practices are accepted and recognized. Therefore, the use of such artistic works is sufficient to show the educators that a school serves a convergent point for diverse communities represented by children. besides, it also reminds the teachers and administrators to initiate strategies which will accommodate a multicultural existence.

Using Photographs of People in the Community of Location

The community in which a school is located is very important for the continuity of the given academic institution. It plays a significant role in its survival in many ways; for one, the cultural perspectives of the school are based on the beliefs and practiced in the community around. The school administrators and teachers can use different media to communicate what is going on in the community and present it to the children (Popescu et al., 2015). In this case, photos can b used as the best approach because of the potential to communicate details about the people around the school. This reminds the school about the role that parents play as key partners in education.

Representation of children's Cultural and Linguistic background in the Curriculum

Administrators in every school will also need to incorporate the various children's cultural and linguistic background in the curriculum, which will further be adopted by the teachers. This ensures that no child is left out as a way of promoting an inclusive existence for any student in the academic institution. Such a curriculum will be able to tell the story of the children by including what their culture is all about (Berger & Riojas-Cortez, 2011). In the end, both the teachers and the students will have, the opportunity to understand the need to respect all the cultures represented and develops a sense of the need for cultural diversity in an academic context.

Strategies for Working with Children and Families Who Have a Variety of Linguistic and Cultural Backgrounds

Use the Knowledge of Cultural Diversity to Inform Teaching

Working with children who have a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds requires that one develops adequate knowledge regarding their identity. This takes the educators' to another level whereby they must learn the extent of cultural diversity among the children in the school. The knowledge of cultural diversity should reflect on teaching (Aragona-Young & Sawyer, 2018). This implies that the methods of instruction adopted by the teachers should be cultural diversity sensitive especially reflecting on the differences among the children in a given classroom. This increases the willingness of the students to participate fully in class activities.

Use of Multicultural Learning Materials

Educators can use multicultural materials and books as a way of fostering a cross-cultural learning experience. This introduces the need for using some of the available sensitive multicultural literature. In this case, the educators should be specific in promoting especially the use of children's literature, to honour the culture of students. In the end, the teachers working with the students will have been successfully able to promote their cultural understanding. According to O'Reilly and Milner (2015), this can be achieved by being open to various instructional strategies some of which can e contributed to by considering children as strategic stakeholders in a school. The strategies may include approaches like promoting competitive games which allows the students the opportunities to participate in their ways as their cultures dictate.

Programs that Best Serve these Students' Needs

Encouraging Cultural Activities outside the Class

These programs include co-curricular activities which involve the participation of students outside the classroom environment. This step introduces some level of freedom in which the children from different backgrounds incorporate different cultural perspectives. Aragona-Young and Sawyer (2018) argued that the programs can be advanced by allowing the students to participate among themselves. Furthermore, educators in charge can track student participation. The educators should be careful enough to ensure that they declare no culture superior to the other but only consider how best a student present a given culture. These can be used to make the basis of their terminal performance reports to encourage them to be exercising their cultures freely.

Foster Respect for the Individual Culture

Each of the cultures represented in an academic institution needs to be respected and the honour should reflect in all the activities undertaken in the school environment. An approach towards this mission is to teach fellow students about the need to respect each other's culture. This is because of the high student to teacher population, which implies that students have the potential to develop an impression of a given culture (O'Reilly & Milner, 2015). Therefore, training children to be respecting other's culture is a way of generally promoting respect for the perspectives in the school. In the course of the exercise, the educators should lead as an example to help the students see the sense for the same.

Methods and Curricula for Including Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Using Media that Positively Depict Different Cultures

The inclusion of a culturally diverse media implies that at least a significant portion if not all students have their cultures represented in the teaching pedagogy. Learning that their cultures are representing in the teaching methods and curricular ensures that students are highly motivated and there high chances that they gain positive experiences out of the learning activities (Olivos, Gallagher & Aguilar, 2010). An example is through using media like movies and books to portray their cultures positively.

Interview Students

Teaching modes can consider the interview as a pedagogy involving the students' participation as the key resource people in the exercise. It is important to note that the interviews should be based on the cultural perspectives where the educator is willing to know what beliefs and practices are valued in their communities (Aragona-Young & Sawyer, 2018). For example, the interviews can involve inquiring about hobbies as this can communicate a lot about the likes of the people from their communities. This can further be used to inform how they are taught.

Conclusion

Educators and administrators need to recognize all the cultures represented in the school. This is because students are children who come from different communities with diverse cultural practices. However, teachers must be conscious of their own cultural identity as a starting point to be able to note the cultural differences they may experience. As a result, different teaching methods should be put into place all of which should help the teachers to accommodate all the cultures and promoting them positively.

References

Aragona-Young, E., & Sawyer, B. (2018). Elementary teachers' beliefs about multicultural education practices. Teachers And Teaching, 24(5), 465-486. DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2018.1435527

Berger, E., & Riojas-Cortez, M. (2011). Parents as partners in education: Families and schools working together (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River: NJ: Pearson.

O'Reilly, S., & Milner, J. (2015). Supporting culturally and linguistically diverse students during clinical placement: strategies from both sides of the table. BMC Medical Education, 15(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12909-015-0458-3

Olivos, E., Gallagher, R., & Aguilar, J. (2010). Fostering Collaboration With Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families of Children With Moderate to Severe Disabilities. Journal Of Educational And Psychological Consultation, 20(1), 28-40. DOI: 10.1080/10474410903535372

Popescu, A., Suciu, S., Borca, C., Nodea, A., & Ayotte, L. (2015). Cultural Diversity Evaluation in Educational Learning Groups. Procedia Technology, 19, 1156-1163. DOI: 10.1016/j.protcy.2015.02.165