Cultural impacts the way children participate in education and how teachers react to children’s participation patterns. Teachers who lack knowledge about culture might misjudge the behavior of a child from a different culture. These differences can cause educators to incorrectly judge students as behaving badly or disrespectful, or as shy rather than respectful. In the same respect, students can find themselves reprimanded by teachers and do not understand what they did. Culture also impacts learning styles. Students from certain cultures may learn best by observing and then doing, some students prefer verbal instructions and while some prefer visual/written instructions. Culture also impacts beliefs about education and the value of education. Some cultures tend to regard teachers as experts and defer educational decision making to them, while some cultures are more actively involved, visible, and volunteer in their children's classrooms. These cultural differences in value and belief can cause educators to make untrue judgments regarding the value families place on education. And while it is important to keep in mind that different cultural groups tend to follow different interaction styles, there can be big differences within cultural groups so educators need to understand individual histories and ideologies regarding education and learning as well as the cultural patterns and beliefs of groups.
J. McLeskey, J., Rosenberg, M.S., Westling, D.L. (2008), Special Education for Today's Teachers: An Introduction, p. 63-64.
Great information Doris. I think that unless enducators learn about the different culters in their classes student behviors will continue to be misinterpreted. I think quite often the behviors are not given the benefit of the doubt, nor are the students given enough explicit instruction about the cultural norms they must now learn.
ReplyDeleteI guess since I am an ASD teacher and spend half my time working on behaviors, it is always on my mind!
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