Culturally Relevant Pedagogy - Essay Example

Cultural competence affirms individual worth and facilitates the protection of individual dignity. This process entails certain policies, practices and attitudes that increase the quality of services received by individuals (Meidl & Meidl, 2011). Accordingly, all learning institutions must encourage and respect diversity in their learning policies and practices. Mary Beth Klotz (2006) asserts defines a culturally competent school as one that honours, values and respects diversity in both teaching and learning in order to make the learning meaningful and relevant to students with different cultural backgrounds (Marx & Byrnes, 2012).

Students who experience negative stereotypes tend to have low self-esteem thus struggling with their academic work. Cultural differences affect language processing, social status and perceptual abilities. For instance, African-Americans of all grades experience a negative schooling environment. Accordingly, White students account for 56 per cent of students while African Americans account for 15 per cent. English language learners of Latino ethnic background experience the highest dropouts. The rate of school dropout among White students is only 5.2 per cent while compared with a high of 17.6 per cent among Latinos and 9.3 per cent among African American students (Marx & Byrnes, 2012).
Teachers modify their approach to teaching depending on the varying perceptions and expectations of the students (Marx & Byrnes, 2012). The teachers must foster positive engagement through encouraging self-esteem in order to promote the active participation of all students in the classroom. For students with English language difficulties, the teachers must respect the native language of the child. A cooperative learning strategy will address ethnic diversity through role-playing and encouraging students to work as a group (Marx & Byrnes, 2012). Accordingly, teachers can bridge the ethnic differences by positively talking about the differences and persuading the students to refrain from ethnic stereotyping (Marx & Byrnes, 2012).
Students with learning disabilities have low academic outcomes. Accordingly, this category of students has trouble learning due to low perceptual skills and motor skills (Novak & Bartelheim, 2012). However, numerous pedagogical strategies accommodate students with learning disabilities. The teacher must be aware of the level of learning disability and implement an individual education plan that accommodates the learning needs of the student (Novak & Bartelheim, 2012). One of the strategies entails providing an outline of the course content and enough opportunities for the student to practice. The teacher can also use teamwork and encourage the students to play different roles within the learning group (Novak & Bartelheim, 2012).

Teaching and learning in a culturally diverse classroom require the understanding and respect of the cultures (Novak & Bartelheim, 2012). Cultural stereotypes and privileges disadvantage some students thus teachers must build alliances across the cultures in order to eradicate discrimination in learning. The teacher can incorporate issues dealing with ethnic background and culture in order to enable the students to appreciate and respect the unique cultural differences (Thurlow, 2005). The learning environment must allow students to connect their unique ethnic difference with the classroom learning experience since it is the foundation of building knowledge and skills. Some methods of connecting with unique ethnicity include requiring the students to write about their traditions, culture and sharing artefacts that reflect their culture (Thurlow, 2005). For students with learning disabilities, visual timetables, recorders and charts will enhance the learning ability of these unique students. The teacher can also break down the work into small tasks (Novak & Bartelheim, 2012). The teacher must also utilize other human resources such as therapy services and peer tutoring including direct teach routines. In the assessments, students with learning disabilities can be asked to make verbal representations of skills or collect an annotated work sample within a particular period of time. The teacher can emphasize the quality of work rather than quantity if the student has difficulties in writing the assignments. The teacher must constantly involve the parents of students with learning disabilities in the learning process through advising on the student needs (Thurlow, 2005).

Jigsaw learning strategy is incorporated in order to accommodate the diversity of the learners. This cooperative learning strategy enables the students to share responsibilities in a group and attain social skills (Thurlow, 2005). This technique improves the communication, listening and problem-solving skills of the learner thus helping the students with learning disabilities. In this case, the teacher will put the students into groups and assign a specific reading text to each group (Novak & Bartelheim, 2012). The teacher will provide guidelines and resources so that each group can complete the reading texts and assignments within the stipulated periods (Meidl & Meidl, 2011). The group members share responsibilities in handling the tasks of the group thus attaining more cooperation and creative learning skills (Thurlow, 2005).

Diversity refers to the unique physical and psychological differences of an individual that are reflected by differences in age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, culture or disability. Schools must value and respect diversity in their teaching and learning. The school environment must promote cultural awareness and respect for unique cultures. Several culturally relevant pedagogical strategies aim at respecting diversity and promoting the learning outcomes of culturally diverse students. For instance, cooperative learning will encourage social skills and appreciation of diversity in study groups. Accordingly, breaking down the work into small tasks, use of visual aids and incorporating cultural topics in the curriculum will address learning challenges and eliminate negative cultural stereotyping and.