Sherie Loika
Ed 6327
Angelo State University
6. Discuss the Hispanic values presented in class. How can you apply and use this information in your situation?
What do you do when the minority is the majority? The school in which I teach is 55% Hispanic. To assure that our Hispanic students are reaping the benefits of education, it is imperative to my school to embrace the Hispanic culture. As Cushner states in Human Diversity in Education, “learning-style differences may be more readily understood if we look at the connections between language, culture, and learning style.” Tapping into the cultural values of Hispanics will allow teachers insight into student educational needs. The following will address the Hispanic value of family and the importance of community work and how it relates to my teaching atmosphere.
Firstly, Hispanics are extremely family-oriented. This devotion to family can play a vital role in the educational setting. One way that I intend to apply this knowledge of Hispanic values is to keep Hispanic families informed and involved with their children’s education through more frequent communication (both negative and positive). I believe that with family support of our educational system, Hispanic student success will increase. Projects such as open house, community programs, and after school activities can be advertised to the families to welcome them and embrace them as part of the educational process.
Furthermore, Hispanics work as a community by supporting and helping each other through problems. By incorporating this ideal into my classroom, I can achieve a classroom community in which students work cooperatively to accomplish objectives. Harvesting this knowledge will also help me assist students in preparing for the TAKS test. Knowing that traditional assessment instruments such as the TAKS test favor field independent learners (learners better at individual work), I can help our Hispanic students (who are field dependent) to attempt to alter their learning style.
Maximizing the knowledge I have acquired about Hispanic values will impact my teaching methods and my students’ learning outcomes. Embracing the family as part of the educational process encompasses the school in itself while using the community ideals will alter the environment of the individual classroom. Both of these practices will create an atmosphere of academic excellence for our children and community.
Understanding how learners learn is the primary focus of teachers and cannot be achieved without thorough knowledge of their culture. Our Hispanic students and our teachers will reduce misunderstandings and develop an environment conducive to learning by investigating value systems and cultural ideals.
7. Using your journal article that you presented in the class seminar compare and contrast it to another article that was presented. Which article is the most useful to you and why?
Inquiring of the world around us is human nature; however, addressing inquiries involves a variety of avenues. The following journal articles represent different approaches to questions of practices surrounding cultural diversity and academia. The first article representing primary research is a study utilizing the scientific method to investigate the relationship between cultural diversity and student educational outcomes. The second article representing secondary research is a monologue using reviews of the literature and educated recommendations to persuade a change in educational practices encompassing cultural diversity.
Firstly, Racial and ethnic diversity in the classroom is a research study by Patrick Terenzini, Alberto Cabrera, and Carol Colbeck presented in the September/October 2001 issue of The Journal of Higher Education. By using a sample of 1,258 engineering students at seven institutions, the researchers designed and implemented a scientific study “to evaluate whether and to what extent (if any) the racial/ethnic diversity of the students in a classroom is related to student learning, specifically, to gains in students’ problem-solving skills and their abilities to work in groups.” Terenzini, Cabrera, and Colbeck found preliminary analysis to indicate that “ as classroom diversity increased, the nature of the effect on reported learning gains changed.” However, they sought further scientific analysis to confirm their findings. Classrooms were categorized as no diversity (0-100% people of color), low diversity (6-19% people of color), medium-low diversity (22-30% people of color), medium diversity (33-38% people of color), and high diversity (40-50% people of color). Analyzing classroom diversity in these categories found a positive influence in only the medium diversity classroom. Stated from the authors, “the findings in this study suggest a small, if statistically significant, link between the level of racial/ethnic diversity in a classroom and students’ reports of increases in their problem-solving and group skills.” However, the authors add that the evidence is far from conclusive and advocate subsequent studies. The type of research Terenzini, Cabrera, and Colbeck used is primary research where a question is posed, an experiment is developed, data is collected and analyzed, and educated conclusions are drawn. The outcome is not known until the research is complete.
Subsequently, Cultural Diversity and Academic Achievement is a monograph by Barbara Bowman confronting “the educational needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students.” Bowman firmly addresses educational facilities as either broadening to teach for the betterment of our children or continuing to follow traditional practices. Suggesting schools have misjudged children from poor and minority families as being inadequate, Bowman emphasizes a need for cultural understanding to abolish such misconceptions. Support for her document relies on previously written monologues and literature. For example, the statement, “Gradually and inexorably, the chances for academic success diminish for poor and minority students as they are launched into trajectories of failure,” was extracted from a monograph written by K. Alexander and D. Entwisle’s called Achievement in the First Two Years of School for Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development in 1988. Other literature to substantiate Bowman’s dialogue includes the research of Tharp in 1989 at Kamehameha Elementary Education Program and the theories of educational anthropologist John Ogbu. Bowman concludes that “no standard strategies exist to direct cross-cultural professional practice,” and presents recommendations to educate culturally and linguistically diverse students. By reviewing literature and others’ research, Bowman developed her article with secondary research, which generally is used to support an individual or group of individuals’ idea.
Similarly, both articles address issues concerning cultural diversity in the classroom and academic outcomes of students. However, I found the research study by Terenzini, Cabrera, and Colbeck to be more useful. As a science teacher, I frequently create heterogeneous groups to achieve an educational objective. The findings presented in the research study suggest that while trying to sway from homogeneity over-diversifying groups may prove disadvantageous.