school teachers are integral components of a community. This is something that, if embraced by a teacher, can only serve that teacher well. Students and their families like to see their teachers at least occasionally outside of school; they respect teachers who contribute to the local good. The following little story illustrates why knowing the culture of your students is so vital to your success in the classroom.
One of my teacher credentialing students, I'll call her Annie, could have saved herself a lot of heartache if she had just learned a little more about the culture she was working in. This is a good example of why it is important (whether it is well believed or not) to complete a university teacher preparation program before accepting a position as a teacher of record.
Annie was one of those eager to get started types. Mind you, Annie began as a highly motivated, extremely bright, and caring novice teacher who wanted nothing but the absolute best for her students, and she is still that person. In this instance, however, she arrived late to my class one evening after a long day of teaching. She plunked down in a chair while the rest of us were deeply involved is a classroom discussion, and she began to sob. We all looked over in shock at this usually funny, light-hearted English language arts high school teacher-in-the-making. "What's wrong, Annie?" I asked as we brought her tissues and a glass of water. She composed herself and began talking about how she thought she was in no way meeting the needs of her students, that one them told her he was working hard to join a gang, that she feared the majority of her students, virtually all of whom were Latino, were going to become dropout statistics, and on, and on, and on.
The "upside" of the story was that she sincerely cared so much for her students; the "downside" was that she admitted to feeling helpless and like a failure to them. We consoled her the best we could and I offered to visit her classroom that week. "Can you come this Friday?" she asked. "Of course, Annie", I said, "Which class period?" "All day if you can, but if not, how about the worst class, right after the lunch break?" I let her know I'd be there right at the beginning of the class following lunch.
That Friday I arrived at Annie's school site, which of course, was a place too large to really know its students (typical California comprehensive high school built for 1000-1500 students, but housing over 2500)-something that is actually the foundation of all problems in public school. I walked into Annie's classroom just as her freshmen students strolled in. The classroom environment had lots of potential. It was large, with transit windows up high letting in air and light. The walls were red brick and it had an industrial feel - no wonder, because it was a converted auto shop room (left over from the days when students could select an elective course that actually interested them, alas, no more). So anyway, back to Annie's dilemma of not reaching her students and fearing that they were all going to fail and drop out of school.
The class began with Annie giving the students their warm-up exercise while she took role. She was cheery and the students, for the most part, complied and got to work. Maybe this was an artifact of my being in the room and maybe it was not. At any rate, the situation did not seem as dire as Annie had exclaimed. As the class period progressed, it had its ups and downs in terms of student engagement - but like the room environment itself, these students showed visible potential. Many of Annie's English Language Learner (ELL) students were struggling with the use of the English language. Rather than write words, they would draw. It was clear that they wanted to produce something (even if it had nothing to do with the assignment). The bell rang, class was over and the students went on to their next classes, so Annie and I had a chance to talk.
"It wasn't so bad, Annie", I said. "How do you think your class went?" "Well, she said, "The students doing the worst knew I was really upset with them, there was also an assignment due, so they just didn't show up today."
Then I asked Annie who her students were. She looked puzzled, so I said, "Annie, you and I were the only white people in here." "Yeah, so?" Annie said. It was then we talked about her students and who they are. I asked her about the students' culture and she said that they were all Latino/Latina, mostly from low-income homes. Then I asked her how much she knew about their backgrounds, what they liked, what their collective culture was all about. She just stared at me. Then I said, "Do you think Latinos/Latinas prefer bright colors or pale colors?" "I don't know", she said. "Well", I asked, "Are sarapes bright or pale in color? How about their folk art and pottery? Have you ever been to Mexico or even Olvera Street in Los Angeles?" I asked. Finally, I said to Annie, "Face it, there are no beige piñatas-get it?" I went on to point out that her room was bare and bland, not a welcoming place for students from a colorful culture.
We then talked about the fact that many of her students liked drawing. I also made sure she knew that I thought that she was a really creative teacher (and she truly is). "English language arts classes are perfect places for skills like story boarding, poster making, and other visual arts projects. Fill the walls with what represents them, give them ownership of the classroom, and let them contribute. You'll figure it out, Annie!" I said. "Over time, not right away", I explained, "You will have better attendance, more completed assignments and their language skills will improve." " Those are your goals, right?" I asked. Annie looked skeptical, but willing to design her approach to giving her students more ownership of their environment and responsibility for their learning. It's all history now and Annie has achieved tenure and experienced much success in her teaching career. Her success didn't come from me, however. It came from her and her willingness to question her own classroom lived experience and to reflect, and then act on those thoughts. Her continued success comes from the same process that begins with really knowing who her students are. This is merely one example highlighting one culture in one place. The concept is the same, the message is the same, no matter the culture - know your students and from where they come.
Know as much as you can about the family cultures of the young people you teach. Know if they still hold to traditional values, or whether they have become more mainstream American. Know about the home culture, do the parents still retain the customs and traditions of their native culture, what are their expectations of you as teacher? If English is a second language for a family, then perceived success with phoning home can be deceptive. Many inexperienced teachers have told me that they have phoned home and have had very positive conversations and cannot figure out why the student still exhibits the same bad behaviors. Later, I generally find out that the teacher did all of the talking and the mom, dad, grandma, whomever, politely responded with "Yes", "O.K.", "A huh" because the person on the other end of the phone has a language ability that has yet to reach even intermediate English fluency. The administration at your school site can provide a translator if you need one for home calls. Parents have the right no matter what language they speak to know what is going on with their child, both in terms of academics and behavior.
Copyright (c) LearningFramework. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted without prior written permission of the publisher. Such request may be sent electronically to: bkenner@learningframework.com
