What is Culture?
The first day of class was pretty great. I am excited to learn about different cultures. I know that I will have to get out of my comfort zone to be able to talk about subjects that can be a little sensitive to some people. We haven't gotten to the actual discussion of cultures but we did talk about what culture means. It was difficult to come up with a solid definition because there are so many things involved with culture. I thought culture was this one thing that everyone knew exactly what it was but there is so much more to it then just being from a certain place or region. You can develop your culture from the people you befriend and are close to, the values and morals that your family taught you and so many more.
How Will this Help with My Future Classroom?
Learning about culture and how it affects people will give me an upper hand when it comes to making sure my students' are successful. When I was doing my outside research I encountered a website that talked about how knowing and understanding your students' culture could help you "incorporate examples of multiracial material" in your curriculum so that your students' feel included. This topic is related to the NCTCS Standard 2 because understanding the culture of the students' will help me establish a good environment for a diverse group of students'. I will be able to make sure that there is no discrimination within the classroom by helping the students' also understand other cultures and how to be respectful of them.
Outside Research Link
If you would like to check out more information about how being aware of culture could impact and benefit the classroom here is the website I found interesting:
http://www.nssa.us/journals/2007-29-1/2007-29-1-09.htm
Education 410
Today was the first class for Education 410 and we learned a little about what integration is. Integration is connecting an activity to different subjects to make it easier to comprehend. Of course the definition of this will become more clear as we go through the semester. We played baby blob and it was very fun and I had never done that in any class before. The purpose of this activity was to help us communicate as a team. We talked about what the course would look like this semester and what we should expect to get out of the course. Integration is something that as teachers we need to do to help our students' comprehend things better. This is related to the NCTCS Standard 4 which mentions teachers facilitate learning. By integrating different lessons to one activity the students' will be able to make certain connections to the activity making it easier to learn new subjects. Just being able to do this I will help my future students' succeed in subjects they might not be strong in.
I am excited to see what else I can learn from these 2 courses and can't wait to be able to apply my learning to my future classroom
Jesenia,
ReplyDeleteI had no clue how much culture encompassed either until our class time the other day! I was shocked at how many things fit under the "culture" umbrella and I think it is so important for us to know all of them as educators! I am so excited to see where this class goes :)
I think it is so important to find ways to be sure all students are included and feel they can relate. In today's world, there are so many aspects of culture to consider. I think the best we can do as educators is allow our students to think freely and comfortably in our classroom and know it is okay to share their personal cultural experiences safely in the classroom. I think students learn most when ignorance is forgotten and children are able to learn from one another's perspectives.
ReplyDeleteI also did not realize the complications with defining culture until we were asked in class! It was very difficult to come to a consensus with the definition because of our own personal cultures and what we believe it is. Establishing a classroom enviornment without discrimination is such a difficult task but one that we, as future teachers, should embrace and work hard toward. Making sure all students feel as if they can succeed is so important. Culture is not a bad thing and should be something that should be embraced by the teacher, not altered.
ReplyDeleteI have a new out look on just how important culture is and what it means. I think everyone does and I'm sure was Dr. Clarks point was to get us to reach our brains and realize that. I can't wait to learn more about it next week!
ReplyDeleteJes, there is so much more to culture than I ever even imagined, too. I always knew that bringing culture into the classroom was important, but I didn't really understand how I could do that until we started talking about some of the aspects of culture, such as apparel, cuisine, social norms, etc. I enjoyed reading about the outside research that you did and how you tied it into our last class discussion. It seems that outside research really helped expand your knowledge of integrating culture in the classroom!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Jesenia! I really liked how you connected with Standard 2 and what this means for your future classroom. Next time, be more specific. What part of Standard 2 does this really focus on?
ReplyDeleteI am totally scarred from playing baby blob ever again. I can't run, especially when attached to others, (haha). But integration is something that is super important within the classroom, but also so much fun to add into lessons!
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