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Education: A Case Study Of Culturally Responsive Classroom

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Case Study
Throughout the observations of five different academic settings, three secondary education classrooms, one college class and one museum, various themes emerged. All of these classes were different subjects and, with the exception of two 7th grade classes, different grade levels. The major commonality between classes was the fact that over half of each class was comprised of ethnic minority students, with the exception of the museum tour. Some of the themes that emerged encompassed the teacher’s classroom management skills and within that, the lack of culturally responsive classroom management and how teachers respond to students changing needs. Other themes included the teacher’s content knowledge and the use of feminist pedagogy. …show more content…

The 9th grade economics teacher was especially responsive to students who needed more help. The class was separated for the lesson so she was able to focus on the students who needed extra attention, which was determined by a demonstration of learning test. The teacher also repeatedly checked with the students to ensure they understood the material this time around. This is important for the teacher and the students since the teacher needs to know if her students understand the material. If the students still don’t understand the material the teacher will know they have to go about teaching it a different way. That extra level of commitment to the students is essential for the student’s success. Teachers have to be able to respond to students who need extra help, since teachers are there to make sure all students succeed, not just the students who understand the material right away. Lack of responding to student’s needs was evident in the 7th grade math class. The teacher didn’t stop and help some students when they were asking for extra examples. In this instance, however, the math teacher did make a copying mistake and it took about ten minutes to be resolved. The time spent on that mistake was lost instructional time that the teacher had to make up. It’s possible he didn’t give extra examples for the students who didn’t get it, simply because he didn’t …show more content…

The teacher had to Google how to do some problems and actually seemed surprised by some of the problems he put on the board, like it was the first time he had seen them. This particular teacher is also a science teacher at the school. It’s possible that the school gave him a math position as well as a science teacher position because they don’t have enough teachers. This is very common throughout all schools, regardless of type of school. Many teachers are placed in classrooms that they are not prepared for because the administration needs somebody to teach that class. This is completely unfair to the students, since they don’t have a teacher who knows what they’re doing. Their teacher shouldn’t be standing there Googling how to multiply and divide powers. A study conducted by Hill, Rowan and Ball (2005), showed that student achievement gains in mathematics were significantly tied to teacher’s content knowledge. This proves the fact that teachers should know about their subject in order to teach it effectively and that districts should not be making teachers teach subjects they know nothing about. If districts want their students to succeed they have to have effective teachers that are prepared to teach their

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