Hanna Schmidt

Mrs. Shank

Teacher Academy

3 March 2021

Chapter 2

2.4 Culture

3.7.7- Determine personal contributions to working with culturally diverse communities

and learners by reflecting on one’s own personal culture.

As time passes, the classroom environment continuously becomes more diverse, so

learning to respect diversity and culture is critical for teachers. How a teacher conducts their

classroom directly correlates with the well being of their students. That said, in order to create a

welcoming, safe and culturally responsive classroom environment, teachers must be mindful of

the race, ethnicity, beliefs and socio-economic backgrounds of all of their students.

As a teacher, in order to embrace the culture/diversity of your students, first, you must

understand and respect your own. In efforts to reflect on my own culture, I created a sharing our

similarities and celebrating our differences presentation to share with my potential students

(evidence 2.4.1). The presentation consists of basic information such as where I was born, where

I live now, some of my hobbies, and my favorite memories growing up. It also includes major

holidays my family celebrates, as well as, my life long goals and values. While sharing this

presentation with students, my goal would be to get them thinking about how my upbringing

relates or differs to their own. In addition to creating the presentation, I also took “could you

survive” quizzes (evidence 2.4.2). Each quiz focused on a different socio-economic background

(wealthy, middle class, poverty). After taking all three quizzes, I had answered yes to most of the
middle class questions. These quizzes put the life of each social class into perspective for me. As

a teacher, these quizzes would be helpful because they give insight on the thoughts and

experiences of individuals from each social class. Having an understanding of where I come

from and where my students come from would increase my ability to show support and empathy

for students who need it.

In the process of learning what it means to teach with culture in mind, I read an article

called “When Implicit Bias Shapes Teacher Expectations” (evidence 2.4.3). The article defined

an unconscious/implicit bias as “attitudes or stereotypes that are activated unconsciously and

involuntarily.” I explored different types of implicit biases while completing an implicit bias

reflection (evidence 2.4.4). One type of implicit bias consists of racial influenced biases. For

example, thinking students of color are less capable, more likely to commit a crime, and less

likely to graduate or go to college. Another type of implicit bias could be influenced by gender.

Furthermore, one may think girls are smarter, they are more organized, they like school more and

they work harder. It is important for teachers to address and interrupt their implicit biases in

order to stay fair minded and treat all students equally. To build a classroom off of invalid

assumptions would be unjust. Alongside forming an awareness of implicit biases, teachers

should be cognisant of the varying goals and priorities of culturally diverse students. These

varying goals and priorities are called the hidden rules. The hidden rules for those of poverty, the

middle class, and wealth outline each group's purpose or outlook on certain situations. Hidden

rules are cues/systems that help shape what happens at school, so it is important for teachers to

have an understanding of them. By understanding what factors into a students decision making

process, teachers are better equipped to help their students. More about the hidden rules can be

found in a poverty/privileged questionnaire I responded to (evidence 2.4.5).

 There are many ways teachers can incorporate their knowledge of culture and diversity

into the classroom. To establish how I, as a teacher, would accommodate for different needs, I

wrote a philosophy of teaching children of poverty (evidence 2.4.6). My philosophy states that

every child is entitled to an equal education. A student’s potential should not be hindered by their

economic status. The needs for students in poverty versus students from wealthy families are

significantly different. For example, students of poverty may need breakfast from school in order

to focus their thoughts on school work rather than hunger. Not every student has three meals a

day waiting for them at home. By providing breakfast and lunch, schools can guarantee students

of poverty of at least two meals a day during the school week. Another example could be

providing students with colored pencils to take home for a homework assignment that calls for

coloring. A student without art supplies at home should not be punished for their lack of

possessions. On a broader scale, it is important for teachers to make an effort to know their

students. The better a teacher knows their students, the more they can accommodate for their

needs. In addition to teachers understanding culture and diversity, it is also important that

students do as well. One way of familiarizing students with their classmates' culture is shown in

a promoting respect for diversity activity I created (evidence 2.4.7). The activity consists of

students interviewing a classmate twice. Once for above the surface information and again for

below the surface information. The below the surface interview questions are to be inspired by

the information the student learned from the first interview. The overall idea would be that as

students dig deeper, their cultures are shared and embraced.

Culture/diversity is everywhere in our lives, so it is important that teachers and students

are educated. Being culturally informed creates accepting individuals, and allows for a culturally

responsive classroom environment.