Parents and Students

Culture and Inclusion

Nina Godette

Currently in my class of twenty-four second graders I have a very diverse group. I

have six students who are of an Indian background. Some of these students speak
another language at home, but not all of them. Some of these students also practice
Hinduism, which we learn about through our reading curriculum, so it is nice to have
them feel like experts and share their knowledge. There are seven students who identify
as caucasian, however three of them are mixed with another nationality, one being
hispanic and the others being japanese. I have three students who are from a
Chinese/Mongolian background, and one of them speaks mongolian at home. I have a
student who is African and is very proud of his Nigerian culture. Two of my girls are
Hispanic and both families speak Spanish at home. The remaining five come from an
Iranian background. All of these families speak another language at home. Some of my
families are highly educated with bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees, while other
families have just a high school diploma and are working paycheck to paycheck. As you
can see I have a very diverse group of students and families. Although many of them
speak another language at home I have only four students who are identified as
needing ELD services. Many of the students in my class are fluent English speakers
and fluent speakers in their native language.

Knowing the backgrounds of each family and student allows me the opportunity
to bring students' cultures into the classroom. In many cases students are able to
become the experts when I can make a connection to their language, culture, religion,
or race to the curriculum. I also reach out to parents to help present knowledge to the
class when there is a connection to the curriculum. Parents and students both get
excited that their differences are embraced in the classroom. They feel valued and
seen. They feel important and cared for. They feel like they matter!

Instruction and delivery has to be adaptive at all times not only to cultural,
linguistic, or religious needs, but also to social and emotional needs. You have to know
your students and what they need. Teachers have to have a toolbox of strategies and
ways to respond to different situations at any time. I think over time I have adapted my
practice to overall be more intentional and direct. I do not want to leave anything for
students to wonder or be confused about. I want to be very clear and explicit when I am
delivering instruction. When I see their faces give a look of “I don’t know what this lady
is talking about,” I know I need to give visuals, explain, have dialogue to clear up the
confusion students may not be verbalizing, but are showing. As far as adapting my
instruction for parents, I want parents to always know I am here as a support system
and want to build a partnership with them to help their students be successful and
thrive. Sometimes that means providing support to parents as well. There have been
times, once a month I have met with parents to teach the math strategies to them, so
they can best support their student at home. Overall I know I have a lot more strategies
to learn and ways to improve my practice, but my goal is to do whatever I can to help all
students thrive.