Reading 8 ( Right Side)

Something that really stuck out from this reading was the idea of culturally congruent instruction. This type of instruction involves the interaction of the community and the classroom. It is imperative that teachers are aware of the cultural differences that are present in their classroom. Once the teacher is aware of the cultural differences he or she must incorporate them into their instruction. Activating prior knowledge is a great way to bring in different cultures into the classroom. However, it is important that the teacher does not assume that the student has a certain type of prior knowledge ( which is often a problem). What are some other ways teachers can create a culturally congruent classroom through culturally congruent instruction?

One of the things that really interested me about culturally congruent instruction was the fact that Lee and Buxton stated that there must be explicit instruction of cultural norms in the classroom. This made sense when further explained because the authors went on to state that the teachers would explain that while questioning was required and encouraged in the classroom, students must keep in mind that they cannot cross certain social boundaries with their questions at home. However, I could not stop thinking about the reading we had in reading 5 on discourses. The explicit instruction of cultural norms does not fall into line with the idea that discourses must be acquired and not taught. This will make it hard on teachers and students alike when the teachers are trying to help students separate between the home discourse and the science discourse. I am not altogether sure how this can be resolved, other than perhaps the teachers trying to immerse themselves into the culture of their students so that they can more easily explain how they would separate science and their home life.

Here's a quote that stood out to me from the reading:


I found it interesting that, in a predominantly Spanish-speaking classroom, the teacher is not required to speak at least some Spanish in order to better communicate with his/her ELL students. The article then goes on to say:



I also found this to be kind of sobering. Sometimes, it is those culturally relevant examples that teachers give that really can help drive a point home. If these ELL students aren't receiving them, then they are missing out on a whole aspect of their education.

Maybe this is a systems-level issue that a school psychologist could look into, but I'm not entirely sure how it could be addressed besides hiring someone who speaks the student's language. And while that may work in situations where the classroom predominantly speaks the same language, what about a diverse classroom of ELL students from different cultural backgrounds? Any ideas?

I feel like this reading has a lot of really good information to offer; and really the first few paragraphs already had my mind working. However, I also found it slightly overwhelming. Mainly because I find it hard to separate students only into the categories of "mainstream" and "non-mainstream." I know the author does not think all students are limited to the two separate groups given he breaks them down further in the beginning by culture, but each race, culture, gender, etc. is going to bring a different way of thinking into the classroom. In the culturally congruent instruction section, they talk about using the previous knowledge a student brings into the classroom and building upon that. This is the part where I started to feel overwhelmed. In a classroom of 20-30 students, how does one teacher take in all these different cultural experiences and build upon them all in the same manner? Maybe it isn't as hard as it sounds. Suggestions?

"All students come to school with knowledge, experiences, and questions about the natural world. These experiences are bonded up with linguistic and cultural practices from home, peer group, prior schooling, and other sources. Effective teachers find ways to connect new learning to these these prior experiences in ways that are relevant and accessible for students."
I feel like I had said something similar to this in almost every essay I have written thus far in my education classes. This idea really drives my motivation to teach, the notion that all students bring something to the table and we as teachers must facilitate opportunities for students to collaborate with each other and create knowledge for themselves.
As the reading mentioned, I feel it is important to facilitate a classroom in which students are presenting the information to build concepts. When they do this, ideas are put into the students words in ways that are understandable to them; scaffolded and supported with more explicit language of the discourse. Although it will take some time to get students comfortable in sharing their understanding, examples, experiences and ideas; slowly adjusting students to that could be effective. Starting out with students demonstrating this collaboration in safe, small group settings with material that is not overly complex would be a good way to accustom students to sharing their thoughts. It is valuable to have each student voice their thoughts on topics because when one student shares their idea, or how they may relate the material to something relevant, it may resonate more effectively with another student than any way the teacher could explain it. The students are much more knowledgeable of student culture than the teacher is and can make things more relateable than a teacher may be able to. Of course, the contexts and activities in which we expect students to participate should be something of interest to them and not foreign. I feel that once you, as a teacher, become integrated into a school and get to know your students, will come to know what kind of culture they identify with and what kinds of things interests them.

I agree that it is intimidating to think about not only being familiar with the individual cultural backgrounds of our students, but making use of them as tools for learning. I think the most important thing is just to simply be aware that not everyone has the same experiences and that each student brings in different prior knowledge. Perhaps the easiest way we can make a level playing field is by being carefully explicit with our instructions and steering clear of contextual questions and phrases in situations they can not be explained.
The term "non-mainstream' student seems too black and white. The knowledge of each student balanced differently from in school to out on a large scale. However, in school it is our job to encourage questioning and inquiry. I hope to see our classrooms foster student-exploration. When this is mixed with the opportunity for students to see science (or whatever subject) as meaningful and relevant, students begin to take responsibility for their own learning. This works in students who care, but there's probably always going to be students who don't, what can we do with them? Do we get them as close as we can? What are some alternative ways to communicate the use and/or need for knowledge in a content area?

I enjoyed the article, but also took note of a few things that should be considered.


Science is one academic area that can best apply students' common experiences to help them learn the material, definitely more than most. Math and numbers are so tightly bound together if a student doesn't like them it's hard for them to click with the subject, for example, but using what a student recognizes to help incoprorate learning a literacy practice is a bit simpler. If a student is learning the forms of water you can use a demonstration with snowcones or something. However, there comes a time when some of these become way too narrow to draw a student's interests in, to help develop a literacy practice, unless they already like it. High school science subjects especially are prone to this, but again it does depend on the instructor and how they used the practice to engage the student (a scene from Breaking Bad with Walter White demonstrating fulminating mercury as having explosive properties).

Being aware of students' cultural differences, and how those affect their ability to learn science, but there's a limit to how this can be applied in the classroom. In terms of actual scientific practices, like asking questions and researching and the like, you can absolutely instruct them how to get these basic science concepts, but my (sincere) question is how much help they'll need before they can carry on on their own.

I 100% agree with explicit instruction; as mentioned above, a lot of kids don't knoww the rules - written or unwritten - behind the success to certain subjects, or even school in general. It's a lot like when you have a professor you've never had before in that you don't know how strict or lenient they'll be, what the materials needed are, and what they expect you to put into the class effort-wise to succeed.

In terms of ELL and science instruction, beyond enough assistance they can provide without interferring with overall class time, I don't think that's something science teachers can - or should - have a whole lot of impact with. ELLs absolutely need to learn certain literacy practices to make it in school, but that extends beyond the capabaility for a Gen Ed science teacher. Not only that, but resources for some examples and points in the article are a bit stretched in practice. The example of the teacher having a co-teacher who was bilingual, for example, is not a realistic one in a school setting. Most schools don't have enough substitutes to fill in our teachers who are out, let alone enough faculty to have two in one classroom for a whole period.