Prospectus
Contents
Research Methodology and Design. 11
Cultural differences are one of the various factors that have influenced diversification in educational systems. Like many other countries across the globe, cultural diversity is highly experienced in the United States. Many people from all the world receive scholarships and get into the United States for educational purposes. Because of cultural differences among the students in different levels within the U.S education, many teachers, especially the first years find it challenging to manage their classes. However, because of globalization, culturally responsive teaching is not only essential but somewhat inevitable. Students may have varied needs and levels while requiring different levels of attention. This research examines “Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT)” concerning the academic excellence of African American learners in a remote Midwestern school. Besides, this study seeks to understand the various challenges encountered by the educators in their first year of practice in a CRT environment.
Yuan (2017) establishes that student’s differences introduce an array of challenges such as bullying and stereotyping as well as stigmatization. However, most of the first-year teachers in a CRT setting do not have experience and sufficient skills to handle the challenges in a CRT environment adequately. Notably, first-year teachers are highly likely to experience problems involving behaviour management among learners from various backgrounds. Immigration and globalization have increased interaction among people of different cultures and backgrounds. As such, diversification impact almost all social-economic aspects. In light of this, education system and the stakeholders must be able to accommodate these cultural differences.
Research by Turner & Drake (2016) establishes that considerable number of people living in the suburbs come from poor upbringings and that they often exhibit different cultures. Other studies reveal that many people in the United States originate from different nations and cultures across the world but are eventually acculturated in various ways. While a considerable population migrate into the United States in search for jobs, other populations migrate into the United States for educational purposes. Interestingly, most of the immigrants and other people in the United States decide to advance their education and so get in the education system. Therefore, culturally responsive teaching is essential in the modern world. As such, teachers should build their skills to enable them adequately address challenges in a CRT environment. According to Mogari (2017), “sociocultural activities provide the learners with the context that demand increased levels of multicultural integration.”
Therefore, teachers should have the right skills to address various challenges, such as bullying, stereotyping and stigmatization, which may hamper academic performance among the students. Turner & Drake (2016) propose that “teachers should improve their culturally responsive teaching skills by learning or having some insights about other cultures.” Understanding some concepts, beliefs or other cultural elements of different communities can help teachers to create a harmonious learning environment for the students. Besides, a culturally responsive teaching setting may require teachers to understand the problems of individual students while showing efforts to resolve the issue. Impartiality in CRT settings can significantly dwindle the student’s performance. This research thus helps to understand the importance of culturally responsive classroom programs.
Background
Historically, teachers play a significant part in the process of child development. Therefore, embracing culturally responsive teaching help the students from different upbringings to embrace each other regardless of their cultural differences. However, Keehne, Sarsona, Kawakami & Au (2018) argue that first-year teachers face countless challenges in a CRT environment, especially classroom management. Therefore, it is necessary to adequately equip new teachers with the essential skills for addressing challenges in a CRT environment. Or else, the society will be vulnerable to increased social and economic problems. However, most of the teachers receive various skills to help them confront the issues in a CRT environment. Yuan (2017) learns that most of the African Americans students are developing psychological matters, primarily because of the stereotypes linked to their cultures. In his study, Yuan (2017) determines that many learners value culturally responsive pedagogy because it increases equality and fairness in classroom.
While some first-year teachers may experience classroom management challenges, others are highly likely to encounter students’ assessment problems. Although a considerable number of first-year students may no focus on the cultural differences and family backgrounds, research determines that understanding cultural diversity and family backgrounds among various students allow students to improve their grades and other performances. According to some studies, teachers who disregard their perceptions about a particular community or group are highly likely to develop positive attitude and skills towards embracing culturally responsive pedagogy. Notably, the challenges that the new teachers encounter in a CRT environment are not just the teachers’ problems but are challenges that may have unwarranted impacts to the society.
Koonce (2015) argued that “We agree that our expectations should be high and similar for all children (p.119).” Besides, Yuan (2017) asserts that “teachers in culturally diverse classrooms should understand the challenges faced by their students” while providing reasonable solutions to promote fairness and equality. Koonce also learned that first-year educators in CRT classrooms face numerous challenges in their classroom undertakings. Teachers in CRT classrooms should devise different teaching methods to guarantee that students understand concepts that are taught in every topic. It is thus crucial for teachers in CRT environments to learn culturally responsive pedagogy and its impacts on the students’ performances.
Often, students from poor backgrounds may have extra challenges while in the classroom. In this case study research, a significant number of students from Midwestern suburbs exhibit some levels of poverty. As such, the first-year elementary school teachers experience several challenges, including addressing various conflicts amongst students from different backgrounds (Fonseca, Jones, de la Hoz, Ciechanowski & Bottoms, 2017). Notably, the families in these neighbourhoods exhibit cultural differences in addition to the said levels of poverty. Therefore, teachers must be able to understand the challenges of every student and try to provide solutions. For example, while some students may have low self-esteem or anxiety because of family conflicts, the teacher may approach the student and understand the learner’s problem. By following the problem, the teacher may be able to develop some programs that will promote integration in a classroom while improving every student’s motivation and passion for education.
Because of various reasons, some students drop out of schools and engage in different social behaviours that may hamper the societal growth and development. As such, teachers have a huge role to play to ensure that every child realizes their dream. However, the realization of one’s thoughts and capabilities may not be comfortable while students continue to stereotype, stigmatize and bully others because of their cultural differences. Teachers should, therefore, have adequate skills to handle different problems in culturally diverse classrooms.
Of importance, teachers should be able to develop strategies for managing culturally diverse classrooms. Also, teachers should be able to assess students’ abilities and capabilities guided by various factors including family backgrounds and cultural differences.
The problem investigated by this research is the various challenges that face the newly employed teachers in a CRT setting while hoping that the investigation outcomes will promote both the students’ experiences and teachers’ educational skills. With the swift changes in the educational environment, particularly in the past few years, teachers must advance their skills and other pedagogical requirements to facilitate smooth learning among students from diverse cultures. Yuan (2017) argues that “differences among the students create challenges, especially to the new teachers who are not conversant with Culturally Responsive Teaching” (p.74).
Culturally responsive teaching pertains developing behaviours and attitudes that may influence the students to accommodate one another regardless of their cultures. As earlier highlighted, teachers have an essential role and duty towards making a better society by shaping the conducts of the students (Fonseca, Jones, de la Hoz, Ciechanowski & Bottoms, 2017). Although culturally responsive teaching is essential in the modern world because it helps to create a culture of integration and cooperation among people of varying cultures, nationalities and races. Teachers acquire vital skills and knowledge towards practising CRT. However, Sherfinski, Jalalifard, Zhang & Hayes (2019) learns that most of the new teachers fail to implement these skills and knowledge right after securing their first teaching job.
Typically, teachers complain about the numerous problems they encounter in their profession, including workload, which influence them to gradually stop exercising specific teaching skills. As earlier noted, CRT is essential to the advancement of the students, teachers and the entire education system as well as to the whole of society. However, the experienced waning of various classroom management skills, particularly among the first-year teachers is a tremendous societal problem. According to Sciuchetti (2017), CRT can significantly influence eradication or reduce other social issues such as religious prejudice, racial discrimination and discrimination against various minority groups. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the problems encountered by the first-year teachers, especially in culturally diverse classrooms to enhance both the teacher’s pedagogical skills and experiences and the student’s competency and performance. Or else, the society will be exposed to undesirable consequences if the educators fail to accommodate the cultures of students from different cultures by devising accommodative classroom management programs.
Keehne, Sarsona, Kawakami & Au (2018) argue that many teachers have lost the drive for treating their lifestyles in a way that accommodate other people’s cultures. While examining the perceptions, an individual may establish that cultural diversity can be encouraged for positive growth of the population. However, some people treat their cultures as superior to others. Therefore, improving one’s CRT experience and skills may increase cooperation while increasing academic performance among the students, especially learners from impoverished backgrounds.
On the contrary, continued practice of partiality and inequality among students from different backgrounds can lead to a more divided society, which is full of discrimination of all nature. Sciuchetti (2017) insist that most of the learners disregard or hate certain subjects such as mathematics just because of the particular subject’s teacher. Of importance, subjects such as math are crucial to the overall student performance and competency of a student because the subjects apply to different fields in life. Mogari (2017) indicates that a considerable number of Black American learners develop psychological issues because of other social or behavioural problems such as stereotyping and gender inequality amongst the learners. Additional studies reveal that many students maintain that CRT is necessary for the education system for social growth and development. Nonetheless, first-year teachers have challenges in developing quality student assessments and the overall management of a CRT classroom. These challenges are societal problems.
The purpose of this study is to determine the adequacy of preparedness among the teachers in their first year of culturally-responsive pedagogy. Cultural diversity in a traditional classroom environment is a fundamental issue to study. In recent years, education has dramatically changed towards acknowledging diversity among the learners. According to Alalshiakh (2015), “cultural diversity has become a defining characteristic of student bodies” (p. 69). Notably, teachers have a considerable role to play in creating a culturally adaptive society in line with the contemporary world’s demands.
As such, it is significant to understand the problems encountered by teachers in their first year of teaching practice, especially in classrooms with culturally diverse students. According to Yuan (2017), student’s cultural differences are a significant source of challenges among teachers, especially in their first year of practice. Although teachers should uphold and cultivate various pedagogical skills attained during their training college. This research will examine English language Art (ELA) teachers in an elementary school within small Midwestern neighbourhoods of Illinois.
As demonstrated above, many teachers in their first year of teaching practice encounter enormous problems in their endeavours towards handling students of different cultures who often have varying concerns. As such, this research will also investigate whether the challenges faced by the educators impact on the students’ performance and relations with each other. Students often observe and try to emulate a significant percentage of their teacher’s behaviours. Learners in the lower grades, particularly up to K-4 make references of nearly everything from their educators. For example, if an educator employs CRT characteristics, the learners will begin to accommodate other culturally different students. Therefore, this paper will examine the impacts of the new teachers’ problems in CRT classrooms on the learners extensively.
According to the studies, many first-year teachers lack the necessary skills to allow them to support the students embrace the cultures of one another. As such, a considerable number of African American students continue to complain concerning bullying by other students (Keehne, Sarsona, Kawakami, & Au, 2018). It is worth noting that bullying in schools affects the performance of the students. Besides, bullying may influence the development of different psychological problems. When a student develops a particular psychological problem, they may end up changing their behaviors. As such, some students have become violent, while others have developed low self-esteem.
Culturally responsive teaching helps the students understand their differences and be ready to support one another. Therefore, this research will help to understand the areas of weaknesses among the students as well as the first-year teachers. This knowledge can significantly contribute to making credible recommendations on how to support the teachers as well as the students. By understanding the different challenges that the first-year teachers face in their line of duty concerning cultural differences, this research will provide a base for improvement in terms of behaviour change for greatness.
However, although some teachers may have the required skills, some exhibit attitudes towards students from other communities (Sciuchetti, 2017). From personal observation and as argued by Sciuchetti, some teachers show some levels of racial discrimination. Therefore, this research on culturally responsive teaching will not only identify the problems that the teachers face while teaching but also identifies some factors that encourage perception amongst students. Also, this research will help to understand why some teacher drops their culturally responsive skills in their undertakings.
From personal observation, several things have happened in the education sector that affects the lives of the students. As such, conducting research on how the challenges encountered by the educators affect the performance of the students is significant. Guided by the questions listed below, evaluating the problems faced by first-year educators in culturally diverse settings can help educators to enhance their skills and experiences within the environment. The questions that will guide the researcher in all aspects of this study are as follows:
RQ1. How are the first-year teachers prepared towards accepting culturally responsive pedagogy?
RQ2. How does CRT make newly employed teachers realize their attitudes towards minority groups?
RQ3. What strategies do first-year teachers devise and adopt for efficient management of culturally diverse classrooms?
RQ4. What is the understanding of the first-year elementary teachers about culturally responsive teaching?
RQ5. How adequately-prepared are the first new teachers to implement culturally responsive teaching?
RQ6. How do the first year teachers understand culturally diverse classroom assessments?
RQ7. How adequately prepared are the first-year elementary teachers to ensure effective and quality student-learning-evaluation in culturally diverse classrooms?
As these questions demonstrate, the understanding of cultural differences of the students by the first-year teachers as well as the most effective classroom management and assessment techniques is essential. As such, teachers must seek to understand some aspects of different cultures to become culturally aware and be able to adapt to culturally responsive teaching. As suggested by Turner & Drake (2016), teachers should devise programs and strategies to incorporate CRT. The above research questions will help to explore various pedagogical areas of culturally diverse classrooms. For this research to gain credible conclusions, implementation of a transparent research methodology and design will be of great importance.
Research Design and Methodology
The outcomes of this study will be based on various fact-gathering techniques, including classroom observations, questionnaires and interviews with both teachers and the students. The facts will be collected within six weeks. Notably, “establishing the best research method and design is a very critical process in research” (Stake, 2008). This research uses a “descriptive research method” that will allow the collection of credible information concerning the first-year teachers as well as their students demonstrating cultural differences. The researcher will have a platform to interact with the first-year teachers as well as the students from different cultures while observing the problems encountered by the teachers. The researcher will have a clear understanding of the impacts of these challenges to the learners. Of importance, this paper will use a single study method to examine the learning effectiveness among Black American students in CRT classrooms. Therefore, this design will permit the researcher to emphasize on the views of the learners concerning the organization of the school as well as their experiences with their first-year educators. Besides, the researcher will capture the views of first-year teachers. However, teachers will be divided into two groups. The first group will consist of three first-year K-4 grade teachers in an English-Language-Arts class in suburban Midwest school.
Stake (2008) argues that the single case qualitative research method helps the researcher to collect relevant information from multiple sources as opposed to overdependence on a single data source. Upon completion of the data collection exercise, the researcher will conduct a thematic evaluation to determine the emergent themes. Besides, a qualitative approach will permit data collection from the participants in a more neutral environment and in the area where the problem can explicitly be examined (Fonseca, Jones, de la Hoz, Ciechanowski & Bottoms, 2017). One of the primary goals of the researcher is to understand the various challenges and the problem in general from the participants. As a personal benefit, therefore, the research will provide precise knowledge of the problem under investigation from the participants while asking pertinent questions to either students or the first-year teachers.
Specific Methodology
According to Ivankova & Creswell (2009), qualitative research methodology offers a range of research techniques that allow the researcher to collect important data. As highlighted above, this study will employ a case study to examine CRT and its effects on the academic performance among the Black American students. Notably, case study concerns an extensive analysis of an event, program or a situation. In this research, therefore, the case study will offer a golden opportunity for the researcher to gather comprehensive information using the above-highlighted data gathering techniques including interviews, questionnaires and personal observations. In this regard, both the teachers and students will answer the interview questions as determined by the researcher.
Interviews
Interviews constitute the traditional data gathering techniques that offer an opportunity for the researcher to interrogate the participants. For this “single case study,” I decide to interview the participants because one-on-one communications are highly likely to provide relevant information concerning the problem of the study. Ivankova & Creswell (2009) suggests that qualitative research interviews offer different ways of collecting data concerning the study problem. The researcher may conduct interviews using telephone calls, have a face-to-face interview or establish focus groups. In whichever strategy, the interviewees should range between six and eight participants per group. In this research, these interviews will be semi-structured while involving the said open-ended questions for the participants to give their opinions and views on CRT.
Because some participants may have decided on their preferred interview approach, this research will implement all the three strategies to collect adequate, reliable and credible information from the participants (Stake, 2008). Of importance, all the participants in this research will be briefed about the nature and purpose of the study. Besides, only those who give their consent will participate in the study. In case of the students, the researcher will seek consent from the parent or guardian before including them in the population of the participants. Other ethical considerations will be observed throughout the research.
Observations
Observations will create an excellent opportunity for me to have a closer look and formal interrogations and of the participants. In light of this, I will be able to observe both the students’ and teachers’ behaviours in their natural environment. By adopting observations help me to capture the most relevant information about CRT and its effects on the students’ performances. Also, observations will provide a chance to have a thorough and deep understanding of the concepts concerning culturally diverse pedagogy and the likely impacts on academic performance, especially amongst African American students living in the poor neighborhoods. As such, observations will permit a thorough investigation of the research problems.
Data Sources
In this study, the researcher conducts an expansive literature review CRT and global challenges faced by the educators. Besides, the researcher will match the gathered data with that collected using other techniques as identified earlier including observation and interview. Because of direct interaction between the researcher, teachers and the learners, it will be more straightforward for the researcher to contrast and compare the findings from all the data collection methods while determining the reliability and integrity of the information gathered. This single case qualitative research approach will involve obtaining direct responses from the students and their teachers.
This approach is suitable because it allows the investigator to prepare the participants by allowing them to have adequate knowledge on the nature of the research while interrogating the reliability and integrity of the answers they give (Stake, 2008). This research methodology will develop the intended level of trust between the interviewees and the investigator. Also, the research approach will help to demonstrate the level of preparedness among the first-year elementary school teachers concerning acceptance and readiness to implement culturally responsive teaching.
For this research to gather sufficient information about CRT, this research will have teachers as the main participants. Also, the study will interview a sample size of five teachers but divided into two groups of three and two. However, the data collection will spread for six weeks during the school’s academic year. Every teacher will respond to utmost four open-ended queries.
Conclusion
As demonstrated above, this qualitative research on culturally responsive teaching is significant as it helps to understand the challenges faced by first-year educators towards enhancing the students’ academic performance and social integration. The above discussion shows that problems faced by the teachers are highly likely to impact the performance of African American students. As such, the research determines to explore these challenges by studying a “small middle school in a Midwestern suburb.” In this regard, the researcher determines to use a single case study design to evaluate the efficiency of the intervention. Of importance, this research will offer evidence to the significance of implementing CRT to enhance the class performance amongst African American learners in elementary schools. The findings of this research will add to the current knowledge about culturally responsive teaching. The conclusions of this research will be used to enhance the current information concerning Culturally Responsive Teaching.
Cason, M., Young, J., & Kuehnert, E. (2019). A meta-analysis of the effects of numerical competency development on achievement: Recommendations for mathematics educators. Investigations in Mathematics Learning, 11(2), 134-147.
Fonseca, A. L., Jones, K., de la Hoz, J, Ciechanowski, K.,& Bottoms, S. I. (2017). Leveraging the community context of Family Math and Science Nights to develop culturally responsive teaching practices. Teaching and Teacher Education, 61, 1-15.
Koonce, G. L. (Ed.). (2015). Taking sides: Clashing views on educational issues (18th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Mogari, D. (2017). Using culturally relevant teaching in a co-educational mathematics class of a patriarchal community. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 94(3), 293-307.
Sherfinski, M., Jalalifard, M., Zhang, J., & Hayes, S. (2019). Narrative portfolios as culturally responsive resistance to neoliberal early childhood teacher education: A case study. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 33(3), 490-519.
Turner, E. E., & Drake, C. (2016). A review of research on prospective teachers’ learning about children’s mathematical thinking and cultural funds of knowledge. Journal of Teacher Education, 67(1), 32-46.
Ivankova, N. V., & Creswell, J. W. (2009). Mixed methods. Qualitative research in applied linguistics: A practical introduction, 23, 135-161.
Keehne, C. N., Sarsona, M. W., Kawakami, A. J., & Au, K. H. (2018). Culturally responsive instruction and literacy learning. Journal of Literacy Research, 50(2), 141-166.
Yuan, H. (2017). Developing culturally responsive teachers: Current issues and a proposal for change in teacher education programs. World Journal of Education, 7(5), 66-78.
Sciuchetti, M. B. (2017). Addressing inequity in special education: An integrated framework for culturally responsive social, emotional practice. Psychology in the Schools, 54(10), 1245-1251.
Stake, R. E. (2008). Qualitative case studies.
Appendix: “Annotated Bibliography”
Fonseca, A. L., Jones, K., de la Hoz, J, Ciechanowski, K.,& Bottoms, S. I. (2017). Leveraging the community context of Family Math and Science Nights to develop culturally responsive teaching practices. Teaching and Teacher Education, 61, 1-15.
This article inspects how elementary teachers experience family mathematics and science nights with linguistically and culturally diverse learners and families. The authors analyze weekly reflections using a culturally responsive teaching model to examine cultural diversity and influences in math learning among the students. The purpose of this paper is to understand the dynamics of four critical areas, including the changing beliefs and attitudes, improved pedagogical associations, grappling with resistance, and to leverage diversity and culture. An action-based emphasis establishes that teacher candidates require adequate practice to disrupt typical perspectives of teaching to permit culturally responsive practices. This article determines that diversity among the families triggers the varying abilities among students. Besides, the emphasis on math and science improves the performance of the students. This article is significant in the current research as it provides first-hand information about the experiences by the educators on diversity among the learners and the effect of learning math and science on the overall student’s performance. While some teachers may not focus on cultural differences and family backgrounds of the learners, this paper suggests that focusing on these aspects of the learners improves the learner teachers’ connection and hence enhanced academic performance. Also, this article underscores that eradicating traditional perceptions about a community or a group of people is a process requiring a lot of practice by the teachers to adopt a culturally responsive instruction model. As such, teachers must emphasize on the focused guided reflections on the context.
Cason, M., Young, J., & Kuehnert, E. (2019). A meta-analysis of the effects of numerical competency development on achievement: Recommendations for mathematics educators. Investigations in Mathematics Learning, 11(2), 134-147.
This article examines the impacts of developing mathematical proficiency in math classes. In their research, Cason, Young & Kuehnert (2019) conducted an extensive quantitative literature review yielding 17 studies with 40 outcome sizes. The research demonstrates that numerical competency in math class dramatically impacts the overall academic performance of a child. Notably, the analysis highlights that the overall effect size complements the empirical benchmarks for the yearly achievements in math skills for learners at varying levels, including K-4. The research reveals that numerical competency helps in the overall understanding of mathematics.
Nonetheless, the study points out that students from poor backgrounds may need special attention in some cases for the achievement of the desired outcomes. Consequently, the research concentrated on early elementary grades up to K-4 in most of the numerical proficiency studies. The authors conclude that researchers and mathematics teachers should support the evolution of mathematical proficiency instructions for early elementary students up to K-4 grades. This article is helpful in the current research as it brings new insights concerning numerical competency and how teachers must observe students in math classes for improved academic achievements. Also, the article suggests that teachers must critically find the student performance and relate to the background so that they can communicate to the parents for additional information regarding specific behaviours, perceptions or attitudes exhibited by the learner. This article demands further examination of competency and guides for kids with disabilities and the effect of grouping the students.
Mogari, D. (2017). Using culturally relevant teaching in a co-educational mathematics class of a patriarchal community. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 94(3), 293-307.
This article focuses on the use of culturally relevant instructions in classes within diverse communities and particularly in patriarchal societies. Mogari (2017) conceptualizes this article around the idea that sociocultural activities provide the learners with the context that facilitates math learning. The researcher notes that sociocultural activities introduce contextual fun in mathematics, thus increasing learner’s interest in learning mathematics. This article derives its data from lesson activities while using video recordings, observations, and semi-structured interviews. In this article, Mogari (2017) establishes that the prevalence of culture-based stereotypes may hamper the learner’s progress. For instance, the marginalization of girls by the boys increases the lousy attitude among the marginalized gender.
Consequently, the learner may begin to focus on the beliefs and cultures of the other gender while limiting concentration on the subject. As such, this article suggests that educators should enhance their culturally responsive instructions by understanding some cultures. The latter often creates a harmonious learning environment for the entire class. Besides, math teachers should understand the concerns of their students and address them to enhance impartiality in class. Notably, social prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypes are some of the behaviours that educators must eliminate in courses as a strategy for improving culturally responsive practices. This paper helps to understand the need for the teachers to use culturally relevant teaching programs for improved academic achievements among the students.
Sherfinski, M., Jalalifard, M., Zhang, J., & Hayes, S. (2019). Narrative portfolios as culturally responsive resistance to neoliberal early childhood teacher education: A case study. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 33(3), 490-519.
This article analyzes a narrative portfolio project created by teacher educators involving the prerequisites of a culturally responsive educator in a modern environment of early childhood education. The researchers explore experiences both by teacher educators and pre-service teachers from a project of four cohorts while using a case study design. As such, Sherfinski, Jalalifard, Zhang & Hayes (2019) collects data from interviews and narrative vignettes both by teacher educators and early childhood teachers. According to the authors, both teacher educators and pre-service teachers expanded their knowledge on how to employ culturally responsive pedagogy as part of their teaching skills in four years. However, the research establishes that educators experience various challenges that decline their skills in culturally sensitive instructions after getting a position in the teaching profession. Notably, teacher educators advance their knowledge for supporting early childhood teachers in their thinking about culturally responsive teaching as a resistance strategy to neoliberal education.
Nonetheless, the continued decline of the assessment contexts influences their chances of the scaffolding of portfolio narratives. Of importance, this article gives an account of the overwhelming benefits of culturally responsive instructions. This article is helpful in the research as it provides a different dimension of a possible resistance in the education system towards culturally sensitive instructions. The authors determine that culturally responsive directions to small groups of students enhance their cooperation and hence improved academic outcomes.
Turner, E. E., & Drake, C. (2016). A review of research on prospective teachers’ learning about children’s mathematical thinking and cultural funds of knowledge. Journal of Teacher Education, 67(1), 32-46.
This journal article analyzes how elementary teachers prepare to teach math in a culturally diverse class. Notably, elementary teachers must have the willingness to help students from different backgrounds, cultures, and religions as well as ethnicities and races. Besides, elementary teachers should encourage students to exhibit differences in linguistic backgrounds. According to the researchers, the grouping of students into small groups permits high-level interactivity while enhancing their cooperation for improved relationships. In this article, the researchers focus on the teacher’s understanding of CMT (Children’s Mathematical Thinking). Sometimes, the researchers considered capturing CFoK (Children’s Cultural Funds of Knowledge) concerning math. Turner& Drake (2016) establishes that most elementary teachers do not prepare sufficiently for their math classes, particularly in culturally diverse communities. However, this article notes that adequate planning for math class enhances the academic performance of the student. Some of the suggested math classes involve small groups for sharing and consulting among the students. This article suggests that teachers may overcome the challenge of unpreparedness when attending math class by integrating various attributes, including a willingness to change, engaging in a more diversified environment for exposure, and understanding both the CMT and the CFoK. Besides, the researchers focus on materials concerning the prospective teachers (PSTs) and the best way to link CFoK and CMT in math instruction. The researchers use reviews to describe various components necessary for the formation of a robust theoretical framework. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness and the need for preparation among the teachers when attending different math teachers.