According to the first Focus On
article, http://cc.csusm.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=449803, the Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) students, the statistics inform us that
API students are the most successful among the other six groups. Instructional strategies suggested for this
groups include, learn the students’ cultures and have the students learn the
classroom norms, unspoken norms and expectations of what they need to do to be
successful clearly written out and make sure the students understand. Also the curriculum strategy suggested for
API students was curriculum inclusion in your lesson plans. Specifically, my content area is science; therefore
I would need to include some knowledge about how the API race may have some
genetic differences that would make them targets for racism. I would also find
this curriculum resource helpful; “Scholastic’s teacher’s guide offers several
elementary and middle school lesson plans that draw on various subject areas to
teach about APIs. http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/asian-american/tguide.htm
According to the Focus On
article, http://cc.csusm.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=449804,
the Black students
are achieving widespread across social economic status groups below White
students. The article questions the
reader why is this happening still. It is a “wake-up call” for educators and
policy makers to include Black history and Black contributors that faced racial
adversity and became successful citizens. As a teacher, it is my job to inspire
all my students that they can be successful citizens. Therefore it is very important to research
science contributors of all races and include them in my biology lessons for my
students to identify themselves with.
Also the article notes the importance of the teacher’s bias and
expectations of the Black student versus the White student, by mentioning the
work of “Harvard researcher, Ronald F. Ferguson, the Tripod Project,” which
provides the educator some structure and guidance on how to self-examine your
teaching practices. What I found really interesting about this article is the
mentioning of the student performance is higher when their teacher is the same
ethnic group. I did see this during my CP1 experience where the dominant ethnic
group on the school campus was Hispanic. The students performed and showed more
initiative and interest in the classes who were taught by Hispanic teachers.
According
to the Focus On article, http://cc.csusm.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=449807,
the Hispanic students are becoming the majority minority,
and they still have the highest dropout rate amongst other minority
groups. The NEA research suggests a
resolution by “increasing the quality and quantity of ESL teachers is
absolutely critical to bridging educational gaps for Hispanic students.” Also
the article mentions the importance of incorporating “cooperative learning
strategies, such as Jigsaw, Think-Pair-Share, Three-Step Interview, and Round
Robin Brainstorming in lessons, have proven to raise motivation and achievement
in Hispanic students.” I saw this when I
was teaching cooperative learning laboratory exercises and tests during my CP1
experience. The students were definitely more interested in talking about
science when they could discuss the content with their peers.
The
Focus On article about Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgendered Persons
(GLBT), http://cc.csusm.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=449806, focused on the bullying
and harassment that these students face on a daily basis and how as an educator
we can provide them a safe environment to learn. The article mentions, “Addressing anti-GLBT
bias requires more than simply banning the use of certain slurs, however. It
requires teaching about how terms originated and how they can take on different
meanings in different contexts, including quite harmful meanings that the
speaker may not have intended.
Unfortunately I have not have the experience in the student teaching
practice to interact with this group, however I do know that most of the
schools now have a support system for this group through a school club.
The Focus on article, the American
Indian / Alaska Natives (AI/AN) http://cc.csusm.edu/file.php/11320/AchievementGapResources/indianfocus.pdf is their groups’ achievement gap, started very high in
elementary grades and the gap does close as the students enter middle and high
school grade levels. The article
suggests this may be due to the immersion programs that have been offered to
this subgroup. Such programs and advice
for educators are developed from the Center for Research on Education,
Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE), William Demmert, a renowned American Indian
scholar and policy advisor, and the Oksale Native Teacher Preparation Program that
is partnered with three institutions: Northwest Indian College (NWIC), which
serves the Lummi tribe; Washington State University (WSU); and Western
Washington University (WWU). My experience with this group has been minimal, however I agree with the proposed teaching
methods of teaching content to the students in their native languages. This task would be daunting for teaching
candidates to become fluent in more than two languages, however I think the
world of education is moving in that direction. One of my career goals is to become bilingual,
because I see the importance of being able to communicate effectively to all my
students, their families and their communities.
The last Focus On article, http://cc.csusm.edu/file.php/11320/AchievementGapResources/womenfocus05.pdf
is about the academic success of women and girls, states
that they have achieved great advancements in graduation rates and math and
science test scores. The push now is for
women to achieve in the physical sciences and higher levels of math such as
calculus. Also women can work towards higher career goals of advancement in
graduate education. I think women now
have such great role models to look at every day while they are in the
professional and educational areas. As
an educator I have to mindful of gender biases during my instructional
activities and planning. Such areas to
focus on are how often I call on girls/boys, seating arrangements, wall
displays, calling on students, and the curriculum shows an equal amount of men
and woman scientists. I could tell that
my students were perceptive to the idea that girls can like science and not be
afraid of science when I student taught two courses of biology last semester.
The girls as well as the boys, at first were afraid to voice their thoughts and
observations but after they felt comfortable especially the girls saw a woman
can be successful in a science career by my example.
