EDU 203 Midterm question and answer 2023

1. Ladson-Billings, Kliewer, and Danforth believe that teachers have a special responsibility to enable students to succeed. Discuss each of the authors' philosophies or outlooks. What are the key elements of each author's favored approach to teaching and creating a positive classroom culture? What are the implications of this for how teachers build a positive classroom community? Why is this outlook important? (Please answer all these questions) Ladson-Billings -African American students need to have a strong identity in their own cultures and a sense of belonging -Cultural relevancy Validate cultures and student's backgrounds which will then enable them to learn inside the classroom. -Build a community, refer to students as family members, and establish the responsibility they have to themselves and their fellow students to achieve and grow. Without this outlook students will not have to question their belonging or have to compromise their identity to learn. Learning from each other Kliewer -Someone's worth is still being determined by the continuum of contribution to society. -People with Down Syndrome should not be seen as a burden to society simply because they cannot contribute to society in a way that is economical or in traditional ways. -We need human reciprocity and we cannot have in isolation, we need to form meaningful relationships with others. -The ultimate question is what validates as community membership and how do we determine who gets access? Social presence has nothing to do with IQ Danforth -Many teachers are simply unprepared to teach students with disabilities. Teachers must educate themselves in order to educate others otherwise they only have generalizations and misunderstandings to go off of Inclusive education general education -All students will benefit from being exposed to diversity, community, etc. deeply analyze our own personal beliefs in order to be a good inclusive teacher -The idea of inclusive learning and teaching is to close the gap between personal beliefs and having optimistically pursuing enduring values of justice, equality and dignity for all persons not just those who are able. 2. Using specific examples from Ladson-Billings' book The Dream Keepers, explain the meaning of "culturally relevant" teaching. In your response, you must connect to at least two other readings from this list: Delpit, Kimmel, Christensen. Lastly, describe at least three specific teaching practices that reflect a culturally relevant perspective. What is culturally relevant teaching? developing cultural competence, and cultivating sociopolitical awareness a prerequisite to being able to teach students academics and mainstream society. connection between teacher and students connects between their in school lives and their out of school experiences. It is capitalizing on their cultural and social background to facilitate learning. Bringing students' culture/ background into the classroom Connection to Christensen: using cartoons her students grew up watching to talk about learn about gender stereotypes of race, class and gender and how we are socialized to believe women need men to save them and people of color will never be the main character. Society has a bias of people based off of media; blacks are perceived as evil and not equal to whites Connection to Delpit: talks about how many African American students come to school with a different dialect of English that's different from the "regents" or Standard English, ebonics. Correcting this in a way that says how they speak is wrong or bad is an attack against their family and culture, rather use it to facilitate learning in the classroom through making dictionaries, translating rap lyrics or role playing how to talk during an interview. 3. Identify a group that you feel is disempowered through language. Give specific examples of toxic language that are used against or about this group as a whole or individuals identified with the group. Provide some specific strategies for the following: (1) for individuals who identify with this group might use to resist this disempowering/toxic language and (2) for you or anyone else to use to support (be an ally to) the person who is the object of the disempowering/toxic language. Finally, what are strategies of language usage that a teacher can use to create an inclusive atmosphere in the classroom (i.e., a classroom where language is used to empower rather than to disempower)? Be specific and explicit in the strategies you discuss and, most importantly, refer to at least two readings from the course (your choice). Group of people: People with disabilities can be disempowered by language (i.e., the use of the word "retarded," "special needs student," and/or "disabled kid"). Toxic language- not using person first language; using language that excludes or "others" ("Ms. J's kids, you can leave now..."; labeling and name calling ("she has special needs" or "he's an inclusion kid"); abusive language ("this class is so stupid") How to Resist- It's important to correct others when they are not using person first language and educate people on why you should use person first language, and how it can make people feel when they don't. Don't refer to students as their diagnosis, refer to students as family and partners when working in pairs or in general. Do not announce when students go to special services (i.e. speech, etc.) it's a private matter. In addition, use language that empowers instead of disempowers