Demonstrate knowledge of teaching strategies that are responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Context:
Working in Katherine, there are a diverse range of needs in the classroom, which I began to notice while observing and teaching. The linguistic needs were varied by the student’s who travelled over 100km to arrive at class each day. These students lived on stations and part of working rural Australia. There needs differ to those who lived in town and again differed from the large Aboriginal population that also lived in town and in rural communities. Students also came from families with different socio-economic status’s. Teaching year 9.4 English in a step-up class I focussed on explicit literacy skills aimed to engage students at a level that was achievable by everyone, and building a language set the class could relate to, share and communicate with one another.
Evidence 1:
The below activity was used during a teaching and learning cycle in which I was developing students ability to have an opinion. The text came from a year 9 NAPLAN resource book, but I used it as a tool to demonstrate how students can form an opinion. The text was about the ‘Guringai People’ and revolved around a statement commonly heard on TV, ceremonies and announcements. ‘I would like to acknowledge the Guringai people who are the traditional custodians of this land.’ The text was read as a class, with students underlining words that needed clarification. We then identified the opinion that the text was expressing. This created discussion amongst class member as they related to the opinion, and opened the floor for the discussion of various Aboriginal nations within the area. I then explained how to change and substitute their own clan name in place of Guringai to form a statement relevant to them. This text was resourced specifically to suit the needs of the Aboriginal students in the class, but also as a way to build reconciliation with the non-aboriginal students.
culturally diverse activity
Evidence 2:
Explicit literacy teaching was required in some classes to develop a cohesive and coherent language. In year the year 10 class students were capable of developing texts with high level of literacy standards. However the difficulty was the unique needs each student had. As Katherine is a town on the cusp of a lower socio-economic status, many students come from unique linguistic, religious, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Working together as a class can be fruitful at times, but also hard as students retreat to their own backgrounds and needs. For the final unit on persuasive language I employed the use of an activity task that was partly literacy based, but also guided students towards more higher level thinking skills at times. The worksheet focused on comprehension, writing skills, vocabulary and spelling, punctuation, grammar, word study and proof reading. It was an activity which I guided the students through to develop an understanding of persuasive language and how to create persuasive language, but also how to notice it and analyse it. This activity was particularly useful as it allowed students to work at their own pace, was self instructed and focused on various aspects of literacy, while being related to the topic. We read the letter’s to the editor as a class, but then I let students complete the activities individually or in pairs as I circled the classroom asking concept checking questions and eliciting feedback from students. It acted as a foundation for further development in persuasive language analysis as the unit branched off into a number of social and political issues that students became engaged in.
Literacy based activity
Taylor, Pauline, and Garrett, Lisa (2014) Effective teaching of students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds: a critical literature review. In: Proceedings of the Australian Teacher Education Association Annual Conference. pp. 242-255. From: ATEA 2014: Australian Teacher Education Association Annual Conference, 6-9 July 2014, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
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Abstract
The Australian Institute for School Teaching and Leadership's (AITSL's) Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, Standard 1, requires teachers to demonstrate professional knowledge as to how students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds learn. Sleeter (2011) and Macfarlane, Glynn, Cavanagh, and Bateman (2007) argue that professional learning in culturally responsive pedagogy can impact teacher effectiveness but the how to apply it into the classroom context is not clearly understood.
In Far North Queensland, Australia, schools in the last 10-15 years have been involved in the resettlement of refugees from a number of countries under the UNHCR program. Although the State education department has a long history of catering for students who have English as an additional language (EAL), professional learning in second language acquisition and working cross-culturally has been sparse and predominantly focussed on Indigenous-specific needs. Many teachers seem to have had little, if any, initial training or opportunities for sustained professional learning in culturally responsive pedagogy more broadly. Nor, it seems, is this a priority. A large body of literature around refugee resettlement (Bean et al., 2006; Pugh, Every, & Hattam, 2012; Taylor, 2008; Taylor & Sidhu, 2011) suggests that schools play a major component in the successful resettlement of refugee children. This paper presents a critical review of literature focused on critically responsive pedagogy and effective teaching of culturally and linguistically diverse students. The review identifies that personal and professional nature of culturally responsive pedagogy presents significant challenges for teacher education and ongoing professional learning and that more research is needed into how to support teachers' culturally responsive capabilities in contexts of practice.
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| 23 Apr 2015 04:31 |
| 13 EDUCATION > 1303 Specialist Studies in Education > 130313 Teacher Education and Professional Development of Educators @ 60% 13 EDUCATION > 1303 Specialist Studies in Education > 130302 Comparative and Cross-Cultural Education @ 40% |
| 93 EDUCATION AND TRAINING > 9302 Teaching and Instruction > 930201 Pedagogy @ 50% 93 EDUCATION AND TRAINING > 9302 Teaching and Instruction > 930202 Teacher and Instructor Development @ 50% |
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