Chapter 10 Reflection: Think about the students you teach. In what ways do you see gender influencing how students respond in the classroom? In what ways do you see culture influence learning?
Be sure to think about both majority and minority cultures.
Gender influences all responses in the classroom. Students are given various activities in the classroom. We always have discussion about the activities; students share their responses with the class. Based on their gender, the responses were different. I would then have students compare and contrast. the responses.Surprisingly, many of them noticed the difference in the responses based on gender. Culture influences learning in every aspect. One culture learns a particular way and another culture utilize a different approach. However, all the cultures have the same learning outcome.
ReplyDeletePatreece Perry-Pelt
I see some differences in culture and gender in the classroom. I find that my Latin students are more social and interactive than my Anglo students. The Latin students tend to do well in group and collaborative situations, but some of my Anglos work best alone. If we are doing a group situation and a student wants to work alone, I let them.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that when it comes to gender, it's a mixed bag. Usually the girls are more talkative than the boys, but they complete their work. The boys have a tendency to be lazier and have a problem completing their work.
Jack Sague
As far as gender, the makeup of my classes have always included more boys than girls. I teach SPED, so preferences of intelligences are always on the forefront. Multi-facted and Gardner's intelligences play a big roll on how lessons are delivered. Culture as well affects interpretation of some concepts, especially in reading language arts. I always include a visual when it comes to words, both spelling and vocabulary. Role play is an excellent way to reach comprehension after reading a passage, (and its kinethestic) which kids also learn by doing. Technology has played a big role in the classroom. Overhead projector and the mimo...these help working on whole group tasks. One thing I plan on introducing this year is a learning profile. It is important that as teacher we have a heads up on our students best method of learning and interpeting information. You can lean a great deal with a simple teacher -made tool like a learning pofile.
ReplyDelete-BLANCA GONZALEZ
• According to research, gender and culture play a role in how students respond in a classroom. Last year, in my language arts fifth grade class, the boys appeared less verbal during discussion. The girls shine when we do role plays. The boys enjoyed the assignments that were more competitive. This year I’ve taught a third grade French class. Most of the students are either from Haiti or of Haitian Parents, or decent. I noticed that the students who are new to the country are very well behaved and display so much more hunger for knowledge. For the ones who are not completing their work, I usually mention that I’m calling their parents. The sound of that seemed to worry some of them. Usually, they redirect themselves immediately, and get back to their work.
ReplyDeleteIn my class gender and culture plays a role in my class. I notice female students are more really to raise their hands and answer questions. I have also noticed that female students prefer giving their answers orally or to write them in essay format. Male students tend to answer questions if they are called upon and prefer to answer questions in short answer form or drawings. There is also a difference in culture. American students do not have a shame and will answer a question in any form you tell them to. Hispanic students tend to say away from oral and written format, because they fear they lack the knowledge of their English language, and African American students seem to like the arts: they like to draw, sing or rap their answers. Female students are more outgoing and male students want to be cool and more laid back when it comes to responding in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteMerrissa Bailey
In my very own observation of my students, I find gender to be very difficult in that at the middle school age, boys and girls that learn together in the same class find it hard to focus because of their interest being divide. They are more interested in dating than learning. However on the other hand if the teacher is able to strongly influence both genders to focus on learning than having a relationship, then more progress learning is accomplished. The culture of the students I teach are not easy to reach at times because of the influence from other cultures that they try to imitate, and the copycat behavior is not always positive, so this could weigh very heavy on one's ability to learn as well. Taking in consideration majority, minority, I would say this has everything to do with knowing who you are and not allowing it to make a difference when it comes to learning. The majority or minority could both suffer if they are not encourage to stay focus and not be negatively influenced.Karen Smith
ReplyDeleteCulture has a big influence on the way students respond in the classroom. Some cultures see discipline and respect as very important values. For example, Chinese students are much more effective and respectful. Many cultures are very expressive and spontaneous, while others are reserved and quite. When a teacher has a cultural diverse classroom, he/she needs to learn about different cultural patterns, and create activities that allow every student to learn and present the content in a different way. At the same time, the way students respond in the classroom is influenced, in most part, by gender. Girls are more organized and like to present everything in a nicer way. Boys, in general, don’t care too much about presentation. Girls are more helpful with each other. Boys usually see asking for help as weakness. Girls tend to be more emotional and tend to show it. Boys usually show emotional pain with anger or indifference. For classroom management, it is very important to be aware of the interaction that occurs in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteClaudia Ocampo
From my experience, I have noticed that there is a balance between genders influencing the learning environment. In some of my classes, the females take the lead and keep the males on track. In other classes, the males are more focus and motivators for the females. Culture definitely influences learning. When I taught in North Carolina, the majority of my students were Caucasians. My classroom environment was much quieter and I felt less stress as a teacher when it came to classroom management. At times, when my “Cuban side” would come out, my students would think that I was upset because I would raise the volume in my voice, but in reality I was just avid about a specific topic. Teaching now in a more Hispanic classroom environment, I do not have to worry so much about the tone in my voice because my students and I understand one another in regards to our culture. However, these particular students are much louder and enjoy talking to one another more. There are flaws in both of these cultures that can hinder the learning environment, but I think that it has helped me as a teacher gain a greater perspective on how to approach different learning environments.
ReplyDelete-Jessica Collado
It appears to seam like female students are more active in class than male students. Being hispanic myself teaching to a mostly hispanic audience of immigrants that haven't adopted the American culture yet. I think that female participation over male participation may be a result of our cultural background where being a good student, is culturally perceived as a women's role. Actually I have seen that some girls in high school tend to prefer guys who are more street savys than those who are "the good guys." I had the testimony of one of my male students that told me he had to stop been a "good student because he could not find a girlfriend being a good kid. I asked some of the girls about it and they most unanimously with very few excemptions agreed with most of the girls they like their boyfriends to be more street savy than good kids.
ReplyDeleteUsually, I only teach ESL, the last few years, since I am certified in Spanish, I have had the opportunity to teach both English Literature, Spanish Literature and Spanish for Non-Speakers. I tell you this because due to the different population of students I can see similarities and differences. With my ESL population i would say that 97% are Cuban. Here the culture plays a role, in a very traditional way. Girls are more helpful, caring of their work and talkative about the topics. With the boys it is more of a mixed bag some act as if they don't care and some don't take pride in their work. They like to show off, be the macho man instead of the good learner and think of their futures. The kids who have been born here of Latin extraction are more independed and tend to work alone or in those groups with their close buddies. But when it comes to DI this can be worked into the lesson.
ReplyDeleteEfrem Figueredo
My boys tend to be stagnant in class. Regardless of the level of learning ability, knowledge, or skill the boys enter the classroom with, that level usually will be either a source of great pride or great insecurity. Boys, in my experience, have little desire to change. If they're perceived as "dumb", they will use that as an excuse to misbehave and be a clown, or worse, defiant. Boys who are intellectually strong often become arrogant and inflexible, and unspired. In both cases, their outward appearance and behavior betrays an attitude of inflexibility.
ReplyDeleteMy girls, on the other hand, tend to be have a good balance of an individual level of accomplishment and committment to group success. Even if a girl has no real sense of pride in academic achievement, she will, in my general experience, be more inclined than a boy to be inspired to contribute positively. This is only a general observation. I've noticed it enough to where I do think there is a correlation between gender and academic work behavior.
Minorities, immigrants, and students from a lower socio-economic background, in a very broadly generalized observation, are more cooperative. Students from higher socio-economic sections of society don't value cooperation as much. These students tend to be more individually competitive. These are only observations. My attitude and daily choices are a large determining factor of how students behave in class.
There is not much talking in my class as the students are all working independently on their computers in the S3C Program. However, I do notice that the females do not speak up in class nearly as much as the males. The males have no problem with answering a question or providing their opinions to the class. I have to call on the girls and request a response from them.
ReplyDeleteIn my class, I really do not see any differences with their culture influencing their learning. My program is structured so that each child is working at their own pace and on their own personal levels. They also know that my class is their last hope in catching up to their correct grade level so, they all work hard. They are all on the computer all day long working independently.
Susan Castleman
This year I taught a 1st grade ESOL self-contained class and I have to admit I felt a little overwhelmed. The students were extremely social and chatty. Some of the girls would actually mimic me when I would talk. Not in a bad way, just trying to be like me. For the most part they enjoyed working in groups. But this presented a challenge as I would have to continually redirect them. I had maybe one or two that would prefer working alone. Overall, they would really help eachother. With this particular class I noticed that the boys enjoyed more working collaboratively, while the girls were a little more competitive. I felt the boys and girls participated equally in class.
ReplyDeleteGenders should be considered in response to students learning behavior. Research provides information on gender and learning styles. Bridging the gap for learning styles in both genders is essential of importance. Learning styles prescribes the way basics for much of a learning preference. Learning profiles are unique by purpose because they dictate ways that people learn best. Research assets that we can use this resource to tap into avenues to promote effective learning. Differential learning profiles enhances the process that helps learners understanding of modes that compliments their learning. Learning profiles can be used to structure curriculum by design. There is no special formula that is endorsed by research.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the profiles reflects learning styles structures that can be used to compliment an individual style of learning. The text provides preferences to inform educators’ to be cognizant of individual differences as they relate to individual’s needs. These differences should be considered in providing instructions for in all areas of learning. Genders should be considered in response to students learning behavior. Research provides information on gender and learning styles. Bridging the gap for learning styles in both genders is essential of importance.
Barbara Harris
Genders should be considered in response to students learning behavior. Research provides information on gender and learning styles. Bridging the gap for learning styles in both genders is essential of importance. Learning styles prescribes the way basics for much of a learning preference. Learning profiles are unique by purpose because they dictate ways that people learn best. Research assets that we can use this resource to tap into avenues to promote effective learning. Differential learning profiles enhances the process that helps learners understanding of modes that compliments their learning. Learning profiles can be used to structure curriculum by design. There is no special formula that is endorsed by research.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the profiles reflects learning styles structures that can be used to compliment an individual style of learning. The text provides preferences to inform educators’ to be cognizant of individual differences as they relate to individual’s needs. These differences should be considered in providing instructions for in all areas of learning.
Barbara Harris
I teach SPED, as far as gender, the makeup of my classes have always included more boys than girls. However, if there is a girl or two in the classroom, they seem to help balance the class. I can look to them for help with classroom organization, decorations, the girls are more of leaders when it comes to group assignments; the male students may have more behavior issues than the girls, but they are straight forward when it comes to seeking assistance with assignments. Culture differences are present but it doesn’t affect the students in SPED.
ReplyDeletePamela Robinson
With my students, gender influences how students respond in the classroom in many ways. First, more females seem more personally motivated to do well in class. They tend to populate more of the critical thinking and reading comprehension DI groups. On the other hand, most males seem to be less serious about reading class and tend to populate more of the phonics and fluency DI groups.
ReplyDeleteThe small number of females who are also in the phonics and fluency groups tend to be more driven to do what they need to in order to advance into a different group, whereas the males seem to be content in whichever group they fall in.
Culture influences learning through student interest. Whenever students' culture is infused into lessons, they tend to be more interested and participation is increased.
During cultural heritage months, all students are required to participate in tasks that help them learn something new about the culture, even if it is their own. Students are amazed at the things they learn about the different cultures and they tend to show appreciation for the culture in the way that they interact with each other.
I teach Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. My class consists only of the male population only. I find my students love to compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly and finish his work first. The majority of my students are from the Caribbean islands; they like to work in groups and are very talkative. The aggressive learners like to take charge and see that all the students are on task and complete the assignments.
ReplyDeleteLarry Williams
I teach ELLs in the middle school and I notice how culture and gender influence the learning environment. Most of my Hispanic students are from Cuba but I also have students from South and Central America, Mexico, and other parts of the Caribbean. I have had students from China, Vietnam, and other parts of the world. Students from Asian countries seem very quiet and attentive, and at the beginning prefer to work alone. The Hispanic students are social bugs and are quite talkative but respectful, so they do well in groups. My students are taught that we are one family and we are responsible for each other’s well-being so they eventually become the best of friends no matter where they come from. As far as gender, the girls seem more concerned about succeeding academically than the boys. The girls’ assignments, projects and presentations are far more presentable and complex, and the girls are likely to be excessively critical in evaluating their own academic performance. However, the boys sometimes seem they could care less as long as the job gets done. Boys like the competition and more of the hands-on activities so they could move around. The girls are able to listen to a long explanation about the activity, however, the boys are more like “get to the point and let’s get started”.
ReplyDeleteMaria Santiago-Parreno
My experiences have been mainly with Hispanic populations. In class, I find that all of the students are very talkative but the girls are louder and prefer to take the lead in many cases. The girls also like to dress more inappropriately than the boys. It has also been interesting to see how their parents coddle them whatever the gender may be. In my classroom, I try to develop independence and responsibility of self. This causes a problem when mom gives me a zillion excuses of why fulanito doesn’t have his pencil, because she forgot to sharpen it, or why he didn’t do home learning, he had a tummy ache. If the parent doesn’t value education, the child usually tends to follow in their footsteps. This occurs for any culture.
ReplyDeleteZina Berman
Gender and culture have a lot to do in a classroom. I had a class with 18 boys and 4 girls. The girls did better than the boys in the class. As a teacher my plan was to engage or hook the students into reading. It was not unproblematic with the gender and different background in the classroom. Gender influences how we learn. As it is the case with culture. There is learning patterns in each gender, but great variance, as well. In my previous example of my class more males than female created competitive learning. My girls did much better than my boys. Some of the same elements that are influenced by culture also influence by gender.
ReplyDeleteIt is known that gender is one of the most fundamental ways we categorize people, whether we realize we are going it or not. Often, gender expectations or shape the way we think and interactions with others in yet perceptible ways. Gender also appears to have a great influence on the way students address and embrace subject content. Males tend to have a strong interest in solving problems of a mathematical nature. They buy into the content, and solve problems with ease. It is difficult to analyze this contention. Environment plays an importance role in the development of behavior according to research. As I was reading some research on Genders by (Sadker, “Sexism in the
ReplyDeleteClassroom” 513, Hall & Sandler 5-9, and Sandler et al. 10-14) have shown that teachers most likely to call on male students, even when female students raise their hands or when no one does
wait longer for male than for female students to respond to questions give male students more eye contact following questions.
Females were not exposed to competitive setting as much as males. Could it be the absence of these experiences that cause females to have deficits in their abilities? Females tend to perform higher on verbal linguistic task. I am not certain how to analyze this contention, however it does exist. Our roles as educators should endorse bridging the gap, but maintaining our purpose of providing appropriate guidelines for addressing student’s learning preferences in regards to gender, and gender deficits.
Carolyn Collins
Sheila Hodges
ReplyDeleteChapter 10:
Learning-profile differentiation is one way of ensuring that students get to learn in ways that work best for them, some guidelines are broadly useful in establishing classrooms responsive to a wide range of learning preferences.
At the beginning of the year the teacher will give pre-assessment e.g., Interest, readiness, and learning questionnaire to diagnosis students' learning profile.
Patterns of learning preference are certainly complex when we look at individual learning style; intelligence; culture-influenced, gender-influenced preferences. A sensitive teacher understands that students learning preferences may be like the teacher or different from the teacher so the instructor tries to create options and choices to make everyone more comfortable.
In the classroom it is important to take into consideration your student's learning styles, intelligence preference, gender and culture. All of these factors can influence learning profile. With my students I try to vary the activities that we do, by sometimes working at their tables and other times doing group activities at the carpet because some students may work better when it is a more structured environment and others tend to work better when they are not as restricted.
ReplyDeleteSheila Hodges
ReplyDeleteChapter 11:
Differentiating content for student need;
It can also be differentiated in response to any combination of readiness interest, and learning profile. One way of thinking about readiness differentiation of content is to use "The Equalizer" as a guide, asking yourself if materials are at an appropriately challenging level of complexity, independence, pacing, etc.
An example of interest differentiation: Teacher can help a student find web site, that feed their curiosity.
Learning profile differentiation e.g., Some students may handle a lecture best if the teacher use overhead transparences as well as talk - linking visual and auditory learning. One example of a strategies for differentiating content is to use variety of text and resource materials. The key is to match the levels of complexity, abstractness, depth, breadth, and so forth of the resource materials with the students learning needs.
Sheila Hodges
ReplyDeleteCharter 12:
Differentiating process:
Process means sense-making or, just as it sounds opportunity for learners to process the content or idea and skills to which they have been introduced.
Strategies that support differentiated: processing multiple intelligences, interest groups, varied graphic organizers, complex instruction, concept attainment and independent study. However, it is the quality of topic, task, resources, activities, etc. that predominately affects student understanding.
My class consists of more boys than girls. The girls tend to be more helpful by being organized, cleaning after themselves and being creative. On the other hand, boys focused less than girls. There are cultural differences in the classroom but does not influence the learning environment.
ReplyDeleteSheila Hodges
ReplyDeleteChapter 13:
Creating a powerful product assignment: 7 steps
1. Identify the essentials of the unit/study. e.g., know (facts) and understand (skills)
2. Identify one or more formats or "packaging options" for the product. e.g., poetry
3. Determine expectations for quality in: e.g.,content, process, and product
4.Decide on scaffolding you may need to build in order to promote success: brainstorming for ideas
5.Develop a product assignment that clearly says to the student: In this format
6.Differentiate or modify versions of the assignment based on: student readiness, interest, and learning profile.
7. Coach for success.
Product Possibilities: Design and teach a class
Sheila Hodges
ReplyDeleteChapter 14:
New grading system is based on individual goal setting and progress in reading those goals, and that students will be "graded against themselves" rather than in competition with other students. e.g., develop rubrics/ criteria for success
Where I teach I have noticed how different the gender of the student affects the student itself. I have both genders that try to do their best, however, I have noticed that teaching my male students has been a challenged. They have not had the male role model in their homes, which makes it hard for them to control their behavior in class. Unfortunately, it has a lot to do with the fact also that their parents are not involved. They seem not to care for their education because their parents do not care. Overall, I do work with my students learning styles and find interesting ways to stimulate my students to appreciate learning. This has helped and I will continue doing it.
ReplyDeleteWe need to be cognizant of the gender and culture of our students as it plays a part in student learning and achievement. We need to know our students. In the Reading classroom, it sometimes feels like we are losing our boys. Interest and motivation among them seem to be at an all time low. Why is that, and more importantly, what can we do about it? I have found that incorporating diverse literature into the classroom has helped my students connect to characters who in some ways are just like them. These connections often help to engage students. Sometimes we don't even realize that all of our texts have female main characters, for example. Be aware. This simple awareness in text selection is a simple starting point in addressing culture and gender in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteStudents are all different and have different styles of learning. Some students learn best when they can move around others need to be still . Some students like rooms with many things others function best when the environment is spare. this way they are not distracted. This is how we learn. We are all different
ReplyDeleteThinking about the students in my classroom gender doesn't play a huge role in influencing their learning. They tend to be more comfortable with their own gender but are driven just the same.I do believe cultural influences affect my students a great deal. I find that certain cultures are extremely hard and strict with learning and others don't really put any emphasis on learning. Minority cultures unfortunately I beleieve have hardships in their life such as work, transportation, and accessibility that take priority over their child's education.I try as much as possible to treat all my students the same but have an understanding that things are different at home for them some more difficult and some easier.
ReplyDeleteI see the ELL students struggle academically on a daily basis. It is very difficult for them to adjust when they can't speak the language. Many of them get discouraged and give up before reaching their senior year. My main focus as a counselor is to help guide them so they won't drop out of school. It's not an easy task but I try my best to offer support when needed, because I can relate to most of them.
ReplyDeleteAnonymousJune 16, 2013 at 2:35 PM
ReplyDeleteI see the ELL students struggle academically on a daily basis. It is very difficult for them to adjust when they can't speak the language. Many of them get discouraged and give up before reaching their senior year. My main focus as a counselor is to help guide them so they won't drop out of school. It's not an easy task but I try my best to offer support when needed, because I can relate to most of them.
Tony Casas
Chapter 10
Ronnica Nix
ReplyDeleteChapter 10
In my experience gender plays a big role in the classroom as far as the girls are usually more mature than boys. The girls tend to be more concerned about their grades, homework, extra credit assignments than the boys. I noticed, like even college, the boys tend to link up with the girls in groups so that they can get a "good" grade. Boys tend to acknowledge that the girls are more focused, and involved with the classroom activities than they are.
Culturally, I see that my ELL boys try harder to "fit in" more so than the girls. The girls once again, tend to try a little harder, and accept the challenges a little better than the boys.
I believe it is important to take gender and culture into consideration when planning D.I. lessons. I believe both of these factors influence learning, but we must be very careful with stereotypes and generalizations. Getting to know the student as an individual I think is far more important. In my art classes, it seems I often have more girls than boys. If I had to make generalizations, I would say boys are more interested in the techniques I teach in art and girls are more interested in how the product looks, specially with painting.
ReplyDeleteCulture brings in concrete experience to learning as well as very interesting points of view. Being an international school, we have a large variety of languages being spoken and wonderful "teachable moments" when differences in cultural aspects come to light.
Gender certainly plays a role in the classroom. From the moment a child walks into the classroom we tend to judge. For instance, that girls are more mature and boys tend to play a lot more. That girls are stronger in math/science in the earlier years but then boys become the leaders in that field. We make assumptions based on culture as well. However, instead of assuming, we should get to know the students so that we can take all these things into consideration when planning the activities. The classroom can become more enriched by each other's contributions.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I just don’t see such an overwhelming difference between human beings. For every factor that is supposed to be influenced by gender or culture, I see exceptions. Given my own gender, I am supposed to fit into a box that just does not fit with my personal characteristics. Preconceived factors cause teachers to act in a way that can be detrimental to their students. As a result, I do not see students’ differences until they reveal them to me. For this reason, I treat “differences” on a case-by-case basis.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure what is a majority or minority culture. Who decides this?
Wow!! This is a topic that I am very passionate about. For many many years I have thought that boys and girls needed to be separated, especially on the Middle School level. I thought that a lot of students were very distracted by having the opposite sex in the learning environment with them. Ii even thought of going to Tallahassee to see how we could promote more gender base classes and schools.
ReplyDeleteNow the students that I teach are distracted by a lot of things and I don't think it has much to do with gender!
As far as culture influencing what happens in the classroom, I think that that does have a large impact on what happens in the classroom. I truly believe that if you don't know where a child has been or what they have experienced or are experiencing in life, you unfortunately can't take them where they need to go. I think in order for us to reach children, we need to really know their HIstory. I believe that a lot of students are misunderstood and therefore are mistaught and then for lack of better words........miss learning!!!
I believe deep in my heart of hearts that the educational system needs to revert back to the days old......students go to school in their home(community), that they are taught and disciplined by those people that come from their community. I believe that students should go to one school that would house them from K-12th grade. I think that in this day and age ALL schools should be "Good" schools, ALL schools should be considered a "Magnet School" and we educate and teach our students to be productive citizens in society.
T. Junious
Gender influences how students respond in the classroom. I find that boys tend to be more bodily kinesthetic and prefer competitive activities. For example, during class discussions, boys find it necessary to move around and if I want to engage the boys in the activity, I make it a game and track points, and call a winner at the end. Girls tend to be more reserved and less active. But, playing a game engages girls equally. Culture affects how students learn as well. But, we shouldn’t make assumptions based on stereo-typical cultural generalizations. Students are individuals and we must get to know them. We should know our students as individuals and administer learning and interest inventories. To address our students’ differences and needs, educators must then apply what we know in order to engage the individual and attain learning gains.
ReplyDeleteI am yet to see culture affect a student's learning;On the other hand, I do feel gender influenced in the class. Females seem to take the lead in most of the classes I have taught. Male students tend to allow female students to answer because of many reasons.Most of the time the male students who feel intellectually challenge will then compete to be noticed academically. I feel that we as educators can bridge the gap by expecting males to particpate as equally as females, have more peer teaching opportunities, and definitely more cooperative learning. Many times when male students feel competition in learning they then put maximum effort. In my current classes, male students are always competing with female students because they know that it is expected to show they too can self motivate themselves.
ReplyDeleteSince I am teaching Chinese as other language, I have experienced the gender to learn differently. Girls are faster learner when learning another language. They like to copy the teachers, drawing pictures to demonstrate their ideas while boys are more hands-on. Boys like role plays, cultural projects and presentations. Apart from their different learning style, they are all reachable by differentiated instructions.
ReplyDeleteCulturally I see a lot of difference of all the students. Chinese students are more passive learners, more discipline and more respectful but not active in the classroom. They like independent work, while American students are more active and participate more in the classroom. I have 90 percent of the students from South America. They are active and like to sit in a group. They are very chatty. As language learners, it is good so we can do more group practice, they are willing to express themselves and they are not shy when they make mistakes.
The most obvious way in which I see culture influencing learning is among minorities, in particular among young African American males. To say that way too many young Black males think they will be rappers or athletes is by no means a form of stereotyping. I can connect this topic to Differentiated Instruction by pointing out that DI promotes the idea that all students have strengths and weaknesses, unique learning styles and interests and that they should never have to just work hard at something, whether they are good at it or not. When we tell students about different styles of learning, they are inclined to use this to justify a lot of bad attitudes. In other words, many students believe that poets (or rappers) are “born” not developed. The types of athletes that fans in the US prefer are, indeed, usually born. Guards in basketball are now six-eight. Seven footers are abundant. In football, most players are now over 250 pounds. Offensive linemen now top the scale at over 300 pounds. And we know about the strong man in baseball that feeds the steroid industry. All of these examples might encourage us to believe that inherent ability or characteristics are indeed the major determinants to the outcomes of people’s lives. We appear to have discarded the notion that hard work often gets good results. Most soccer players are between 5’ 8” and 5’10”. In that sport, being too big or too specialized could be a handicap. Hard work in the development of skills—that is, tenacious practice--is the way to become nationally and internationally recognized.
ReplyDeleteSince most students are average people, perhaps we should get back to stressing hard work. For the young African American male, there are lots of good jobs available, good jobs that can be acquired through education and skill development. Often they use the excuse that education will somehow destroy their black ID. That is nonsense. Education is supposed to change people, not leave them as they are, but the changes do not have to destroy an identity. Barack Obama did not lose his identity as a Black man, neither did Bill Russell or Thurgood Marshall. And all these men were educated in a system that could be called “White.” So this idea that education is an inherent threat to individual identity is just a poor excuse for not working hard to achieve a goal that can improve any life, the goal to become well educated and highly skilled.
So, perhaps this is a way to apply DI-- by addressing the specific cultural issues that are dominant today and selecting material, in language Arts, for example, that encourages students to read about cultural beliefs, think about them, discuss them, and write about them. I can think of no type of education that becomes a handicap if it is managed by teachers that encourage students to think independently regardless of the topic. And an education that places emphasis on working hard and pursuing goals despite the absence of love for a subject is probably the type of education that prepares students for the real world.
Tony H.
Think about the students you teach. In what ways do you see gender influencing how students respond in the classroom? In what ways do you see culture influence learning? Be sure to think about both majority and minority cultures.
ReplyDeleteBeing so lucky to teach ESOL students, having the privilege to operate with them into their culture, traditions and knowing the way they behave socially, make me feel sure and unsure to present a reflection about this chapter.
It is obvious that males and females respond differently towards English language learning skills. It is my opinion females are more competent when dealing with writing and reading while male does it with speaking and listening. However, cultural issues also influence the way these students respond to instructional topics and the way they put into practice what they are learning. For example: Students from Central American countries ( no matter the sex) are not so expressive and they prefer not face-to-face activities such as writing, quizzes, independent reading, while students from North American and Caribbean countries feel more comfortable through speaking, reading aloud, body language, etc.
It is also worthwhile to highlight that here in America, and mostly in the state of Florida (The Melting Pot State), cultural issues also influence the learning process when comparing students from Europe, Africa, and even parts from North America. Let’s say. Let’s conclude, Let’s Express “GENDER does really have a big influence in English Language learning as a Second Language.”
By Mr. Flores De La Paz, Hector L.
The majority of students in my classroom are females (ten) and males (eight). This creates a challenge in the battle of the sexes. The girls display leadership ability and tend to gasp the teach concepts than boys. The boys are more concern with lunch menu and socializing during their recess time. I appreciate the tenacity that the girls exhibit when I introduce teaching concepts in the classroom. They help influence the boys to learn the concept, as well as good behavior. The culture influence the students learning base on their exposure to new things are very limited due to the lack of economic income. Due to the fact that most of my students come from single parent’s household and receive of government assistance. My demographic of students are less incline to achieve higher learning base on their culture experiences. Although some of my students lack economical means and parent involvement, I encourage them pursue education. I further explain that they can achieve all of their goals with hard work and persistence.
ReplyDeleteMy male students generally are less responsive, more competitive, trying to be funny. Girls are more talkative and have more tenacity. Culture is a big part of my classroom. Low income household make up most of our demographics. Kids get back to an empty home with parents having two jobs. When I call parents I hear their frustrations because they can’t help because they don’t know the language. I also see how concerned kids are with materials things. Students’ lives are full of danger and needs. As a result, education is not a priority. If parents don’t stress its importance because they never got it, and students don’t care because they are worry about walking alone in their neighborhoods at night, how can I help? I began by celebrating their smallest victories and differentiate their instruction until they respond. I found out that a good positive attitude helps me break down some barriers.
ReplyDeleteFrancisco Castro
Within the classroom setting, female students are much more likely to engage in conversation and verbal exchange. Male students often "sit back" and permit female students to take the lead and "take over" to accomplish the required task. Students who have difficulty with the English language also have a tendency to take a "wait and see" attititude. It is the teachers responsibility to design activities to make every effort to involve all students regardless of gender and/or culture. This will take some very specific planning and consideration of current student population within the given class setting. It is important to encourage small steps of leadership and make every effort to design assignments that accommodate all students. Within the class setting, there may some trial and error and even times when individual students are unintentionally offended. Such times as these should be used as learning experiences and these "rabbits" should at times be chased and the entire class learn the culture lesson taught by the students themselves. We have much to learn from each other.
ReplyDeleteChapter 10 Reflection: Think about the students you teach. In what ways do you see gender influencing how students respond in the classroom? In what ways do you see culture influence learning? Be sure to think about both majority and minority cultures. Gender influences how we learn. There are learning patterns in each gender. The males more so than the females may prefer competitive learning or at times they might prefer collaborative learning and some famales may prefer competition. For example, females may tend to be expressive and males more reserved. In culture, it influences whether we see life/learning/living as fixed and rigid or flexible and fluid. Culture can affect the genders within the learning patterns like reflective or impulsive. The teachers' position is to understand the difference of learning preference within the genders and the cultures and create a classroom flexible enough for each learner to feel comfortable in order to be productive within the learning community of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI work in a mostly minority population. I don't see a big difference in gender. I have students of both genders who enjoy participating and the same can be said for students with behavioral problems.
ReplyDeleteGender and cultural differences play a big role in my classroom. I teach reading to two groups of third grade students. Between the two classes there are 13 girls and 7 boys. 90% of the class population is compose of hispanics while 10% is African-American. The females in my classes are very quite and are not willing participant in class discussion. The male members of the classes are always in constant competition with one another. I have noticed that the hispanic females do not seem to have high expectations for themselves and tend to hold back their answers when any male student forms part of the D.I. group or classroom Q&A sessions.
ReplyDeleteChapter 10
ReplyDeleteGender influence is shown in the classroom when you have males working better together in specific topics than girls in the same situation and group strategy. Girls can be very competitive if the topic is about expressing themselves among girls only, however the same outgoing behavior doesn't happen when the discussion happens in a heterogeneous group.
Cultural influences are noticed when students do not understand the topic at hand because they do not have the pragmatic frame of reference. The way the students solve a problem with a style of flexibility or rigidity, or emotional expressions is largely influence by culture. The various learning patterns can have greater or smaller gaps depending on the culture of the student.
Gender has a big influences into the process of learning .Boys are playful and hyperactive while Girl are more talkative and organize in the other hand, we have Girls thinking about stylish and clothes and Boys thinking about playing and games. Consequently we know there are physical differences between a boy’s brain and a girl’s both at birth and as children grows. Exactly how those differences affect behavior and personality is still a mystery. For example, scientists say there probably is an area of the brain that propels many boys towards things that move and many girls towards nurturing but it has yet to be identified
ReplyDeleteBased on research Boys and girls show very similar abilities. They are equally capable in math, which suggests that the common gap in math’s skills in later years is a product of culture, not biology. Girls are somewhat better at memorizing and reciting lists of words though, and they are slightly better at tasks that require finger dexterity and quick thinking. Boys have the upper hand with spatial tasks, such as arranging blocks to form patterns.
Culture has big influences when Latin students come to the United States and they accomplished the language, they feel more comfortable. They show off and trying to be part of the schools’ environment. According to “Abt-Perkins and Rosen “Cultural Knowledge is an understanding of importance of culture in affecting student’ perception, Sel-esteem, values, classroom behavior and learning.” Culture has built their skills and interest through years. Beside Self-knowledge can be gained through inquiry into cultural consciousness so that teachers can discover their own assumptions and stereotypes that can hinder culturally .Cultural factors have acquired, consciously or unconsciously, and carry with them where ever they go. When one group or one individual from different culture interface with another culture are quite likely that some form of dissonance will occur. Such dissonance or discord offers the potential for misunderstanding and in the learning environment it frequently leads a to less-than-successful learning experiences for those who are cultural outsiders and not uncommonly to frustration or loss of motivation and reduction of self-esteem .It is extremely relevant that educators have clear understanding of the role of culture factors plays in the learning process so that they may utilize that knowledge to create cultural response learning environment to support they need
Gender does play a big role in the classroom. I belive that girls are ususally more mature than boys. Girls are more organized than boys, girls tend to be more concerned about completing homework, special assignments, their grades, extra credits than boys are. I belive that boys work better than girls in a group setting, girls at time tend to be more competitive than boys. When I was in the classroom teaching SED, boys tend to work and get along better in a group setting than the girls did. As a teacher it is important to understand the difference in learning within the genders and of course the cultures. A good teacher will have her classroom set up in a manner that the students will feel the flexibility that the students will feel comfortable, where they will be productive in the learning community of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI was just having this conversation earlier this week, with one of my teachers who is frustrated with a male dominated afternoon period. She was reflecting on a class of 18 middle school boys and 2 sweet soft-spoken girls who are squelched in this block. I continued to reflect and hypothesize with her, but while I did I thought back to my experience with 7th grade boys vs. girls. There is a trend that you can find in some schools of same gender classrooms, and I have always been intrigued to try it out, until this teacher explained the struggles she has with redirecting a large group of 13 boys. Ultimately, no matter the ratio and situation in which we find students of both genders, it is apparent that we need to ensure that our lessons and instruction meet the needs of both. We need to tailor it. I also think that we need strong examples of both girl and boy students, a culture that can be built in the upper grades for the younger ones to look up to. Because while the boys may have their moments of apathy, I also find the young ladies to be among those most distracted by outside stimuli (what happened on the quad, etc).
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, gender influences how my students respond in many ways. My girls are very organized and detail oriented. They seem to be more motivated to succeed. During class, the girls are more apt to ask those higher order thinking questions. On the other hand, my boys are unorganized and they pay less attention to details. They tend to write messy and share in a lack of motivation. They are very playful, but they seem to grasp math and science, whereas, my girls gravitate more to reading comprehension, phonics, fluency, vocabulary. I use their unique differences and work to their strengths and weaknesses. My boys tend to be systematic learners, and my girls are pragmatic learners.
ReplyDeleteCulture influences learning through student interest. Whenever students' culture is infused into lessons, they tend to be more interested and participation is increased. When studying different cultures, I can see the students, who identify, become so involved in the lessons. I look at the number of different cultures I have among my students, and then develop lessons around their cultures. With the majority of the student population being Hispanic, African American, Haitian, and Jamaican, our school celebrates those cultures throughout the year.
Usually around Thanksgivings I have these lessons about how the process of immigration has taken placed in the United States; and how that process changes people's lives forever. We do different projects, including bringing food from their countries of origin. They share what they have to say about their different cultures. Everyone loves it, including myself. That is the only couple of lessons in which I have managed to tap into both my female and my male students, who usually tend to group themselves by gender.
ReplyDeleteThink about the students you teach. In what ways do you see gender influencing how students respond in the classroom? In what ways do you see culture influence learning? Be sure to think about both majority and minority cultures.
ReplyDeleteI only have two female students in my GED classes. They tend to be shy and overshadowed by the male students in the class, who still have not reached the level of maturity needed to conduct themselves properly in a learning environment. I encourage my female students to participate, read, and give their opinions on how to problem solve some of the questions we face on the GED exam. The majority of my students are Hispanic. There is one student who was obviously taught racism at home. His response to anything related to differences in culture and our society is to generalize about the black population. It’s appalling to hear such nonsense in this day and age. People’s upbringing and family influence is evident in the classroom when you start to allow them to speak their minds freely. At times I find myself working more on educating them to looking past their learned prejudices and working towards a better future.
Teacher’s attitudes about race, gender, and ethnicity are developed far before the teacher enters the classroom, yet teacher’s expectations for their students’ achievements are far more significant aspects in how students perform than any other variables.
ReplyDeleteI see girls who are organized and driven, but on the other hand, I see boys who are just as goal-oriented. While gender may play a role in interests, it is not as stereotypical as it used to be. We have very sensitive boys as well as very rowdy young ladies in the classroom today. There is a full range of tastes and interests and one cannot assume that gender or culture is the most significant.
Inequities in schooling can be addressed in part by taking into account the range of backgrounds, experiences, and cultures that students bring to the classroom. That plus gender of course influence how students respond in our classrooms. Nonetheless the teacher’s ability to integrate content, construct knowledge, reduce prejudice, foster equity, ultimately empowers her students, and broadens their horizons toward acceptance, unification, and respect for diversity. In the end, “if one wants the rainbow, one must tolerate the rain.”
Girls for the most part are more on task than the boys. Since I have more boys than girls, I try to place them in leadership roles to build their confidence and self-esteem. We learn to respect one anothers differences and assist when their are difficult task. Creating a non-threatening environment has been my best friend and students put forth their best effort in completing task at hand.
ReplyDeleteStudents are driven by what they see and hear in their communities once they leave school. I do my best to incorporate local and nation news via class discussions. Sometimes students bring up the topic and sometimes I will. I teach students with special needs employability skills (work habits, ethics, finance, independent living, consequences of unbecoming behavior, ....) It can be challenging because their peers,social media and even parents portray bad/immoral/unethical behavior as okay. For instance, a few years ago a student of mine was arrested for shoplifting at a mall in Broward (she has been banned). She and her mom thought nothing was wrong and bragged about it. I point that she may not be able to continue my program because she may take from someone in her assigned work location; as well as how it would affect future employment. Well that didn't sit well with her mom. Her mother told her she didn't have to come to school if she didn't want to. She stopped coming to school.
Think about the students you teach. In what ways do you see gender influencing how students respond in the classroom? In what ways do you see culture influence learning? Be sure to think about both majority and minority cultures.
ReplyDeleteI teach employability skills to students with disabilities at the high school level. For the most part, the girls in my group are eager to please and organized. They take pride in their work and treat their tasks with care. Most of the boys are also eager to please; however, they focus more on finishing their tasks quickly rather than accurately.
My classroom is comprised of minority groups (African Americans and Hispanics). I have not really identified any culture differences among them. Students from both cultures seem eager to improve their skills in order to get employment. They all share the common goal of someday becoming independent.
Does gender play role in how students respond? I do think gender does play a role in how students respond. Actually I m the only male student in this class. It confirms to me once again that education is a field where women mostly rule Therefore would influence the way I respond and interact with them. I believe there is an impact on me although I welcome the opportunity to be among then. There seems to be a cultural preference for women to be educators in USA while in other parts of the world it may not be so.
ReplyDeleteGender plays a role in how students respond, one needs to be aware of the make of your class in order to D.I. and make connections with your students and bring Real life situtations to the classroom. Know your students and their interests in order to be able to make the class more fun and get the students interested in learning.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed a few, subtle gender differences in my classes. For the most part, the girls tend to be more sociable and talkative. However, the girls are far better at multi-tasking than the boys. They can talk, work, comprehend, and retain the information better. The boys, though quieter, lose focus very easily. If a girl has a boys attention he loses all focus.
ReplyDeleteCulturally, the school demographic is primarily hispanic and black, with a strong South American presence. The students generally prefer group work over independent work, and have strong inter-relationships due to many years of living in the same community.
Gender definitely play role in how the students respond, I have more girls than boys in most of my classes, and the girls are more organized and easily focus so they don't like to be paired with boys most of the time, and the boys feel the same way. The culture is the same for everyone since they are all Hispanic, but based on that in order to get better responses and product from my students I have to be flexible at the time to group them.
ReplyDeleteI feel that gender influences and has a lot to do with students' achievement in a classroom. This is a topic that I feel very passionate about. I have experienced it first-hand by working at a school that grouped students based on their genders. This is a Dade County public school. It is an highly enlightening experience. I could see and feel how the boys and girls responded relative to their gender traits to the various academic subjects. Of course, you would have differentiate your instruction based on the gender variance, to see how students would best respond. Based on my research, personal, and academic experience there is a strong correlation to student achievement and gender expression grouping. However, it is not an exact science, and flexibility is the key but I believe it does work.
ReplyDeleteCulture is students life-experience that students bring into the classroom each day. It is their life line away from the academic world. Each class has it demographic make-up, and their are majorities and minorities. It is important to understand and be able to relate to both, because teachers should not allow students to feel left out or overly powerful in the class. Students learn best by understanding how to relate in interact with other cultures in both positive and negative ways. Everyone has their own beliefs depending on their culture and perspectives on certain topics, so it is an important to help students understand that they are important contributors to their culture as well as others.
Chapter 10:
ReplyDeleteI believe that a students success in the classroom should not be based on the gender, or culture that they come from. It depends on how well the teacher is teaching the child and the commitment and hard work that they put into it. A teacher is like a parent outside of the house for a student. For a lot of students. sadly they see the teacher more than they do their parents. Many teachers might argue that girls learn faster than boys and pay more attention, however it is based on how the teacher involves everyone in the classroom to be committed to their learning.
Among the students that I teach, I see that both gender and/or culture have a great influence in the way they learn and respond in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteGender or culture among other characteristics that may represent either a majority or a minority in a classroom influence the student's learning profile.
There are huge learning variances among cultures. That is why a DI teachers should create a classroom environment that is flexible enough to welcome learners to work in different ways, to meets their needs.
Gender as well as culture also influences the ways students learn. A DI teacher should create activity choices to make every student feel conformable learning in his or her classroom.
In order to help the students reflect their own preferences, teachers should intentionally offer teacher-structured, creative, practical, and analytical learning options that are both competitive and collaborative for students to choose.
In conclusion, every classroom is influenced by different students characteristics like gender or culture. It is the teachers' final goal to have a flow of differentiated instruction so many of the activities implemented in class fit each of his or her students.
Chapter 10: I have been working with both mixed classes and single gender classes and I agreed that the gender influences in the way the students learn as well as culture. There are many researches about single genders and they all agree that boys and girls both have different learning patterns. Boys are more competitive when they learn, although we can find girls that are also competitive. There are other elements that are influenced by culture. Students from different cultures come to our classroom everyday with different characteristics, behaviors and ways of learning. So is our responsibility to find out and differentiate their learning profile as individuals. We have to find ways that promote efficient and effective learning that work best for the students so we can get better results. The goals of learning-profile differentiation are to help individual learners understand modes of learning that work best for them, and to offer those options so that each learner finds good learning fit in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteCharter 10 : The combination of culture and gender create a constellation of learning preferences. In my class all the student are the same. I tries to create option and choices that make everyone comfortable.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Miami Dade County influences learning profiles in the classroom. There are numerous ethnics and being the 4th Largest District in the nation also also creates a classroom environment with " different "looks" . This results in our setting being more flexible and and fluid rather than rigig and fixed. Students' preferences vary greatly. The challenge is to find strategies that allow individuals a great range of choices based on interest or readiness. Personally have traveled extensively all over the world ( I worked w/ the Airline industry for 20 years ) has made me more sensitive and tolerant. I try to create a classroom setting that's flexible. Gender also plays an important part. The patterns suggest males are more competitive and females more collaborative. For example, expressiveness vs reserve, analytic versus creative . These combinations must be natural and effective and it's important to honor the differences . There is no single way that works best. The goal is to offer learning decisions so students can further craft and match their own needs.
ReplyDeleteA readiness questionnaire can help . Everything the student does is a source of information and can be used for simple teacher - made lessons. This way the classroom " belongs " to the students.
The population and culture of the majority of the students at my school is Mexican-American. Culture definitely impacts the way students learn and deal with situations inside the classroom. A good number of students I teach come from migrant families, who don't necessarily value education as a priority. When you have students who have not been read too or encouraged to learn things, then you have to provide a great deal more motivation then you normally would. The minority cultures in my school are both Caucasian and African-American students, and they also have specific ways they approach learning. In my opinion, it really doesn't matter what culture you come from, but the motivation outside the school (i.e home, parenting, siblings) that really impact how a student learns. As far as gender goes, I do feel the males and females do learn and work in different ways. I find many of the female students are more competitive, and more likely to ask questions and participate in class. they generally do not like to collaborate with male students, particularly because they are in middle school. Male students tend to be more collaborative, and weirdly shy when it comes to participating in class.
ReplyDeleteAs I consider my most recent classroom, I had 21 males and 11 females. I noticed that a male dominated population was less intimidating for them and not intimidating at all for the females. Although I've never really thought about it, there is a difference when one group out numbers another, whether it's gender, race or cultural. Since I began teaching, I have been in classrooms that have been mostly hispanic. I never really thougth about what that meant for the few African Americans or even fewer White students. I believe that I have been successful in building a safe haven for my students, where they were able to feel comfortable and have the freedom to express themselves and their cultural backgrounds and belief systems. All in all, I can see now how both gender and cultural differences can affect learning in the classroom. This new knowledge will certainly compel me to make more of an effort to address these areas at the beginning of the year in whatever creative ways I can find. This is why teachers must make it their priority to learn/understand their students through inventories, cum research and other means that can give insight into their students- prior to crafting lessons that will produce learning experiences for all.
ReplyDeleteGender influencing learning is not a myth. I hear people talking about how we, society, need to get pass assigning gender labels, classification and so forth to everything but the truth is that it is inevitable.
ReplyDeleteFor the past 18 plus years that I have been teaching gender influence in classes always shows up. This is usually brought about by the students themselves. I have seen nine times out of ten girls take the lead. Girls just seem to be the go getters even when I have tried to steer the lesson and participation more to the boys. The girls subconscienciously take over group activities despite a boy being given the lead. The boys in protest begin to disrupt the group activity by misbehaving and not cooperating with the rest od the group. Then I have to step in a moderate. The boys will then participate but with minimal contribution. On occasion, I have tried to do just groups or activities with a male focus. The boys have difficulty getting started and/or completing the activity without teacher direction. Whereas, the girls take the activity from beginning to end.
This can be very frustrating whenever I plan group activities.
A student's gender and culture do influence learning. The environment they grow up in, how their parents view education, influences the student's motivation to learn. The one thing I worry will happen with this questions is pigeon holing students and assuming they will be a certain way. For example, people assume more males than females will prefer competitive learning experience. However, I have seen in my classroom experiences that girls are just as competitive but may be less outgoing. We need to remember to be openminded and not judge students or co workers based off their appearance, culture, or gender. We can not be set in our views. We do want to be sensitive to others cultures, meaning not make assumptions but ask questions to find out about others' cultures. How the students interact in school and with their teachers may be affected by the environment they grow up in.
ReplyDeleteGender and culture greatly impact the students learning. Students culture. It is important for teacher to be aware of their own culture and of students culture and background. That is why it is important to differentiate by learning profile. Culture affects students preferences, whether they prefer to work with a group or individually. Usually there is a pattern on whether males or females like a topic. Boys usually become uninterested in reading, since most books are based on female characters. As educators we must expose our classroom to different cultures and different gender guided texts. A great teacher must understand that the students have their own interest and come with their own prior-knowledge based on their background. As educators we must create options and choices.
ReplyDeleteFor the students that I teach, I often see gender influencing how students respond in the classroom very distinctively. My girls tend to be eager to please, consistent about staying on task and following directions...they strive to make me happy (at least those that aren't spending the entire day talking - aaaargh!). My boys tend to be very reserved but competitive. They are more hesitant to answer questions than are the girls and they believe that if they are really quiet, perhaps they might be pardoned from participation....NOT!!! My classroom demographic make-up is predominately Hispanic, but overall, it is still pretty diverse. I have Haitian American Students, Asian American students, African American students, Caucasian students. Fortunately for my students, I think that our classroom make-up is such a "melting pot" of cultures, that sometimes it is difficult to identify the cultural influences. However, I can say that I have noticed that when our Reading series covers a story or material from the Hispanic cultures, my Hispanic students tend to perk up and participate more. They tend to make more contributions to those discussions out of familiarity.
ReplyDeleteThe gender dynamic in my classroom is complicated, In each of the six classes I teach, I have at least 3 dominate females and 2 dominate males. All of my classes are competitive. They all set the tone for responding in the classroom. Culture influences my classroom because I teach ESOL students and I’m the minority culture because I am the only American in the room. My students are Haitian and Hispanic and they all want the "A", that's the ultimate goal for my students.
ReplyDeleteThe gender dynamic in my classroom is complicated, In each of the six classes I teach, I have at least 3 dominate females and 2 dominate males. All of my classes are competitive. They all set the tone for responding in the classroom. Culture influences my classroom because I teach ESOL students and I’m the minority culture because I am the only American in the room. My students are Haitian and Hispanic and they all want the "A", that's the ultimate goal for my students.
ReplyDeleteWith the students I work with I can see the gender difference in their behavior within the classroom. The boys tend to be more physically aggressive where as the girls tend to be more verbally aggressive. The girls are also quicker to say that they don’t understand math and are willing to say they give up that it’s just too hard. Where as, the boys may not get it but they will not stated that they don’t or they pretend to understand. As far as culture, the parents instill what they have been raised in or what they expect their child. Sometimes the kids will say, “You know Haitian parents don’t play.” However, even if some of the students do feel this way they still get lazy or don’t care about the expectations of the parents.
ReplyDeleteGender is definitely a major issue in today's classroom. The focus on including girls and being sensitive to their needs has now, per research, started to negatively impact our boys. Boys are now being expected to act in much more feminine ways in the school setting and being overly punished for natural boy behaviors. Teachers need to be open to the needs of all students, and recognize when students need their learning styles/personalities put in consideration. Culture also affects the learning. Many times the culture of the teacher does not match all the understandings of culture in the classroom. Including both the majority and minority students culture is a necessity, but it requires the teacher to break beyond personal comfort zones. The classroom is not a fair environment without understandings of gender and culture.
ReplyDeleteI do see differences in culture and gender my my classroom. My students are predominately Haitian. I have about two or three Latino students and the majority of my students are boys. Unfortunately sexism is very much predominant in the Haitian culture especially when your are from a lower socio-economic level and are not very educated. I have to constantly reinforce with my students that being male doesn't give them any intellectual advantage over their female classmates and in the same token I have to reinforce with my Haitian female students that they can do or be anything they want to be if it's something that they have a passion for and being female is not an obstacle.
ReplyDeleteI’m fairly new in my current assignment. The school’s population is predominantly Haitians or Haitian descent students. Most of my students are from families that value education. They always bring their homework and thrive to do their best in school. I have a few incidents where students did not bring their homework to class or were off tasks. All I had to do, was to mention that I would call their parents or lower their conduct grades to have order return to normal.
ReplyDeleteMy girls are very quiet and submissive. I have to call on them in order to participate. The boys are aggressive and arrogant. They talk out of turn and don’t work in collaboration with their peers even if the assignment calls for it. They think they are self-sufficient and barely accept help from their classmates.
Ana M.
ReplyDeleteIn the Japanese culture, education is very important. It is basically, no university degree = no future.
In the “Global Economy/Society” that we live in, culture, gender, minorities will be things of the past.
What matter is if our students are academically/technically well prepared. Will they be able to compete for the best jobs with people from India, Korea, Russia or Latin-America?
The multinational corporations like Apple, Microsoft and Medical field are not worry about gender and culture. They are very concern about creativity= profit.
I teach eleven and twelve graders. Some of my periods have more boys than girls. As always, the girls are more talkative than the boys and also when it comes to complete assignments, the girls will be the first ones to turn in their work. The girls are more willing to ask for help when facing some difficulties in completing their tasks. On the contrary, the boys prefer to do what they could unless I ask them if they need my help. Usually, the Native American students will try to do their best while the Mexicans, Haitians, Cubans, and the Dominican students will wait for you to go to them. I think culture awareness is very important for every teacher in order to build a significant relationship with a student. As soon as the students are taught that we are one family and we are responsible to each others' well- being, they will be more willing to cooperate and learn from each other.
ReplyDeleteI definitely see gender influencing how students respond in my classroom. For instance, the girls in my class can express more orally than the boys. I currently teach Kindergarten. I have ten girls and eleven boys in my class. When I ask questions after the read aloud, I always have more girls answering and deepen understanding the story than the boys. I have a few boys that have very little ability to express themselves orally. I have girls that go in depth with the questions, and they try to think about the questions asked more than the boys. Culture also has an impact on how students respond. Culture affects how students learn. Therefore, teachers have to keep in mind that some students can be more reserved than others. Others can be more reflective and expressive. For this reason, teachers need to differentiate instructions, and they can't impose certain activities to students if they don't feel comfortable with. Being able to understand the ranges of learning preferences is important to establish a connection with the students and have a safe learning environment.
ReplyDeleteAs a reading coach I do not have a classroom however I consider that every student in every classroom is a member of both cultural and gender group and it is important that teachers provide each student with the best possible education. To minimize the negative effects of stereotyping, teachers should emphasize the role of hard work and effort in success and remove gender preference in instructional activities.
ReplyDeleteI believe that culture influence learning because students of diverse cultures have different rules for communicating with adults. Some students communicate through facial expressions, body language and physical gestures. It is important that teachers first recognize their own non-verbal communication and learn about those of their students. Teachers can learn about their students by carefully observing the way students interact with each other, parents and other people of authority.
Think about the students you teach. In what ways do you see gender influencing how students respond in the classroom? In what ways do you see culture influence learning? Be sure to think about both majority and minority cultures. I find gender to be very difficult in the high school level, boys and girls that learn together in the same classroom find it hard to focus, because of their interest being divided. They are more interested in social networking than learning, However if the teacher is able to reach both genders and keep them focus on learning rather than texting and answering phone call in the class, then more learning is accomplished. The cultures of the students in my classroom are more challenging to reach at times; because of the influence and the differences from other cultures one group may feel imitated by the other. While taking into consideration both majority and minority that make up my learning environment, I would say this has everything to do with your students understand who and how important they are as an individual this will not only help with the student interaction with each other but it will also help the class to flow much easier.
ReplyDeleteTodays world is facing diversity,and at the same time integration.Gender,race,nationality,are factors to consider while teaching in order to reach students expectations and meet their needs.
ReplyDeleteIn my class girls focus more in neatness and organization than boys,English learners demand more visual support and time than the other students,cultural bias have to be avoided in order to provide assistant and support for the one that are facing an acculturation process parallel to the learning daily activities.
That force teachers to study about their cultures,background and envision the community as a safe learning environment for every single one,
It was mentioned in chapter ten that “The goal of the teacher is, therefore, not to suggest that individuals from a particular culture ought to learn in a particular way, but rather to come to understand the great range of learning preferences that will exist in any group…” I think it is crucial for an educator to be mindful of the diverse cultural backgrounds in his/her classroom and structure learning experiences to accommodate those differences. As a result, I believe the students will feel like that classroom is a safe environment where their thoughts and feelings are valued. Culture definitely influences learning because many students learning styles mimic their upbringing or environmental experiences. As far as gender is concerned, I have only experienced slight differences because my girls are just as competitive as my boys. When it comes to collaborative discussions, often times my boys are more engaged that my girls so I have not experienced gender having much of an impact on how my students respond in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteBridging the gap for learning styles in both genders is essential of importance. In all of my classes I have always had more male than females. However, if there is a female or two in the classroom, they seem to help balance the class. I can look to them for help with classroom organization, bring the class back to order, the female are more of leaders when it comes to group assignments; the male students may have more behavior issues than the girls, but they are straight forward when it comes to seeking assistance with assignments. But on the contrary, most boys seem to be less serious about reading class and tend to populate more of the phonics and fluency DI groups. I speak with teaching reading for the past couple of years.
ReplyDeleteVivian Marzall
When thinking of when I was in the classroom, there were many factors that influenced student learning. One of the factors was classroom dynamics and the amount of girls and boys. In the classes that were predominantly male, it was more difficult for the students to stay on tasks because they wanted to play around versus learn. However, in the classes that I had an even number of girls and boys or predominantly female, students were more focused on their assignments and I found that it was easier for them to work in groups. When it comes to the cultural influence of learning, in both schools that I have worked at, 99% of the students come from Hispanic homes. I always saw the commonalities between the students and their upbringing. However, one aspect that I have seen that differ from the two schools is the socioeconomic class. At my current school, there is little to no parental involvement and that is truly detrimental to student learning because they do not have that person at home that is pushing them to reach their full potential. In the classroom, I try to reach all of my students because for many, I am the only one that wants to see them succeed.
ReplyDeleteI teach in a school in where most students are Hispanics or come from a Hispanic background. I teach many students where many fathers’ are absent and many grandparents are helping raise their grandchildren. In my classes I see more boys than girls and this is such a big issue because my boys are so active. Boys are the class clowns while most girls are a bit talkative and focused on their work. Based on our Hispanic culture, boys are considered tougher and aren’t very expressive with their feelings. As the girls help collect papers, help organize papers and re-direct classmates’ behavior. I call more boys home in reference to their behavior. Many of my students have been born here so they have assimilated both cultures and I really don’t see the difference between the majority and minority cultures in my school.
ReplyDeleteThe diversity of my school is significant. We have students with different backgrounds, cultures, and traditions. There are Hispanics from: Nicaragua, Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Bolivia, Cuba, Haiti and Americans. We have more boys than girls. For this reason is really hard to get a good classroom management. Boys are playing all of the time, and girls are so talkative. Students from different cultures come to our classroom everyday with different characteristics, behaviors and ways of learning. It is our bond to provide them differentiated instruction to help them understanding the new culture, traditions and knowledge. We also can encourage them efficient and effective environment that improve their results. Our goals of teaching differentiated instruction benefit individual learners understand that works for them, and to support to find a comfortable place in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteMaria Gonzalez
I really do believe that culture and gender influence how students respond in the classroom. In my teaching experience, the boys tended to be more competitive than the girls. Girls tended to need more probing and encouraging. Boys tended to misbehave during the course of the day more often and girls were often more overlooked as result. Students who came from a culture that greatly valued education also behaved differently. Those students tended to show respect and always address adults with a title such as Miss or Teacher. In my experience, if a student comes from a culture that does not emphasize education for whatever reason, then that child tends to be academically challenged and often displays their frustrations through emotional and behavioral outbursts. As a teacher, we have to keep all of these things in mind in order to meet these students’ needs. Tomlinson notes that using student readiness, interest, and learning profile to differentiate content, process, and product helps accommodate their preferred way to learn. This is what will help that frustrated, academically challenged student to learn and respond appropriately.
ReplyDeleteIts best to help let the individual learners understand the modes of learning that works best for them pg.60 their back grounds can greatly influence their learning profile.62. There are different types of preference profiles: intelligence,cultural, gender based, and combined. Have them reflect and think about their own preferences. Pg. 63. The components that support differentiated instruction: complex instructions, organizers, flexible environments pg. 65. You have to given them options when it comes to learning.pg.67-68. You have to debrief after the lesson. Perform learning profiles. Pg.70. Summed up give them options and debrief lessons. , analyze their learning profiles!!!
ReplyDeleteLearning profiles referred to the ways in which our students learn best. According to Carol Ann Tomlinson, these five essential ways should be considered when we are planning our DI: Learning- Style, Intelligence, Culture-Influenced, Gender-Based, and Combined-Preferences. In my classroom, I have a little bit of everything. Some students are audio-visual, others are kinesthetic. Meanwhile others love to take notes and use colorful highlights to mark important notes in their notebooks. Gender based and culture based also influence the learning environment. I have more girls than boys in the classroom. However, the boys , most of the time, are always offering help with the organization of the class( books, files) while girls are more passive. They also have different life perceptions, so their responses act accordingly. Girls are more mature. Both genders are also influenced by their background. I have a huge Hispanic population, and although they speak Spanish, they also have different socio-economic background which makes them see the live differently.
ReplyDeleteIts best to help let the individual learners understand the modes of learning that works best for them pg.60 their back grounds can greatly influence their learning profile.62. There are different types of preference profiles: intelligence,cultural, gender based, and combined. Have them reflect and think about their own preferences. Pg. 63. The components that support differentiated instruction: complex instructions, organizers, flexible environments pg. 65. You have to given them options when it comes to learning.pg.67-68. You have to debrief after the lesson. Perform learning profiles. Pg.70. Summed up give them options and debrief lessons. , analyze their learning profiles!! In my experience boys tend to be more off task , not all but some. Girls are more serious and quiet.i find this to be true across the board with most cultures that I have come across.
ReplyDeleteBased on what I read in chapter 10, there are learning patterns in each gender. For example, more males than females may prefer competitive learning. In other cases, some males will prefer collaborative learning and some females will prefer competitive. In my classroom I have more males than females preferring collaborative learning. I realized that the reason why they prefer collaborative learning is because they are less challenged than working independently. My class is primeraly made up of males, therefore I've noticed that the dynamic of the classroom is less competitive. I have also realized that the years in which I have a higher female ratio in my classroom, the students seem more focused.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the gender affecting performance, I also feel like the culture also plays a role. Based on my teaching experience, I've noticed that students from different cultures have different learning styles.
I have an even amount of girls and boys in my class, the majority culture is less focused and I find myself repeating and trying to bring them back in to the discussion and its more so common in the males. Unlike the text, the females in my class actually prefer collaborative learning and the males love competitive learning. All and still, the classroom is full of differences and regardless of culture and/or gender, its up to the teacher to build her class to where everyone is comfortable and there are a variety of learning opportunities for the students.
ReplyDeleteElda
I currently co-teach a class of 36 students in which gender doesn’t play a big role in how students’ respond in the classroom. However, I do believe cultural influence can affect how students learn. One of the factors can be the language barrier. Students' who have English as a second language tend to pay attention more and are very eager to learn. As teachers, we need to keep in mind that all students learn differently. We must create a classroom that’s flexible, which includes students’ interest and learning profile. This will allow students to interact and facilitate their involvement in learning.
ReplyDeleteGender plays a huge role in how students respond in the classroom. This not only depends on the gender of the teacher, grade level and also the subject being taught. Girls in all grade levels tend to respond easily during reading classes when questions are posed to the students. There is a show of more confidence in their responses when being taught by a female. In comparison, boys are more apt to remain quiet and assuming when in a reading class being taught by a female. They tend to be more likely to goof off than to take part in most whole group activities. Fifth grade boys have clearer view of their gender "role" and ensures their role is secured.
ReplyDeleteTeaching for 14 years in a predominantly Hispanic school, culture does play a role in how students approach the idea of school and the importance of an education. In the beginning of my career there was an unspoken rule between the teacher and the parent. Students use to fear teacher/parent conferences. Parents were more likely to respond quickly to teacher notes and placed emphasis on their child's educational needs. Cultural shifts are evident and it shows in the classroom on a daily basis.
Teaching in a Hispanic community is pretty interesting, since students come from different cultures and places. One of the things I noticed while working in the school, when the school promotes activities for the communities such as Hispanic Heritage,Jose Marti parade etc. Children can participate and learn so much about their cultures. Also when we have the support of the parents, the experiences and learning is amazing. From my part I do activities with the students that promotes their cultural backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteStudents can learn the language in a fun way. For example after having the experience of a parade, students will learn more about their cultures and talk, write and participate in the activities. No matter what is the gender, is always good to know and write about your country and learn from others. Is always good to incorporate activities that promotes their cultures. Here you can apply the Content, the process and Product.
The demographics of my school is hispanic as the school is in Hialeah. I find that the students are non receptive if the characters do not look like them or have their values. So I often provide them with a lot of background knowledge in order for them to remain engaged in the story. I found that once this happens they are more interested in the story.
ReplyDeleteGender roles in my classroom change a lot over time depending on the story. However, as a whole, the girls seem more engaged in the readings that take place. When we have classroom discussions or think a louds, the boys in the classroom tend to chime in more and be very vocal. I believe it is important to continue exposing students to different cultures and stories but I also make sure I use stories they can relate to as well.
I have been teaching second grade for quite a while in a community where the population is mostly Hispanic. In general, I haven't really seen a direct response from my students specific targeted to their gender. I think that at this level, students are more willing to follow the instructions given. I have seen girls and boys being competitive at some points as well as having behavior issues regardless their gender. I have seen lazy, talkative, neat and/or organized boys as well as girls. I believe though that environment influences learning more than culture. As per my experience with teaching Hispanic students I can say that the students' environment, their experiences and the parent involvement affects their learning more than necessarily their culture.
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