Culturally-Relevant Pedagogy in the English Classroom, Essay Example

During the process of getting acquainted with the variety of strategies proposed for the cross-cultural parent-teacher conferences, and ways of involving the families with literacy learning, I realized how essential it is to introduce the culturally sensitive, or culturally responsive techniques in all levels and steps of the educational and communication process. It is true that all teachers receive a certain amount of culturally relevant education; however, the reality of teaching students belonging to various cultures and, what is more, engaging their parents belonging to different cultures in the educational process, becomes much harder than it seems in the classroom. However, one cannot deny the extreme value of parent involvement in the literacy development process; hence the need to look for innovative, flexible, and comprehensive ways of incorporating the figures of parents in the educational process in a beneficial, mutually attractive way.

The first concept that comes to mind in connection with this situation is culturally relevant pedagogy. The present concept has to be explored in detail, since this approach to organizing the educational process is fundamental to the introduction of various cultures, worldviews, and opinions in the classroom. The culturally relevant pedagogy as a practical approach to studies was introduced by Gloria Ladson Billings who managed to incorporate the theory of tolerance and inclusion into instructional practice. The most attractive features of the culturally relevant pedagogy’s postulates are that it builds on the collective empowerment, and strives to bringing the academic success, cultural competence, and critical perception of the current social order to students and parents (Wagner, 2004). By means of involving in the cultural relevant pedagogy practices, both students and parents will feel that they are active constructors of their own lives, perceptions, relationships, and attitudes, which is extremely valuable nowadays.

The second concept requiring attention in the present context of discussion is assimilationist. The present adjective refers to any practice that facilitates the process of assimilation, i.e., the inclusion of representatives of all cultures in the educational process on equal terms. I actually perceive the concept of assimilation in broader terms; I feel it is the way for representatives of various cultures to weld into other cultures, understand and accept other cultures without losing their own authenticity. It is an innovative cultural approach in which the boundaries between cultures are blurred, and any individual is welcome to grasp the depth and intricacy of another culture without hostility or resistance. It is essential to create the assimilationist atmosphere in any classroom; this would enable teachers, students, and parents enrich the cultural world of each other without interference, and become culturally sensitive in collaboration and communication with each other.

The issue of governance is also central to the implementation of parent involvement schemes in the educational process; as stated in the dictionary, governance refers to the decision-making about expectations of any activity, grants power to the governor, and verifies performance. It is obvious that without proper, thoughtful governance, there will be no success in the implementation of parent involvement programs. The reason for the key importance of governance in the process is the number of participants, the necessity to align students’ and parents’ activities, to verify the right direction in which they move, to consult those not knowledgeable about their role in the children’s literacy development, etc. Any program of such kind needs a strong leader, and it is surely better to establish collective governance bodies in which representatives of students, parents, and teachers will be. This way of governance will help accomplish the objective of parental involvement in the literacy development – inclusion of all stakeholders.

Some other concepts that come to my mind when I analyze the parent involvement strategies are advocacy and collaboration. The latter term emphasizes the non-prescriptive nature of parent involvement plans, which means that every stakeholder has a voice, and the literacy program is predetermined by the wishes, aims, and needs of all participants. Advocacy is a term related to collaboration for me; I see the value of advocacy in the present context as the attention to all participants’ needs. There is no mainstream direction in which all students and parents have to move; the parent involvement plans’ strength is that the needs of individuals are taken into account, the weakest are advocated, and all students and parents get what they need from the educational process.

Ratification and confirmation refer to the legal and formal aspects of the parent involvement plans’ introduction in the educational process. There is a clear need to align the parent involvement plans with the school’s administration, since it will involve both curricular and extracurricular activities, and sometimes may even require the additional financing from the school. Hence, these concepts are also indispensible elements of any educational development, and need to be considered when thinking of a plan for implementation.

Elaboration – this concept is associated with the amount of work, thinking, decision making, and planning through which parents and teachers go for the sake of improving the educational environment of students. Any parent involvement plan requires much attention from the side of teachers and parents, since they have to organize the literacy development plan according to the unique needs of students in a particular classroom. The needs of parents also have to be considered – some of them work full time, others have specific resources and talents to offer; all these issues become the building blocks of the action plan.

Finally, the most essential feature of any parent involvement plan is its being reciprocal. The literary development of children is a reciprocal process in which all stakeholders (teachers, students, and parents) get their own rewards. As noted by Epstein, any way of parental involvement brings benefits to all three sides, and parents become more confident in school matters, more knowledgeable about their children’s strengths and weaknesses, while teachers get acquainted with the individual culture of every family, empower the parents and get empowerment in student-related issues from parents as well. There is no need to mention the rewards of students; their learning outcomes grow substantially, they respect school and teachers more, and they feel the support of parents, which helps them move forward in the educational process.

Works Cited

Wagner, T. (2004). Culturally-Relevant Pedagogy in the English Classroom. The College of New Jersey. Retrieved from http://englisht.intrasun.tcnj.edu/Tracy%20Culturally%20Relevent%20Pedagogy.ppt