The Care in Giving, Essay Example

Cultural background is what gives a student a sense of who they are. The unique cultural differences that a child is exposed to from birth, including the beliefs and values, religion, language, and expression, affect how a child develops physically, emotionally, and socially (Jawas, 2020). Therefore, considering culturally responsive forms of education helps build on the students’ skills and self-confidence. In addition, it increases the appreciation, inclusion, and awareness of diverse cultures and beliefs. In the end, it helps to maximize the academic outcome of the learners as well as their educational success. Therefore, as an educator with diverse students in your pre-classroom, it is essential to learn about each student’s cultural background.

The more an educator learns about where their learners are from, the easier the job becomes. Learning about the learners’ cultural background includes their values, language, culture, home environment, and family. This knowledge will help you provide better support to the student in the classroom (Jawas, 2020). This will also make the students feel more welcome in the classroom. It makes them feel they are appreciated, encouraging them to work hard towards accomplishing their own goals. Taking the cultural background of a student into account also helps you as an educator to form caring and authentic relationships with the students and their families; it helps build a strong connection between what the learners already know and what they ought to know, and also it helps to choose the best instructional strategies that will meet the needs of the student. This, therefore, provides the students with a fair chance to succeed.

Partnerships in education facilitate the building of bridges between the school, family, and the community. As the learners interact with the various things, places, and people in the community, school, and beyond, they also develop their skills, knowledge, and attitudes, which help them become effective students and citizens (Epstein, 2018). As an educator, it is essential to acknowledge that the parents and the community play a critical role in their education. The teachers, community, and the parents have different responsibilities for the child’s education. Therefore, it is crucial to building strong partnerships with the community, family, and school to provide the learners with the best education.

Strong partnerships are built on mutual respect. In such partnerships, all the community members recognize their responsibilities to provide a conducive environment for the students to thrive. Working together also ensures that the students are provided with an environment that is healthy and safe to attain their full potential. For such partnerships to be successful, it is also important for the parties to be accountable. In this case, the schools and the community engage the families in meaningful and appropriate ways to actively support the student’s development and learning (Epstein, 2018). The school and the community also actively listen to the families’ needs and support them. Through partnerships, the students are therefore able to achieve their maximum potential. Some of the ways that you can use to foster partnership include integration of a curriculum that is connected to real-world experiences, parental collaboration, cross-generation learning, making school visits easier, use of technology to link with the families and the community, and also by giving the parents a voice in making school decisions. All these strategies revolve around establishing effective communication with the families, school, and community.

As diversity inside and outside the classroom continues to grow, educators need to prepare the students to adapt to the evolving world and teach them how to embrace those who are different from them (Stunell, 2021). As an educator, it is vital to help and lead the students towards appreciating, respecting, understanding, and learning from other students from different cultures. This includes establishing a classroom culture of respect and inclusion for diversity that welcomes all students. This will help the Muslim student to feel appreciated, respected, and recognized.

As an educator, it is essential to encourage the students to respect and celebrate their cultural backgrounds and others’. This includes encouraging the students to even research and learn more about their backgrounds. This will assist them in understanding their culture and also that of their peers. To celebrate both cultures simultaneously, I would suggest that you allow the students to present their traditions to expose the class to understand more practices (Stunell, 2021). For example, the Muslim child should be allowed to give a presentation about their religion, and also he should be allowed to listen to a presentation from the Christian students. This will allow both cultures to gain a better understanding of each other. As an educator, you should also take time to point out what items may be offensive and any existing differences in cultural celebrations. This way, the Christian students will also learn to respectfully speak about other cultures and treat the Muslim student. Through this, the students also become more empathetic, allowing them to empathize with the Muslim student. The students also become more open-minded, which prepares them to operate in a diverse world. This will help create a safe space where all the cultures are acknowledged, and the Muslim student does not feel different.

References

Epstein, J. L. (2018). School, family, and community partnerships in teachers’ professional work. Journal of Education for Teaching, 44(3), 397-406. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02607476.2018.1465669?casa_token=MTqb0CXSPggAAAAA:d1G9skSUMDw4k2JZYN569k2gGOCJuziUEho8LgMf1MFXQnTYihhSi5oxowCmUU7wxyhB3WetIxJSCUU

Jawas, U. (2020). Cultural Diversity and Its Influence on English Teaching and Learning in an EFL Context. International Journal of Instruction, 13(4), 559-574. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1270657

Stunell, K. (2021). Supporting student-teachers in the multicultural classroom. European Journal of Teacher Education, 44(2), 217-233. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02619768.2020.1758660?casa_token=TcE2tz5KF0YAAAAA:v63j6ib7wUq-07wSIIWrayNTMKa0dhJosxK3AKlEfZQxTdCcEdDx5bJmrPAOrK-ngghvOqNPOKAAgLg