Ashley Kunkle

Cultural and Inclusion

Reflection 1
Looking at my classes I see huge variety in the 180 students I
teach every day. There are students from various states, Mexico, the
Philippines, among other countries. Some speak English fluently,
others are still learning. Some are new to the school, others are
surround by peers they have known their whole life. As a teacher, my
role in the classroom is to: 1. Believe all my students have the ability to
learn, 2. Believe all of my students are talented, and 3. Give all my
students an equal opportunity for success. The first two are simply
beliefs I hold as a teacher, the third is where things start to get
complicated. Many challenges face my students including the school
system itself, cultural, linguistic and socio-economical challenges.
Through it all, it is my job, and my schools job, to give these students
with the best opportunity in our school. For many of my students, this
means an emphasis on oral and written language development.
During my first year teaching in California, I was given much
direction on how to accommodate teaching to students who are still
learning the English language. I taught an SEI (Secondary English
Immersion) class and was given extra professional development in
order to help my students. As stated in the California K-12 Public
Schools: How Are They Doing? summary, there has been an increase

of funds given to vocational programs; SEI training would fall under

this. I attended two, two-day workshops and I was pulled out at least 3
times a semester for training on instructional strategies that help
promote language acquisition for EL students. I was able to try the
strategies in my classroom and then meet with the specialists and
other teachers to discuss the struggles and successes of each activity.
Personally, I love the SEI program my district has developed. Not only
did I learn about the instructional strategies, but I also learned about
the laws that helped mold our district, the testing of ELs, and pretty
much all assets of the SEI program. My favorite part of the program is
the focus on the students first language as well as the second
language, English. Bowman states, schools compromise a students
learning potential by rejecting their language and culture. Our district
has done the opposite. They want the student to discuss in their home
language if necessary and then verbalize in English. They believe in
combination with the first language, students can learn and be more
confident with English.
One component I feel my school, the district, and the state all
struggle is standardized testing. With No Child Left Behind came many
standardized tests that transformed teaching into a flat experience.
Teachers taught to the test. As a whole, the issue of standardized
testing is known but the issue lies in finding an alternative that can
connect with the students and bring them success no matter what

culture. As seen in the summary of California Schools K-12, California

NAEP scores are significantly lower than the average. Bowman
addresses the issue by discussing how students could have a different,
yet still correct, response to a given situation based on how they were
taught to solve problems at home, surrounded by their culture. Delpit
supports this by bringing to light how all students are talented, just not
in the exact ways schools think students should be talented such as
writing. Writing is writing, some students just do it in their own form
such as essay, poems, journals or even raps.. Delpit states, I was
doing the same thing for all my kids- what was the problem? The
problem is, that all of our kids are not the same, so when we assess
them all in the same manner, some are going to fail and some are
going to succeed. In most cases, the students who fail are the minority
groups because standardized tests are ethnocentric. This is a major
part of the system that needs to change in order for all students to be
successful.
Each student is different and comes to school with a different set
of circumstances. Teachers and staff need to account for these
differences in order for students to be successful in and out of the
classroom. Bowman states, minority groups are more likely to avoid
learning skills associated with the white middle class, since their efforts
will not pay off. We need to make learning a full experience. An
experience inclusive of all differences, cultures and abilities; one that

makes students and their culture feel valued; one that makes students
successful inside and outside of the classroom. The trends are finally
being recognized, now we as educators must step up to the plate to
help make the change.