Sunday, February 14, 2016

Cultural Context of Students

In order to be an effective teacher I will have to know my students and understand their learning styles.  Having this information will help me gear my lessons and incorporate activities and resources that will help my students learn.



I will be teaching in an Arizona secondary school and although I have not yet entered the secondary classroom, I have learned that the classroom consists of Americans, Hispanics/Mexicans and with the majority of students being Native Americans.  Therefore, I must understand the learning styles of these groups if I want to be a successful teacher.  Here are some basics for Native American Learning Styles and the key factors around which I will have to tailor my lesson plans to ensure I can make a connection with my Native American students.



As a result of the various learning styles present in my classroom, I have decided that I will take a more cooperative learning approach and provide lots of visual aids such as graphic organizers, algebra tiles, and group activities for my students.  Although, these students come from homes that speak a native language other than English, I should have very few students that actually fall into the ELL category and require additional support (I learned this through previous research).  For those students who do require the additional support, I feel that having other students who speak the language come to my aid will be the most beneficial strategy because some of the languages spoken by the Native Americans in the classroom do not have a written language.  Therefore, strategies such as pairing ELL students with advanced students and reciprocal teaching will be a great practice.  

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