Double Journal Entry #5

What does the research say about the impact of negative teacher attitudes about students ethnicity and language variations on student learning?

Everything that a teacher does in a classroom affects the students. It is important the teacher creates an open, accepting and encouraging environment and maintains those same qualities in attitude. "All of these factors which can be loosely categorized as environment, personal factors, and behavior interact and play off each other in a cyclical way (according to the Reciprocal Determinism Model) (Woolfolk, 2007,pg. 330)."

What are some assessment pitfalls?

As we discussed in class, students may have trouble understanding the question due to the way it is worded or unintentional bias from the teacher. If the students do not believe they will do well, they will not succeed or score as high as possible. "...studies have shown that teacher mindset can affect the performance of linguistically diverse students through affecting the way assessments are given or looked at, the way the student reacts to school, where the student is placed for ability groups, and the psychological state of the student (Dooly, 2005). Teachers’ lack of knowledge in different dialectal rules and constant correction make the student feel “linguistically inadequate, insecure, and confused” (Fogel & Ehri, 2006, pg. 466). Unfortunately, in extreme situations negative teacher attitudes toward students using non-standard dialects can lead to those students being misdiagnosed as having language disorders (Fogel & Ehri, 2006)."

What three approaches can be used to transform students’ dialectal diversity into an asset (funds of knowledge) rather than a liability (cultural deficit)?

Instead of using the "othering-effect" teachers should make students feel welcome and secure. Students need to feel like they belong and have some support, they do not want to labeled as different from the other students in their class. Encourage students to be proud of their heritage and culture. They should feel like they are contributing to this heritage rather than betraying it. 

How prepared do you feel to teach in a culturally diverse classroom?

I feel like I have had a lot of training in this area from my education. In general, I am a happy and encouraging person and I think that those qualities are necessary to a diverse classroom. I've never lived in an extremely multicultural place, but I understand prejudices, labels and cultural differences, I've observed them and experienced them so it's important to me to make sure my classroom has a community atmosphere. 


References:
Teacher attitudes. (2009, September 4). Retrieved from http://ecelinguisticdiversity.wikidot.com/teacher-attitudes