Culturally Responsive Teaching and Differentiation- Expecting More and Teaching Based on the Students

Ashley Wilkirson

Within the article "Teaching for Excellence in Academically Diverse Classrooms", it discusses how teachers are focused on the aspects of students that prevent their success, rather than how they can encourage their success.  One example was discussing how students of are taught how to live their lives based off of their current socioeconomic status.  If a student comes from a lower socioeconomic status, then the way they are taught centers around that is the path of their future, instead of teaching them how to live as if they will climb the socioeconomic food chain.  The same applies to students who are higher up on the higher socioeconomic status ladder.  The overall message is conveyed that teachers need to focus on the students and be able to differentiate if they want to see success.  A great example is when the article entails in subheadings and paragraphs what kind of environment the classroom should be like for students so that they can be driven towards success.



In the article, it mentions a teaching style called "'teaching up'", which is where a teacher plans the most challenging tasks for the gifted and talented students, then progressively working his or her way down to the students without accommodations, then to students with disabilities.  The benefit of this is that teachers are more likely to pursue challenging objectives so students are properly taught towards higher expectations of themselves.  The reason why planning how challenging it is for students without accommodations first is ineffective, is because then a teacher lowers the expectations too much for gifted and talented students and students with disabilities, when the teacher could be pushing all of their potential towards a more accelerated echelon. This could work perfectly in the classroom and it will help teachers work towards higher level goals and provides a positive challenge for all learners, while being able to account for diversity.  One example is if a teacher has two gifted and talented students, twenty five without accommodations or disabilities, and three with disabilities, he or she would start off planning the lesson with expectations being set high, but fairly for reach of the thirty students of his or her classroom.  By doing this, not only is the teacher showing how much he or she wants the students to succeed, but how much the teacher cares about the students enough to diversify the lesson to their educational needs.


References

Tomlinson, C. (2015). Teaching for Excellence in Academically Diverse Classrooms. Society, 52(3), 203-209. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=8e61849d-705e-40c0-ac71-f8992890e8d9%40pdc-v-sessmgr01

Unknown. (Unknown Year). Teachers and students holding a globe in the classroom. Pros and Cons of Multicultural Education. Retrieved from https://classroom.synonym.com/pros-cons-multicultural-education-5147417.html