Engaging families in culturally relevant ways Essay

Engaging families in culturally relevant ways - Essay Example According to recent statistics, the United States population is increasingly becoming more ethnically diverse. However, the teaching staff is mainly made up of a white population. Teachers have to understand that a lot of their students in their classes will be made up of different ethnic, cultural, racial, social class and linguistic backgrounds that will differ from their own. Teachers must be prepared and ready to teach the heterogeneous composition of students in their various classrooms. Engaging families in culturally relevant ways was found to academically provide for the success of Latino and black American children not served by the public schools of America, the term was coined in 1992 by Gloria Ladson. However, various other socio linguists, teacher educators and anthropologists looking for ways and means to find and create links between the school and student’s home culture, stated that this type of schooling was culturally congruent, culturally appropriate, cultur ally compatible and culturally responsive. After several attempts by Phelan (1991) in identifying exceptional educators in low socio economic, composed of mostly Latino and African American schools, Knight et al (2004) spent a lot of time trying to explain and observe their success with pupils who are normally pushed to their limits by the public education. He found out that most of the tutors shared a common trait; commitment and pride to their teaching professions. Additionally, all of them (teachers) believed that all students have a potential to be successful. These teachers had equitable and fluid relationships with their students. Moreover, they always attended community events so that they could showcase their support for their Latino and African American or poor students. Moll et al (1992) states that inclusive academic institutions or schools that are successful over time have a very significant commonality: they all engage