Cultural Diversity

Week 7, Question 1: What are some of the unique problems general classroom teachers might encounter when working with parents of culturally diverse backgrounds? (Culturally diverse does NOT mean only ethnically diverse but culturally diverse in any way as in the culture of poverty.)

When it comes to working with parents the general classroom teacher has to deal with a lot of different parents and when the parents are culturally diverse it can bring up a variety of situations. First, a teacher might have parents who can’t attend events like parent teacher conferences or meetings because they have work obligations or family situations that they to take care of. This means that teachers might have a hard time getting in contact with parents which can lead to frustration on the teacher’s part. The teacher can try to open communication by sending home
as the teacher, don't come off as judgmental but as helpful. The first thing that I would do is ask for the parent to meet with me before or after school to talk about the student. I find it important that this be an in person meeting and not a phone conversation because on the phone there could be miscommunication and it is harder to convey a sense of helpfulness. During this meeting I would start off with stating some of the amazing things that I am seeing with the student. I would then talk with the mom and say that I have noticed that she comes in everyday and helps the student prepare for the day. I would then ask her if there was any specific reason for this. After she explained this I would compliment her for being a part of her child's education but then make a statement that as her child moves to 6th grade the expectation is for to become more independent and that includes preparing for the day. I would then state that 5th grade is a time in which we want our students to practice being more independent so they can be successful when they enter 6th