Culturally Responsive Students: A Case Study

The second strand for preparing culturally responsive teachers according to Villegas and Lucas, teachers have to maintain an attitude that is supportive of the linguistically diverse culture is a requirement for culturally responsive teaching to be successful. (Lucas and Villegas, 2002) Teachers value that there are many different ways to learn, speak, think, behave and learn. Instead of seeing the diverse students as a challenge in education they see them as an asset in the classroom for all to learn from. Teachers attitudes toward students significantly shape the expectations they hold for student learning their treatment of students, and what students ultimately learn (Pang & Sablan, 1995). Affirming attitudes, for example, have been shown to support student achievement (Nieto, 1996) When having the right attitude with students they will be able to show confidence in learning and in their
If we continue to see them as different and a problem in the classroom we will continue to be challenged with academic success. Teachers will be able to provide rigorous curriculum, ways to monitor their own learning, holding them accountable, and having high expectations of students. Strategies such as these, which convey respect for students and affirm their differences, become the basis for meaningful relationships between teachers and students and produce favorable academic results (Gay 2000) To gain the best attitude for success it is important for experienced,veteran, teachers to provide this same attitude and training to the new up and coming teachers. We need to be proactive on any negative thoughts teachers may have on diverse