Building Meaningful Relationships with Students
Start Date
April 2020
End Date
April 2020
Major Field of Study
Education
Student Type
Graduate
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Elementary school classrooms are becoming more diverse (Gay, 2003; Lehman, 2017) and there is a growing need for educators to be culturally responsive to students and to understand what that means. The challenge we face is to support educators in implementing strategies to welcome students into the classroom and to create an environment with which students want to be a part.
Research has shown that naming practices has become a large topic in diverse classrooms, as some students with Non-Eurocentric names are being “renamed”, change their name, and as a result lose a part of their identity (Marrun, N.A. 2018; Peterson, B., 2015). To best support these students, research shows there are similar characteristics that educators can implement in their teaching which are termed under “Culturally Responsive Teaching” (CRT) (Freire, P. & Ramos, M. B., 2009; Ladson-Billings, 1995). School should be a safe environment for students and one that is welcoming to who they are inside and outside of the classroom (Bondy, 2007; Edwards, 2012; Weinstein, 2003).
My research aimed to understand the perspective of educators, and students surrounding the topic of naming practices, and specifically the feelings directly related to such practices. This research also looked to identify the strategies that are implemented by the school principal and classroom teachers to create a sense of belonging in the school and classroom environment. The research looked at the ways in which both of these factors play into an educators ability to practice culturally responsive teaching.
Building Meaningful Relationships with Students
Elementary school classrooms are becoming more diverse (Gay, 2003; Lehman, 2017) and there is a growing need for educators to be culturally responsive to students and to understand what that means. The challenge we face is to support educators in implementing strategies to welcome students into the classroom and to create an environment with which students want to be a part.
Research has shown that naming practices has become a large topic in diverse classrooms, as some students with Non-Eurocentric names are being “renamed”, change their name, and as a result lose a part of their identity (Marrun, N.A. 2018; Peterson, B., 2015). To best support these students, research shows there are similar characteristics that educators can implement in their teaching which are termed under “Culturally Responsive Teaching” (CRT) (Freire, P. & Ramos, M. B., 2009; Ladson-Billings, 1995). School should be a safe environment for students and one that is welcoming to who they are inside and outside of the classroom (Bondy, 2007; Edwards, 2012; Weinstein, 2003).
My research aimed to understand the perspective of educators, and students surrounding the topic of naming practices, and specifically the feelings directly related to such practices. This research also looked to identify the strategies that are implemented by the school principal and classroom teachers to create a sense of belonging in the school and classroom environment. The research looked at the ways in which both of these factors play into an educators ability to practice culturally responsive teaching.
Comments
This presentation was accepted for the Scholarly and Creative Works Conference at Dominican University of California. The Conference was canceled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic