Cultural Values In Education

As teachers, we have the opportunity to serve as a tool of increasing interest in education and decreasing the achievement gap between students of various cultures. Our duties go beyond teaching content and including social, emotional, and cultural aspects of our students live. The responsibility of every teacher is to engage and challenge students of every culture. We also must identify and acknowledge the value of students’ differences, as well as, our own perspectives. Important steps for an individual teaching at any grade level or any specific content is to learn about the culture of oneself and what types of views and perspectives you are bringing to the classroom. Getting to know the culture of each of your students and appreciating …show more content…
Teachers must identify their own culture and recognize any types of views and bias they have toward content, certain values, attitudes, behaviors that might interfere with equitable teaching to every student. Continually reevaluating your own perspectives will help the classroom and instruction from pointing/leading to an influential bias of what is deemed as normal, correct, and true. Keeping this practice in mind, it will always serve as a way to avoid assumptions about students and to continue to hold high but fair expectations for students of different cultures. It will also help you connect with your students in a more successful manner. Research shows that when teachers reflect on their own culture and perspectives, that they are able to become more effective at teaching the continually-changing student body, as well as, improving their instruction and skills as a teacher and question previously learned information and ideas (Howard, 2003). Knowledge of oneself also opens doors to perspectives and motivation to learn about other cultures, particularly those of your