Summary Of Educating Everybody's Children

Summary: Chapter two of the book Educating Everybody’s Children is a great resource for educators. Throughout the reading, the author presents instructional strategies that have relevance for educators of diverse students. To begin, the author addresses the issue of gap closing and explains its importance. Through comparisons between urban and suburban districts, the author expands upon the topic of “facing the achievement gap.” After laying out the facts of the achievement gap, the author proposes a few strategies that school districts and communities could use to close this gap. Ultimately, the author feels, diversity must be embraced, for “the implementation of sound, research-based strategies that recognize the benefits of diversity can build a better future for [everyone].” The author uses this concept of embracing diversity and incorporates it into educational strategies. “Strategies for Culturally and Ethnically Diverse Students” and “Strategies for Linguistically Diverse Students” are the two sections that the strategies presented in this reading are categorized into. Each section contains a plethora of strategies, which are each preceded by a discussion and classroom examples. For instance, Strategy 2.8 is titled “Create culturally compatible learning environments,” and explains that “students learn more when their classrooms are compatible with their own cultural and linguistic experience. The classroom example presents a situation where an ELS is struggling to speak up in class, for she is afraid of being ridiculed for her poor English. To combat this issue, the reading suggests placing the class into small groups for that this student can practice her English in a smaller group of her peers. This is just one example of the knowledge that this reading presents, and it demonstrates why it is imperative to take these strategies into consideration as a classroom teacher. Reaction: 1. What is your immediate response upon completion of the reading? Immediately upon completing this reading, I was left with a feeling of curiosity and a desire to do more research. I was intrigued by the strategies presented and wish to find statistics and studies which prove their …show more content…
After reading more about the concept and strategies which support it, I found myself loving the idea. Allowing students to explore their own culture and the culture of others is an important part of the learning process as we assist our students in becoming successful members of society.

4. What are the implications for a high school math teacher? It is imperative that high school mathematics teachers take these strategies and ideas into consideration. High school students are at a point in their lives where they are discovering themselves and need to be shown that diversity is to be accepted and celebrated. Students who are of diverse cultural backgrounds need to feel accepted and included. All students have a right to learn and deserve all the help they need to do so successfully.

5. What are the implications for pedagogical practices in your …show more content…
While all students deserve to be treated equally, part of that equality is that they all have a fair shot at receiving a quality education. In my future classroom, I plan to work closely with my struggling students and to utilize strategies such as those presented in this reading. In general, mathematics is a difficult subject to grasp and can be made even more challenging due a language barrier or a fear of speaking up. Strategies, such as those highlighted in this reading, are needed to help all students to achieve their