Middle East

Introduction

Culturally responsive education endorses students in formulating a lifelong appreciation to valuate and understand cultural settings of life. Internalization of culturally responsive education as a vital component of all present curriculum, services, and activities in a conventional pedagogical practise assist to improve academic lives of all students.

What did you learn that has changed your understanding of Asian Americans?

In my study, cultural responsive education, I have come to understand that Asian American students have high achievement motivation. They have the desire to achieve the set goals. More so, they have a high degree of self-discipline, self-control, and self-motivation. The Asian Americans also have high levels of concentration and tenacity on academics as well as excellent problem solving ability. This is evident in female Asians who have higher maths score than any other ethnic group. The Asian American students are respectful to their fellow students. Their attitude towards discipline acts as guidance, consequently, this attribute allows them to disagree with or challenge the teacher, and this has to do with respect. They are good listeners and easily follow directions, although, some of them have language barriers and prefer minimal body conduct (Thompson, 1995).

What important concepts and generalizations can we teach through the experiences of Asian Americans?

Because of the varied learning styles that are brought to learning institutions by students, irrespective of their ethnic background, the instructor should use a variety of instructional methods whenever possible and we should not assume that there is one particular way to teach. We should be able to instil student respect and teach them the grandness of respecting each other and having personal respect. As teachers, we should maintain high expectations to all students without regard to their ethnic backgrounds and experiences. We should also know student’s prior knowledge to ensure that the content instruction is appropriate. This is because students are from different cultural backgrounds and have different understanding capabilities, hence, enable us meet there varied learning needs. When student challenges us, we should be able to accommodate their views.

What parallel experiences can you find between Arab Americans and other ethnic groups?

The Arab Americans and African Americans are both competitive, independent, and achievement oriented. In addition, they have high context communication that includes gestures, expressions, and non-verbal cues. In multiple cultures, education is a means to better life. The Arab Americans try to preserve their cultures and they try to pass it from one generation to another. The African American and Arab American share a common factor in that they keep contact with their extended families; have strong kinship bonds, and connection to others who are at a distant. In addition, they have respect for the elderly; the two cultures have the ability to navigate between different cultures. They have gender roles. The charismatic way of socialization of these cultures is due to their background knowledge. Showing respect to the elderly has been attributed to all cultures around as they have instilled it from their background. The Hispanic/Latin cultures share the same cultural values with Arab American in formal relationships. They observe courtesy and sensitive in matters relating to relationships (Paulston, 1977).

Culturally responsive education is a teaching tool that helps the students use their ethnic backgrounds to aid in attainment of knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Culturally responsive teachers use ethnic relevant instructional tools, cultural backgrounds, and student cultural identities as a recognition base for academic success.