CREDE



**CREDE Standards:**

1. Teachers and students working together

2. Developing literacy and language skills across the curriculum

3. Connecting school to students' lives

4. Engaging students with challenging lessons

5. Emphasizing dialogue over lecture

**Garcia's 5 R's and 1 T:** //When working with children and families, teachers should be...// Respectful

Responsive

Responsible

Resourceful

Reasonable

//When working with children and families, teachers should have an appropriate educational//


 * T**heory

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Once again I will start this discussion by reminding you that I do not teach in a culturally diverse student population. I believe all students can benefit from the use of CREDE standards. It seems to me that the basis of CREDE standards are that students are actively participating n their learniing. Through conversations and discussions in class with both the teacher and other studnets, the learners will develop their language skills as they broaden their knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.

I believe the use of higher order thinking skills in my classroom effectively work. Just by teaching students to read music is a higher order thinking skill. I have 15 piano keyboards in my room and the headset jacks are double so that two students can share one keyboard. I usually do a quick warm-up activity (clapping rhythms together) then have a whole class lesson and then we pair up to practice the lesson on the keyboards. Before this class I always let the students choose their own partners. While taking this class I decided that it was better for the students in the long run to work with different partners everyday. I also have a teacher keyboard and I make sure the students have at least 5 minutes a week working with me. Playing a duet with them is a really great active for both of us.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

I believe that I need to do more in my teaching **and learning** to become culturally responsive. In the past I thought that listening to composers of different nationalities or creating a lesson on Hispanic music was fulfilling my "cultural responsibility." I need to have a sociocultural consciousness and begin to recognize that the way I perceive the world and interact with other cultures directly effects the way my students will start to appreciate others around us. I am now beginning to understand that I am capable and responsible for bringing about change in my students that will make them more responsive and understanding to students from diverse backgrounds. I believe that I may have been guilty of labeling students with disabilities when in reality it was English not being their first language. I need to start to do assessments and evaluations in their native language.

I am also guilty of not taking time to know my students. How can I teach students that I do not know? I need to take time to learn their cultural norms and behaviors. It my responsibility as their teacher. I found this quote while browsing a few blogs on the subject of cultural responsibilities of teachers. " In the book, We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools(Published by Teachers Press in 1999), G. Howard says “We need to understand the dynamics of past and present dominance, face how we have been shaped by myths of superiority, and begin to sort out our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors relative to race and other dimensions of human diversity.”

I also came across this that really has me thinking. A popular African proverb counsels, "Until lions have historians, hunters will always be heroes." That is so cool to think about! Just how much of the truth am I missing because I am listening to the hunters and not the lions. I love this. I am going to use it with my kids next week.

Saturday,February 14, 2009

I think my weakest area is being resourceful and utilizing my students and their families. I could possibly invite parents or other community members to come be guest speakers, but I am not sure that would really tap into the resources these families could offer my classroom. I will say that my school has a very small population of ELL students; I have not had one in many years. However, I do have students whose families have come from other countries, and I should make more of an effort to include this diversity.

I could improve by creating relationships with the parents of ELL students. I could invite an interpreter to those parent/teacher meetings, maybe as a team, I could try to encourage those parents to attend the conference and provide a more comfortable situation for them. Because I have had such little experience teaching ELL students, I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to connect with these parents. Often if our students speak English, it is not at the forefront of my mind that the parents may not speak English. I need to be more culturally sensitive to that fact.

I would like to start to implement the following strategies: When you stop to think about it, the standards and strategies offered by CREDE and Garcia are basic aspects of good teaching for everyone, not just ELL students.
 * I want my students to work with (several different) partners and less independent work.
 * I would like to become more of a teacher and less a facilitator
 * I would like to set up a safe environment of mutual respect between student and teacher and student and student.

Blogs I have Read: http://thetrainingbank.blogspot.com/2008/09/wlodkowskis-motivational-framework-for.html http://www.cityteacher.net/?p=124 http://billhowe.org/MCE/?p=89

Resources

//CREDE standards.//  (Laureate Education, Inc., DVD, 2008). //Culturally responsive teaching.//  (Laureate Education, Inc., DVD, 2008).

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