Preparing Teachers for Culturally Relevant Curriculum

Oran (2009) starts off as defining what is culture, "The system of values, beliefs, and ways of knowing that guide communities of people in their daily lives."  She talks about how effectively preparing and acknowledging the diversity and incorporating the multiple backgrounds and experiences into the learning experiences and classroom environment.  

"Teaching is learning—a process of slowly integrating knowledge into practice.... The most important aspect of teaching is developing the mental habit of reflecting on your instructional practice and of altering your practice according to what you discover about how students learn best. Knowledge of multicultural theory and practice will give you the reflective space, the necessary reservoir of cultural insight, to intelligently address pedagogical issues as they arise in your everyday practice. " Oran (2009)

I have always believed that teaching is learning.  As a tutor, every time I am trying to help someone understand and grasp certain concepts, I too learn more about it get a better understanding.  If the student is understanding it the first time, I reflect on myself, "how can I explain/do things differently?"  This is me reflecting on my instructional practice and then I will alter it to how they learn.  I understand we all learn differently, and in order to understand that, I needed to understand how I learn as well.  Some of my colleagues learn better visually or auditory, but I on the other hand need things to be hands-on.  Just like most children, we learn through hands-on experiences, but sometimes some of us also have to be moving in the process of learning in order for us to process certain information as well.  

Oran (2009) also advises teacher to be multicultural as well before being able to effectively and authentically teach children to be multicultural.  I believe this touches on if we, the educators, too are willing to learn about other's cultures, we need to believe it.  Culturally relevant teaching is to ensure the educators acknowledge and honor the various viewpoints of their students and avoid trying to have the same perspectives and beliefs; we want to teach only the "virtues, principles, and other moral teachings about which there is no disagreement in American society.. we need to show fairness to diverse visions of the good life and not merely replace them with neutered and safe substitutes"  

"No student should have to sacrifice cultural heritage, ethnic identity, and social networks in order to obtain an education "

References:
Oran, G. (2009, December 23). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/culturally-relevant-pedagogy/