In today’s ever-changing public school system, it is more important than ever to consider a student’s cultural traits when teaching. Build on their strengths and everyone wins. If this topic interests you, read Managing Diverse Classrooms,371.102 R847m 2008.
Many school districts have deaf students learning in the classroom right along with their hearing peers. Easterbrooks & Estes’ book, Helping Deaf & Hard of Hearing Students to Use Spoken Language, 371.91 E13h 2007, is a very helpful tool for teachers, parents and audiologists.
The December 4, 2006 issue of TIME magazine has an interesting article about school desegregation. “When Public Schools Aren’t Color Blind “discusses the Louisville public school system’s practice of keeping the African American student population between 15-50%.
We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know, 370.117 H848w 2006, by Gary Howard discusses how teachers need to teach responsibly in multi-cultural classrooms. “With our nation’s student population becoming ever more diverse, and teachers remaining largely White, this book is now more important than ever.”
Toni Morrison’s Remember, currently available at the Miller Library, is an enlightening and educational book for children and adults. The dialogue and photos in this book depict a time of segregation that is unknown to many young people. It is important that we as educators and Americans keep this important piece of history alive. The days of lunch counter sit-ins are long gone but the sacrifices made by those at the lunch counters should not be forgotten.
Hispanic Students & Public High Schools
A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center finds that Hispanic students are more likely to attend large public high schools and are plagued by problems associated with these large schools. “The High Schools Hispanics Attend” by Rick Fry, identifies and examines the gap between Hispanics and other students pointing to higher student-to-teacher ratios, poorer funding, lower achievement and higher dropout rates.