The Importance of Family

The culturally competent teacher involves and works with families and community resources, understanding the differences in families, the important influence of family participation in students' learning, and the benefit of collaborating with the wider school community.

The family situation that a student comes from definitely has an effect on their learning experience. Lisa Delpit is a theorist who wrote the article Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children. In this article she discusses the significance of power and background pertaining to education. In one section of the article she addresses the statement made by most teachers - I want the same thing for everyone else's children as I want for mine. She says that most parents of students from culturally diverse or poverty backgrounds want something more than just the same as everyone else's "They want to ensure that the school provides their children with discourse patterns, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society."(pg. 6) Sometimes these parents feel that their children are not learning as well as students who come from a liberal middle-class family because most of the instruction is based in that mind-set.

Some of the challenges that I might face concerning the parents of my student would probably be issues of being able to relate directly to them, or having the parents feel that their children are not being taught in a way that they can comprehend fully and understand the material. The parents may feel that the manner in which the material is being presented is confusing and unfamiliar to their child. Another problem I may encounter is also the fact that I may not be able to relate to the parents of my students because I myself am not a parent and may not share the same concerns. They may feel that maybe the teacher is only coming across to students of a similar background through the "codes" of the liberal middle-class. One way to address these concerns of the parents is to show them the efforts you are making to include their children and incorporate different cultures and backgrounds. I think as teacher you should let the parents know that you are culturally competent and aware that their children may be coming from a different background and have different needs. I think another way to address such a challenge would be to hold a meeting with the parents and ask their opinion on how they think their children learn best, or what techniques they use to help their children understand. Knowing how a parent teaches their child can greatly help a teacher to better communicate with and understand that student better. I think talking with concerned parents could offer a teacher several great tools to use and apply in her classroom to better reach the students. I think that asking the parents for suggestions and information it relays the fact that you respect and value their opinion. It lets them know that you are not just a teacher who is there to teach their children the ways of a liberal middle-class system and perpetuate the status quo. A contribution from a parent could be a wonderful thing for a classroom as far as incorporating the culture of that parent and their child. Ultimately learning about other people's cultures will help students to embrace and recognize that everyone is different in their own way. I also think that encouraging parents to get involved with their child's education will most likely have a positive effect on the student's motivation and desire to succeed. Parent involvement and concern for their child's education can make succeeding in school more valuable in the child's mind.

Although there will ultimately be differences between the parents of my students and myself, we share the same goal. We both want to provide the best possible education for the children. I think that that goal will only be easier to accomplish with the collaboration of parents.