Culture

Reflection
Culture refers to a people’s way of life and has a direct influence on learning. I am a
kinesthetic learner and I like to learn through body movements. Culture might affect this
preference especially if the teacher’s cultural background supports a different way of learning.
Howard Gardener proposed intelligence preferences and put them in categories as explained in
table 7.1 of the course textbook. According to Gardener’s list, I am a bodily-kinesthetic kind of
learner. Gardener describes this learner as one who has “an ability to use the body to address
problems” (Sousa, & Tomlinson, 2011). Such a learner has an ability to communicate and use
the body for self-expression. He or she has effective body-mind coordination. As a bodily-
kinesthetic learner, my cultural tendencies can greatly influence the way I teach. I may spend
more time on instructional strategies that are aligned to the kinesthetic style of learning while
leaving little time for other styles of learning. Even though I will have taken care of the needs of
learners who learn through this method, other learners will not be well-catered for.
Culturally Relevant curriculum
Kajitani (2013) states that although introducing a culturally relevant curriculum is a
complicated process, it is achievable. The first step through which a teacher can achieve this is
by telling, asking and connecting with the students. as a teacher, I will strive to introduce a
culturally relevant curriculum through first telling my story to the students. I will then ask the
students to tell their stories because each student is unique and has his or her own story. After
listening to our stories, I will then connect what the students say to the topic that I will be
covering in class. As I do that, I will assert my respect for the ethnicities and stories of each of

the students in a classroom, and encourage them to do so as well. I will encourage the students to
own their stories, be proud of their cultural backgrounds, and always strive to respect other
people’s cultural backgrounds.
Another way through which a teacher can introduce a culturally relevant curriculum is by
telling numbers into people. this step can support my understanding of the cultural backgrounds
of students in my class by calculating the percentage of different races in my class. This will
ensure that students see themselves in the numbers, and they appear real and relevant to them. I
will compare the numbers to the corresponding percentages of those races in our state. Students
will then see a connection between them and other people in the state. They will have a better
understanding of race. The third way is through adopting a cultural and racial lens through which
to view arts and literature. I would do this by selecting authors that cultural ideologies and
affiliations match those of my students and then guiding them into reading their works. This
would ensure that students get a deeper understanding of their cultural backgrounds, and are able
to connect that to the topic being taught.
One of the specific ways through which I might differentiate content based on a student’s
cultural background is the selection of reference materials. I can assign two different books, on
the same content but written by authors from different cultural backgrounds., but those that
match the backgrounds of the students. by so doing, each student will get the same content, but
from different authors, whose backgrounds might have influenced the way they write their book.
each student will relate better with each author because they might feel that their cultural
ideologies are well captured in the content being relayed by each author.
It is important not to generalize learning style preferences among cultures. This is
because “cultural competence or cultural relevance is fundamental to teacher and learner success

in contemporary classrooms” (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011). Culture is a vital element in the
mindset of each learner. Therefore, it has a huge influence on the learning style preference of
each learner. Culture is a dominant force in the life of each student. Therefore, in selecting
instructional techniques-based learners learning style preferences, it is important for a teacher to
consider the culture as well. Two students may have similar learning style preferences, but their
different cultural backgrounds may affect their responsiveness and understanding of particular
content. Also, different cultures approach learning in somewhat different ways, thus making it
difficult to generalize learning based on students’ cultures. For instance, there are learning styles
that may be popular among African American learners, but they may be unpopular among a few
students who are African Americans. Thus, generalizing the styles among all African American
learners may disadvantage the few whose learning preferences may differ. Therefore, a teacher
should understand that there is individual variance within cultural patterns.

References

Kajitani, A. (2013). Owning it: Proven strategies for success in all of your roles as a teacher
today. Retrieved from https://redshelf.com/ 
Sousa, D. A. & Tomlinson, C. A. (2011). Differentiation and the brain: How neuroscience
supports the learner-friendly classroom. Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com/