Encounters with People from Diverse Cultural Backgrounds and Lived Experiences? Relationships Matter
Loading...
Date
2018-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Office of Outreach and Engagement
Abstract
I will introduce some of my narrative inquiry to better understand the education experiences of black males. Participants helped me to better understand that educators who help students who differ from them achieve educational success also had relationships from which they developed some cultural awareness about these students. I will also introduce a number of strategies that might help attendees develop relationships and/or cultural awareness about people who differ from them. This awareness could also be helpful to faculty and staff.
Description
The United States is becoming more culturally diverse (Deen, Parker, Hill, Huskey, & Whitehall, 2014; Gay, 2006), but Extension professionals remain largely homogeneous (Ewert & Rice, 1994; Ingram, 2005; McCray, 1994). As such, professionals in Extension are likely to interact with citizens from diverse racial, cultural, and/or ethnic backgrounds. Some educators may struggle to meet the needs of these learners (Adedokun, Parker, Loizzo, Burgess, Robinson, 2011; Carter, Skiba, Arredondo, & Pollock, 2017; Smalkoski, Axtell, Zimmer, & Noor, 2016). This struggle is not new. Scholars have long highlighted the failure of schools and teachers to educate students of color (cf. Carter, et al., 2017, Du Bois, 1903/2006; Howard, 2013; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Milner, 2007; Noguera, 2003; Woodson, 1933/2006). I believe that schools and educators should meet the needs of all learners, but I think that goal may elude stakeholders in education (e.g., administrators, teacher educators, teachers, policy makers, and curriculum developers) until they better understand students' experiences in schools and classrooms. My study is a story about the relationships between nine black men and some of the white educators in the K-12 schools and correctional education settings that these men had attended. I think some of my data and its analysis may have implications for faculty and staff in CFAES. For example, I inferred that professionals who develop relationships and/or cultural awareness about learners from diverse backgrounds were more likely to help these learners achieve some educational success. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: In my ignite presentation, I plan to offer an introduction to culturally relevant pedagogy. Culturally relevant teachers have relationships with their students in which they get to know these students and adapt their teaching to what they know about students to help these students achieve some educational success. On the one hand, my participants implied that most of their teachers did not work within a framework of cultural relevance with black male students; they discriminated against and/or prejudged these students. Relationships Matter: Participants also implied that the teachers who worked within a framework of culturally relevant pedagogy had a developing awareness about the cultural backgrounds and lived experiences people and/or students who are black. Participants implied that teachers developed that cultural awareness in relationships with people and/or students who are black. Ideas for Developing Relationships with Leaners from Diverse Backgrounds: I close my ignite session by presenting my participants' ideas for faculty and staff to develop relationships with and/or cultural awareness about students whose cultural backgrounds and/or lived experiences might differ from the teachers' background and experiences. My goal is that attendees would leave this session with strategies to better engage with people who differ from them.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Joseph Maiorano, The Ohio State University Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Harrison County, maiorano.2@osu.edu (Corresponding Author).
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Joseph Maiorano, The Ohio State University Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Harrison County, maiorano.2@osu.edu (Corresponding Author).
Keywords
diversity, cultural awareness, relationships, engagement
Citation
Engaged Scholars, v. 6 (2018).