Managing Diverse Classrooms: How to Build on Students’ Cultural Strengths
Publication Type:
Web ArticleYear of Publication:
2008ISBN:
978-1-4166-0624-6Abstract:
Carrie Rothstein-Fisch and Elise Trumbull share a teaching approach that includes practical, culturally sensitive classroom organization. The book is based on research and trials in seven California classrooms over five years, during which time the authors studied how teachers’ understanding of the deep meaning of culture impacts teaching and learning. Classroom organization and management, they learned, were the first things teachers changed as a result of a using a framework for understanding and responding to the particular culture of the students in their classrooms.
Full Text:
Managing Diverse Classrooms: How to Build on Students’ Cultural Strengths
By Carrie Rothstein-Fisch and Elise Trumbull
2008 (196 pp/paperback)
ASCD
ISBN: 978-1-4166-0624-6
$25.95 ($19.95 for members)
Reviewed by Marjorie Larner
While many of us have increased our awareness and understanding of how issues of equity and diversity impact our students’ possibilities, specific implications and applicable recommendations for classroom practice have been harder to come by.
In Managing Diverse Classrooms: How to Build on Students’ Cultural Strengths, Carrie Rothstein-Fisch and Elise Trumbull share a teaching approach that includes practical classroom organization based on research and trials in seven classrooms over five years. In this Bridging Cultures Project, they studied how teachers’ understanding of the deep meaning of culture would have implications for teaching and learning. Classroom organization and management, they learned, were the first things teachers changed as a result of a using a framework for understanding and responding to the particular culture of the students in their classrooms.
When I think of the importance effective teachers place on building learning communities, I can see how valuable this book would be as a resource for constructing a community that is reflective of students’ family cultures and “what is truly rewarding for them.” They provide guidance to consider such important culture-related questions as how we measure success, what we are working for (my learning or the good of the group) and how to connect to students’ families.
The book is very clearly laid out -- from its purpose, view of learning, definition of terms and recommendations, to its very practical guides, plans, and questions to consider. The authors state in the beginning that their approach will not be to give the reader a set of strategies or lists of identifiers but rather a framework that is easy to grasp and immediately useful to “see and learn and develop yourself -- making your (own) decisions and choices.”
From the beginning there are interesting insights to consider, such as their premise that there are two types of cultures: individualistic (which we typically value in our schools) and collectivistic (which we need to include more deliberately for students from non-European backgrounds). They help the reader take an explicit look at aspects of classroom teaching and learning in the context of these cultural values of individualism and collectivism – and how to integrate both school and family values into our work.
While I found myself occasionally questioning the authors’ assumptions or arguing with some of the generalizations and interpretations based on only seven teachers in Southern California, this book does provide the foundation for some serious thinking with colleagues about classroom organization and management that recognizes diverse contexts. Immediately understandable, uncomplicated and basic, it could be a “vehicle for finding common ground” in collaborative planning in a school.
If you feel the need to deepen your knowledge of cultural values systems as they impact the classroom -- or learn more about the role of those systems in human development -- this book will be an excellent starting point. And it can provide ongoing support for changing practice, as you reflect on your own attitudes and values and how they mesh with your school’s cultural patterns.
Marjorie Larner is an instructional coach in the Colorado public schools and a facilitator for the National School Reform Faculty.
