INTEREST, IDENTITY,CULTURE AND TEACHING.

 “  INTEREST , IDENTITY, CULTURE AND TEACHING”.

This  is the discussion  around  interest, identity,culture and Teaching. The first On Point operationalizes the way in which it defines culture and how to think about educational settings and scenarios from the point of view of culture. While this On Point focuses on teacher’s identity, the third On Point in this series addresses how classrooms are enriched by the funds of knowledge and assets that children and their families bring with them from their home sand communities.Teaching as the direct delivery of some preplanned curriculum, teaching as the orderly and scripted conveyance of information, teaching as clerking, is simply a myth. Teaching is much larger and much more alive than that; itcontains more pain and conflict, more joy and intelligence, more uncertainty and ambiguity. It requires more judgment and energy andintensity than, on some days, seems humanly possible. Teachers bring themselves—their life experiences, histories, and cultures—into the classroom. They bring their assumptions andbeliefs about what a good teacher is and does,their knowledge of education theory, research,and human development, and their love andknowledge of content areas. They bring theirpersonalities and teaching styles that areshaped by social and cultural interactions. when they are with others. Other teachers areenergetic and lively around their students, butneed down time to refuel and ground themselves.Some teachers love routine and predictability,while other teachers become particularly excited when routines are interrupted andthey can act spontaneously. All of this isshaped and reshaped by daily experiences inthe classroom. The longer teachers teach, themore their beliefs and knowledge arereorganized and sculpted by experience.

Some teachers are extroverted and come alive.Experience, culture, and personality are just partof who teachers are, and they go whereverteachers go—including their classrooms. For teachers from dominant culturalbackgrounds(white, middle class teachers in the UnitedStates), their own culture may not be somethingthey are immediately aware of because it fitsso seamlessly withprevailingopinions,beliefs,values,and expectations about behavior,education, and life choices. Yet, many choicesthat teachers make are determinedmore fromtheir cultural background than from individualbeliefs. The expectations that teachers holdfor teaching and learning are grounded in cultural beliefs that may be unfamiliar to students and families from non-dominant cultures.

Teachers who understand and value their owncultural identities recognize culture as acomplex construction. In doing so, they create the possibility for deeper connections with their students and families. Cultural responsivity comes from understanding self and others so that different values areunderstood and respected, rather than one set of values being imposed on all. Culturallyresponsive teachers can build robust learning environments in which students and teachers can build richer and deeper understandings of themselves and each other as they investigate and uncover the school curriculum.