A teacher's authority in a classroom is no longer assumed--it has to be earned. Without establishing a baseline of rapport and mutual respect, cultural misunderstandings between teachers and students can devolve into chaos. Gabriel Benn, hip-hop artist and former school teacher and administrator, shares real-life examples of how rapport can go…

Many minority groups in the United States tend to struggle in school. One reason minority students are likely to encounter more problems in schools than mainstream students involves incomplete knowledge of minority students' learning and communication styles. Authors such as Banks (2006) and Pewewardy (2008) emphasize that minority students differ…

Educators' lack of knowledge of the cultural and immigration overlays on behaviors presents a quandary. It makes it difficult, given the present state of assessment in this area, to determine whether an emotional or behavioral disorder exists, or whether the behavior is acceptable to the newcomer's culture and therefore reflects a cultural marker.…

The majority of the teacher candidates in my methods classes come from a background that is different from the primarily African American students at my professional development school. Because these teacher candidates continue to be predominantly White middle-class females, the gap between their cultural comfort zone and their students' cultural…

Students from different cultural backgrounds respond in a variety of ways to my teaching of biblical studies. Some sermonize or plagiarize quite unselfconsciously in their written assignments, while others consistently hand in work late or are silent members of the class. As I struggled with what these behaviors were saying about my teaching, I…

Reports on an experience teaching online internationally, between a lecturer at the University of Georgia and library science students at the University of Botswana, using an auto-ethnographic method to discuss classroom teaching experiences in Botswana and how they influenced course design, teaching style, and desired student learning…

Introduces a new model for analyzing teachers' conversations in computer-mediate communication (CMC) based on information from Bakhtin (1981), Freire (1993), social identity theory, psychological capital, cultural consciousness, and CMC theoretical frameworks. Considers CMC and human-computer interaction (HCI) to address cultural differences that…

Much has been written about the sometimes contentious relationship between international teaching assistants (ITAs) and their American students. ITAs sometimes have unfamiliar accents, teaching styles and cultural nuances that can create an environment where teaching and learning become a challenge. In an ideal classroom, both the student and…

To become literate when we move from one part of the country to another with significant cultural differences, our first task is to learn the new culture so we can more effectively work with our colleagues and our students. When I moved from Bay City, MI, to Morehead, KY, there were many customs I needed to learn. Fortunately, what I learned…

This paper presents an overview of American Indian students' learning styles, world views, and communication styles, with implications for classroom techniques and teaching styles. Research has shown that American Indian and African American students are primarily right-brained in learning styles, while Anglo and Asian students are primarily…

Describes the use of a unit on immigration implemented at two high schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to help students from different backgrounds relate to one another. Explains the authentic assessment task in which students charted data about the immigration of their families and analyzed the data for trends. (CMK)

Approaches to improve the teaching of nursing students of diverse backgrounds are described in 16 papers as part of the Southern Regional Education Board's Faculty Development in Nursing Education Project. Among the papers and authors are the following: "Background on the Faculty Development in Nursing Education Project" (Audrey F.…

In this presentation on how teacher education programs should reflect cultural diversity in order to attract and retain minority students, 10 premises are set forth on the needs and shortcomings of the present system of educating teachers. A discussion of goals for reflecting cultural diversity in teacher education programs emphasizes the…

The Southern Regional Education Board administered a three-year Faculty Development in Nursing Education Project. Its three objectives were (1) to provide opportunities for faculty to improve their abilities to identify learning problems; study alternative learning strategies; present instruction appropriate to the learning types of students; and…

This paper is based on research conducted with indigenous students at a university in the Northern Territory. It examines crosscultural theories of education which explain the problems of teaching and learning in indigenous contexts in terms of the cultural mismatch between the home and school environment. These theories position the teacher as…