FRJ #6 Cultural Differences - need to revise

FRJ 6: Look for cultural differences in the classroom. Describe the areas of diversity and explain what is being done to help these students feel accepted and be successful in school. Make connections to suggestions in the textbook.


I did my observation at Timpview High School in AP World History classes and U.S. History Honors classes. I assumed the major cultural difference in the classroom would be Hispanic but that did not prove to be true. The majority of the class is made up of white students the cultural difference is predominantly Asian. I did not ask specifically what nationality the students are but in three of the classes I observed there are at least 6 to 8 oriental students in the class of about 40 students. In the first period AP World History class there was not only oriental students but there were two students who seemed to be Filipino.

There did not seem to be any language barriers between the Asian students and Ms. B although after class one of the young Asian females of the class was speaking her native language on her cell phone. All of the students seem to be at least second generation and there does not seem to be any ESL situations going on with the students. If there are any students that do not speak English as their first language there was no indication of this to me.

The Asian students seem to be treated just like every other student in the class when it comes to their seat assignments. This is one of the reasons the students did not seem to have a language barrier. As for the seating assignments there seems to not be any accommodations that are being made; there could be accommodations being made but they are not obvious to my observation.

Inclusion of the Asian students did not seem to be focused on the academic aspect of the classroom. The inclusion seemed to be more focused on relating topics being taught to what they already know. This was more prevalent to the AP World History classes. They are studying China and have been covering the different dynasties the four times I came to observe. Ms. B asked several of her Asian students (that I assume are Chinese) to pronounce different names or words in Chinese. When she would come to a name or a word she would turn to the students and say, “How do you say this?” All of the others students in the class seemed to think it was great that they could pronounce them.

In one of her classes Ms. B had one of the students tell the other students what it was like living in China today. The student spoke perfect English and sounded like every other American high school student (that is why I assume he is at least a second generation Chinese-American). The kids in the class really got excited that he was able to answer questions about how hot it was, how humid it was, what it was like going to school there for two years, what his apartment was like, etc. I think it is great that Ms. B is allowing these students to use their culture to help the class connect to ancient Chinese history.

In reference to the text ethnic identity is an important part of social development. The text states that there are three stages that minority high school students fall into: Diffusion/foreclosure which includes individuals who have not yet examined their ethnicity, Moratorium which refers to those who currently are exploring the components of self-identification, a sense of belonging, a positive or negative attitude toward their ethnicity, and ethnic involvement, and Achieved which describes those who are committed to their ethnic group membership. (page 56 – I don’t know how you want me to site this???) Ms. B is encouraging her students to experience Moratorium. This is also an important part of Erickson’s psycosocial crisis of Identity vs. Role Confusion. Ms. B is allowing her students to discover who they are and where they came from while using their culture to make her history lessons relevant to the rest of her class.