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This article describes the need to address the cultural gap that exists in our society. The author focuses on a first grade teacher, Lauren Mead, in Kirkland Washington and her journey to connect with her students on a deeper level. The article goes on to highlight sentiments from other educators about cultural awareness. The remarks of one teacher were very profound: "First and foremost, let your students know that their lived experiences are valid and valued. They have every right to hold on to who they are, what they know, and what they live, even if sometimes they have to stop and work through differences," he says. "But you also have to show them how to navigate our school culture so they can succeed." Understanding that more than achievement gaps exists in our classrooms will help educators engage students and begin to see progress in closing the learning and instructional gaps that are present.

Wow, very interesting article. I agree with the article in that it is important to value your student's diversity. I have a melting pot of students in my class and I am trying to get to know each family on a deeper level. This will allow me to make connections with this student and hopefully understand any barriers that may be relevant to their learning.

Instructional and Learning Gaps aren't always attributable to pedagogy or technology. I find it's more often the teacher-student relationship.

Open Culture defines itself as "The best free cultural & educational media on the Web" [Open Culture. (2013). Home page. Retrieved from www.openculture.com). This site was suggested by one of our students using working on a Diigo account just for world language teachers), but this site seems useful for all subjects, with links to many free videos, K-12 resources, e-books, etc.

Addresses the potential of active learning with increased teacher feedback and interaction as a way to help close the achievement gap and involve more students in advanced level STEM classes. Focused on University level students, but an interesting read for teachers of all levels to consider how instruction may have a cultural bias.

This article explains how having data cycles as part of the school culture will increase student achievement. The data cycle consists assessment, analysis and action. Having this cycle in place will allow all stakeholders to monitor progress and make adjustments as needed to benefit student learning.

Show translation:[ None] [ Modern Chinese] [English] 学而: 子贡曰："贫而无谄，富而无骄，何如？"子曰："可也。未若贫而乐 1，富而好礼者也。"子贡曰："《 诗》云：' 如切如磋，如琢如磨。 '其斯之谓与？"子曰："赐也，始可与言诗已矣！告诸往而知来者。" Xue Er: Zi Gong said, "What do you pronounce concerning the poor man who yet does not flatter, and the rich man who is not proud?" When teaching and learning Chinese languages and cultures, It is usually hard to find a good classic literature especially about Confucius. Confucius dialogue with his students are the heart of Chinese classic literatures and Chinese and Asian cultures. This website will give people a len to look into classic Chinese literature with rich resources.

This article identifies the Culturally Responsive Instruction Observation Protocol (CRIOP). It highlights the gap that middle class white students have with black, poor, or Hispanic students and introduces teaching strategies to incorporate cultural knowledge.

This blog post was very eye opening and had me reflecting on my own classroom and teaching style throughout. Jennifer Gonzalez is a middle school teacher who recently read a book called "Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain" by Zaretta Hammond. Upon reading this book Jennifer talks about her experience with teaching students whose cultures, race, language, etc. did not match what schools teach and value. Additionally, she felt that she could have done a better job at teaching and reaching these students, who are typically labeled "at risk." Something I often feel. In feeling this way, in what she hopes will help her close the gap, Jennifer talks about the brain-based approach she read about. She touches on the Ready for Rigor Framework and the four separate practices that can help improve teaching. This blog post touched home for me as I taught a handful of ELL students this year and for some I felt like I did not do my best and I could have done better.

Manuel Hernandez Carmona is an ESL teacher from New York. The video describes the importance of providing culturally relevant material to students to ensure academic success. He emphasizes how critical it is to help students make connections with their own personal experiences to build bridges into other content.

This site allows you to customize your own map. You can even create a link so others can access the map you have created. You can add physical systems like water, land, and climate. You can also add populations, culture, political, economic, environment, and society information. You can also draw on the map and place markers. This would be very useful for 7th grade World History and Geography. It could actually have a place in any grade. I have not used it yet, but I plan to. I like everything about it so far.

Week 7 - This is an excellent article for second language teachers who want to be inclusive of all students through digital story telling. Dr. Vinogradova's personal experience affirms the importance of cultural identity integration using technology to achieve pedagogical goals. By Polina Vinogradova, Ph.D, Director of the TESOL Program, Department of World Languages and Cultures, American University....

(Week 9: Tolulope Oladipo and Michelle Bear) This is a journal article that is available in Diigo. The link to the article is also provided below: The Real Versus the Possible: Closing the Gaps in Engagement and Learning. Retrieved from https://www.educause.edu/research-and-publications/books/educating-net-generation/real-versus-possible-closing-gaps-engagement-and-learning. This article explores the generations of learners, how we can utilize technology in learning, the discovery of education community and learning science. The authors discussed further educational Goals about learning, improving student's success, engagement and learning through people to people interaction, people and tools, using information technology device as a vehicle by which concepts are presented (such as using simulations, and animations), using collaboration and rich media communication to promote interaction an engagement. The author discusses how access to technology determines generation of learners, such as the Net generation. According to the authors, many students in the K-12 and post-secondary education do not have adequate access to advanced instructional technologies or the web. Despite the engagement created by technology-enabled interactive instruction, many students, teachers, do not have the requisite experiences. The authors went further that internet resources are not yet fully integrated into the day-t0-day classroom routine. The authors cited a finding that proposed that motivation is a key factor to learning, and that engagement and learning can be achieved through competency and control, curriculum, instruction, the organization, management of the schools and the environmental conditions. Furthermore, according to the authors, the Board on Children, Youth and Families 2004 National report recommended that we can keep young people in school and making learning worthwhile by forming a good connection between learners and the context in which learning occurs. We sh

This article describes the report of a 4 week study of the English reading comprehension of struggling readers. The research used technology to decrease achievement gaps in reading. Thirty 4th-grade students read narrative and informational hypertexts that contained vocabulary, comprehension strategy supports, and text to speech read aloud features. In the process, vocabulary and comprehension achievement was observed in the students. The results in this article suggest that struggling readers and Spanish-speaking ELLs used technology and beneficiated by learning vocabulary and effectively applying reading comprehension strategies.

In reading this article it was quite interesting to me the successes that occurred when the school incorporated the use of a technology based universal digital literacy (UDL) tool. The digital text coupled with vocabulary support was instrumental in the success of these students. It is also important to note that the stories given to the students to study were a blend of folktales that represented many different cultures rather than strictly from the US. It is important to note that when ELL students and struggling readers are given text or material that is relevant to their own culture they are able to access prior knowledge to make connections to the new material. The supports utilized in the study were the initial discussion of "power words" that are prominent in the text. The mid reading strategy is a support to develop comprehension by prompting students at the end of each page to stop, reflect and summarize/predict then being prompted to give a written or recorded response. These activities are able to be tracked using the technology thus furthering a teachers ability to interpret student needs and supplement with various strategies in the classroom. An important element to this programs success was the training of the teachers on the UDL technology.

This article focuses on simple things that teachers should keep in mind when trying to close the achievement gap. It reminds teachers that they don't need to make grand, sweeping changes; just doing some small things can have a major impact in terms of both the instructional and achievement gaps. The steps include using data more effectively, reflecting on your own choices in the classroom with a purpose, staying open-minded and avoiding assumptions, ensuring that the class is academically and culturally relevant, and developing positive relationships with parents. These are not necessarily ground-breaking ideas, but they are small enough that they can be effectively implemented relatively quickly and then fostered more to help close those gaps for students.

I enjoyed this article as it gives very simple ways that teachers can do a better job. It also confirms what I've known to help by making more culturally friendly lessons that students are more accustomed to as we try to scaffold concepts that are foreign.

This study focused on Russian, Arabic, and Chinese teachers but is relevant outside of these areas because it addresses characteristic of millennial learners and how teachers' own cultural identify and pre-conceived expectations can contribute to an instructional gap.

This page shows videos of 3rd grade Math being taught to students. This first video shows different techniques for fostering a classroom culture as well as different routines to encourage engagement in the material being taught.

This documentary focuses on Hutong, the cultural symbol of traditional life in Beijing. Though well-known around the world, many Hutongs are actually facing the problem of arbitrary and incomplete demolition, and the shortage of governmental administration and public cleaning. This is a website that youth can post their created digital media as wel as express their own idea and opinion to have their own voices and collaborate regarding issues they care and concern about. Urbanization, gender equality, racial justice, environmental protection for everyone are among the issues that global youth care about. Teachers need to provide students a safe environment on line or in person to express themselves.

A critical perspective into the reality of multi-cultural student populations and the ill-preparedness of the average instructor to be able to cater towards their students in an equal manner by looking at many factors that affect their students lives outside of the classroom.

From a series of publications by the National Association of Elementary School Principals: "This white paper outlines five recommendations to help principals put student achievement data to the best possible use: 1) Make data part of the ongoing cycle of instructional improvement; 2) Teach students to examine their own data and set learning goals; 3) Establish a clear vision for school-wide data use; 4) Provide supports that foster a data-driven culture within the school; and 5) Develop and maintain a district-wide data system." Suggestions for how to implement these recommendations, along with links to video interviews and supporting documents, are given.