Running head: SERVING STUDENTS IN DIVERSE CLASSROOMS
Serving Students in Diverse Classrooms
Non-Licensure Capstone
Kimberly Taylor
Vanderbilt University
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Abstract
Like all people, adolescent members of racial, linguistic, and socio-economic
class minorities are in possession of norms and values from their home cultures that
influence how they see and act in the world. Unlike those of members of the racial,
linguistic, and class majority groups in America, these norms and values often preclude
these students from full participation in the classroom culture. Considering racial,
linguistic, and class minority students through the theoretical lenses of Lisa Delpit
(“culture of power”), Luis Moll (“funds of knowledge”), and Abraham Maslow
(Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) can allow teachers to understand better the interactions
between these students’ home cultures and the classroom culture and guide teachers in
the creation of strategies for overcoming the barriers or gaps to participation that may
arise out of these interactions. Considering through each lens three hypothetical student
cases that represent typical, not actual, students in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, the
author conducts a conceptual study of racial, linguistic, and class minority students and
the aforementioned theories, applying each theory systematically to the cases.
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Introduction
In Peabody’s non-licensure capstone programs, professors make no qualms about
the fact that students will not get a great deal of practical knowledge and that the readings
and discussions that will shape the bulk of the thinking that students do in their courses
will be heavily theoretical in nature. Even those students who enjoy the exploration of
theory and trust in the abilities of researchers and thinkers to keep the realities of
education and the classroom in focus as they write at some point in their programs find
themselves, as they should, anxious to get to the application of the ideas that they have
explored. As I considered the most effective way to complete my Capstone experience, I
realized that there was a way to both meet the expectation that I demonstrate my
knowledge of seminal texts and ideas pertaining to education today and also begin the
journey toward sating my own thirst to test the mettle of some of these ideas against my
past and future classroom experiences. This method is a variant of Ernest Boyer’s
“scholarship of application,” specifically, the systematic application of research, theory,
and conceptual thinking to concrete questions of practice.
For me, the central and most challenging questions of practice are questions of
student diversity, especially those of language, class, and race. Over the past several
decades, significant scholarly inquiry related to student diversity has broadened and
deepened our understanding of the impact of student diversity on teaching and learning;
however, that inquiry has not altered practice across the board. This is in part because the
research, theory, and conceptual inquiry are not framed from the practitioner’s point of
view or from the practitioner’s need. My method here seeks to remedy this.
Specifically, I offer a systematic consideration of three hypothetical but grounded profiles
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of urban students, using the work of scholars to illuminate and highlight the potentially
constructive response of their teachers. The profiles and scenarios I investigate here are
hypothetical, but typical. Each profile represents not an actual student but a typical
student, constructed based upon real students in real classrooms in which I, or teachers
that I know, have taught.
That this study is applied does not make it any less scholarly since I will pursue
my consideration of these case studies systematically. That this study is conceptual
rather than empirical does not make it any less useful; as educational psychologist Kurt
Lewin reminds us, “There is nothing more practical than a good theory.”
The method described above has been employed by education researcher Barbara
Stengel, who, in her 1991 text Just Education: The Right to Education in Context and
Conversation, uses this method to solidly connect sophisticated theoretical ideas to
practice. As suggested above, the method will provide an opportunity to explore theories
and research in a way that allows both the theories and my past and potential real world
classroom experiences to be enriched by each other.
The first of the conceptual lenses through which I will analyze each student
scenario is the “culture of power” and thereof, its code. In “The Silenced Dialogue:
Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children,” Lisa Delpit discusses codes
of power as the ways of speaking, communicating, and presenting oneself that are viewed
as markers of intelligence and/or worth in various contexts (2006). In the context of
education, teachers generally expect that, through their parents, students have adapted
ways of being that fit well with the norms of the classroom; however, many students in
America’s public schools are born into cultures that, out of tradition or necessity,
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promote different ways of being, some of which are in direct opposition to the norms of
the classroom. In the case of each student, I will explore how Delpit’s idea of the culture
of power and the codes, or rules, thereof can be illuminated for students who by dint of
birth or circumstance do not enter school with the cultural knowledge necessary for
success in that specific environment.
I will also consider each scenario through Luis Moll’s concept of “funds of
knowledge.” Moll contends that all students arrive at school with understandings and
expertise that they have developed as members of their families and social communities
(González, Moll, Amanti, 2005). It is to the benefit of all members of the classroom that
teachers make this knowledge apparent and treat it as valuable whenever possible. These
experiences are unique not only to the students’ respective cultures in the larger sense of
the “culture” but also to the ways of being that are developed as they live in specific
locations. Through this lens, I will discuss ways in which teachers can harness these
experiences and use them to create meaningful learning experiences for students. I will
also consider the ways in which teachers can employ Moll’s strategies for strengthening
the connection between the school and the larger community, thereby decreasing the
likelihood of cultural clashes as students travel between the two arenas.
The final lens through which I will analyze each student’s case is Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs. In 1943, Abraham Maslow, a behavioral psychologist, developed a
human need theory that has since served as a foundation for studies of human motivation
in many fields, including Education, Sociology, and Psychology. Maslow asserts that,
regardless of group or individual differences, people have a set of core common needs,
and these needs can be grouped. These groups exist along a tiered continuum with needs
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toward the bottom of the continuum invariably taking precedence over needs at the top of
the continuum. Maslow further contends that unmet needs along this continuum are the
greatest motivators of human behavior, dictating what we do or neglect to do in various
contexts. Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a guide, I will consider need-based
motivations for each student’s stance on learning and school and explore ideas that
language arts teachers of the described students might consider as they create academic
tasks that provide ways for students to satisfy their unmet needs.
The student cases are as follows. As hypothetical cases, none of these students
represent actual students in my experience; however, each represents a student that any
teacher might meet in a host of school districts around the country. For purposes of
concrete representation, I have located each student in a district that I know well,
Memphis, Tennessee, but teachers in any school district might encounter an Aaron, an
Amy, and an Alicia. Teachers will likely be better equipped to respond constructively to
such students if they can see them through the lenses of Delpit, Moll and Maslow.
Aaron
Aaron is a Black 15-year-old tenth-grader at a high school in North Memphis,
Tennessee. He lives in a two-parent, single-income home where his father works and his
mother cares for Aaron and his younger sister at home, picking up jobs sporadically when
the family is in need. The money that Aaron’s father earns yearly places the family well
above the poverty threshold for a family of four and makes Aaron and his sister ineligible
for free and reduced lunch status at the neighborhood schools that they attend. This
places Aaron and his sister in the minority of students at these schools. Aaron is typically
developing and has never been identified for special education of any kind. In
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elementary school, he demonstrated an eagerness to learn, especially in the areas of
English and Science, earning academic awards, joining the Beta Club, and being
recognized for good citizenship. His grades were consistently A’s and B’s. In middle
school, while his grades did not drop, Aaron participated less in scholarly extracurricular
activities, becoming more interested in playing sports with his male peers. Though he still
demonstrated proficiency in his classes and on annual tests, it was clear that something
had gotten in the way of his once strong interest in academics. Now in high school, Aaron
is the back-up point guard on the school’s basketball team and a mediocre student,
earning mostly B’s and C’s, and having passable results on the Tennessee
Comprehensive Assessment Program Achievement Test (TCAP). When asked about
school, he says, “School is a way to play ball, and it’s what I’m supposed to be doing
while my dad is at work. I mean, I like some of my classes especially English, but I can’t
be walking around talking like no White person, looking like a lame with a bunch of
books in my hands.” Aaron’s English teacher remarks that he usually demonstrates
content mastery in his work, but she is disappointed and confused by his vehement
refusal to perform and engage to the level of which he is capable, specifically, his use of
Black Vernacular English in “settings that require more formal language.”
Amy
Amy is a White 13-year old eighth grade student at a junior high school in
Memphis, Tennessee. She lives in a government-housing project in East Memphis with
her mother, grandmother, older sister, and newborn nephew. The family has no working
adults and receives government assistance for food and monthly child- and healthcare
expenses as well as housing costs. Amy’s father is not in contact with the family and
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provides no financial support for his daughters. Amy’s grandmother is an insulindependent diabetic who depends upon her daughter and granddaughters for daily care.
Amy has never been a stellar student. Her elementary school teachers would describe her
as more outgoing than studious. While she was very rarely unruly in elementary school,
her teachers frequently complained that Amy’s behavior was much more womanly than it
should have been at that time in her life. She paid more attention to the way that she
looked and who might be looking at her than to the task of school. As she grew, this
behavior continued and manifested itself in mildly inappropriate relationships with male
peers and apathy toward her role as a student. While Amy does not dislike school, she is
unconvinced of her belonging there and what school means for her future. Her mother,
who does not have a high school diploma or GED, tries to support Amy’s teachers in
helping Amy succeed by “staying out of their way and helping her get her lesson at
home, if I can understand it.” Amy is currently enrolled in the standard level of her
classes and usually makes passing grades, though she is roughly one year behind her
classmates, most noticeably in English and Math. To her delight and surprise, Amy began
the eighth grade in the same school in which she finished her seventh-grade year, making
her a familiar face to the school’s teachers, who attribute her lag to her frequently
relocating in school years past and “her mother’s apparent disinterest in her academic
success.”
Alicia
Alicia is an 18-year-old about to begin her senior year at a suburban high school
in Memphis, Tennessee. She is first-generation Mexican-American, the only child of two
former migrant workers. Just before Alicia was born, her parents were approved for
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American citizenship and settled in their current location with two of Alicia’s uncles and
their wives and children. Over the years, Alicia’s family’s financial situation has
improved greatly. Her parents and their siblings own a retail business in the area as well
as several homes in which the families live. Though Alicia has no siblings, she is very
close to her cousins, who are all Mexican born. She sees them everyday, some of them at
school and others at home, as their homes are very close to one another. Alicia is a
generally successful student who enjoys school. She is quiet and reserved and, despite
being raised in a Spanish-only home, she never had English proficiency issues. Alicia is
a voracious reader and has excelled throughout her academic career in English Language
Arts, though many of her teachers would say that she lacks confidence in her abilities.
This view of her is especially prevalent amongst teachers of classes in which there is a
performance or communication component, as Alicia is often reticent to perform and
likes to observe for a longer period of time and in a less contributive way than her
teachers prefer. Due to these issues, some of her teachers wonder if she has the maturity
and initiative necessary for college.
Codes of Power
In the classrooms of Aaron, Amy, and Alicia, there are rules and expectations.
Stated rules, such as, “Turn in all homework assignments at the beginning of class,” are
in place to facilitate the business of school and to keep students aware of that which is
expected of them on a daily basis. Unstated expectations, such as the expectation that
students demonstrate concentration through upright posture and complete silence, serve
to communicate and reinforce ideas of that which is proper or normal for effective
participation in the classroom culture. Stances on that which is proper and normal for
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schools are usually designated by individuals who belong to or have learned to operate
effectively within the “culture of power” (Delpit, 2006). Since the culture of power is
mostly comprised of White, middle-class, and upper middle-class people, the norms and
values that are prized and communicated within the classroom most closely resemble the
norms and values of White, middle-class, and upper middle-class society (Delpit, 2006).
This means that students who have been fed these values from birth are likely to perform
well in school because they enter the classroom with cultural capital, or understandings of
discourse patterns and styles of behavior, that allow them to participate effectively within
the culture of power. According to Delpit, students without this cultural capital, usually
children from non-White, non-middle-class families or communities, find themselves at a
disadvantage not only because they lack the aforementioned understandings, but also
because many of the rules for participation in the culture of power within the classroom
are not made apparent to them (2006). While students who lack cultural capital are likely
aware that there is a power culture within the classroom and that they are in some way
outside of that culture, they are often unaware of what it takes to become participants.
These students need guidance to recognize and understand both the surface features of
interactions within the culture of power and the sociopolitical underpinnings of those
interactions. Guidance comes from the arbiters of power, or power brokers, within the
classroom, their teachers (Delpit, 2006).
It is imperative that teachers fully accept their roles as power brokers and operate
within this position of authority to the extent that is necessitated by their students’
membership in the culture of power (Delpit, 2006). This means, among other things,
being careful to explicitly educate students outside of the culture of power about the rules
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and values that exist within the culture of power before employing across the board
instructional strategies that place the onus of cultural competence solely upon the student
(Delpit, 2006). Operating effectively within their positions of power also requires
teachers to reinforce to students the value of their home cultures, helping them to create
bridges between their home and school worlds. For this to be done well, the parents and
teachers who share cultures with disenfranchised students must be legitimately welcomed
into conversations with teachers and other school personnel about that which best serves
their children in school (Delpit, 2006). Through these efforts, Delpit contends that
teachers can assist students in developing and recognizing their own “expertness” and
“help students establish their own voices…” and “…coach those voices to produce notes
that will be heard clearly in the larger society.” (2006, p.46)
Funds of Knowledge
Aaron, Amy, and Alicia are members of networks that extend beyond the
classroom. These networks give them access to different forms of knowledge that can be
accessed and utilized for instruction in unconventional ways. Gonzáles, Moll,
& Amanti argue that the acquisition of knowledge is not just a hallmark of classroom
instruction, but takes place in various social, ideological, political, and familial arena of
students’ lives (2005). These networks of knowledge are often unknown to instructors
and school officials, and thus are not used as tools for instruction. Gonzáles et al. refer to
gains from the areas as “funds of knowledge,” relevant knowledge gained from life
experience (2005). Instructors are encouraged to tap into this existing knowledge and use
it to influence literacy instruction strategies in classrooms. Funds of knowledge represent
an additional tool in the instructors’ kits, a ready-made set of resources that can be used
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not only to bridge home culture and class culture, but also to show that students’ home
lives and the knowledge gained from their interactions there are valuable as well.
Recognizing, gathering, and using funds of knowledge in classrooms can also assist
teachers in bridging gaps created by social and class differences among students and
teachers. According to Gonzáles et al., instructors’ exhibiting to students that their
exterior knowledge has value and is useful in the classroom creates the basis for
meaningful relationships between students, instructors, and families, and also creates new
dynamics of power in the classroom (2005).
Being an educational model, the ultimate goal of the funds of knowledge
framework is to empower students in the classroom; however, a feature of the model that
is tantamount to this is empowering parents of children who are class, language, or racial
minorities by acknowledging that they have numerous skills and talents that they expose
their children to and that through this exposure they make important contributions to their
children’s academic and social success. When parents are made aware that knowledge or
skills with which they are familiar are being addressed in class, they are empowered to
make contributions to their children’s learning experiences (Hensley, 2005). According
to Hensley, children and their parents reap additional benefits when they see “a parent
bring a new avenue of learning into the classroom.” (2005, p.145). Increases in selfesteem, self worth, and feelings of empowerment to have a positive impact on their
children’s academic lives can make these parents more likely to involve themselves in
school efforts that usually experience poor parent participation (Hensley, 2005).
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Students, like all people, have needs of varying intensities, and the status of those
needs, whether they are met or unmet, drive their behavior and the decisions that they
make. These needs, also known as motivators, were studied extensively by Abraham
Maslow, who in 1943 posited a theory of human motivation in which he arranged the
most universal of human needs into five clusters that were then placed into a pyramidal
grouping according to the priority of their fulfillment. According to Maslow, the most
basic needs are the ones that are of highest priority to fulfill and are located at the base of
the “need hierarchy,” while the needs toward the top level of the hierarchy are met
through more intangible means and will likely go unsatisfied until needs at the lower
levels are fulfilled (1943, p.15). The hierarchy includes the most basic to the most
complex of the universal needs and is described below.
As mentioned above, the need category type at the base of the hierarchy is the
physiological need category. Physiological needs are met by ensuring sufficient function
of the body. Meeting these needs is necessary for survival, and includes acquiring food,
air, and water. Physiological needs outweigh other needs. For example, a student who is
hungry will be more driven to acquire food than they are to engage in classroom
exercises that build community and allow for creativity because, since the needs for a
sense of community and opportunities to express creativity are located at higher levels in
the hierarchy, they are “…simply non-existent or…pushed into the background.”
(Maslow, 1943, p.16). Clothing and sleep are also included in this category.
The next set of needs in the hierarchy is that of safety and security. Consciousness
of wellbeing is important and in the absence of different levels of safety, people can
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develop stress-related disorders that take physical and emotional tolls (Maslow, 1943).
Security needs include physical safety, health, job security, and systems of familiarity.
Children tend to react strongly and quickly to perceived unsafe stimuli in their
environments and will cling to parents or other familiar symbols of safety when their
wellbeing is threatened (Maslow, 1943). As people become older they are more likely to
inhibit their reactions to the lack of safety in their lives (Maslow, 1943).
After safety needs are met, needs for belonging arise. Belonging is a social need
tied to inclusion and is called “the love need” by Maslow (1943, p.20). People at this
level of the hierarchy “will hunger for affectionate relations with people in general,
namely, for a place in [the] group, and…will strive with great intensity to achieve this
goal.” (Maslow, 1943, p.21). Similar to the case of safety and security needs, children,
who are generally quicker than adults to form emotionally significant relationships, will
outwardly demonstrate more intensity than typical adults in their efforts to achieve
belonging and maintain membership in social groups (Maslow, 1943).
The next need category is self-esteem and is fulfilled when the individual is
assured of his or her value based on achievement, accomplishment, and the respect of
others (Maslow, 1943). According to Maslow, basic self-confidence is necessary, and
without it, people are helpless (1943). The process of gaining self-esteem involves
attaining strength, building a sense of achievement and adequacy, and realizing one’s
desire for prestige, recognition, and appreciation. Since school is both a social and an
academic endeavor, it is an ideal environment for cultivating the above characteristics in
children and young adults.
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The topmost need in the hierarchy is the need for self-actualization or
understanding and acceptance of one’s purpose and potential. In Maslow’s words, “What
a man can be, he must be” (Maslow, 1943, p. 22), and to this end, the man must strive to
know himself and his capabilities. People, according to Maslow, ultimately desire to be
true to their natures and, in the absence of motivations related to unmet needs on lower
levels, will strive mightily to satisfy the desire to reach the heights of their potentials.
The concept of self- actualization is broad, and methods of attainment vary by individual;
however, in all cases, self-actualization can only be attained by an individual whose
physiological, safety, association, and self-esteem needs are fulfilled (Maslow, 1943).
Needless to say, the achievement of this level on the hierarchy is a lifelong and deeply
personal process. Still, teachers of adolescents can aid students in attainment by helping
them to understand their lower level needs and guiding them, to the extent possible
through school-based tasks, toward meeting those needs.
Aaron Through the Lenses
Aaron’s most significant barrier to participation in the culture of power in the
classroom is his use of Black Vernacular English, his home language, rather than
Mainstream English, the linguistic power code of the school. More accurately, it is his
inability or unwillingness to switch between the two codes depending upon the context,
audience, and purpose of his speech interactions. This context-based exchange of
dialects or languages is called code-switching and can only be effectively performed if
the speaker is an adept user of both dialect or language options (DeBose, 1992). In order
to assist students like Aaron in becoming adept at using the power code, teachers must
first assure students that their home language is valued in the classroom and that the
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teacher, the power broker in the classroom, does not view the code as deficient or inferior
to the power code. In her 2002 work, The Skin That We Speak, Lisa Delpit describes this
as reducing students’ affective filters and gaining their trust so that they might “…be
willing to adopt our language form as one to be added to their own.” (p.48).
In order to gain the necessary knowledge of the students’ home language, teachers
can follow Moll’s example and look into students’ homes and/or communities to find
social patterns and knowledge that might be helpful in teaching relevant classroom
concepts (Gonzáles et al, 2005). By connecting these classroom concepts to their home
lives and communities, teachers make the concepts socially meaningful for students
(Gonzáles et al, 2005). For example, Aaron’s teacher might observe an exchange
between Aaron and one of his teammates, and later ask Aaron to recall and analyze the
effectiveness and appropriateness of his language in that exchange in terms of the
purpose, audience, and context. The teacher could then ask Aaron to consider the ways
in which the conversation could or should change if one of those points of analysis were
to change. In addition to bringing to bear the knowledge of appropriate language use that
the student already has, this exercise challenges Aaron to practice decoding input and
using the information to pursue a specific course of action.
While validating the home code and making the complexity of its use apparent to
students, teachers can frame mainstream English, not as a replacement for the home code,
but as an addition to the students’ social and academic skills sets, taking an additive
rather than subtractive approach to language acquisition (Trumbull and Pachecho, 2005).
While it is imperative to make clear to students the implications for using or not using
mainstream English in certain contexts, it is equally important to allow students to form
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and discuss their own ideas about what each code means in their lives. Teachers should
recognize that one very important feature of a person’s home language is its function as a
means of satisfying that person’s need for association, love, and belonging, which is
paramount after physiological and safety needs are met (Maslow, 1943). Seeing Aaron’s
home language in this light, a teacher might be more likely to engage Aaron in frank
conversation about the importance of being able to communicate across cultural groups
and the benefits of belonging to more than one community of people, the goal being
ultimately to help Aaron to see that there is no dichotomy between membership in the
culture of power and membership in his home culture.
Amy Through the Lenses
Due to her mother’s low socio-economic status, high levels of stress associated
with being an at-home caregiver, and low literacy, Amy’s lack of participation in the
culture of power can be reasonably attributed to her mother’s not having sufficient time
and/or knowledge to impress upon Amy the values and norms of the culture of power in
schools (Lareau, 2011). Of the aforementioned factors, Amy’s mother’s low literacy is
the most likely to lead to feelings of disassociation and disempowerment in the school
setting (Lareau, 2011). This requires that the teacher in this case go beyond making
effective participation in culture of power apparent to child and work to make said
participation apparent to the parent. One large hurdle for Amy’s teacher to overcome is
the assumption that Amy’s mother understands the business of school and simply does
not care to be a participant. Instead of assuming, the teacher should work to begin a
partnership with Amy’s mother, making apparent to the mother that she and the school
have a joint concern and obligation to Amy and that both parties are in possession of
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ingredients necessary for Amy’s success (Epstein, 1995). A step in this direction could
be having a conversation about what schools expect of parents and what parents should
expect of schools. Such information might be provided through an email or packet with
meeting options, via phone call, or in a home visit. Teachers should be creative and
thorough in their efforts to communicate such pertinent information. Teachers with
families like Amy’s represented in their classrooms could further nurture welcoming
relationships between parents and the school by giving the parents concrete strategies and
opportunities for participating in the school culture in ways that benefit their children.
Like many children, regardless of their parents’ understandings of the business of
school, Amy is not yet a student who can appreciate learning for its own sake. Therefore,
her teacher would do well to employ Moll's strategy of creating lessons that allow
students to discover knowledge within the context socially meaningful tasks (Gonzáles et
al, 2005). A teacher who has made the effort to learn about Amy’s role in caring for her
grandmother might be able to encourage Amy to practice expository writing, a skill that
is assessed by the state of Tennessee during a student’s eighth grade year, by making
apparent to Amy her unique expertise as a caregiver. With guidance, and using this
knowledge and experience as a base, Amy could become familiar with the purposes and
features of effective expository writing and eventually begin to apply these techniques to
writing about less socially significant topics for academic purposes.
Once familiarized with Amy’s role in the home and her living circumstance, the
teacher must recognize that Amy may have unmet physiological, safety, or security needs
(Maslow, 1943), acknowledge the probable impact of those unmet needs on Amy’s
motivation to participate in school, and work to counteract those impacts. One way of
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counteracting these effects is to help Amy become aware of and empowered by her
ability to change her life through her role as a student and require that Amy do all that she
can to take advantage of her school experience. To do this, the teacher must be what
Gloria Ladson-Billings in her article “The Power of Pedagogy: Does Teaching Matter?”
calls “warmly demanding,” able to show empathy for students whose life circumstances
may be harsh while not lowering expectations of academic success for those students,
making excuses for them, or allowing them to make excuses for themselves (2001).
Alicia Through the Lenses
For Alicia’s teacher, explicitly educating Alicia on the rules and values of the
culture of power might mean having a direct, age-appropriate conversation about the
classroom as a setting in which she as a student is expected to develop as a autonomous
thinker who is capable of defining her views and self without unnecessary influence from
others (Delpit, 2006). The teacher would do well to know that due to stereotyped roles of
masculinity and femininity common amongst Latino populations, Alicia may struggle
with how to demonstrate the behavior that her family and community designate as
appropriate for girls and women while still asserting herself and pushing forward her
ideas in the way that is expected of her at school (Griggs and Dunn, 1995). It might also
benefit her teacher to know that studies have found that students raised with values and
norms common in Latino communities are less likely to be comfortable with learning
exercises like peer review as such lessons are trial-and-error oriented and have fewer
instances of adult modeling (Griggs and Dunn, 1995). By being familiar with Alicia’s
cultural norms, the teacher may be able to make apparent to Alicia the nature of some of
her barriers to participation with the culture of power and help her begin the journey to
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reconciling issues arising from interactions between her home culture and the school
culture.
Since Alicia has never demonstrated issues with English language proficiency,
her teachers might be unaware that she is speaks only Spanish at home and has been
raised participating in both Mexican and American cultures. This means that her
biculturalism and bilingualism are untapped resources that teachers can use to broaden
Alicia’s learning experience (Gonzáles et al, 2005). A teacher who inquires into Alicia’s
home literacy practices might find that her mother is fully literate in Spanish and that
Alicia and her mother have always bonded through sharing and discussing Spanishlanguage books and stories. A teacher could tap into this facet of Alicia's home life by
allowing her to create a project in which she shares some culturally specific stories from
her childhood and analyzes the purposes and features of these stories in juxtaposition to
some well-known American children's stories. Exercises like these that build upon both
her Spanish and English language skills could help Alicia to have a deeper, more
authentic grasp of literacy in both languages and improve her ability to use both
languages to interact more effectively across cultures.
The above described exercise could improve Alicia’s confidence as a participant
in the information exchange happening in her classrooms by making apparent to her
some of her own expertise. They are also opportunities for Alicia to see that by
participating fully in both her home and school cultures she can become a more complete
version of herself than she could have become by having only one set of
experiences. These kinds of realizations can equip Alicia to move beyond the comfort of
having her needs for association fulfilled to working toward fulfilling her self-esteem
SERVING STUDENTS IN DIVERSE CLASSROOMS
21
needs, which are met when one is able to see oneself as a person with unique experiences
and knowledge that are worthy of being valued and respected by others (Maslow, 1943).
Summary and Conclusion
In constructing hypothetical student cases and analyzing them according to
theories by Delpit, Moll, and Maslow, I have attempted to demonstrate the ways in which
educational concepts that are usually explored in abstraction can be applied to concrete
representations of reality to illuminate classroom practice and deepen theoretical
understandings.
Viewing each student’s case through the lens of Delpit’s theory of the culture of
power allows practitioners to better understand the ways in which schools are structured
and how that structure bolsters or impedes academic and social progress for certain
groups of students dependent upon how the home norms and values of these students
interact with the school structure.
Moll’s model provides a means by which to use students’ home knowledge to
empower both students and parents while giving the teacher more tools for taking
students beyond their current knowledge to new understandings and ideas. By
considering each student as Moll does, as a complete person with a viable set of
experiences, knowledge, and expertise, teachers open themselves to the possibility of
becoming partners in the teaching and learning process with students and their parents.
My analysis of each case through the lens of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is not
an attempt to answer the hotly debated question of whether or not it is within the
obligations or abilities of the school to help students address those needs. Rather, it is an
effort to acknowledge the fact that the status of a student’s needs, whether they are met or
SERVING STUDENTS IN DIVERSE CLASSROOMS
unmet, is manifested in the student’s academic performance and school behavior.
Further, I aim to begin the difficult task of exploring strategies for assisting students in
gaining the skills and understandings necessary for meeting their own needs without
detracting from the academic focus of the classroom.
My hope for myself and for my fellow teachers is that we reach new
understandings of our roles, our students, and the school structure by viewing them
through these lenses, and use those new understandings to restructure our individual
classroom cultures to better serve all students regardless of their racial, linguistic, and
class differences.
22
SERVING STUDENTS IN DIVERSE CLASSROOMS
23
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