Relevance to Student Learning

If you were to ask how important relevance to student learning is, I’d say super-duper important for teachers to always keep in mind about the relevance in the materials taught and shared in the classroom to the cultural and educational background of the students. Using textbooks that were created not specifically for us, everyday I had to give it more effort to prepare relevant materials for our class, while carrying across the same concepts and facts as any other teacher in the mainland US would.

•Geography – In teaching geography, the hardest challenge that I faced with my students was to have them understand the concepts of the different 50 states. It does seem quite odd that a fifth grader would not know the fact that United States is divided into 50 states rather than each state being a different country, but for a fifth grader out here in the islands, it was understandable that the students could read maps of islands yet not of the 50 states. Not knowing this at first, I was quite frustrated at the fact that I had to teach and re-teach something that seemed so “simple” to me, but I did soon realize the importance of having to see things from my students’ perspective.

•Math – I had a lot of students that struggles with the basics of mathematics, multiplication and division. I was frustrated at this a bit as well, but I soon managed to divide the class up into different levels and provide the help and support that each groups needed. I tried to keep the class at the same pace, where my lower performing students would be required to do only half of the amount of work that my advanced students were asked to do. This proved to be an effective way as it did not totally left behind the lower performing students.

•Culture – As much of a cultural melting pot our islands are, our class was an extremely diverse class as well. There were some cultural clashes in the beginning of the school year, and as soon as I saw that there was tension in between different cultures, I tried to incorporate the importance of appreciating and respecting each other’s differences in every subject. It was very rewarding to see my students bloom into loving and respecting each other’s cultures as they would love and respect their own cultures.

•Social Issues – There were many times in the classroom when social issues that were easily found in our local community were brought up during class. Early pregnancies, drug use, betel nut, smoking, driving, and underage drinking were some of the hottest topics of discussions we’ve had, and although I was hesitant at first to discuss such issues with my “young” students, I soon realized the importance of having a responsible adult explain to my extremely curious, pre-teen students about the causes, effects, and consequences of these actions. I always encouraged my students to not be influenced by other people, and that they should make clear, thoughtful decisions based on their beliefs of themselves. My students were extremely engaged in such discussions, and I sure hope it will help them become responsible adults in the future!