Culturally Responsive Final Paper Irene Alarcon EPS 512 Professor Ruth Myers-VassellClassrooms today are extremely diverse and constantly changing. Students come from various backgrounds and have different experiences than their teachers and peers, Too many teachers are unprepared for the type of challenges a classroom brings when they do not know their students. According to the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems, teachers can improve by culturally responsive by demonstrating the need for rethinking current approaches to teacher education pedagogy and providing guidelines for developing culturally responsive teacher education pedagogy. Additionally, this paper will discuss different components to incorporate lessons and strategies for a culturally diverse classroom This course has made one thing clear; knaw your students, Each child does something for a reason. The particular group of students AUSL works with are students of low income areas of Chicago. A teacher must be attentive to the challenges in their classroom and understand why a student responds or behaves in a particular way To do that successfully, research suggests that when teachers have had the benefit of multicultural teacher education preparation, they are less likely to embrace cultural deficit views (Irvine, 2003). Moreaver, teachers who have leaned culturally responsive pedagogy are more confident and believe they are effective in their instruction of diverse children (Pang & Sablan, 1998). Teachers that are responsive to the leaming, emotional, and social needs of ethnically and linguistically diverse students with and without disabilities in urban schools are needed (Kea, Campbell, and Richards, 2006) One class session, we discussed that in arder to engage students effectively, teachers must know their students and their academic abilities rather than relying on racial arethnic stereotypes or prior experiences with other students of similar backgrounds When a teacher is going through their preparation courses, the first thing they should know is haw to build relationships with their students. Culturally responsive teachers realize not only the importance of academic achievement, but also the maintaining of cultural identity and heritage (Gay, 2000). Not only should teachers know their content of what they teach, but they should also be able to connect to their students and commit themselves to build relationships with their students and families. A classroom of twenty students can bring so many new things that a teacher has never known before. Students can speak, act, and/or think of things in ways we never knew. In an urban school setting, one of the challenges a teacher will face is the lack of support the children have outside of school. A teacher must make various efforts to insure all students can understand and can find relevance in lessons and connect them to the real world and be able to be successful. A little questioning and interest in the child goes a long way. Whenever a teacher can ask the student about their lives and interests, the more opportunities the teacher has to get to know the child and make a connection. Once a teacher has established positive and trusting relationships in the classroom, leaming can take place. Culturally responsive teaching appreciates the existing strengths and accomplishments of all students and develops them further in instruction (Gay, 2000) “The task for educators is to familiarize themselves with youth/culture/value systems and realize the subsequent effect on youth identity” (Beachum and McCray) Beachum and McCray express when working with African Americans in urban settings, it is important to understand what influences this culture. Hip hop and television are