Pedagogy

Class is socially constructed and value-laden. It is a system that put differentiation to group access to economic, political, cultural, and social resources. Likewise, it significantly establish relationships between families and persons who may have plenty or limited resources. According to Gollnick and Chinn (pp 85), class structure in US society is heavily influenced by two views of equality. The first one acknowledges the presence of socioeconomic levels of classes in the society. It s position supports the idea that a person can be socially mobile- that if given a chance, it can graduate from one class to a higher class by securing educational degree and by working hard afterwards. The second view purports that distinct class divisions are recognized. The upper class is composed of people who own lucrative and profitable businesses while the professional and managerial elite are not only able to accumulate wealth but have managed to secure the support for their needs through legislative support. And the working class or the middle class live primarily on selling their labor. This point of view also recognized social mobility or moving to a higher class but this is seen as very limited occurrence only.

Gollnick stated that cultural values and belief systems hold individuals personally responsible for their class position (pp 86). Each has its own culture and generally accepted perception on people, events, circumstances, and in almost everything else. Class may be measured differently from one culture to another, and some like the US society may not be very conscious on class distinctions compared to other societies. This is especially true in society that experienced advancement or improvement of life quality across all levels or  class .  But nonetheless, class regardless of cultural orientation appears to be predominantly determined by socioeconomic status. Class identity is commonly aggregated by income, occupation, education. Income refers to the amount a family have and how this income is derived. Upper middle class usually owns and controls big businesses making them influential, wealthy, and powerful all at the same time. While the middle or the working class is normally the generators of labor needed to complete production. Occupation that a person holds is also a determinant of class. People occupying important and lucrative positions in the society spell influence and power in the society. Commonly educational attainment becomes expedient in changing class of person. Most of the time, the highest the educational attainment the person gets, the greater is the likelihood of securing important role in society which may pave way for transition or moving up to a higher class.

Cultural influences of class in schools.

As mentioned earlier, class tucks in different and distinct cultures which may manifest in many ways. In a secondary school wherein learners are establishing their identity, perception on cultural attachment of his class are oftentimes creating  pressure to live up to what is expected by the society. The way people behave and react to stimuli of class provides clue on how these students should respond as well.

School with diverse population is an opportunity to foster understanding and mutual respect among different backgrounds. The school must have curriculum that is not exclusive to certain groups only but instead provides mechanism for recognizing diversity and at the same time promoting mutual respect despite and in spite of dissimilarities among groups.

Definitely, class represents culture distinct to its own. Students from upper middle class group may impact the school in initiating programs that enables a person to learn acceptable niceties and pleasantries befitting important occasions. On the other hand, other group of class may initiate advocacy on equitable rights and welfare of the common workers in the society. And maybe another set of class would push for the school to intensify its services on academic linkages and exchanges. These samples may appear to be superficial but thinking further, the programs and advocacies that concerned and motivated a certain group is heavily influenced by their mindset which is consequently shaped by the culture attached to the persons respective class.

Class influence on teaching and learning in a culturally-diverse group

Teachers may not be fully aware but class structure influences teaching style and interaction with students. This may not be taken as unacceptable because indeed, this may prove to be beneficial in dealing with a multicultural classroom. Recognizing different needs of the existing class is similar to mapping out which needs are to whom and how responses to these needs may be best and effectively communicated with.

It may be noted that although similar topic is discussed, learning still varies from one person to another specifically for concerns that are not exact or does not demand singularly accepted answer. And if teacher will facilitate exchanges of learnings from and amongst students, it is likely that class will learn or at least understand unique and more experiential learning from others. And interestingly, it may also pave way for knowing the underlying factors contributory to shaping the learning framework of a person, a framework that makes up or reflective of one s class.   Implications of class and social economic status in teaching social studies.( how social classes affect the teaching style of social studies teachers, and to discuss how we might develop lessons to meet the social economic levels of our students)

Social studies discussion may pose a very good opportunity to relate classroom lessons to present life situations. Likewise, this is an opportunity to get the opinions of the students and to encourage exchanges of opinions among them. However, the teacher must exercise judicious listening and impartial arbitration at the end of class discussion.

Palpably, the students outlook in life is strongly influenced by their family and the values they promote ethnic or religious affiliation environment including the people in it such as neighbors, friends, acquaintances and their aspirations in life. If students would find it difficult to be in a multicultural classroom, certainly it would be more difficult for teacher. Different classes trying to learn all at the same time with varying expectations is a handful stress.  Teachers with all upper class students may find it easier to conduct the lesson because sourcing of materials may not be too hard for them since they have the resources and time to do it. Unlike the lower income group students whom the teacher may need to assist very closely to make sure they will have access to learning materials and that they will find time to use those for the classroom discussion. Teaching in the latter s class, may be exhaustive for the teacher because not only resourcefulness, creativity, and patience is tested but also the teachers  ability to motivate this economically disadvantaged group to beat the odds of life or at least champion the difficulties in getting their education.    As such, it may useful to take note of the pedagogical suggestion of Lee Warren in dealing with a class in classroom. His suggestions are as follows
Be very clear about classroom norms and rules. Let students know how they are expected to behave in your class.

Include readings from a wide variety of class perspectives. It happens that even same topic is discussed in two reading materials, the analysis or even the presentation differ tremendously. This may be attributed to the perspective of the writer, it may be elitist, mass-based, populist perspectives. Exposure to different perspectives provide the students the opportunity to look at the propositions and rationale relevant to their class identification.

The teacher may use examples that come from every class.
It is better to acknowledge class differences and make class a topic for discussion. In this way, the teacher may gauge the perspective and the attached sensitivities of class in his classroom. Take note that teacher should look for class-based perspectives and not individual perspective per se. It is also important to note value-laden language.

Ask about student experience and about personal reactions to the material include these in content discussions.

Get to know your students and their individual strengths and weaknesses. Teach to both.

Vary the kinds of assignments, to include a variety of learning styles.

It would be good to vary classroom activities, which will pave way for collaboration and small group work.
Recognize and model the acceptance of various class backgrounds.

Moreso, the teacher s aim should not be to convince any side to believe a single truth, because afterall, there is no universal truth, only universally accepted truth. In lieu, the teacher must have the ability to persuade everyone that amidst differences, respect to these differences must be observed. Respecting is not agreeing, it is an act of willingness to understand where the other person is coming from.

Furthermore, social studies may present prospect for establishing middle ground for different classes representing the students. As mentioned above, instilling respect to other person regardless of class may prove to be helpful in the students  dealing with one another.

Class as a major consideration in teaching. (How might a lesson for upper class students compare to a lesson for students coming from a lower class What are the implications of class inside the classroom)
Class is a pre-condition element that not only teachers but even students themselves must deal with. It may be intangible but surely its manifestations in one s conduct can affect classroom interaction and learning. A lesson for upper class students may not be different in content from that of a lower class but surely a teacher must be sensitive on the access for information and material for the latter group. The teacher must also anticipate that students from upper class may have aristocratic view of the society and that they may have the tendency to impose or to manifest this inside the classroom. If not attended to appropriately, there is likelihood that such perspective or behavior will create miscommunication or misunderstanding among class.

As such, the teacher must be mindful on how to handle the class. The author, Donna Gollnick (pp.297) have outlined several guidance that could help teachers
Students must be place at the center of teaching and learning process
(Discussion inside the classroom) must promote human rights and respect for cultural differences
Teachers should believe that all including slow-learners can learn
(Equitably) acknowledge and build on the life stories and experiences of students  microcultural memberships
Encourage critical analysis of students to oppression and power relationships to understand racism, sexism, classism, and discrimination against the disabled, young, and aged.

Lead the classroom in critiquing the society for the sake of social justice and equality.

If there is opportunity, participate in collective social action to ensure democratic society.

Teachers must believe that they can make a difference to their students, the person
must really have a conviction and personal advocacy that everyone inside the classroom, regardless of class identification deserves to have equal opportunity for good education, decent treatment from peers, and respect from teachers.

For example, student from upper middle class may have more confidence over a student from low-income family in expressing opinions or in participating to class discussion. They are more pro-active and usually throw questions or even talking points. In this case, a good teacher will successfully exert effort to avoid discussion-dominance of the former by prodding leading questions to students from the low-income group or with other class for that matter. The key word is more of observing balance so that opportunity for participation and learning will be of the interest not only of few affluent or influential students but of everyone in the classroom.

Class structures, learning motivation of students and teaching styles
Undeniably, class structures will have an effect to the motivation and learning of students. Like any other things, it may have pros and cons and it is the duty of the teacher to balance these. Each and every student inside the classroom has their own sensibilities which may have been greatly affected by their  class  or even by the notion and expectation of people outside their class. It is normal scenery that students belonging to affluent families have access to finer things in life such nice clothes, shoes, hi-tech gadgets such as phones, computers or laptops, latest model of car, and other more good things in life. Frequently, student and even teachers of lower class get intimated by these whether consciously or not. Thereby, learning or teaching process is affected by the distractions in varying degrees.

Some students who perceived that classmates of lesser brain capacity but with greater financial asset may receive favorable merit from teachers may be demoralized and derailed of learning potential. And so teachers must be secure in her respective class so that she will remain focused and directed towards impartial facilitation of learning to all class comprising her classroom. Teaching style that does not provide equal opportunity to students  active participation will not thrive in a multicultural education. A style that promotes cultural awareness and human relations is likely to earn initiative and motivation from the students to learn and to participate with confidence.

Class and the role of parents in children education lives
It is commonly said that the first education a person gets is from home with parents as usually the first teachers. Given this, we can imply that even before the students go to school, there are already learning values, perceptions, and even biases in the mind of the child. Thus, the school nurtures, reaffirms, and develops what were initially put inside the mind.

Certainly, it is very important that there is congruence between school and home teachings, otherwise the student will be confused and misguided. As such, the school must be transparent and consistent with its values, curriculum, and advocacies so that parents would have an idea whether the school reflects the same important factors that the family wants to promote as well.

Parents  concern with the education of their children is nothing but normal. However, there are interventions from parents that are unnecessary and inviting misunderstanding in class. In a pluralistic society, the parents must exemplify openness and respect to diversity. For example, a group of parents initiating projects on cultural awareness and exchanges may signal welcoming and caring gesture to same class of the project beneficiary. Moreover, the students or their respective children may reaffirm certain values that promotes inclusiveness, and open-mindedness to things or circumstances that are not alike. These may serve them well in interacting and schooling with students that are different from them.

Social studies lesson and the different needs of different classes Social studies is itself is a systematic study of (human life) social relationships (Merriam-Webster dictionary) and in each class, there are different ways and means a life is lived. As a teacher of social studies, it is important to have a general information on the background of the students. By doing this, several sensibilities may be revealed alongside with ideas on the approaches of teaching subject topics. Approaches to learning may become a make or break for effective teaching to multicultural classroom discussion. It may lead to fostering ill-feelings or encouraging cooperative participation from anyone inside the classroom.

Sometimes, it is difficult to address all the differing needs at the same time but acknowledging each need may be equally important. The teacher may engage the opinions of the students in discussing social studies lesson. A dialogic inquiry according to Gollnick (pp301) may turn out to be helpful particularly in surfacing perception or insights from different class. In doing this, the teacher must be prepared to manage the situation particularly if the discussion is leading to intimidation and keeping other voices unheard. But if executed properly, this exercise may lead to very enriching learning experience.