Editor's Choice: Valuing Diversity--Student-Teacher Relationships that Enhance Achievement.

Based on experience as a developmental writing teacher, the author describes strategies for promoting student success within diverse groups of learners. After discussing how teachers can innocently contribute to student failure, the author describes specific ways to develop a valuing teacher-student relationship that promotes success: Getting to know students and providing structures such as individual conferences and meaningful evaluation systems can help learners to feel valued as individuals, to understand the basic knowledge they lack, and to affirm their abilities. Examples of student reactions to these strategies are included.

Although ... poverty, racism, poor language skills, neglect, abuse and crime cannot be dismissed as contributing to the academic failure that some ... youngster face, deficit explanations have rarely considered how schools and society have been complications in causing these failures. (Nieto, 1996)

Professor Nieto's statement provides a sobering reminder that schools, and particularly teachers, play an important role in determining students' academic success or failure. Though her comment refers specifically to the problems of Puerto Rican students in school, current educational research (Steele, 1992; Nieto, 1998) reveals the seriousness of this issue for many other racial and ethnic minorities as well. Because research shows that many more minorities than White students drop out of college, educators who seek social justice and remain committed to helping students reach their educational goals are challenged to understand the reasons for this disparity and ways to mitigate it.

Steele reports that "70 percent of all back Americans at four-year colleges drop out at some point, as compared with 45 percent of whites" (1992, p. 70). Steele believes that the "culprit that can undermine black achievements ... is stigma, the endemic devaluation many blacks face in our society and schools" (p. 68). Research on the educational achievement of other minorities reveals similar problems. As Nieto writes,

   African American, Latino, American Indian, and poor children in general
   continue to achieve below grade level, drop out in much greater numbers,
   and go to college in much lower proportion than their middle-class and
   European American peers ... Latino students drop out of school at a rate
   higher than any other major group, and in some places the rate has been as
   high as 80 percent. (Nieto, 1996, p. 36)

The disproportion between minority and White dropout rates suggests that the educational systems through which these students have passed have failed to address equitably the needs of all those they serve. Too often, minorities are not on an equal footing with their White counterparts in school because, as Steele notes, "In ways often too subtle to be conscious but sometimes overt, ... students (of color) remain devalued in American schools" (1992, p. 74). Unfortunately, even teachers with the best of intentions sometimes inadvertently act in ways that interface with students learning the basic skills they need to compete successfully in school, work, and society.

Seventy percent of the community college students I teach are minorities, of which approximately 63% are African American, 33% Hispanic, and 4% Asian. Because they arrive in college without the writing skills they need to succeed academically, they are required to take developmental writing courses. Most of these students lack confidence in their ability to communicate their thoughts in writing, and many speak of educational experiences that have made it difficult for them to sustain their motivation to complete their educational goods. Yet the students I have taught over the 14 years possess many abilities and skills. Among them are talented artists, computer "whizzes," and strong leaders. We, as educators, must find methods that ensure success for such diverse populations of students because we cannot afford to lose the contributions that they, because of their unique skills and diversity, can make to strengthen our society and make it a better place in which to live.

In this article I discuss how teachers can become more aware of and sensitive to the specific needs of students and to both the factors that negatively affect students' attitudes towards the educational process and those that enhance their learning experiences. Through this increased awareness, we can motivate greater numbers of students to remain in school and realize their promise.

Complicity versus Sensitivity

How is it that well-meaning teachers can be complicitous in causing student failure as Nieto suggests? To some, the word may sound ominous, but my experience has shown that this complicity can often occur quite innocently, simply because teachers are often unaware of elements of culture, race, and educational experiences that make some students more vulnerable in school than others.

Sensitive teachers recognize that certain attitudes and behaviors can devalue students in school. Just as parents who love and value their children strive to give them the support and guidance they need to succeed in school, work, family, and community, teachers who value students work to ensure that they graduate with the skills they need to succeed in college and the work place. When high school seniors are allowed to graduate with reading and writing skills far below the twelfth-grade level, and often as low as the fourth-grade level, they have been devalued by the professionals whose responsibility it is to ensure that they have the skills required for future academic success.

Insensitive teaching practices can undermine motivation and unnerve already academically bruised students. Comments such as "We will do the best we can for these people, but we don't expect them to go very far," and "We all know what those developmental students are like--they are just a joke in the English department" suggest that developmental writing students are often stigmatized and branded as "losers" long before much effort is made to explore their potential for learning and growth. A teacher who tells students that "Statistics show that only 30% of you are going to make it in college; let's see who it's going to be," can set in motion a self-fulfilling prophecy for students who may already lack academic confidence. "Among the mechanisms discovered to affect minority education adversely, none is more important than teacher's low expectations" (Ogbu, as cited in McElroy-Johnson, 1996). In addition, teachers' statements that are intended to endear them to some students may devalue and alienate others. For example, telling a few White, female students that they are "keepers" in the presence of students of Hispanic and African-American heritage ignores the possible inference that being excluded from the "keeper" category, the minority and male students present may be considered "disposables."

Often, students who have had negative academic experiences are reluctant to participate in class discussions. In her description of voice, educator McElroy-Johnson comments as follows: "Most of my students are Asian, African-American, and Hispanic. Because their inner and outer voices have often been historically muted and stifled, they have little sense of security when they speak during class discussions" (1996, p. 108). Whether they have been laughed at for their imperfect English or are just uncertain about their fluency, students who are afraid to make their voices heard in a classroom lose the opportunity to be full participants in their education. When such situations exist, it is important for teachers to use methods that can reverse the pattern and bolster the students' confidence and sense of voice.

Finally, students often describe devaluing experiences they've had in school. One case in point is a young Black student who stated that he was always ridiculed because he had trouble writing, and some teachers told him that because of his family history, he would probably end up in jail and never "amount to anything." When educators make such statements, students feel devalued because they are not being treated as respected persons with good prospects. Teachers who believe that all students, irrespective of group membership, can make significant contributions to social progress must work to ensure that these students receive more positive academic experiences.

Through classroom observation, students' testimonies, student surveys, and assessments of students' progress, I have found that certain pedagogical methods work to counter experiences that often have a negative impact on some students' academic motivation and confidence. In the following pages I discuss how teachers can use these methods to provide students with an educational environment that actively values and celebrates their potential and uniqueness and gives them the specific information they need to achieve, improve necessary skills, increase their expectations for themselves as learners, and feel a greater commitment to continuing their education.

Environmental Challenges and the Importance of Valuing

Establishing an educational environment that values all students often requires unique approaches for students who have been at a disadvantage within the educational system. "Blacks remain devalued in American schools where, for example, they are still more than twice as likely as white children to receive corporal punishment, be suspended from school, or be labeled mentally retarded" (Steele, 1992, p. 74). Such devaluation forces Black students to realize that "society is preconditioned to see the worst in them" (p. 74). Students of Hispanic and other minority backgrounds also report this kind of discrimination. In her recent study of Puerto Rican students in U.S. schools, Nieto writes that "The message that emerges from this study of fact and fiction is one that underlies all the others: the care or rejection experienced by Puerto Rican students in U.S. schools can have a significant impact on their academic success or failure" (Nieto, 1998, p. 157, emphasis in original)

In addition to negative social attitudes, many of the students I teach contend with family and environmental circumstances that strain their ability to succeed academically. From surveys completed by 180 developmental writing students in my classes, I learned that many are the first in their family to attend college and over 70% have parents with no academic experience beyond high school. Consequently, they do not have parents who, by sharing their own college experiences, can act as resources to help them manage the challenges of college. The majority of these students have full or part-trine jobs, and many struggle to combine school and work while trying to raise a family. Furthermore, many students commute to and from work and school through neighborhoods where they are confronted by gangs and often witness beatings and random shootings. One student wrote, "I live in the famous Pilsen Neighborhood where the community is filled with gangs and all sorts of violence going on, but what else is new? I thank God that I have managed to stay out of gangs and drugs and for the opportunity to do something better for myself after high school."

Recently Time magazine (January 25, 1999) profiled some of these issues as they affect many economically poor urban high school students:

   While their suburban peers return home to parents eager to boot up the
   computer to help with a research paper, many inner-city students don't have
   the same resources or have parents who are undereducated or too busy making
   ends meet to help with homework. (Morse, 1999, p. 59)

Morse offers a poignant illustration of some students' difficulties through the experience of tenth grader Shante Bodley:

   For Bodley, it's not debating practice or piano lessons that keep her busy
   but rather a $6.25-an-hour job ... (and) after her shift ends at 6 p.m.,
   ... (baby-sitting) for her five-year-old niece, often until 10 p.m. Only
   then does she begin to think about hitting the books. (Bodley's) ... not
   doing homework could hinder her progress.... her teachers say she has
   plenty of smarts, but the missed assignments added up to three Cs on her
   latest report card. More grades like those, her teachers worry, could keep
   her out of college. (Morse, p. 59)

It is because of the handicaps that confront so many developmental writing students--the predisposition of society to see the worst in them, a lack of academic family role models, the stress of work, school, family and environment--that I propose perhaps uncharacteristic approaches for teaching this student population. The experiences and information I discuss have originated from work with college writing students specifically, and most references are to writing situations; nevertheless, I believe that the techniques described can be used to empower students in most classrooms by giving them the skills and support they need to succeed. They will also encourage the development of a student-teacher rapport that allows students "to entrust (themselves) to this place, and (measure themselves) against its values and goals" (Steele, 1992, p. 74) and create an environment in which students are challenged and motivated to persevere academically. "A valuing teacher student relationship goes nowhere without challenge, and challenge will always be resisted outside a valuing relationship. Where students are, valued and challenged, they will generally succeed" (Steele, 1992, p. 78).

Getting to Know Students

In supportive learning environments, the methods teachers use that value and motivate students entail being sensitive to students as individuals and, in the case of developmental writing students, clearly explaining the basic structural components and terminology of short essays and "demystifying" the writing process. Students are also challenged to reach their potential through one-on-one instruction that incorporates a form of mentoring. Additionally, creating a familial-type environment in which student and teacher share a commitment to each student's success supports students' learning processes even after requisite skills have been acquired.

An important first step in establishing a valuing environment is getting to know each student as an individual. The information learned can help the teacher develop a positive rapport that facilitates and supports the student's learning process. For example, a student who is having difficulty deciding what to write about for an assigned essay can be encouraged when a teacher who knows that he or she has a passion for cars or plants suggests that the student write about the process of detailing a car or nurturing begonias. Students who are learning the fundamentals of essay composition are more successful in writing an essay about a topic that they care about than one imposed on them in which they have little knowledge or interest. Also, when there is a good rapport between teacher and students, the teacher will be better able to evaluate the best ways to teach each individual. People have unique learning styles, and teachers will be more successful with students if they find a way to accommodate that style to some degree. Some students respond well to humor; some thrive on individual attention; some like to work in groups; and others work best as independently as possible. When individual learning styles and preferences are understood, appreciated and used in instruction, communication between students and teachers becomes greatly enhanced.

The process of getting to know students can begin with the simple accomplishment of learning each student's name. Although this may not be possible in a large lecture hall, it is not difficult with a class of 35 students or less. When their names are learned early and used often, students recognize that the teacher respects them and doesn't view them only as bodies sitting at desks.

Students also respond positively when they are asked to write some personal information about themselves that will help the teacher better understand them as students. Such an initial assignment accomplishes several goals:

* It allows students to begin writing early and about a subject they know well and feel comfortable with.

* It tells students that the teacher wants to know them as individuals.

* It shows students that because they can choose what they write about, the teacher is willing to allow them a voice in deciding how learning will take place in the classroom: "pedagogical approaches that empower students encourage them to assume greater control over setting their own learning goals" (Cummins, 1996, p. 360).

* It provides useful information about the students' views of themselves and elements in their lives that are of concern to them--information that can be used to build a positive rapport with the student.

The "getting-to-know-you" pocess is not a one-way street. Teachers who volunteer useful information about themselves to students model this kind of sharing and thus give students "permission" to share helpful information about themselves with the teacher. As a personal example, I often discuss my pet collies in class, and they have proven to be useful catalysts for introducing humor as well as inspirations for descriptive essays in which students relate the antics of their own pets. This type of student-teacher sharing can occur with the entire class or in more private one-on-one discussions and can range from very general informational sharing such as living with pets, to intimate informational sharing that depends primarily on the teacher's comfort level and how he or she models interactions.

Learning Structure and Gaining Control

To improve basic skills, developmental writing students need a solid understanding of the basic structure or fundamentals of the subject. Most developmental writing students realize that they have problems in writing well but are not able to identify a specific problem area. When I hear comments such as "I always write too much and never know when to stop a sentence," "I can never think of what to write," and "I don't know how to begin a new paragraph," I know students have not learned to identify some very basic organizational writing terms and skills. Some specific methods that help students strengthen their writing skills are to do the following:

* identify each student's grammatical problems early and communicate this information to the student as soon as possible,

* identify each student's writing strengths and build on them with the student,

* read student essays carefully and give the student a thorough and specific evaluation,

* use a clear evaluation system that is meaningful to the student,

* demystify the essay's basic structural requirements,

* encourage and consistently respond to students' questions,

* discuss the value of incorrect answers, and

* encourage students to help one another.

Some writing teachers believe that focusing on grammatical errors such as faulty sentence structure or misspelled words inhibits the flow of creative thought. I have observed, however, that once students recognize that many of their writing problems result from poorly learned grammatical skills rather than reflect their intelligence, their creativity actually improves. I suspect that this improvement takes place when the students can correctly attribute their writing problems to lack of basic information, rather than to an innate inability to think logically or creatively.

Students should be made aware of their writing strengths as well as their writing problems. If they are doing something well, they will want to retain this ability and hone it. Also, students who lack confidence in their writing ability find reassurance in knowing that they have positive skills to hold on to while they are analyzing and correcting weak areas.

To be effective, evaluations of developmental student essays must be thorough. Specific feedback helps students identify both strengths and weaknesses in their writing. For instance, if a student has a specific problem such as difficulty recognizing run-on sentences, the following procedure is helpful: highlight every run-on sentence he or she has written, write "run on" next to the sentence, and suggest a possible method of correction. After the paper is returned and the student has reviewed the comments, hold a "mini-conference" focusing on the written comments. Although this approach may seem time-consuming, it rarely becomes a daunting process. First of all, students in basic skills writing classes initially write very short, five-paragraph essays that can usually be evaluated well in about 10 minutes. Also, the first essay evaluation process takes the most time and effort because it models how the instructor will be working with each student individually. Once some of their major writing problems have been identified and correction methods have been explained, most of the students begin to use the specific information they have received to self-monitor their essays. After the second essay, the students are usually comfortable using the teacher only as a resource for brief suggestions and occasional proofreading assistance. Typically, less than 10% of students need intensive conferences at this time.

Individual conferences and thorough evaluation make it possible to clarify specific concepts that, for a particular student, may not have been clear from the text or general classroom discussion. The same process also provides an opportunity to give positive written and oral feedback to the student about the strengths of the essay, such as the use of creative word choices and colorful examples. When students engage in this type of process and receive specific information, they can focus on improvement and build on strengths.

A clear and meaningful evaluation system also helps students improve their writing skills. A student from another class once overheard me explaining my evaluation system to one of my students and commented, "Now that's something I can understand. All we get is a pass or fail mark on our essays, and no one tells me what was bad or good about the paper." An evaluation system that is simple and easy to understand helps students become good critics of their writing. For example, using a grading system based on 100 points for a five-paragraph essay helps students begin to evaluate their own essays by comparing paragraphs that receive a high number of points with those that receive fewer points. They can then examine the strengths and weaknesses in their compositions that have created the differences between paragraphs. For this type of rating system to be effective, writing skills that earn evaluation points as well as errors that will result in a loss of points must be clearly explained.

Developmental writing students feel more control over their writing when teachers demystify the basic structural elements of short essays. This demystification separates the morass of formal English grammatical terminology from such basic structural elements as the thesis and supporting points. I often draw an analogy between the human skeleton and the essay's basic structure: Just as the human body needs a strong skeleton to support flesh and skin, the basic essay needs a strong thesis and supporting points to keep an effective argument on target. Once students understand that the strength of their essay depends on the "strong skeleton" of a clearly stated thesis that is supported with convincing evidence, they are able to produce more coherent and forceful essays.

Students should be encouraged to ask questions because that is one way in which they participate in their own learning process. When teachers fail to respond to the questions of students who are sincerely seeking further information and clarification, they send negative messages about how students' interests and concerns are valued in the classroom. Many students' frustrations are expressed by a student who wrote, "I hate it when they don't answer question."

As noted earlier, another problem that vitiates students' feelings of control over their learning process is their reluctance to answer questions in class. Many times students are afraid that they will be embarrassed or thought stupid if they answer incorrectly. Given the reality that very few people always have the "right answers," I suggest that the fears students have about responding incorrectly can be allayed when teachers not only appreciate correct answers, but also understand how responses that may be less than correct can contribute positively to classroom discussion and learning. When a student answers incorrectly, I might say, "That is a wonderfully wrong answer because look what we can learn from it!" Responses that are less than correct can reveal students' thought processes and how they, and perhaps other students, have arrived at an incorrect response. "Wrong" answers can often alert teachers to possible weaknesses in presenting subject matter. Also, students who have been reluctant to respond in class may be encouraged to do so when they see that being "wrong" is not a devastating experience. When students understand that a well thought-out response can have educational value even if incorrect, I usually experience an increase in the number of students who respond to questions in class. In addition, there are often noticeable changes in students' attitudes and body language: Students seem more willing to make rather than avoid eye contact with the teacher, and a great deal more positive and energizing humor is expressed in comments, questions, and answers.

Oftentimes students can help each other understand elements of language and sentence structure that an instructor may have difficulty communicating. I have found this to be true particularly when working with bilingual students whose native language is unfamiliar to me. When it is possible to identify students in the class who speak the same language or who are having similar writing problems, it can be rewarding for them to work together to solve the problem. Frequently one student has figured out how to handle one aspect of the problem while the other student has grasped a different aspect; when they put their heads together, they are usually able to complement each other's understanding to arrive at a satisfactory solution.

Mentoring One-on-One

Frequent one-on-one instructional sessions with students contribute to their success by creating learning situations in which it is possible for student and teacher to share what I refer to as "mentoring moments"--moments when teachers provide students with positive and accurate comments about their academic work that can bolster self-esteem and motivate them to improve their skills. Although the most common understanding of a mentor-student relationship is one that operates over an extended period of time, I believe that good teachers regularly act as mentors when they encourage, motivate, and support students and serve as role models for them. A mentoring moment can be as simple as telling a student that he or she writes with a wonderful sense of humor or that his or her use of colorful details really brought an essay to life; some mentoring moments can be life-changing.

A personal example of such all experience involved my high school physics teacher. When it became obvious that I was having trouble comprehending some important concepts, this teacher suggested that I come in after school for some tutoring. As we worked to resolve the problem in my understanding, I felt as though he was trying to "crawl inside my brain" to untangle the knots in my thinking. His attempts to understand how I perceived the information enabled him to clarify concepts for me, and I subsequently did quite well in the class. The mentoring I experienced with this memorable teacher did not take weeks or months, only a few hours of his concerned and focused interest in my learning processes. This mentoring moment resulted in a lifelong appreciation of my teacher's efforts and a personal commitment to emulate his example in my own teaching and relationships with students.

Mentoring sessions can provide an opportunity for teachers to establish a personal rapport with individual students that is quite different from the kind of rapport they establish with the class as a group. In a one-on-one conference, it is possible to learn about a student's personality, concerns, attitudes, ambitions, and--sometimes--thought processes. It is an opportunity to focus more on the specific you--as in "you have a good vocabulary," "you have a great sense of humor in your writing," or "you are doing much better in recognizing run-on sentences." It is also a time when emotional bonding can occur. Many times over the years, students have written about personal experiences that have given me glimpses of their worlds: a childhood history of abuse; an unwanted pregnancy; problems with alcohol and drug abuse; and, more positively, excitement over an upcoming wedding, a job promotion, or a long-awaited vacation. These glimpses have shown me that students are comfortable sharing information about their lives with an instructor when they trust that the teacher cares about them and their academic success. With this trust and shared information, students and teachers can create a relationship in which the students will permit, and even invite, constructive criticism and intellectual challenge. As one student pleaded, "I desperately need you to come and show me how to fix this paragraph!"

Testimonies

The success of the teaching methods and attitudes I have described can be measured in several ways. Significantly, the number of students who complete my writing classes successfully is typically 15% greater than the departmental average. The community college's Office of Research and Analysis report (issued November 1998) shows that 67% of students who enrolled in the developmental writing courses passed the course in which they were registered My success with the same population of students is usually an 83 to 90% passing rate. Just as important, the responses I have received from students through questionnaires, interviews, teacher evaluations, and unsolicited comments have been rewardingly positive. Some examples of the 180 survey question responses that have guided my focus in teaching developmental writing students are as follows:

   Question: "What in your view is good teaching?"

   Juan: Good teaching is not giving up on a student until he or she fully
   understands.

   Roxana: Good teachers work with students on a one-to-one basis and provide
   tutoring, if necessary, discuss work thoroughly, and take the time to
   answer questions.

   Maria: Good teaching is when the teacher worries about us and teaches us
   clearly. When the teacher cares about our grades and tells us how to make
   that a higher grade.

   Angela: Good teaching is, the ability to come down to the students' level
   and make them feel very comfortable in asking questions.

Personal interviews also reflect how classroom procedures affect individuals. One student, a 36-year-old Black woman, confided that when she began the semester she had low self-esteem at home dealing with the demands of her family and that academically she had very little confidence in her writing skills. After the 16-week developmental writing course (in which she did exceedingly well), she happily shared that her self-esteem had been given a boost and she looked forward to her next writing classes with confidence. One group of students shared that they liked the teaching techniques because they gave them the desire and motivation to learn even more.

Asking students to write about the factors that have influenced their learning experience can also help teachers evaluate the success of instructional strategies. Some recent examples in essays that I have received include the following:

   Some teaching techniques that helped me were the one-on-one sessions and
   the feedback.

   The way you were tough and made me work hard for my grade.

   This class has made me feel good about myself because I thought I could
   never do it.

   The most helpful teaching technique was individual talking with the
   students and explaining every case separately.

   It is very important for students like me to know how to change something.
   Just information that something is wrong is not helpful for me. I have to
   know what technique I have to use to change it.

Students' unsolicited responses also suggest the effectiveness of pedagogical methods. Many students over the years have surprised me with notes of appreciation and occasional surprise parties at semester's end. Some, on occasion, have even brought their children with them to visit the writing class. I believe this indicates that they feel positively about their learning experience and they want their children to share some part of it with them because they feel a commitment to their educational pursuits that extends beyond the present class.

One of the most memorable experiences I've had over the years involved a 20-year-old Black male student who greatly improved his writing skills and earned an A in the course. Although we had shared one-on-one mentoring time during the semester when I complimented him on his descriptive skills and effective use of humor in his writing, he had never voiced any positive or negative feelings about the course. That is why I was both surprised and touched by the appreciative card he gave me at the end of the semester, the title words of which read, "You Have Made a Difference in My Life." Inside the card he had written the following: "Writing was the only thing that I truly feared. Yet you made it seem so easy."

The poignancy of the card's verse and the words he had written made me realize something I had not known before: this student, and perhaps many others, might actually fear writing their thoughts on paper. I was also unaware that what had transpired in class had somehow affected at least this particular student very deeply. But why was this the case, I wondered? These realizations made me determined to discover what kinds of student-teacher interactions were important and beneficial to students. Consequently, I began to listen to students even more carefully, observe body language more closely, and to ask students for information about the kinds of learning experiences that "worked for them."

Caring, Family, and Affirmation

Nieto addresses the issue of caring as follows:

   The literature and research describe "caring" as providing affection and
   support for students, building strong interpersonal relationships with them
   and their families, learning about and from them, respecting and affirming
   their language and culture and building on it, and having high expectations
   for them. (Nieto, 1998, p. 159)

She also discusses a successful high school program for Latino students that suggested to her that a sense of belonging can counter the cultural isolation that Puerto Rican students feel. One of the keys to the program's success was the teacher who directed the program by incorporating motivational strategies that built on the students' culture and their need for family-like affection and caring. This teacher created a world in the classroom in which the students felt they "belonged." The students in turn described him as "a father, brother and friend to us." (Nieto, p. 156)

Classroom teachers have frequent opportunities to show students that they are valued members of a class. Calling attention to a student's absence in a parental fashion can show that the welfare of the students in the class is of concern. One might comment, "Sharon's not in class today. I wonder what the problem is? I'll have to give her a call." Positive observations about language, customs, or dress can demonstrate to students of ethnic and racial minorities that their unique culture, race, and language is appreciated in the class. For example, if a bilingual student is reluctant to speak in class, it can be helpful to express admiration for people who can speak more than one language and an appreciation for how difficult it must be to do so when coming to a new country, particularly as an adult. Also, admiring a beautiful sari or other interesting aspects of cultural dress and customs can help students take pride in elements of their culture that are unique.

Over the years, college students have told me in their personal statements that they want teachers who care about them and are not "just there for the paycheck." They want teachers who show them respect, attend to their questions, and value their individual and unique responses. When they have teachers who respond to these needs, they know that they will be treated with fairness as valued persons and that their teachers will work to ensure that they acquire, the skills they need for academic success.

Conclusion

The negative experiences many students have in school can be avoided and counteracted when teachers cultivate sensitivity to the broader contexts of students' lives and use teaching methods that value and support all students irrespective of their group membership. Although the methods and ideas suggested here have been used exclusively with community college students, I believe they can be modified to benefit students in other situations as well and to enable "educators (to) redefine their roles within the classroom ... so that these role definitions result in interactions that empower rather than disable students" (Cummins, 1996, p. 366). These redefined student-teacher interactions are necessary in classrooms where the diversity of the students renders a one-size-fits-all pedagogy particularly inequitable.

The teaching approaches discussed here help students to achieve and remain committed to completing their education. When students receive specific information about their strengths and weaknesses in a subject and a clear understanding of what is expected of them, along with the tools with which to attain the required standard, they are enabled to experience continued academic success and are freed from instructional dependence (Cummins, 1996, p. 365). When teachers care about students as individuals, and support and hear their voices, they assist students in "shaping (their lives) towards a productive and positive fulfillment for self, family, community, nation, and the world" (McElroy-Johnson, 1996, p. 107). I believe, after all, that if we make pedagogical methods more responsive to the needs of diverse student populations, it is possible to turn students' hopes into achievable realities. As one student wrote about a teacher who provided inspiration: "She makes me feel that I can do anything I put my mind to."

References

Cummins, J. (1996). Empowering: minority students: A framework for intervention. In T. Beaubouef-Lafontant & D. Smith Augustine (Eds.), Facing racism in education (pp. 349-368). Reprint Series No. 28. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review.

Enger, C., Hynes K., McNerney, N., & O'Donnell, M. (Eds.). (1998, Fall). Student profiles by deans' area. (Vol. 34, No. 13). River Grove, IL: Triton College, Office of Research and Analysis.

McElroy-Johnson, B. (1996). Giving voice to the voiceless. In T. Beaubouef-Lafontant & D. Smith Augustine (Eds.), Facing racism in education (pp. 107-126). Reprint Series No. 28. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review.

Morse, J. (1999, January 25). Where it's an unaffordable luxury. Time, p. 59.

Nieto, S. (1996), Affirming diversity (2nd ed.). New York: Longman Publishers.

Nieto, S. (1998, Summer). Fact and fiction: Stories of Puerto Ricans in U.S. schools. Harvard Educational Review, 2, 133-163.

Steele, C. (1992, April). Race and the schooling of Black Americans. Atlantic Monthly, pp. 68-78.

Linda Olson Jacobson is an adjunct professor at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois. [e-mail]