Aspects of Culture

Hello class,

In this week’s blog we are going to look at various aspects of culture. In class we talked about what makes up a person’s culture, and you brought up some very good examples. I would like to delve a little deeper into how a person’s religion might affect how they respond during a class. Since we are going to be dealing with adults in our classes, this may have more of an impact than if we were dealing with children. I know you might think that this is not an issue you need to worry about because this is not a topic you plan to discuss, but remember the outside impact. What people experience on the outside, they bring with them to class. This can be especially evident during holiday seasons. As instructors, we need to try to be sensitive to the increased stress that students might be experiencing at this time. We also need to remember that not every student celebrates the same holidays, and so holiday stressors might come to different students at different times. For instance, during the Muslim season of Ramadan, students will be fasting from sun up to sun down. This might make them a little less attentive in classes, and they might need a little extra help to retain information presented. This might be as simple as providing a copy of powerpoint slides, or suggesting they record lectures if attention is a problem. This sensitivity can show your students that you care about them as people and students.

Teresa K.