Chapter Eight
The courses, the texts, and the experiences all are aimed at addressing some alleged pathology on the part of the students, their families, their communities, and/or their cultures. The school quickly imperializes the space of normalcy, and any students who do not conform to that space are thought to have abnormalities that emanate from outside of the school in the "dangerous, chaotic worlds" of their families and communities."
Ladson-Billings, 2005, p.19
The quote has many negative connotations based on “normalcy” of society. Fortunately, society has evolved into a rich and diverse cultures and languages. So, not all students and their families fit in the norms of society. And since they are different from others, that does not allow them to be labeled as “dangerous or chaotic”. So as an educator, it’s our job to dive into texts and curriculum that values cultural differences and demonstrates the richness on can learn from being culturally diverse and aware individual.
Reflection
In order to adapt to the needs of students and their families, schools must allow these stakeholders to become active participants in decision making, so their voices and needs are addressed. The first step would be to invite them to leadership team meetings, so they can provide some insight from their point of view. Some traditional conditions in place at my school to access or engage student learning is allow students to have ownership of the school. Students have a voice and students’ have grade level representatives and student ambassadors allow them to share their pride of Riverview. these opportunities provide student engagement and access to further learning. Furthermore, we value student and family input for events and ideas. For example, Riverview hosts an annual International Fair, in which families and community members are invited to volunteer, organize the event, share a booth, etc. This form of community involvement allows individuals to value the diversity of community of Lakeside.
Going Deeper with Cultural Proficiency
The experience of multiple perspective and experience of colleagues allows for open discussion and discovery on how to better serve our students. As a result, educators must “learn-unlearn-relearn” the process of learning community through the reflective process. Therefore, the question that will guide my work in education is “In what ways do I teach appropriate communication skills to allow for multiple voices and experiences in the classroom?” This question can launch lesson on allowing various cultural perspectives on holidays. In addition, this question can be used as a launch for lesson planning in all grade levels. And through reflective practices, I can select appropriate texts to teach students open communication skills in different cultures.
The question that will provide ongoing discussion between colleagues at my school is “In what ways do I incorporate cultural knowledge into classroom, irrespective of demographic composition of the school or district?” This questions can allow educators to share effective practices on cultural relevance to develop culturally proficient students.
The question that will led to further opportunity for learning for the entire school is “In what ways do we develop adaptive practices to support newcomers as well as veteran community members?” This questions can allow more opportunities for community members who are new to become active participants during the LCAP process. In addition, the second question that can continue to have active community participation is being reflective on how we allow various individuals share their insight, opinions, and feelings. These questions can lead to stronger partnership with community members.
The question that will provide ongoing discussion between colleagues at my school is “In what ways do I incorporate cultural knowledge into classroom, irrespective of demographic composition of the school or district?” This questions can allow educators to share effective practices on cultural relevance to develop culturally proficient students.
The question that will led to further opportunity for learning for the entire school is “In what ways do we develop adaptive practices to support newcomers as well as veteran community members?” This questions can allow more opportunities for community members who are new to become active participants during the LCAP process. In addition, the second question that can continue to have active community participation is being reflective on how we allow various individuals share their insight, opinions, and feelings. These questions can lead to stronger partnership with community members.
Going Deeper: Three Keys
- “Today, multiple assessments, culturally relevant instructional practices, and standards based curriculum provide great opportunities to learn knowledge and develop skills that will prepare us to be more effective at educating all learners.” (Lindsey et. al, p.101)
- Learning about new cultural groups of students should be the core of what we do as educators. Learning about our students must be on par with learning effective ways to teach, or learning new content, or acquiring new technology skills. (Lindsey et. al, p.100)
- Members of the learning community need time to work together to identify goals and targets for teachers and students. [time, trust, targets and talk, which are all hallmarks of learning communities] (Lindsey et. al, p.103)
- If an educator continue to be inactive towards the change in education, after various breakthrough questions and encouragement to attend professional development provided by school or district, what could some next steps?
- How can we teach staff members to use the breakthrough language, since it can be applied to teaching practices during student collaboration? And how can we create the buy-in of the language and question statements?
- Lastly, in order to have effective learning community in place, educational leaders must pay close attention to structural and relational factors. What are some structural or relational factors in my school that could impede in developing supportive teams to adapt diversity?
As the vital role of an educator, the information from this chapter continues to point on towards the importance of collaboration. Collaboration with families and within our own staff members, who may think about education in a different way. The educational system continues to evolve towards NGSS and CCSS expectation in hand, the curricula continues to change also. So it is beneficial to invest in teacher collaboration to share ideas, strategies and effective practices. Teachers should accept change and be able to try new things in the classroom. As a result, this chapter continues to share the importance of providing a supportive learning community with same vision and mission.
Resource
Lindsey, D., Jungwirth, L., Pahl, J., & Lindsey, R. (2009). Culturally proficient learning communities confronting inequities through collaborative curiosity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Lindsey, D., Jungwirth, L., Pahl, J., & Lindsey, R. (2009). Culturally proficient learning communities confronting inequities through collaborative curiosity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.