Culturally Relevant Teaching Assignments

Dr. Beyerbach

All assignments except the reflective journal must be word-processed, grammatically and structurally well written, turned in on time, and professionally presented. You will complete eight assignments for the course that are weighted as follows. Complete descriptions follow this overview.

1. Class attendance, participation, reflective journal, and facilitation. (15%) You are expected to be present, participate actively, and will assume responsibility for directing some class discussions and presentations. You will keep a weekly journal.

2. Cultural Autobiography. (15%) You will bring an artifact to class that reflects your cultural practices, values, history, or beliefs. Later in the semester, you will turn in a 3-5-page essay where you identify your cultural heritage followed by a discussion of your culture.

3. Context Study. (15%) With your practicum partner you will complete a context study of the school community, the school and your classroom. You will use this to plan your lessons you implement for methods.

4. Book of Choice Presentation. (10%). You will read the book, and with your group plan to present a sequence of lessons from the book.

5. Multicultural Encounter. (5%). You will participate in a hands-on multicultural experience that takes you out of your own culture to learn about another culture. You will complete a cross-cultural experience and describe the experience in a 2 page, typed paper.

6. GESA Observation and Reflection. (5%). You will learn about the equity program, Generating Expectations for Student Achievement. You will reflect on data on your teaching and what you have learned in a 2-3 page typed paper.

7. Popular Culture Study and Social Action Project. (20%) You will survey students in your class to get an understanding of what they are reading, viewing, engaging in via video games and will analyze these in terms of cultural relevance. You will plan a culturally relevant lesson based on this analysis.

8. Single Group Study-- Group Investigation. (15%) You will participate in a group investigation researching a particular ethnic group in our country and will present on this at Holiday Diversity night, and in class.

Class attendance, participation, reflective journal, and facilitation. (15%) You are expected to be present, participate actively, and will assume responsibility for directing some class discussions and presentations. This is a discussion class, dealing with sensitive issues, and all discussions are considered confidential. Students are responsible for contributing their analyses, thoughts, feelings and opinions on issues throughout the semester. You will keep a weekly journal reflecting on the required readings in which you summarize main points in one column, and reflect on these in the second column. You will bring this journal to each class to prepare for discussing the readings. When you sign up to co-facilitate discussions of the readings, be sure to jot down the emails and phone numbers of co-facilitators. Your facilitation of the readings should include presenting one model lesson from Opening Minds to Equality, along with ideas on grade level it could be used with, and how it could be integrated into the existing curriculum. Where possible, try out ideas from the selection you read and report back during discussions.

Grading rubric—Grading will be done on a 15 point scale.

1 2 3 4 5	6 7 8 9 10	11 12 13 14 15
Multiple absences and/or lateness Journal is missing detail in main ideas column and//or analysis and reflections Rarely or never participates in discussions, or dominates discussion with little evidence of listening Facilitation role is limited to reading from notes on readings, or low level questions	Some lateness or absence Journal may include some incomplete or sparse reflection- lacking in analysis, or detail Occasionally participates in discussion, Occasionally ties in another reading or connection to practicum experiences Some preparation for facilitation but lacking in coordination with other group members	In attendance, on time, engaged Reflections and journal are insightful, up to date, and contain multiple references to readings beyond course requirements, and multiple connections to practicum experiences. Actively contributes to discussions demonstrating communication skills-- active listening, synthesizing, analyzing, probing Clearly prepared for and effective in facilitation role as evidenced by coordinated plan for discussionand connecting to broader course content, modeling appropriate lessons, insightful questions that encourage dialogue

Cultural Autobiography. (15%) You will bring an artifact to class that reflects your cultural practices, values, history, or beliefs (e.g. a recipe book, a weaving, ring, game). You will explain to the class how this artifact reflects who you are.

Later in the semester, you will turn in a 3-5-page essay in which you identify your cultural heritage followed by a discussion of your culture. In the paper, explore questions such as: What cultural groups do you identify with? Who are your family members? Discuss your birth and family of origin. Discuss your family culture in terms of values, beliefs, and goals about life success/failure that you have learned. Talk about the cultural history of your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Where are they from? What is the primary language, race, religion, culture of your origin?

Describe your upbringing. What do you remember about the neighborhood(s) in which you lived? What ethnic groups resided therein? Was there a predominant group? What do your recall about your neighborhood? Focus in particular on attitudes about those who were “different” from you. What was the talk at the dinner table? Were there any teachings that may influence how you feel about any group outside your own?

Describe in rich detail a memory relating to race. That is recount a clear picture of an incident you had with another individual of a different race that stands out in your mind. This can be either a negative or positive memory. What did you learn about yourself/this group through revisiting that memory?

Discuss your family culture in terms of values, beliefs, and goals about life success/failure that you have learned. What are some verbal and non-verbal communication skills you have learned from your family? How has your cultural background affected your present beliefs about yourself and others? Talk about how your cultural background has shaped your views about race, class, gender, ability, and sexuality. What messages did you receive about these topics growing up, and what are your current beliefs? How has your culture helped or hindered you in your schooling/teaching?

Describe yourself now. Discuss your attitudes, feelings, and beliefs about different cultural groups. Discuss how these influence who you are as a teacher and where you need to direct your own learning. Indicate how the material in this class has assisted you in seeing how the reflections above have shaped who you are, what you believe, and what you must now do to grow beyond where you ‘personally reside’.

As you prepare for this assignment, the following activities might be helpful:

Reflect each week in your journal on how the readings broaden or challenge your understanding of culture, your own cultural identity, and how culture plays out in the classroom. Keep notes about your experiences with people of different cultural backgrounds including moments of surprise, discomfort, questioning, and connection. Reflect on what these moments tell you about your cultural identity.

Seek out many ‘multicultural encounters’ and reflect on what you learn from them about both yourself and other cultural groups. Process these thoughts with someone you trust.

Talk with family members and friends about your cultural heritage.

Grading will be on a 15 point scale.

1 2 3 4 5	6 7 8 9 10	11 12 13 14 15
Autobiography tells story but doesn’t link to social structures of race, class, gender, ability, and sexuality Questions are answered in a mechanical way without reflective connections to course content Limited connections between cultural background and implications for teaching present	Autobiography describes cultural identity in a detailed narrative that depicts your background and makes some connections to social structures and implications for teaching Answers Most questions in a cohesive narrative that depicts some growth and implications for becoming a culturally relevant educator	Autobiography represents your cultural identity clearly connecting it to historical context and positionality in terms of social structures of race, class, gender, ability, sexuality Indicates awareness of how your cultural heritage influences who you are and how it will influence your teaching. Describes a clear plan for becoming a culturally relevant educator Refers to multiple experiences you have sought out to expand your intercultural competence and traces impact on your identity and teaching

Context Study. (15%)

Learning-Teaching Context (approximately 3+ pages)

In this section of your Teacher Work Sample, you must describe the context in which you teach including the culturally-relevant characteristics of the school, classroom, and students. The Learning‑Teaching Context section of your Teacher Work Sample must incorporate your knowledge of individual differences; learner characteristics (e.g., race, class, gender, ability, linguistic community, etc); and the social, cultural, and physical environmental factors that impact learning and teaching. You should describe only those factors in the learning‑teaching context that directly impact your teaching and student learning. For each factor you describe, you must analyze how that factor impacts the teaching of your instructional sequence and your students’ learning.

School characteristics. Provide a brief description of the school including the type of school and grade/subject configuration. (See New York State data at http://www.just4kids.org/ or http://emsc33.nysed.gov/irts/reportcard/; and your school district web site, e.g., http://www.oswegoboces.org/about/about_districts.asp and http://www.ocmboces.org/OCM/schools/admin2.html.) Then describe major characteristics of the school that impact your instructional planning, delivery, and assessment. You should include any district or state mandates, such as required texts, curricula, and content standards, services available in the school for students with special needs, and the culturally-relevant characteristics of the local neighborhood in which the school is located. Remember, for each factor you describe, you must analyze how that factor impacts the teaching of your instructional sequence and your students’ learning.

Classroom characteristics. Describe the classroom in which you are teaching the instructional sequence presented in your Teacher Work Sample. You should describe the classroom rules and routines, physical arrangements, grouping patterns, and scheduling that affect learning and teaching (e.g., push-ins, pull-outs, teaming, etc). Again, for each factor you describe, you must analyze how that factor impacts the teaching of your instructional sequence and your students’ learning.

Student characteristics. Describe the students in the classroom including the number of students and their ages and gender, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, native language(s) and levels of English proficiency, range of abilities, and special needs. Remember, for each factor you describe, you must analyze how that factor impacts the teaching of your instructional sequence and your students’ learning.

Learning-Teaching Contextual Factors Standard 1: The candidate uses information about the learning/teaching context and student individual differences to plan culturally-relevant instruction and assessments of student learning.

Indicators	Quality Rating
Knowledge of Community, School and Classroom Factors	□ 0=Indicator Not Met Context analysis displays minimal, irrelevant, or biased knowledge of the characteristics of the community, school, and classroom.	□ 1=Not Met But Some Competencies Are Emerging See Comments	□ 2= Met But Some Competencies Need Development See Comments	□ 3=Indicator Met Context analysis displays a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of the community, school, and classroom that may affect learning.	□ 4=Outstanding Candidate displays performance expected of an exemplary master teacher (see comments)
Knowledge of Individual Student Characteristics, Skills & Approaches to Learning	□ 0=Indicator Not Met Context analysis displays minimal, stereotypical, or irrelevant knowledge of student differences – development, interests, culture, abilities/disabilities, skills, prior learning, learning styles/modalities.	□ 1=Not Met But Some Competencies Are Emerging See Comments	□ 2=Met But Some Competencies Need Development See Comments	□ 3=Indicator Met Context analysis displays general & specific understanding of student differences that may affect learning – development, interests, culture, abilities/disabilities, skills, prior learning, learning styles/modalities.	□ 4=Outstanding Candidate displays performance expected of an exemplary master teacher (see comments)
Implications for Instructional Planning and Assessment	□ 0=Indicator Not Met Context analysis does not provide implications for instruction and assessment based on student individual differences and community, school, and classroom characteristics and/or provides inappropriate implications.	□ 1=Not Met But Some Competencies Are Emerging See Comments	□ 2=Met But Some Competencies Need Development See Comments	□ 3=Indicator Met Context analysis provides specific implications for instruction and assessment based on student individual differences and community, school, and classroom characteristics.	□ 4=Outstanding Candidate displays performance expected of an exemplary master teacher (see comments)
Overall Learning- Not Met................................. Met Teaching Context Score: □ 0 □ 1 □ 2 □ 3 Comments:

Book of Choice Group Lesson Sequence Presentation. (10%). You will choose a book of choice from the above list, read the book, and present a lesson sequence from the book. You will teach the lessons, discuss how they could be modified for various grade levels, and how they could be integrated into the k-6 curriculum. Discuss implications for your culturally relevant teaching.

Book of Choice Presentation (10)

Criteria	0	1	2
Organized, clear language, including grammar, punctuation, style, on any visual etc.
Appropriate lesson sequence taught, using culturally relevant strategies
Clear and consistent explanation of themes of race, class, gender, ability, sexuality and power in the reading and cultural implications
Discussion of how the lessons could be modified for various grade levels
Inclusion of personal reflections, indications of concepts learned, how they can be integrated into the existing curriculum.

Multicultural Encounter. (5%). You will participate in a hands-on multicultural experience that takes you out of your own culture to learn about another culture. You will complete a cross-cultural experience and describe the experience in a 2 page, typed paper. The paper should describe the experience and explain how it expanded your cultural awareness, knowledge about a cultural perspective, or growth towards greater understanding and tolerance for a cultural group different from your own. Examples might include attending ORI events, religious services, fine arts and dramatic performances or exhibitions, a gay community event if you are straight, speeches with cultural themes, and ethnic festivals and performances. The best cross-cultural experiences are those that explore deep culture rather than surface culture and those that involve personal social interaction rather than observation from a distance.

Criteria	0	1	comments
Organized, clear language, including grammar, punctuation, style, references, etc.
Evidence of understanding culture from the perspectives of others; substantive exploration of a culture other than your own
Evidence of cross-cultural experience that explores deep culture rather than surface culture; involving social interaction rather than just observation
Logical use of evidence from the experience to support themes of the course
Inclusion of personal reflections , indications of concepts learned and how they are relevant to your understanding of Culturally Relevant Teaching

TOTAL …………………………………..0……………………………………………5

GESA Observation and Reflection. (5%). As part of ongoing class activities you will learn about the equity program, Generating Expectations for Student Achievement, and will study five areas of disparity linking teacher behaviors to differential learning outcomes for students. You will choose one area of disparity to work on in your own emerging teaching practice, and will have your practicum partner observe your teaching and record data on that area. You will reflect on the data and what you have learned about your teaching, and formulate goals to move towards a more equitable practice, in a 2-3 page typed paper. Turn in your observation data with the paper.

Popular Culture Study and Social Action Project. (20%) With your practicum partner you will survey and/or interview students in your class to get an understanding of what they are reading, viewing, engaging in via video games, etc. You will use this survey and interview data to analyze how individuals are represented or misrepresented in this media with regards to gender, race, class, sexuality, or ability. You will develop a social action plan that suggests more culturally relevant media appropriate for that grade level, and that includes a lesson plan in which you have your students critically analyze reading/viewing/gaming materials they are using with regards to how a particular group (gender, class, race, ability) is represented. The lesson must focus on awareness of bias and include a social justice focus.

Below are some suggested steps for completing your Popular Culture and Social Action Project.

1. Complete the Multicultural Education Evaluation Checklist based on what you currently know about the school (put d.k. where you don’t know about the topic). WRITE A BRIEF SUMMARY OF YOUR CONCLUSIONS FROM THIS ASSESSMENT.
2. Based on your assessment, your current understanding of your classroom and students, and your interests, choose a focus around which to conduct your study (e.g. race, class, ability, gender, sexuality). Also choose a media or popular culture genre to investigate (e.g. children’s literature, videogames, cartoons, movies, TV shows, music). You can combine more than one but don’t be too broad. DESCRIBE THIS FOCUS IN YOUR WRITE UP.
3. Survey your students’ interests/reading or viewing or listening preferences in that area by either designing a written survey or talking with them one on one, or in small groups, (this can be done in the lunch room, while walking to a special, in the few moments before or after school, etc.). Get a sense of what is popular in terms of what they are viewing, reading, etc. DESCRIBE YOUR QUESTIONS ASKED, AND/OR ATTACH SURVEYS, AND STUDENT RESPONSES.
4. Use this information to decide what to analyze (e.g. you may decide to look in depth at several episodes of one cartoon show, or several popular cartoons, or the Harry Potter series, to examine how males as compared to females, or Asians as compared to whites are represented). DESCRIBE YOUR DECISION-MAKING PROCESS ON HOW YOU CHOSE A FOCUS.
5. Conduct your analysis by carefully recording data on what you observe as you view, read, listen. Examine your data and describe patterns and trends, stereotypes, biases, distortions, omissions. DESCRIBE YOUR FINDINGS AND SUPPORT THESE WITH EVIDENCE FROM YOUR OBSERVATIONS.
6. Develop a social action plan that suggests more culturally relevant media appropriate for that grade level (use your texts, resources on my web site and other websites, the curriculum materials center, the school library, etc.). Develop a lesson plan in which you have your students critically analyze reading/viewing/gaming materials they are using with regards to how a particular group is represented. WRITE UP THE CULTURALLY RELEVANT RESOURCES AS WELL AS THE LESSON PLAN.
7. Reflect on and WRITE UP what you learned from this process.

Single Group Study—Group Investigation. (15) You will participate in a group investigation researching a particular ethnic group in our country (e.g. African Americans, European-American . . .). Your group will participate in a web quest in class (and it will be available outside of class Web Quest site www.oswego.edu/~beyerbac ). You will:

· Research the history and current issues relating to this group including issues of power, privilege, and oppression. You will present this history to the class, including a 2-page descriptive handout with major findings and resources used (Cite all sources using APA style).

· Examine curricular materials in your classroom to see how this group is (mis)represented in children’s literature, visual materials, texts. . . and suggest more inclusive, authentic curriculum resources that could be used, in a 1-2 page handout presented to the class.

· Research important holidays and their role in the culture, including the various religious holidays (one ethnic group may participate in a range of religions so be careful not to stereotype), and plan activities to include in the Lanigan Holiday Diversity Night on Nov. 29. You will prepare materials and co-host this Diversity Night with the Lanigan Parent Group.

·

1. History: Two Foci

1. Group’s historical experiences

· group’s past and recent experiences

· told from the perspectives of the group. Purpose is to document the group’s history and contributions to society.

2. Traces and explains how the dominant group has oppressed the group being studied. Give examples: (Lesson Plans – all grade levels)

· indigenous people in Mexico

· Irish immigrants in New York

· Chinese immigrants in California, etc.

2. Culture: A whole way of life of the group, including:

· Group’s literature

· Language

· Music

· Art

· Cultural contributions

· Cross-cultural sharing

· The community can be an excellent resource

o Exploring religious institutions

o Neighborhood stores, Community Centers

o Interviews, etc.

3. Current Status of the Group

· Current needs & experiences

· Issues the group faces

· Political organizations / Advocacy

· Education

4. Issues of Particular Concern

Examples:

Puerto Ricans, Central Americans, Mexicans – language issues

Jewish Americans – Holocaust, negative stereotypes