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Cultural Diversity

Cultural Diversity. “Culturally Diverse Classrooms” Can you identify the various cultures represented in your classroom?. What is culture?. Culture is a way of life (oversimplified definition).

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Cultural Diversity

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  1. Cultural Diversity

  2. “Culturally Diverse Classrooms”Can you identify the various cultures represented in your classroom?

  3. What is culture? • Culture is a way of life (oversimplified definition). • Culture is a complex system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of life for a group of people or a society. It defines a society’s identity and is observed with pride. • It embodies shared beliefs, values, knowledge, morals, laws, customs, habits, language, etc., transferred from one generation to the next.

  4. Culture…. (continued) • Culture gives people a sense of belonging, it instructs people how to behave, and tells us how and what to think in particular situations. Culture gives meaning to our lives and our society as a whole.

  5. When a student feels he or sheDOES NOT BELONG… Part IMoving in and adjusting to a new culture • Culture Shock – The feeling of disorientation and alienation that occurs when someone encounters a rapid change in cultural situation. New students from other countries, or even students coming from other regions within the United States experience culture shock in varying degrees. The greater the difference between the cultural settings, the greater the culture shock.

  6. Moving in and adjusting to a new culture • Challenges that confront the CLD student: • Adjustment to a new country/town/city, (day to day living) • Political issues such as immigration policies (residency status), terrorism (rise in xenophobia) • Psychosocial challenges: Homesickness, anger and depression, prejudices and discrimination

  7. Moving in and adjusting to a new culture • Challenges that confront the CLD student (continued): • Adaptation to a new educational system and school • Fear of being discriminated and disrespected for first or native language and native culture • Anxiety for not being able to adjust to the dominant culture and various subcultures in school (not being able to fit in) • Anxiety in a new class environment

  8. Moving in and adjusting to a new culture • Enculturation: The process by which an individual acquires or learns culture. • Assimilation: The process by which a minority becomes culturally absorbed within the dominant culture.

  9. Moving in and adjusting to a new culture • Acculturation is the process of adjusting to a new non-native culture. • As teachers, we should understand the painful adjustments these new students must endure and we must be able to accommodate and assist them until they achieve a sense of adjustment into their second culture.

  10. Moving in and adjusting to a new culture • The U-Curve Hypothesis on Acculturation K. Cushner, A. McClelland and P Safford (2000) HoneymoonHome HostilityHumor

  11. Moving in and adjusting to a new cultureThe U-Curve Hypothesis • Honeymoon Stage The recent move fosters a sense of fulfillment and exhilaration. - Moving to the United States or to the new state or city is a dream come true. - Better paying job or a promising profession - Reunited with the family

  12. Moving in and adjusting to a new cultureThe U-Curve Hypothesis • Hostility Stage Occurs when differences between the native and new culture begin to surface. The cultural mismatch triggers sadness, frustration, anger, hostility, withdrawal and symptoms of physical illness – all grounded in resentment. (Culture shock) Signs: Absenteeism, maladaptive behavior that may result to suspension, dropping out of school, etc.

  13. Moving in and adjusting to a new cultureThe U-Curve Hypothesis • Humor Stage This stage remains to be stressful but this is when the CLD student begins to understand the cross-cultural differences between his native and second culture. He or she learns to synchronize his or her cultural and linguistic development.

  14. Moving in and adjusting to a new cultureThe U-Curve Hypothesis Home Stage The CLD student learns to respect and affirm cross-cultural differences and learns to celebrate his or her own bicultural and bilingual identity. “Most students who reach this acculturation threshold have attained near native literacy development and second culture under-standing. Unfortunately, such individuals tend to be the exception rather than the norm.” (Acton & de Felix, 1986)

  15. Teaching our CLDs • “If they (CLD Students) will just learn English, everything else (CLD Students’ school performance) will fall into place.”

  16. Research indicates…. • Research indicates that not just one (Linguistic), but four different dimensions of the CLD student’s biography must be addressed if the student is to be successful. • All four dimensions of the PRISM MODEL are interrelated and involve developmental processes that occur simultaneously for the CLD student. Thomas & Collier (1997)

  17. The Prism Model(Thomas and Collier, 1997) Language Development Social and Cultural Processes Cognitive Academic Development Development The model demonstrates that all 4 dimensions (to include CULTURE) of a CLD student’s biography must be addressed if the student is to be successful.

  18. How culture can influence learning and performance in school • “No matter how well planned and well delivered a lesson is, it is meaningless to the student if the lesson itself or the surrounding circumstance of instruction raises the student’s affective filter”.(Krashen, 1982) • Alienation and frustration raises a CLD student’s affective filter.

  19. How culture can influence learning and performance in school • “Cultural knowledge and cultural values are the bases of reasoning, inferencing, and interpreting meanings”. (Trueba, 1991) *Learning is temporary, meaningless and will not be retained if it is in conflict with what is perceived to be right by the CLD’s culture.

  20. How culture can influence learning and performance in school • Culture and cultural knowledge guide behavior. • All cultures have strengths. These translate into “Banks of Knowledge”. • People participate in one or more cultural communities. • Culture is dynamic. They evolve overtime and through interaction. • U.S. schooling practices usually are associated with the dominant culture.

  21. Looking Glass to the Future • Traditionally, the fastest growing CLD student populations were within the coastal states. • Over the past two decades, Midwestern states experienced a dramatic increase in CLD student numbers and this increase has exceeded 200 percent annually in many midwestern states.

  22. Looking Glass to the Future • By 2020, it is projected that there will be over 6 million identified ELL/CLD students nationwide. • By 2025, over half of our children K-12 will be CLD. • By the year 2050, that number will have increased by an additional 30%. U.S. Census Bureau (2000)

  23. Multicultural Education Spectrum • Affirmation - Differences are respected and embraced. Students are encouraged to think critically and find different ways of looking at a complex reality. • Respect - Students’ native cultures and languages are supported and they are taught multiple perspectives • Acceptance - Differences are acknowledged through celebration of holidays, heroes and multi-cultural fairs • Tolerance - Differences are put up with • Mono-cultural Education - (Dominant culture and English only environment) Where are you/we at in the spectrum?

  24. Part I - Closing • Effective teachers know that students are best motivated in ways that support (rather than demean) their ethnic or cultural heritage. For such teachers, the affirmation of the student’s home culture is a daily goal, not a once a year celebration. Mastering ESL and Bilingual Methods, S. Herrera and G. Murray, 2005

  25. When a student feels he or sheDOES NOT BELONG… Part IICaught amidst cultures in school • Dominant Culture: The culture of the most powerful group in a society. • Subculture: Culture of groups whose values and norms of behavior are somewhat different from those of the dominant culture. • Cultural struggle confronts not only CLDs but some of our very own at home.

  26. Subcultures in school • The Smart Group vs. The Dummies • The Pretty Group vs. The Not So Pretty • The In-Crowd vs. Those Who Keep to Themselves • The Bullies/Gangs • The Alternatives (LGBT)

  27. Our Native American students

  28. Part II - Closing Our challenge then is how to create a supportive, equitable and safe learning environment that embraces and respects the differences among all of our students so everyone becomes a valued asset and contributor in the classroom.

  29. Let me know you… • Draw pictures and tell me things about yourself. I am excited to get to know you. • Describe the holiday your family celebrates the most and how you celebrate it; or describe a typical Saturday at home. • A day in school (your classroom). • The happiest day/moment in your life. • The saddest day/moment in your life.

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