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Cultural Competency in the Classroom

Cultural Competency in the Classroom. Creating welcoming learning environments for all students. Goals: . Increasing our understanding about what cultural competency is and what it looks like in the classroom Share strategies to use to create a more inclusive learning environment

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Cultural Competency in the Classroom

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  1. Cultural Competency in the Classroom Creating welcoming learning environments for all students

  2. Goals: • Increasing our understanding about what cultural competency is and what it looks like in the classroom • Share strategies to use to create a more inclusive learning environment • Provide tools to assess how systemic bias impacts access and success for students and strategies to address these barriers

  3. Ground Rules • Mutual Respect • Listen to others - no side conversations or interruptions • Confidentiality regarding any personal sharing • Right to pass regarding personal sharing • Honor cultural differences and varying beliefs

  4. Small Group Activity • How do you define “cultural competency”? • What does it look like in the classroom setting? • What skills does an instructor need to be culturally competent?

  5. Key Definitions • Culture – the values, norms, and traditions that affect how individuals of a particular group perceive, think, interact, behave, and make judgments about their world. • Cultural Competency – the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures and backgrounds (specifically to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with people across cultures).

  6. Definitions continued • Cultural Competency Skills involve: • Awareness of one’s own cultural world view • Attitude towards cultural differences • Knowledge of different cultural practices & world views • Cross-cultural skills • Systemic Bias – socially constructed, historical, institutionalized mechanisms that privilege (provide more access/normalize) some people while oppressing/disadvantaging others, based on “rank” categories

  7. Creating a “Safe Space” for Learning 1. Ground Rules • Building a Learning Community • Developing a Syllabus that provides clarity about class goals, expectations, student support resources, and your role as instructor • Small Group arrangements that provide opportunities for diverse groups of students to interact and learn from each other, while respecting cultural norms and differences

  8. Small Group Activity Brainstorm and list strategies to build a learning community in your class: • Ice breaker activities that help students get to know each other and learn about their cultural differences • Strategies that you use as an instructor to get to know the students prior knowledge on the topic area, such as a focused autobiography (brief) statement, reflection statements at the end of a class period, etc.

  9. Curriculum Planning • Learn about and connect your curriculum to student’s prior knowledge on the subject • Use formative assessments to keep track of how well the students are learning the material • Make sure your material is inclusive of diverse theorists and cultural perspectives in your field of study • Provide encouragement and diverse methods for students to connect with you individually

  10. Understanding and Identifying the Impact of Systemic Bias Socially Prescribed Rank Roles – from Leticia Nieto’s book “Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment” • The ranking system sorts each of us into Target and Agent ranks. • Rank is an essentially artificial or cultural marker, something determined by society, based on socially ascribed memberships, such as age, ethnicity, religion, and gender. • The ranking mechanism reflects programmed behavior, convention, role-bound consciousness. • This ranking mechanism acts very fast, before our conscious thought can catch up. • The rank role is a prescribed script, given to each individual early in life, which determines how that person is supposed to behave in the world. • Becoming aware of the operation of the rank system enables us to act as free human beings, regardless of prescribed rank roles.

  11. The “ADRESSING” Acronym

  12. Agent Skills Model

  13. Target Skills Model

  14. Dr. Leticia Nieto’s Website • http://www.cuetzpalin.com

  15. Small Group Activity The culturally competent teacher demonstrates skills as an “ally” or “re-centered target” in the classroom. Modeling these skills supports students in learning. • What are the strengths you have in one of the “rank” categories? What else can be done to help the “Target” students feel supported in the learning environment? • What “rank” area presents the greatest challenge for you? List some ideas to learn more about improving your skills and curriculum resources in this area.

  16. Self-Assessment Activity • Write down your answers to the Self-Assessment questions • What are your strengths in terms of welcoming diverse students, including those on the “Target” list? • What are the challengesand barriers for you personally and within your institution regarding areas of systemic/institutional bias? • What are next steps that you would like to take to develop your own cultural competency and to incorporate new strategies into the class you are focusing on at the Institute?

  17. Resources • Are We Born Racist? New Insights from Neuroscience and Positive Psychology edited by Jason Marsh, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Jeremy Adam Smith • Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment: A Developmental Strategy to Liberate Everyone by Leticia Nieto with Margot Boyer (An analysis of systemic bias and strategies to develop skills to create multi-cultural organizations) Also, see “Ask Leticia” articles posted at http://facweb.northseattle.edu/bwilli/Beyond_InclusionFLC_Articles/ • Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers by Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross • Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity – film by Shakti Butler, website http://world-trust.org/AFT Seattle purchased this film and is using it for educational purposes on our campuses. • See Poverty… Be the Difference! Discover the Missing Pieces for Helping People Move Out of Poverty by Dr. Donna M. Beegle (Relates personal experience, analysis of systemic issues of class, and provides educational activities) • Teaching Unprepared Students: Strategies for Promoting Success and Retention in Higher Education by Kathleen Gabriel (Provides specific suggestions for setting up small groups, syllabi, ground rules & expectations, etc.) • Race – The Power of an Illusion, a three part documentary film about race in society, science and history; additional information available at PBS.org •  ”Why White Parents Don’t Talk About Race” from NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman

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