My Work Towards Building Cultural Harmony
“The architect first asks the client whom the building is to serve and what the building's function will be. Then the forms emerge. In a similar way, our Curriculum 21 teams should always begin thinking about new versions of school by asking whom we are serving ultimately, and how can we best meet the needs of our specific learners?" (Jacobs, 2010).
Here I am serving the students in order to develop global mind-set. The way I would use is ‘experiential learning’ in order that the form required, inter-cultural understanding, emerges out of the experience. The experiences that I organize outwardly are all around settings such as
(a) whole group discussion,
(b) small group work and
(c) individual work.
I would, however, start with self-awareness.
Self-Work
“As community builders, understanding
culture is our business. No matter where you
live, you are working with and establishing relationships with people--people
who all have cultures”, (Axner, n.d, para. 1)
I would first think carefully
about where I am and what is the culture of the place, I am working in. some
questions that will guide me are:
·
What is the level of diversity in
this place?
·
Who am I working with?
·
Which culture do they belong to?
·
What are the do’s and don’ts of
the cultures?
·
What is the constellation of my
students?
·
What is the diversity of cultures
and learning levels?
I would do my research and be
prepared before I meet the students for the year. I would explore my own biases
to the various cultures and the belief system that I carry. I am extremely
reflective and that helps me to move forward after assimilating lessons from my
mistakes.
School Environment
As a school we are very aware and
proud of the diversity of students. We cherish it and also protect it. For
example, we had a student from Pakistan in our classes. India and Pakistan have
been at war ever since I remember. Indian students would at times bully him.
So, as a school, we organised a
photography event, something that student was great in. We kept the theme
‘street life with empathy’ and everyone brought in their work that was shot
around the capital. His work was greatly appreciated and we felt a sense of
bonding beginning between him and the others.
We celebrate multiple cultural
events from different countries and cultures from India itself. We eat and
dance at Mardi Gras and also serve simple meals to
support staff, barefoot, at Gandhi’s birthday and clean up the campus.
We have language
teaching for several languages such as French, Spanish and German. For English
we have first language as well as second language students.
Classroom Work
“In addition,
global competence is also not a content area unto itself. It is instead rooted
in disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge that cuts across all
disciplines”, (Wagner, Parkhouse, & Glazier, 2019, para. 14).
No matter how much we discuss global competence, unless we can integrate it in
the nitty-gritties of the classroom existence, it would stay an abstract topic.
This integration is at two
levels, (a) learning environment and (b) teaching maths.
Learning Environment
·
For me, empathy in classroom
environment is non-negotiable and I watch like a hawk to ensure that we all
have it, including me.
·
I don’t believe that maths is a
representation of intelligence. Hence I respect all students and their level of
skills in the subject.
·
I don’t have gender bias. Girls
or boys, everyone has the math gene!
·
I work towards accepting all
students unconditionally, hence setting the environment for it.
·
During group work, I make
students who are good leaders as head of the group, even if they are not good
in maths.
·
I involve students in admin roles
in class so that their skills are visible to all.
·
I ensure that every student
shines in some way or the other in the class, thereby improving the self-esteem
and acceptance in the group.
Teaching Maths
I use multiple settings in the
class to expose students to the skills of working with others and working
alone. This gives me “…a comprehensive approach
that addresses students' cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioral
development”, (Wagner, Parkhouse, & Glazier, 2019, para. 14).
“Language is a
major barrier when bringing together English-only speakers and people who have
limited or no proficiency in English”, (Lee, n.d.). Having multiple settings
helps. For example, in a class with students who spoke Korean only, Korean and
English, I grouped them as ‘Korean only and Korean and English’. Then I would
teach in English, wait for the peers to translate and then move on. Syllabus
ran slow but everyone was contented.
Whole
Group Discussion
We watch a film on ‘maths in
nature’ and discuss the way geometrical patterns rule the natural world. we
learn to listen attentively and respond with respect. If the language diversity
is a lot, then we create groups to accommodate all types of learners and a
representative from each group communicates with the rest of the class.
Small
Group Work
“As people from
different cultural groups work together, values sometimes conflict. When we
don't understand each other we sometimes react in ways that make a partnership
ineffective. Often we're not aware that cultural differences are the root of
miscommunication”, (Brownlee, n.d, para. 4).
Organising tasks
in a diverse group is by far my favourite of all! This is almost always
followed by a group or individual reflection to understand why things went well
or not so well.
Groups work to inquire into:
Access to higher education in 3 countries and prepare a presentation that uses graphs as means of communication. They create a presentation with suggestions for different countries.
·
Method of solving
problems for the topic at hand. They discuss the different possibilities and
come to an agreement about the best ones. These are shared with other groups.
·
Levels of stress as
students move into middle school from primary school. They do a survey and
collect data. Communication of data is through percentages and graphs. They
meet the principal with their findings and suggestions for change.
·
Role of mathematicians in
the past decade from different countries. What are the new ideas emerging and
from which countries? What can we learn from the set ups of the countries from
where maximum ideas are emerging? This is an interdisciplinary research work.
Reflection post
group work is focused on, (a) quality of tasks, (b) tem work and (c)
suggestions for improvement.
Individual
Work
I believe that just as we need to learn to
work with others, we also need to work with ourselves. To face a situation on
our own and find our own way forward. I would add that we are a better team
player when we are self-sufficient. Individual work that is web based also
helps to cover language barrier and students can use online translators to
understand better.
Individual work is organised as:
·
Problem solving in maths for a
specific time to ensure development of habit of self-work.
·
Individual investigation into
‘origins of pi in maths’ using open source web based material.
·
Flipping the class to learn any
concept in maths using books or open source material. For example, www.aaamath.com
being used for learning percentages.
·
Individual self-reflective
projects that integrate maths with arts and language such as “Designing a logo with symmetry”, (Kochar, 2011).
As individual in
our school we are doing a lot. Our issue is not having appropriate curricula.
"The lack of familiarity with their students' cultures, learning styles,
and communication patterns translates into teachers holding negative
expectations for students, while inappropriate curricula, assessments, and
instructional materials are used with these students, compounding the
problem", (Brisk, Barnhardt, Herrera, & Rochon,
2002, p.4).
While
we can work on the cultural knowledge, curricula are something we have no
control on. Having all books and examinations in English makes it hard to
bridge the gap of language. I see not the necessity for “Literacy Pedagogy”,
(Huddart, 2004, p.2) as an essential part of pre-service and in-service
training for teachers. As one of my school directors would say, ‘Every teacher
is first a language teacher and then the subject teacher’.
I
feel that the level of diversity is increasing too fast across the world and
the task of the teacher is getting more and more difficult. The world is
changing too fast but education has yet to catch on.
Yet
we go on…plod on!
References
Brisk, M. E., Barnhardt, R., Herrera,
S., & Rochon, R. (2002). Educators' preparation for cultural and linguistic
diversity: A call to action. Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED477737). Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED477737.pdf
Brownlee, T. (n.d.). Multicultural
Collaboration. Retrieved from https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/multicultural-collaboration/main
Huddart,
D. (2014). English in the Conversation of Mankind: World Englishes and Global
Citizenship. In Involuntary Associations: Postcolonial Studies and World
Englishes (pp. 52-74). Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. Retrieved
from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt18kr776.6
Jacobs, H.H. (2010). New School Versions:
Reinventing and Reuniting School Program Structures. Curriculum 21:
Essential Education For A Changing World. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109008/chapters/New-School-Versions@-Reinventing-and-Reuniting-School-Program-Structures.aspx
Kochar, M. (2011, October 29). Designing
a logo with symmetry. Retrieved from https://humanemaths.blogspot.com/2011/10/designing-logo-with-symmetry.html
Lee, K. (n.d.). Transforming Conflicts
in Diverse Communities. Retrieved from
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/transform-conflicts/main
Wagner, A., Parkhouse, H., & Glazier, J. (2019, July). Becoming a
Globally Competent Teacher. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/119012/chapters/Introduction@-All-Teachers-Are-Global-Educators.aspx
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