Our team is working to make our teaching/learning program more culturally proficient. We've integrated greater use of resources and experiences that reflect our collective classroom culture. There are a number of next steps we'll employ too including the following:
Taking a Culturally Proficient Teaching Survey as a Professional Team
We'll use time during PLC to take this survey and discuss our results. I imagine that our discussion will include how we are reflecting the points included on the survey as well as how we might change the program and our teaching more to better reflect the survey points.
Student Culturally Proficient Survey
We plan to use a survey to gather students' thoughts and responses related to cultural proficiency too. This will also help us to better plan the program to reflect the collective and individual cultures of the children we teach.
Field Studies and Special Events
We will continue to add field studies and special events that reflect our cultural diversity particularly cultures that are less represented. We hope these field experiences and special events will deepen our class community's respect, understanding, and care for one another and our diverse world as we learn together.
Emdin's Book
I've read a lot of Emdin's book, For White Teachers. . ." and employed many of his ideas. There's more ideas to employ and more pages to read.
Biography Project
This project takes students inside the lives of many global changemakers from today and in the past. This builds cultural proficiency too.
Multiple Cultures and Perspectives
Through literature our grade level focuses on this, and we have many great agencies around us to also support our work in this area. One organization, in particular, Primary Source, is a great resource that we can tap to deepen our efforts in this arena in the years to come. I would love to work with colleagues to create a math/STEAM project that is more culturally proficient, one that weaves multiple disciplines together in a meaningful way to build math/STEAM knowledge, concept, and skill while also teaching about the world around us.
