Culturally Relevant Schools Tressa Morris Edu692 Dr. Thomas March 20,2016

The AIM Academy   A small independent school with approx. 282 children in grades It is in partnership with the Philadelphia Public school system in Philadelphia PA. It Focuses on children with special needs.  The Program is unique because it’s focus is on children with learning disabilities. It gives these children the newest technology, the best educator know how they can provide and it has strong community involvement. These all lead to helping build lifelong learners (Wardle,2013).

The AIM Academy Cont.  21st Century Learning Skills being developed in this school  Collaboration  Critical thinking  Technology  Life and career skills  Creativity  Communication

The AIM Academy Cont. culturally relevant pedagogy One of the biggest Relevant pedagogy is that this school taps into the community resources. This makes learning more relevant to the students because it is related to what is going on in their lives. They can go out into the community on field trips and outings and community members can come in to the school to do a presentation. All of this reinforces the culture that the child lives in (Natesan, Webb-Hasan, Carter, & Walter, 2011). They also use interactive learning techniques. There is collaboration time built into the schedule daily. This gives the students a chance to discuss what they are learning, and to help each other grow as well as gives them a chance to build upon what they learned by adding to it what their friends are getting from it (Natesan, Webb-Hasan, Carter, & Walter, 2011). Student also construct their own knowledge. They recently built an aquaponic system. This kind of learning is more relevant than book learning. Learning by doing makes learning more relevant to children (Natesan, Webb-Hasan, Carter, & Walter, 2011).

The AIM Academy Cont.  The Aim Academy Promotes creativity by encouraging the students to experiment and try to figure out how to make things work. They not only allow but encourage mistakes because they know that these mistakes promote more understanding and growth (Natesan, Webb-Hasan, Carter, & Walter, 2011). They also promote hands on training for their teachers so that their teachers a have a better understanding of the material. This gives them the ability to guide their students through their hands on learning. The students are encouraged to show what they learn in different unique ways, not by reports. One student created a movie to show what she learned. Allowing children to be creative in their learning get’s them involved and excited to be at school instead of bored,such as the traditional method. (Natesan, Webb-Hasan, Carter, & Walter, 2011).

Westmorland County College Campus Children’s Center   The Campus Children’s Center provides care and pre-school services for children ages 3-6. It is located in Youngwood PA. These children are the children of the staff and students at WCCC as well as come from the local community. Because it caters to staff and students alike there is an equal balance of socio economic backgrounds.  This program is unique because they are a laboratory school the Education majors at WCCC as well as a pre-school. They area two in one learning environment that is dedicated to promoting life long learning for the children as well as for the education majors.

Westmorland County College Campus Children’s Center Cont. 21st Century Learning Skills being developed in this school Critical thinking skills Collaboration Technology Communication Creativity Life and Job skills

Westmorland County College Campus Children’s Center Cont. culturally relevant pedagogy The campus Children Center encourages both the children and education majors to use interactive learning techniques. The children recently collaborated to build a castle in the block area. During this week long process they talked to each other, drew up blueprints and took a walk on campus to see the process of a new building being built. This process drew in their community and it’s resources, allowed the students to build upon their own experience's, as well as create their own knowledge (Natesan, Webb-Hasan, Carter, & Walter, 2011). The students were very much involved in building their own knowledge as this was a project that they created and the teachers just built upon it giving them experiences to relate to it. Creativity It allowed for trial and error and failure as well as success. This project as well as others done in this center allow children to be inquisitive yet not fear mistakes. This center nurtures a child’s willingness to try, thus setting them up for success in the future (Natesan, Webb-Hasan, Carter, & Walter, 2011).

Mast Community Charter School The Mast Community Charter Schools is located in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. It houses 1315 students in grades K-12 it is a Title I School with 40% of the children receiving free or reduced lunch. It is Unique because all students regardless of their academic ability get involved in technology and will build upon technical skills. These students become successful in a way that sitting at a desk and learning would not have allowed them to do. This kind of learning does more for building up the 21 st century skills then traditional learning (Aslan,2015 ). 21 st century skills built in this school Critical thinking skills Collaboration Technology Communication Creativity Life and Job skills

Mast Community Charter School Cont. culturally relevant pedagogy Parents are very involved in the school. This allows for the home school connection to make learning relevant to the children (Wardle, 2011). The students here participated in their own learning even building A gym. By getting all students involved in technology they are maximizing the students academic learning.This gives the children skills needed to be successful in the real world regardless of their academic abilities (Natesan, Webb-Hasan, Carter, & Walter, 2011). This is means this program meets the needs of the children by understanding each children's differences (Natesan, Webb-Hasan, Carter, & Walter, 2011). Lessons are built around the project approach thus students are working together while constructing their own knowledge making learning not only fun but relevant. Creativity Creativity is being encouraged by allowing the students to believe in the culture based influences. Some cultures put more emphasis on trade and less on academics. This school caters to this thought. It also encourages students to learn and make mistakes without being judged.

References Aslan, S. (2015). Is Learning by Teaching Effective in Gaining 21st Century Skills? The Views of Pre-Service Science Teachers. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 15(6), doi: /estp Natesan, P., Webb-Hasan, G. C., Carter, N. P., & Walter, P. (2011). Validity of the cultural awareness and beliefs inventory of urban teachers: A parallel mixed methods study. International Journal Of Multiple Research Approaches, 5(2), 238. Wardle, F. (2013). Human relationships and learning in the multicultural environment. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.