Inviting students to educate you about the cultural diversity in your classroom

Challenges: There’s a cultural distance between me and many of my students...

Can you hear me over there?

...and failing to acknowledge it is inherently disrespectful...

...and frustrating.

I think all of my content just fell into the cultural gap.

Challenge: There’s just one of me...

...and such a diversity of students!

How am I going to learn about all this diversity?

Multi- cultural task force

Problem: Is it authentic to infuse a culture that isn’t my own into a lesson?

That’s right. And they dance like this!

And even with adequate study, is it fair to assume that I know something about someone else’s culture?

...and now I’d like to teach you something that I’m pretty sure is true about some of you...

It’s tough for anyone to recognize their own culture until they find out what it is not

Will you please stop talking through the whole entire movie? Stop yelling at the TV! You are ruining this for me! Ooooooh no! He didn’t just do that! Seriously! I would be out of there. Wait... Are you even watching this?

Keeping all this in mind, I try to...

Remember that being culturally sensitive doesn’t mean wearing a variety of cultural hats while I teach...

...it means inviting contrasting (cultural) experiences and using them to learn about each other.

By sharing my own (cultural) experiences freely and welcome contrasting experiences... So, how did you ask her to marry you? Well, I created this scavenger hunt of memories from our relationship and.... What? You should have taken her to Red Lobster!

...and by creating opportunities for students to share their (cultural) experiences within the curriculum In the story we read today, we’ll get a look at how the Ancient Greeks believed the world began... What does the beginning look like in your mind?

My assumptions: Anything that students share from their lives reveals an aspect of their culture. When they are sharing aspects of their own life, they are engaged When they are sharing aspects of their own life, they are anchoring the lesson When they are sharing aspects of their own life, I am learning in the most authentic way about the culture of my students!