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Cultural responsiveness in the classroom and school community

Cultural responsiveness in the classroom and school community

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English Learner Portal welcomes our guest blogger and new online course developer, Sarah Said.  Sarah is currently a Director of English Learning in the suburbs of Chicago.  She has been an advocate, writer, speaker, and constant learner about English learners for over a decade.  Sarah has firm beliefs that all students have the potential to be successful.  In July of 2018, Sarah will join the Mawi Learning team as the Director of English Learner Impact where she will have an impact on the education of students worldwide.  Sarah’s new online course on cultural responsive teaching and learning will be available through English Learner Portal’s online classroom in September 2018!

Engage your School Community and Keep it Warm with Engaging All Cultures:  Cultural Responsiveness in the Classroom and the School Community

I grew up in what is proudly today one of the largest Arab and Muslim communities in North America.  In my youth, the Bridgeview area was in its prime and growing to become what is now called today “Little Palestine” on Google Maps.  We were one of the first groups of families to move into the community thirty years ago.  Still today, the community is thriving as the epicenter for the Arab and Muslim communities in the Chicagoland area.  As a child in the early nineties, my teachers were just beginning to learn about our culture.  When my Grandmother came for Grandparent’s day to eat lunch with me, teachers asked why she covered her hair.  In grade school, I quickly learned to remind teachers not to order me sausage pizza and give them an explanation of why I don’t eat pork products. I was well versed in telling adults who were not of the Muslim faith that I couldn’t have jello or marshmallows if I did not know what was in them.

Now, some schools across America have peanut free tables in the lunchroom.  My school Schoolchildren enjoying their lunch in a school cafeteriacafeteria had a different type of table one month out of the year.  From second grade on up, I began to practice fasting during the month of Ramadan. To fast during the month of Ramadan means to not have any food or drink from sunup to sundown.  At this young of an age, I didn’t practice it to its full extent.  Sometimes I fasted half days, other times I completed whole days.  The “fasting table” that I shared with my Muslim peers was placed smack dab in the middle of the cafeteria, so the cafeteria ladies could keep an eye on those “fasting Arab kids”.   Yes.. I said it.. the fasting kids (who were not eating lunch) sat in the middle of the cafeteria. As we sat, we tried to entertain ourselves with by playing UNO or drawing pictures.  It was not easy for a group of kids who chose to fast because they wanted to be a part of their families’ traditions to continue to maintain their fast while watching their peers drink juice boxes, eat sandwiches, and trade bags of chips. Oh how I wanted a Lunchable when I got home and it was sundown!  I’ll admit it, there were times where I would not continue to fast because I would want to eat with my friends and enjoy a Snackpack and a bag of Doritos that my mom had packed in case I got hungry and couldn’t handle fasting.

Was there a bad intention here?  Not at all, these were great people who did have it in their hearts to care about kids. They thought they were doing the right thing for us, by putting us on our own table.  We did need to be supervised after all. However, they really needed more education on appropriately accommodating students culturally.  This would have required  them to first learn about how culture and a child’s brain activity go hand in hand.  They also needed education on the different cultures in the building and their traditions.  After gathering all the information, their school leaders really needed a plan on serving the specific population.  Yes, thirty years later districts in the Bridgeview area now have plans to accommodate students during the Ramadan holidays.  After thirty years of dialogue between our parents’ generation and  school officials and then our generation later, districts now have better  plans for our children during the Ramadan holiday. There needed to be a bridge built between the community and the schools in order for staff to develop an understanding of our needs. School leaders now see the asset our community is to their school climate.

How Do Culture and a Child’s Brain Activity Go Hand in Hand?

The human brain has the ability to stretch and grow.  It adjusts over the time given the environment provided for growth and the circumstances. With that said, it is time to think about the environment that we provide in our classrooms.  Some of the questions that we need to ask ourselves are:  1) Am I creating an environment that is safe that makes children feel physically and emotionally safe?  2) Am I creating an environment where children are confident in sharing who they are?

Bipolar Mental HealthWhen answering these questions, it is important to think about the science behind them. “The brain’s two prime directives are to stay safe and be happy.” (Hammond 2015)  With that said, learning is difficult when a child is preoccupied about their safety.  Yes, physically safety is key.  But emotionally safety, can also really impact a child’s learning.  I attended a school where teachers really did their best to make me feel secure about who I was.  With this, I was able to focus on learning because I didn’t feel that my identity put me in jeopardy.

As a teacher and administrator working with English Learners, I have spent years searching for the right strategies to assure my students felt safe in my classroom. As a teacher, I worked mostly with upper grades. I also believed in starting the period off by having students volunteer to share something about their day, something exciting their anticipating, or just something they like.  When students are encouraged to share and learn about each other, it really does support a strong classroom climate for all student populations.  Our English Learners who may not want to share in the beginning, will eventually share later.

Also, having students create projects related to content that share information about their identity is key in the classroom. Yes, we do our “star student” and “all about me” projects at the beginning of the year, but we need more depth in how we have our visionboardstudents really express themselves.  Lots of teachers are trying something new by having students create “vision boards”.  Vision boards not only teach teachers about a student’s background, they also teach teachers about students’ goals.  Students can use the vision board later to refer to their own goals.  A vision board can take form in any way.  It just has to be goal oriented.

This vision board was made on a software called Canva. As you can see, the board is a visual of the student’s future goals and ambitions.  This could support the child feeling validated in the environment by their teacher. Continuing to integrate these types of projects into the curriculum could foster a classroom climate that builds student confidence.

In addition to creating projects that truly allow students to express themselves, knowing the type of literature or content that really appeals to the group of students you have is key.  If a teacher is teaching English Language Arts, having a diverse selection of titles related to students and their culture is vital.  Students need to see role models that look them in order to build their confidence levels in the classroom and outside of the classroom.

03F27493When these experiences are being provided in the classroom, it gives the child a pleasant memory of their school experience.  Valuing that child goes a long way for a lifetime of confidence in who they are.  Going back to brain science, the schema that is built for a child of experiences in the classroom will help reduce anxiety towards future classroom experiences.  It will also help the child overcome adversity when they experience it because a teacher helped build a foundation of confidence.

Educating Staff on the Different Cultures in the Building

Teachers and staff need education about the communities they work with.  This is not something that can be done in a one time professional development.  Yes, professional development on the different cultures in a school community is helpful. Actually, there is now a mandate in Illinois and other states that requires school districts to train staff on understanding the different populations in their district. In addition to professional development that is ongoing, staff really need to engage with the community.  It cannot be a one time deal.  Some districts hold community dialogues where community members come by to have conversations with school teams about their needs.  Again, this is not a just one time event.  This needs to be constant.

There are some districts that have teachers visit local festivals and community centers. There teachers learn first hand about the community their students reside in.  It’s important for school officials, teachers and staff to really explore the community- shops, places of worship, and attractions.  This gives staff a day in the shoes of the students and families that they support.

The most valuable resources in learning about cultures are students who are willing to talk to teachers about where they come from.  When I was student teaching about fifteen years ago, I was placed in a neighborhood that I no background on prior to the assignment. I was placed about an hour north of where I grew up in a community called Humboldt Park.  I drove around the neighborhood to learn more about it.  One day, during a time where we were working students collaboratively in the classroom, I mentioned to a group of ninth graders where I had been and what I learned.  Suddenly, this group became very excited with the fact that I wanted to learn more.  They then spent ten minutes telling me all about their community.  This is a community in Chicago that has a large Puerto Rican population.  It was my first exposure to the Puerto Rican puertoricoflagcommunity.  My conversations with my students taught me so much about traditions.  I continued to engage in them. Years later, I ended up working in a Middle School fifteen minutes away in Albany Park that served a large Hispanic community.  The school had a significant Puerto Rican population.  My conversations a decade prior to that with students helped me build relationships in my new environment as a language arts teacher then later as a Dean of Instruction.  Students felt safe with me because I tried to learn their culture and bring it into the school and classroom.

Have A Plan for Working With The Different Communities In Your School

The best way to begin a plan for culturally responsive classrooms and schools is really to develop a survey for your students and stakeholders on the needs of students and families.  From there, you can really look at your data to measure where you are strong and where you are weak in fostering students’ identities.  

Here are some questions that you can ask:

Parents:

  1. Do you feel that your child is included in school activities? Why? Why not?
  2. Do you feel that your child’s classroom accommodates your home culture?
  3. What are some ways that the school can value your home culture more?

Students:

  1. Do you feel confident in participating in classroom discussions and school activities? Why? Why not?
  2. Do you feel that your classroom values who you are?
  3. What can the school do to value who you are?

The answers to this survey may surprise you.  They will also give you a guide to making your school more engaging towards the cultures that are represented in the population.

Some aspects to think about for planning to be more responsive to students needs are dependent on your population and also budget. Finding teachers that the home language is vital for schools with large English Learner populations.  If the school can afford paraprofessionals that speak the languages of the majority of English Learners to support them in general education settings, this is key in making students feel engaged.  When this is done, it is important to train paraprofessionals with teachers in the various school initiatives.  With paraprofessionals they need to be trained to support students in the classroom for language.  They should learn to support student agency and give students a rigorous push when needed rather than only translating for students.

In addition to paraprofessionals, family engagement personnel that speak the home languages are needed for language groups larger populations. They can support parents at IEP meetings and parent conferences.  They can also be a resource for school leaders to understand different populations and parents to understand a school environment.  They could hold trainings for parents who need more support from the school in the home language.

In developing a plan, leaders need to assure that teachers are also involved in creating it.  Teachers know what their students need because they are the ones who encounter them daily.  Teachers are on the forefront for communicating with families and realizing their needs.  They want to assure that schools are serving the child in the best manner.  

All students matter in school environments.  It is important for a school to malleable in adjusting to needs of all learners.  When developing plans on the wider scale for school and district wide engagement or targeting key classroom practices all students needed to be considered.  Think of it this way, your school is a quilt, every piece helps shape its design and the structure of the fabric.  Without each shape, the quilt falls apart.  Engage your school and keep it warm with engaging all cultures!

Citation:
Hammond, Zaretta. (2015) Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Thousand Oaks, CA. Corwin, Inc.
For further reading on this topic:
Asgedom, Mawi. Even, Johanna. Empowering English Learners For Classroom Success: 6 Keys to Academic and Social-Emotional Growth. Elmhurst, IL. Mawi Learning, Inc.
Delpit, L. D. (2006). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: New Press.

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If you aren’t already part of our mailing list, please sign up HERE to receive freebies, announcements, and just to get to know us!  Looking for new ideas and graduate credits? Visit our Online Professional Development School!  Please visit the ELP website to meet the team and learn more about our services.

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Author englishlearnerportalPosted on February 16, 2018February 16, 2018Categories educationTags cultural competence, culturally responsive, culture, EL, ELL, English Learner, ESL, ESOL, family, family engagement, mawi, public school, school administrator, school counselor, school social worker, teach, teacherLeave a comment on Cultural responsiveness in the classroom and school community

Increase Equity through Family Engagement

Increase Equity through Family Engagement
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Today’s blog is written by Laura Gardner.  Laura has 16 years of experience working in public education, refugee resettlement, and social work.  While in public education, she worked as a district level manager for immigrant family and community engagement as well as a school social worker.  Learn more about Laura on our English Learner Portal website.

20 Ways to Increase Equity through Family Engagement with English Learners & Immigrants  by Laura Gardner

Making international families feel welcome and included in your school is crucial to building success for students.  Not only can you increase family engagement through language access, it is also a legal responsibility.  What does your school system offer?  How can you raise the bar for your school and classroom?  Take a look at the tips below!

At the school level

  1. Spanish Language Means Wordcloud Translator And TextTranslate your parent newsletter – and all information going home to parents! – into the major languages of your school community. This includes information about field trips, after-school programs, and extra-curricular activities.
  2. Make sure non-English speaking parents know it’s their right to ask for an interpreter when they’d like one and that they know how to request one.
  3. Offer English Learner and immigrant parents an orientation workshop (or video) in their language with information about your school and how to get involved.
  4. Talk to English Learner and immigrant parents about the concept of “parent involvement” in the U.S. and expectations around it. Make sure parents understand it is not disrespectful for them to visit school and/or ask the teacher questions.
  5. Make sure signage is translated by the front door of the school and in the front office.
  6. Translate report card comments or have a mechanism in place for parents to call and get oral assistance understanding the comments.
  7. Consider overhauling how you do Back to School Night or Open House to make it more accessible and less confusing for all Advocate for as many interpreters as you need.
  8. Balance the family events in your school in such a way that some events are 1.) for all parents (with interpretation provided for parents needing it) and other events are 2.) just for English Learner / immigrant parents (typically funded by Title III) so that they can hear the information in their language and topics can be specifically geared towards immigrants.
  9. Make sure your parent events or opportunities are linked to students’ learning! For example, potlucks are nice, but why not choose a high-impact family engagement strategy? (Check out our online course on immigrant family engagement for loads of ideas.)
  10. Advocate, advocate, advocate for immigrant families’ needs. But don’t only advocate for the Spanish-speakers!

At the district level:

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  1.  Make sure your legal office is aware of all federal, state, and local language access laws.
  2. Make sure interpretation and translation services are budgeted for! Do not rely on Title III for all needs. Be aware of “supplement vs. supplant.”
  3. Consider having a language access committee or task force that includes staff from multiple offices such as communications, ESOL/English Learners, and family engagement. That said, no matter the size of the district, make sure there is at least one person at the central office who is ultimately responsible for language access.
  4. Provide multilingual outreach for all district-wide invitations to events or activities. Never attempt to document the need for interpretation services at a particular event unless the outreach for such event was translated.
  5. Make sure all information going home to parents from the central office is translated into the district’s most dominant languages. This includes information about any gifted and talented programs, magnet programs, and any other accelerated programming. This also includes information about the budget and any opportunities to weigh in on the budget.
  6. Make sure all robo-calls and/or text messages are sent out in the major languages of03A49554 the community, particularly for emergency situations.
  7. Make sure the district has a contract with a phone interpretation system. It is the cheapest and most convenient form of instantaneous language access there is.
  8. Provide training for staff on language access laws and how to work with interpreters.
  9. Provide simultaneous interpretation for school board meetings (via headsets and equipment), particularly for opportunities for public comment.
  10. Don’t forget about all of the language backgrounds besides Spanish! While it may not be legally required and/or cost efficient to create written translations for smaller language groups, be sure to have other mechanisms in place for parents in those communities to access the information (i.e. through your phone interpretation system, etc.).

 Can you think of other ways? Comment below and join in the conversation!

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If you aren’t already part of our mailing list, please sign up HERE to receive freebies, announcements, and just to get to know us!  Looking for new ideas and graduate credits? Visit our Online Professional Development School!

Author englishlearnerportalPosted on February 10, 2018February 11, 2018Categories educationTags education, English Learner, equity, ESL, ESOL, family, immigrant, interpretation, language access, parent engagement, parent involvement, principal, school counselor, school social worker, teacher, translationLeave a comment on Increase Equity through Family Engagement

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