Week 31 - BEING CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE & CULTURALLY RESPONSIBLE

Culture is learned from the people we are raised by and interact with. When considering our cultural responsiveness we must act upon our own cultural views of the world. In order to truly respond to our learners in a culturally conscious way we must first look at ourselves to see whether or not we understand our own culture. We all view the world differently through our own eyes. However, our views of cultures within the world tend to change as we learn, and acquire knowledge throughout our lives. We all come across barriers pertaining to culture but we must acknowledge these and work together to break down the barriers so that they do not become part of the norm. 

Cultural responsiveness is the ability to learn from and relate respectfully with people of your own culture as well as those from other cultures (Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Practice, 2018).

Cultural responsiveness begins with relationships. The relationships we develop with our students and their families is crucial in beginning to understand one’s culture. 

Culture not only refers to race or ethnicity but also includes the unique features of communities. It includes demographic makeup (in locations worldwide), a person’s gender, age, the language spoken, and local history. Understanding the specific cultural characteristics of a community is important in order to achieve intended outcomes.

Image: Culturally Responsive Classrooms and Schools by PassageWorks Institute (2016). Retrieved from http://passageworks.org/culturally-responsive-classrooms-and-schools/

I view culture as including the values and beliefs of a group of people. It is about adopting a code of ethics as we know it from the educational council and applying it to all cultures. Culture is important, it is a way of forming relationships to shape our understanding and behaviour of one’s culture.

How does culture apply to my class environment?

A lot of research points towards creating culturally inviting spaces for your children in the classroom. This is great but I tend to value the relationships more. If relationships aren’t formed between yourself and the students, or the student and their peers then how are they going to share this culturally inviting space you have provided them with. Furthermore, relationships formed with parents further enhance cultural understanding. We learn from each other and grow together to the benefit of the students.

What now?

My advice to offer would be to reflect on what you have learned about your students. For example, their cultures, background and home life, their skills, experiences, and interests. What are their strengths? How can you build on these and use them to guide you in integrating your students’ culture, using the New Zealand curriculum?

Professional Learning

I did my teaching diploma at Waikato University. Whilst on practicum in a city school during my studies I observed the range of children from different ethnic backgrounds. My associate teacher informed me about the range of cultural backgrounds and their beliefs they lived by. It was important to learn about all the students’ culture. There were different things you had to consider. In some cultures it was a sign of disrespect if you touched their heads, some cultures only ate certain food groups too, therefore, I had to ensure I was applying the code of ethics in my own practice. It definitely goes to show that relationships do need to be formed between people of different cultures so that there is an understanding about the two, and we are all seen as equal no matter our beliefs and values.

We all determine how culture is viewed. Nevertheless, we need to remember to not only share our views of culture but to understand others culture too. All learners should be treated as equal as should their cultures.

Are we being culturally responsive and culturally responsible?

REFERENCES

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Practice. (2018) (p. 12). Retrieved from http://www.niusileadscape.org/docs/pl/culturally_responsive_pedagogy_and_practice/activity2/Culturally%20Responsive%20Pedagogy%20and%20Practice%20Module%20academy%202%20%20Slides%20Ver%201.0%20FINAL%20kak.pdf

Little, W., & McGivern, R. (n.d.). Chapter 11. Race and Ethnicity – Introduction to Sociology – 1st Canadian Edition. (2018). Opentextbc.ca. Retrieved 23 March 2018, from https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter11-race-and-ethnicity/

Week 29 - SOCIAL INTERCONNECTEDNESS

According to the English Oxford Living Dictionary (Social networking | Definition of social networking in English by Oxford Dictionaries, 2018), Social Network is the use of dedicated websites and applications to interact with other users or to find people with similar interests to one's own.

Image: Advantages and disadvantages of Social Networks by Youth Portal Retrieved 21 March 2018 from http://www.youthvillage.co.za/2013/10/advantages-disadvantages-social-networks/

Social online networking communities have been around for many years. Thus, involvement and interaction have increased over the years. There is a lot of support in inviting people into these online communities and the benefits of social online networking is far greater. Technology just keeps evolving and new online social networking communities and sites are being created and are easily accessed.

Online social networking is used to connect with friends, family, work colleagues and new people. They are utilized to communicate and share ideas, invite responses, and support and create discussions. Our social circles once known as the community we lived in has been transformed by the digital world allowing us to be globally connected through social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogger and many more. Social networks offer the potential to support us in our professional learning by communicating with like-minded people. We all know how that works just look at all of us participating and contributing in our Mind Lad Post Grad Community.

Teaching Digital Citizenship

As teachers, we need to teach our students about cyber safety and to encourage safe usage on the internet in order to develop culturally situated learning experiences for our learners and ourselves. I introduced blogging to students in my classroom last year. When we blog, whether in or out of school, communication encourages discussions in many ways. Once you start to blog and that information/thought/conversation becomes public, it will then take on a life of its own by creating a ripple effect of continual learning (Utecht, 2017). The ways in which blogging helped my learners to develop their own personal voice benefitted me as an educator. They had ownership, they were creative, communicated, participated and contributed to an online community, and expressed themselves freely using tools at the click of a button. There are many opportunities for learners to blog. I feel I have experienced more successes than failures through allowing my learners to blog in the classroom. 

As digital learning shapes our lives, teaching and learning practices must move with the times. While there are concerns about cyberbullying we still must address the need for teaching and developing our learners' online experiences, providing them with a safe and enjoyable one. This link to The Education Council (2018), provides some excellent information and resources in regards to the code of ethics for teachers and its relationship with social media.

Social media provides the pathway for us to connect our students with the global world, people and places far beyond their school and home environment. Networks such as Google Community and Facebook are used to expand our discussions, provide us with answers to queries we may have about our teaching practice and audiences.

It is all about building relationships outside of our home and work environment (school), communicating with like-minded people, and having awareness about what is happening in the world, being aware of the global issues. We not only use the internet for communicating with others but to view the ideas of others because as we all know why reinvent the wheel when ideas and resources are shared to use. By using social networks, we can explore many possibilities and contribute our own perspectives, thoughts and ideas to real life issues. 

Social online networking is all about the rich experiences we have. In addition, if used correctly social networking would be a powerful tool for your learners who can engage in critical discussion with other people both near and far. They can make the most of the opportunities to inquire about the big wide world seeking information and answers to feed their curiosity.

What opportunities are you providing your learners with to engage in ‘Social Networking?’ 

REFERENCES

Education Council (2018). Teachers and social media. Retrieved March 16, 2018 from https://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/

Social networking | Definition of social networking in English by Oxford Dictionaries. (2018). Oxford Dictionaries | English. Retrieved 21 March 2018, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/social_networking

Utecht, J. (2007). Blogs aren’t the enemy: How Blogs enhance learning. Technology & Learning, 27, 32-34.

Week 28 - COPYRIGHT OR COPY RIGHT!!

 

Image: A Guide For Legally Using Images On The Web by Patkar Mihir. (2013) Retrieved from https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/concerned-copyright-guide-legally-using-images-web/

 

Ever run into problems trying to access work of others and not being able to because of a certain Research Commons or a Copyright Act. I have! I’m sure we all have faced these problems at some stage in our educational journey, these are called ethical problems. I enjoy sharing resources I have made and resources I have obtained from others (with their verbal permission), and there is the resource mainframe with the click of a button, our good friend the internet. My thinking is why ‘reinvent the wheel’ it makes sense to me to share what we have in order to save other teachers and educators time to look for it online or creating it themselves. Does this sound like you too?

Unbelievably there are many who think like us but we do need to be aware of what we are sharing to ensure there aren’t any copyright or research commons noted on the resources. To be honest I don’t understand why people share their resources if they are not willing to actually SHARE their resources. I understand some sell their resources online or have a business/ organization to sustain but sometimes it feels like resources are being dangled in front of your face taunting you, buy me and save time on creating your own. Do we really want to spend hundreds of dollars? I’m not too sure about you but if I had to buy all my resources I probably would be broke.

So let us now talk about creating our own educational resources. I soon discovered in my second year as a beginner teacher that all the resources that I had created in my own time, for my classroom, belonged to the school. That is where I learned about a Creative Commons Policy. I was very fortunate as the school Principal and Board of Trustees allowed me to take all resources I owned and had created. 

Never thought you would ever break the law. Elizabeth Heritage (2015) writes “There is currently a major problem with copyright in education.” It seems that many of us may have because we are unaware of the circumstances. Our employers hold the copyrights to all our resources that we create whilst in their employment.Without permission from the board to take our resources with us, we are breaking the law. But wait! Even though this seems like a barrier it can easily be overcome by creating a Creative Commons policy with your school.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons Aotearoa is a non-profit organization that helps people share their copyright works for reuse by others. They also provide some fantastic resources and tips to inform your school to learn how to create their own Creative Commons licensing that’s if you haven’t already one in place. These can be found by clicking on the link Creative Commons Aotearoa NZ.

In all my years of teaching, I have worked hard in creating my own stack of resources and building onto them adding more as I learn with my students and teach them, and obtain resources from colleagues and friends. And, I’m sure you all have too! But just to be safe, ensure you talk with your school Principal or the Board of Trustees, or create a policy that allows you to take your resources with you. Otherwise, your hard work and energy put into them may have been a waste of time. 

What are your thoughts on such an ethical dilemma that occurs worldwide?

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REFERENCES

Creative Commons Aotearoa NZ. (2014). Creative Commons in Schools. Retrieved 13 March 2018, from http://creativecommons.org.nz/ccinschools/

 

Heritage, E. (2015). How Schools Can Share OERs – Legally – NZ Commons. Creative Commons Aotearoa. Retrieved 16 March 2018, from http://nzcommons.org.nz/share-oers-legally/

 

Ministry of Education. (2016) Know your copy-rights! Retrieved 19 March 2018, from http://www.edgazette.govt.nz/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleId=9224