VIDEO REFLECTION

Based on the information in one of the five video clips in this week’s required studies and your real-life experiences, write a reflection that addresses the following or other ideas the video caused you to consider:

• What assumptions do you make about others?
• Why are differences sometimes threatening?
  • What do you know for sure?
  • What do you not know?
  • What prevents someone from being compassionate?
• What is the relationship between money and power?
  • How do you know or identify privilege?
• What assumptions do you make about people from different races, ethnicities, and cultures?
  • How does this look in a classroom?
  • How does it impact learning?
  • How does it impact your image as a role model for the students you teach?

Support your statements with evidence from the required studies and your research. Cite and reference your sources in APA style.

Click here for information on course rubrics.

Social Identities

Figure 1. The iceberg concept of culture (Globalcompetency, n.d.). [Transcript]

Why might educators find talking about race, culture, and ethnicity particularly difficult? If you have had, or tried to have these conversations with your colleagues, family, friends, or students, what happened? While this conversation has been a hot button topic for many years, it does not make it easier.

Dennis Van Roekel (2008), president of the National Education Association, stated,

Educators with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to value the diversity among students will contribute to an educational system designed to serve all students well. Our nation can no longer be satisfied with success for some students; instead we must cultivate the strengths of all. (para. 1)

Similarly, Dr. Martin Luther King (UCSB Center for Black Studies Research, n.d.) stated the following in a speech given in 1968:

I said to my children, “I’m going to work and do everything that I can do to see that you get a good education. I don’t ever want you to forget that there are millions of God’s children who will not and cannot get a good education and I don’t want you feeling that you are better than they are. For you will never be what you ought to be until they are what they ought to be.” (p. 1)

King held himself personally responsible for progressing equity in education. He used his “I’s” to indicate that as a society, it is not right to look into the eyes of children and allow the choices we make to limit educational potential. Here we are, a half-century later, still trying to fulfill his dream. By putting the onus on each individual to change the educational system as King does when he states, “you will never be what you ought to be until they are what they ought to be,” we are providing a context to reflect, contest, and change policies and practices.

Sichel and Bacon (2016) pose the question, “Why is there a dichotomy—where some students achieve and some students do not?” (p. 207). They go on to say, “We believe that all students should receive what they need and deserve” (p. 207).

In what ways do your students define themselves and others? Is it culturally, ethnically, racially? Does this impact the educational environments that your students encounter each and every day? Are social identities socially constructed? Many would argue this is the case and it is imperative that educators develop and enhance competencies as an ongoing practice to help better understand ourselves and others.

Let’s end by considering the following tale by Jeanne Gibbs (1995):

Once upon a time there was a school for animals. The teachers were certain it had a very comprehensive curriculum, but somehow all the animals were failing. The duck was the star in the class for swimming, but was flunking tree climbing. The monkey was great at tree climbing, but getting F’s in swimming. The chickens excelled in grain research, but disrupted the tree climbing class so much they were sent to the principal’s office daily. The rabbits were sensational in running, but had to have private tutoring in swimming. Saddest of all were the turtles, who after many diagnostic tests, were pronounced “developmentally disabled.” Yes, they were sent to a special class in a remote gopher hole. The question is, who were the real failures?

Like the animals in the story, each student is a unique creation…a person who has a different set of talents, intelligences, and ways of learning. It is time to take seriously the fact that the predominant focus of American education favors students who are adept in verbal and logical/mathematical skills and those ways of learning, but discourages those who have different innate intelligences. One might ask, all are not tree climbers, but are great swimmers or runners doomed to failure simply because they are in a system designed solely for a different type of animal? (p. 63)

References

Gibbs, J. (1995). Tribes: A new way of learning and being together. Windsor, CA: CenterSource Systems.

Globalcompetency. (n.d.). The iceberg concept of culture [Image]. Retrieved from http://globalcompetency.wikispaces.com/Iceberg+con…

Sichel, A. F., & Bacon, A. H. (2015). Focusing on equity propelled us from good to great. In A. Blankstein, P. Noguera, & L. Kelly (Eds.), Excellence through equity (pp. 205-224). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

UCSB Center for Black Studies Research. (n.d.). Center News. Retrieved from http://www.research.ucsb.edu/cbs/outreach/

VanRoekel, D. (2008). Promoting educators’ cultural competence to better serve culturally diverse students. Retrieved from https://www.nea.org/assets/docs/PB13_CulturalCompe…

Weekly Objectives

Through participation in the following activities, the candidate will:

• Describe the way issues of equality can impact the learning environment. (3l, 9i)
  • Video Reflection
  • Culture, Ethnicity, and Race
  • Advocacy Action Plan Part 1
• Accurately perceive themselves as cultural/ethnic people who live and work with students and their families in a culturally and ethnically shaped society, and use that perspective to respond to their students’ needs, strengths, and learning styles. (3l, 9e)
  • Video Reflection
  • Culture, Ethnicity, and Race
  • Advocacy Action Plan Part 1
• Describe how they will create a classroom climate that emphasizes both equity and access for all students. (3o)
  • Video Reflection
  • Culture, Ethnicity, and Race
  • Advocacy Action Plan Part 1

Required Studies

The following materials are required studies for this week. Complete these studies at the beginning of the week, and save these materials for future use. Full references for these materials are listed in the Required Course Materials section of the syllabus.

Excellence Through Equity (Blankstein, Noguera, & Kelly, 2016)

• Chapter 10: The Journey Toward Equity and Excellence (Reville, 2015, pp. 185-202)
• Chapter 11: Focusing on Equity Propelled Us From Good to Great (Sichel & Bacon, 2015, pp. 205-224)
• Chapter 12: Equity and Achievement in the Elementary School (Berg, 2015, pp. 225-236)

View one of the following

• You will view one of the following for the Tuesday discussion post:
  • Color Blind or Color Brave? (Hobson, 2014) [Video] [Transcript]
  • What’s So Different About Cultures Anyway?: Dato Gogichaishvili at TEDxTbilisi (Gogichaishvili, 2013) [Video] [Transcript]
  • The Lunch Date (Springboard Schools, 2008) [Video] [Transcript]
  • TEDxHampshireCollege – Jay Smooth – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Discussing Race (Smooth, 2011) [Video] [Closed captioned]
  • TEDxCMUQatar – Kody Gerkin – How Multicultural Awareness Creates a World With No Boundaries (Gerkin, 2011) [Video] [Closed captioned]

Do you need a similar assignment done for you from scratch? We have qualified writers to help you. We assure you an A+ quality paper that is free from plagiarism. Order now for an Amazing Discount!
Use Discount Code "Newclient" for a 15% Discount!

NB: We do not resell papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.