The final task on this blog is as follows:

Reflect on the learning outcomes for this FLC, describe your experiences that contributed to those outcomes, and analyze your mastery of those ideas. Present how you might incorporate your new insights in your teaching, your department, your office, or in designing student experiences. 

Here are the learning outcomes for the community:

• Describe strategies of learning to cope with new social/cultural expectations through immersion experiences such as BaFa BaFa and personal experience.
• Analyze experiences of dealing with diversity through personal assessment using the Intercultural Development Instrument.
• Create ways to foster of diversity in professional life/classes/student services/student groups

I think I am have some new strategies for coping with new social cultural expectations. These include finding the familiar while being open to novelty. Finding the familiar helps me to use my cultural strengths and referents to access new spaces and ideas. Being open to and embracing the unfamiliar allows me to learn about others. Having opportunities to feel like an outsider in the immersion experiences served as important reminders both of how to welcome others and how to successfully join new experiences. Participating in personal assessment through reflection and the Intercultural Development Instrument allowed me to have some insight into the distance between what I know and believe and what I do. As an advisor for a student group, course instructor and colleague I need to find ways to allow for that learning space and to be intentional about creating it.  One specific thing I can do is allow time for reflection. Without reflection and dialogue there is a danger of reinforcing stereotypes instead of recognizing the “funds of knowledge” or cultural and cognitive resources (Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gonzalez, 1992) that others bring to the table.  What I can take away from this group is to not be held back by or wrapped up in what I already know and recognize how much I have to learn.

 

Reference

 

Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 32(2), 132-141.

March 8 

ePortfolio prompt:  Summarize  your “outside experience.” Where did you go; what did you do; who did you meet; how did you feel; what were your strategies for interaction in an unfamiliar place? 

I had difficulty selecting an "outside experience". I really wanted to choose something where I had a new experience and where I felt "othered" or like an outsider in some way in order to attempt to take the perspective of others. I often feel like an outsider. Just yesterday I went to see To Kill A Mockingbird at The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. The Marx Theatre seats 626 people. There were probably about a dozen people of color, of which I was one. Every time the "N" word was spoken in the play, particularly by a child I felt uncomfortable. Anyway, this was not my outside experience. I just wanted to highlight that it is not uncommon to be in situations where I feel conspicuous. As one half of an interracial marriage, I am sometimes the "only" at family events. Another challenge is that I have a fairly diverse circle of friends that includes people from a variety of backgrounds. I am half Haitian and half Panamanian. I have traveled to Haiti and I am going to visit my parents in Panama for spring break. My sister in law is from Russia. I enjoy going to a range of restaurants and often eat at Emanu http://emanuea.com/  I attend pride week events with friends. What could I do that would be a new outside experience? It struck me that when we discussed events that impacted us, I recalled my cousin coming from Haiti and going to a grocery store on Long Island for the first time. She stood in the aisle with all of the shampoo and seemed frozen. She was not used to so many choices and did not know where to begin. She said, "I just want shampoo." When Ruth suggested a grocery store as a possible experience I knew that was the right choice for me. Going to the grocery store allows you to get items to meet basic needs. It is something I take for granted.  When our children were old enough to stay home alone, going to the grocery store was one of the first things my husband and I did without them. We jokingly called it "a grocery store date." I went to CAM International Market.

As I entered there were several signs and a bulletin board that were not in English. The aisle markers were all in English, but most of the items were not. I decided to make myself walk through every aisle and pick out at least three items that I could recognize. I didn't want to just walk around and leave. That felt rude.  I was the only Black person in the store. At the time I was the only non Asian person in the store. I felt like I was intruding I looked at spices and pastes that I didn't recognize. Aha! - coconut milk. It had a photo and the words in English and Spanish, that was something I could get. Wasabi peas were in another aisle. My husband loves spicy food and we have gotten those before. I got to the final aisle and there were bags and bags of rice. Somehow this was incredibly comforting. When I was a teacher of young children, I used to read the book Everybody Cooks Rice. In Haiti and in Panama every meal has rice. As I went to check out I saw a booble head cat that my sons would like. They collect little figures. I got in line and noticed that there was a credit card machine, but everyone in front of me paid with cash, so I did too. I didn't really have any strategies for interaction. I smiled and nodded if anyone looked at me. I thanked the woman at the checkout. I guess my strategies overall were to look for familiar images, be polite and avoid any assumptions or inserting myself into any conversations.  I am an introvert, so situations where I don't know anyone are difficult. My strategy in most situations where I am new is to find one friend or familiar person to connect with. I was by myself, which made it harder. 

Here are my purchases

Here is our task for February

Activity: Choose an activity from the text. Present how you would apply this activity in your class, with student groups, or in a workshop for your colleagues/staff. 

ePortfolio prompt: Describe your activity, present its design, procedures, goals, and facilitation plan. 

I teach a class called ECE 2025 - Families, Communities and Schools. It is a class for pre-early childhood majors. All of the students hope to be teachers of children from Pre-K - Third Grade. 

Here is the course description: This course explores educational considerations in working with young children and families from a variety of cultural, ethnic, and other diverse backgrounds. This course also addresses issues related to working with families in early care and education and to learning strategies for building partnerships, communicating about child progress, and accessing community resources.

In the third week of the course we discuss family diversity and the variation among families. We talk about anti-bias curriculum or representation of the diversity in society in the classroom throughout the day and throughout the curriculum while challenging stereotypes and helping children to develop a positive self-identity. One component of working with children and families is to see things from their perspective and learn about their cultures. 

In reviewing our text for this learning community,  I found an activity about culture called the four analogies. (It is activity #4 on pages 61-68.)

Here is the reference for our cultural diversity community text: Berardo, K., Deardorff, D. (2012). Building Cultural Competence – Innovative activities and models. Sterling, VA. Stylus Publishing, LLC 

Goals

I thought this would be helpful because it would allow me to assess the students' current understanding of culture, followed by engaging them in a discussion about the complexity of culture. I hope students would be able to do the following

• Define and explain culture
• Make comparisons of the images  provided to culture 
• Apply concepts of the course to the images in terms of working with families and engaging them in meaningful ways.

At this point in the course we have reviewed several theoretical frameworks that show the family system and how important the family is to a child. We have discussed the importance of family engagement and how it is recommended by professional organizations. We have also discussed the importance of listening to families and avoiding assumptions. 

Design - Hand out pictures of an onion, a fish in a fishbowl, an iceberg and lenses and ask students to consider how these are like culture. Facilitate a discussion about culture. 

Procedures

Put the instructions from the text on a PowerPoint slide and project them

You will receive a picture of either an onion, an iceberg, a fish in water or lenses. All are analogies for understanding culture. Discuss these with the people around you.

What is the similarity between the object in front of you and culture?

What insight does this give you about how to effectively work across cultures? 

The students do a "think, write, pair, share." They think about the materials presented and questions. They write down their responses. They pair up with the people around them. (My students did this in groups of 4.) They share their responses in a small group and then share them again in a large group.

Facilitation Plan

I planned to walk around the room and listen to and reflect back responses in the small groups. I then planned to have one representative for each image share their responses. After each response I would use the additional guidance from the text to develop responses a bit further. I will make specific connection to working with children and families in schools. 

Onion - We need to recognize the many layers of family members and see them for the complex individuals they are. Avoid assumptions and stereotypes.

Iceberg - Surface level culture such as food and dress is the tip of the iceberg. We should avoid minimizing people to these. When working with families be aware that changing the way you think or your worldview is challenging. The way families may view their children or what they view as obscene or offensive may be different from you. 

Fish in water - You are in your own world and the influence of your own culture can be invisible. Learn about yourself and your culture. Step out of your comfort zone and be a fish out of water. Go to events in the neighborhoods where your families live. 

Lenses - Try to see things from the perspective of others. "The goal of working across cultures is to recognize our own lenses or cultural filter we are wearing in any situation and learn to put on the lenses of someone from a different cultural background (Berardo & Deardorff, 2012, p. 62)."

I plan to revisit these throughout the semester. 

I implemented this activity and it went well. Students were hesitant at first. They were looking for the "right answer." They were ultimately all able to make the connections for each image. 

Intercultural Facilitation

ePortfolio Prompt: For a faculty or staff member who is unfamiliar with this concept, explain what it means to be an intercultural facilitator at UCBA? What can you expect students to be responsible for? What is expected for the instructor? Synthesize these ideas to present why this apparently non-curricular concern is important for our classrooms and student services? 

Intercultural facilitation is important because we need to build a bridge between the culture of the home setting (or previous setting) and UCBA culture. We cannot assume that the norms, values and practices are clear. When I looked at the reading  and the reference to providing challenge, the notion of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) or the distance between what a learner can do independently or what can be done with assistance came to mind. If someone can do something independently he or she should have the opportunity to. When it is too easy he or she may become bored. When it is too difficult it becomes frustrating and he or she might quit.

 

We need to make learning challenging, but achievable. We discussed the portion of the text that explained approaches we all experienced in graduate school that were equated with hazing. “If I suffered others should suffer. ““Figure it out.” Rather than creating a disaster and waiting for students to fail, why not provide needed supports? We provide the content and skills needed for classes or using student services. Why not provide the tools and dispositions to successfully interact in the UCBA culture and with the “other.” The role of the faculty or staff member is to create an environment where learning about interacting with those who are different and learning the content from a course or activity can occur. Those things cannot be separated. The beginning, middle and end must be designed by the instructor as an intercultural facilitator. How will you welcome all students? How will you engage them? How can they debrief and reflect? What happens when some students come in the middle of the process? How are they welcomed? Not all students are in the same place at the same time, but they all need the same opportunities to go through the process. Having the tools is not enough. We need to show students how to use them. We need to be able to show we are willing to learn alongside them. The way I survived graduate school was to partner with peers. We didn’t really just “figure it out.” We had the assistance of each other.

BaFa Activity

Each group in the Ba Fa activity had a different focus.  I don't remember the names of the groups. My group was focused on obtaining currency. In some ways that was helpful because it provided a shared task and a context. In other ways that was negative because we clung to that context. It was difficult for me to learn the language. I found it to be stressful and anxiety inducing. There was one right way. When someone approached me for a card, I would attempt to count and understand and when there was a challenge was told no or that I was counting wrong. The focus was not on helping others understand, but on meeting individual needs. I was concerned when I couldn't help others. I also obtained one straight and stopped. I had already met my goal. It is not part of my actual culture to get as much as I can. There was some rapport and comfort over time that developed in the group. We were able to use humor. The rules shifted a bit and people tried different ways to make themselves understood. They began showing cards and trying a bit more to share with others. The focus was still very individualistic. I am glad that I didn't have to go to another group because I was still getting used to the rules of mine.  When visitors came to the group I was not helpful, none of us really were. Helping others was not part of our task. Overall the goal seemed to be obtain as much currency as you can, any way you can with the language as a starting point.

It is difficult to identify the social constructions as they were mediated by our own lived experiences, preferences and personalities. As a first generation American who is not fluent in the languages of either of my parents, not understanding the language is not a new experience for me. The difference is someone usually makes an effort to be inclusive. As family the focus is on belonging. I will make attempts at the languages. Someone will translate when needed. As an introvert, extended communications in a new way after teaching all day and before facilitating open house was a challenge as well.

I didn't observe the other group. I merely heard about it. I think the physical closeness would be uncomfortable. The focus of that group seemed to be sharing and learning about others.

The skills of cultural observing and learning play out in reality at UCBA when there are opportunities to sit back and learn the values and expectations in different groups and committees.  I can listen before speaking and learn the perspectives of others. While there are opportunities to interact and get involved in our college they all require either taking initiative to do so or being invited to do so. There aren't natural, organic ways to meet people or learn about the college and the roles.  If I see new people, I can reach out and see what help they may need. I can be the one to extend the invitations.

What is the IDI and how can it be useful?

The Intercultural Development Inventory is a tool that provides a snapshot of beliefs and behaviors regarding cultural differences and commonalities. It can be useful in learning about diversity because it can prompt personal reflection about how we perceive ourselves and our actual development. It is interesting that I may view myself one way, but in reality am behaving in another way.  This is important because my actual developmental orientation will impact interactions with students and colleagues. I overestimated my intercultural competence and found that surprising. I am eager to learn what I can do to close that gap. The important notion is that there is room for learning and growth.

Welcome

This is my first blog. I am participating in a faculty learning community that focused on diversity. I am looking forward to reflecting and learning from others in order to be more culturally competent.