In week 5, staff will discuss the
pedagogy of cultural responsiveness,
such as cultural academic vocabulary, literacy, language, body gesture,
eye contact, celebrations we can include in our teaching, how to create and
maintain a mutually respectful learning environment. Some guided questions can
be (Hollie, 2018) : What activities we use that could be described as
culturally responsive? Are these activities effective? Why? What culturally
responsive vocabulary, language and literacy do we use in teaching? How do we
create and maintain the culturally responsive environment? Hollie (2018) mentions the focus of
vocabulary development is building on words that represent concepts that
students bring to the classroom. Many of these words come from their cultural
backgrounds and their lives at home and communities. Teachers may encourage students to freely
express themselves, be proud of their root, and maybe share some vocabulary in
multiple languages. It is also helpful to invite each student to teach the
class and the teacher how to pronounce his/her name, share the story or origin
of his/her name, and create art works of the name.
In my school, teachers connect with
parents/guardians through Aeries Communication, Email, Google Classroom, phone
calls, text message, letters, progress report, home visit, and Parent
Center. In my interview, however,
parents/guardians expressed the need for closer communication from school.
Therefore, in week 6, we will reflect on how to better communicate with
parents. Morris (2019) states there are various ways to connect with
parents/guardians: the teacher can create a blog to provide parents a virtual
window to know about each class their child/children take. If the teacher can
open a podcast, then parents/guardians and students can listen on-the-go and
learn a lot from the process. She also advocates to utilize social media to
connect with parents/guardians. Many parents use social media daily and it is
becoming more common for teachers and schools to communicate in this way.
In the last week of this action plan we
can invite stakeholders to discuss and share their opinions of this program. It
will be helpful for school to discover the strengths and areas that need to
improve. It also shows our dedication to collaborate with stakeholders to
promote a more successful culturally-diverse school climate.
Even though it is the end of this action
plan, it should become part of school culture and continuously implemented for
a more successful school climate. This action plan includes the following
components. First, consistent communication with stakeholders is the
foundation. Second, encourage collaboration among staff through staff meetings,
leadership meetings, and department
meetings. Fostering the Professional Learning Community is essential to staff
because it offers the opportunity for teachers to work collaboratively and
learn from each other. The collaborative environment helps teachers feel
comfortable to share their ideas and experience of communicating with students
and their parents/guardians to find out their learning needs and hardship of
life, embedding students’ culture to the lesson to increase and motivate
students to learn. The third core is
collectively providing students access to a rich cultural learning environment
and school climate through building the relationship with them. It is crucial
to connect with the families via Parents Center, Parents Portal, Coffee with
the Principal, and social media. Last
but not least, the school should invite
and appreciate all the stakeholder’s efforts and contributions to foster a more
successful culturally-diverse school climate.
2019-2020 School Accountability Report Card
Morris, K. (2019). 8 Ways Teachers And Schools Can Communicate With Parents In 2020. http://www.kathleenamorris.com/2019/01/15/communicate-parents-2019/
Hollie, S. 2018. Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning. Shell Education
PBIS Assessment, https://www.pbisassessment.org/Anon/WVy102VSXu0
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