Harvard Family Research Project has an informative and in-depth blog about preparing teachers to work with culturally diverse students and their families. The most recent entry discusses the need to build on the knowledge learners bring to the classroom. Author Sherick Hughes discusses teachers’ need to understand the histories and lived experiences of families of their students in order to utilize what he calls diversity capital, or “teaching skills that breed high educational performance by bridging the gaps that separate school and home.” Read his full post here.
New book on Teaching in Diverse, Standards-Based Classrooms
Connecting Teachers, Students, and Standards
Introduction: Teaching in Diverse, Standards-Based Classrooms
Today’s schools are becoming increasingly diverse. Many teachers find that their classrooms are populated by English language learners, gifted students, students with disabilities, and students who are culturally diverse. Nearly half of all students in U.S. public schools (42 percent) are students of color, approximately 20 percent of students speak a language other than English at home, and approximately 14 percent of students have an identified disability (U.S. Department of Education, 2007a). Approximately half of the students who have an identified disability spend 80 percent of their school day in general education classrooms (U.S. Department of Education, 2007b). To add to this diversity, approximately 12 percent of students in public schools are labeled as gifted and talented (Friend, 2007). Like their peers with disabilities, gifted and talented students also are integrated into general education classrooms. All of these differences make teaching more interesting and exciting as well as more complex.
For more information and options to order the book click here.
Building Hope: Refugee Learner Narratives
We are pleased to let you know that the Building Hope: Refugee Learner Narratives (2015) document has been published online. The link and information follows.
Both an interactive PDF version and a print PDF version of Building Hope: Refugee Learner Narratives (2015) are available. This document is intended to help strengthen the capacity of school communities at all levels (early, middle, and senior years) to provide an appropriate and supportive school environment for refugee and war-affected learners and their families. The core of the document is the stories or ‘learner narratives’ of eleven young Canadians of refugee or war-affected backgrounds who were interviewed about their experiences before coming to Canada and their immigration life since then, with emphasis on their education pathways.
CSSE Intersection Scenarios Symposium Preview 12: Advocacy for Immigrant Teachers
Systemic advocacy for immigrant teachers: At the intersection of “isms”
From 2005-2011, I helped oversee a bridging program for internationally educated teachers (IETs) offered at the University of Manitoba. The program involved university coursework required to meet certification requirements, practicum placements, professional development and networking, and customized language support. The program was premised on an equity mandate that promoted a more diverse teaching force and recognized the many attributes of internationally educated teachers.
One of my roles was to chair advisory committee meetings with key stakeholders, including school division liaisons (often superintendents), ministry representatives from education and immigration, NGO service providers, and teacher education colleagues from the Faculty of Education.
Discussions at the bi-monthly meetings were intense and often controversial. Committee members had different levels of investment in issues facing IETs—some were part of this committee because they were immigrant teachers themselves and spent years trying to move an equity agenda forward; others were new to issues facing internationally educated teachers and had been assigned to be part of this committee by their school divisions. The issues presented below were raised by different stakeholders at advisory committee meetings over the duration of the program, though not all of the issues arose at the same meeting.
Key stakeholders raised questions and concerns such as:
- “Why should we support an initiative to integrate immigrant teachers when we have other hiring priorities, such as employing more male teachers in elementary schools?”
- “What is being done to ensure the IETs’ language is up to par? Parents will complain if their accents are too strong.”
- “Those of you [two female coordinators] promoting this program just won’t let up—you pursue your goals like pitbulls.”
- “When given the choice between hiring a 50-year old immigrant teacher and a 23-year-old graduate from a Manitoba Faculty of Education, I would hire the 23-year old grad in every case. Parents want young and energetic teachers.”
- “I’m not sure why we have a Ukrainian teacher and a Filipino teacher placed in our school—we don’t have any students from those backgrounds.”
To learn more about this scenario, including the author’s own response, please attend the Intersections of Diverse Teachers and Diverse Learners at CSSE 2013, or stay tuned to the DiT website because we will be posting those details in the near future.
Until then, please leave a comment so that we can read your responses to this scenario. Here are some questions to consider interacting with each other and the author (Dr. Clea Shmidt, from the University of Manitoba) about:
- What assumptions are reflected in each comment?
- What “isms” come across in the various viewpoints represented?
- What challenges arise in doing advocacy work at the systemic level?
CSSE Intersection Scenarios Symposium Preview 11: Collaboration Challenge
Why is she behaving this way?
As a professor at the University of Toronto, I work with graduate and undergraduate students of different ages and religious, ethnic and racial backgrounds. As such I often meet with my students in small groups to support their developing skills as researchers. I encourage them to work collaboratively and help each other in reaching their goals while sharing their concerns and questions about the research process.
Although I strongly encourage a spirit of collegiality among my students, I have observed that not everyone is equally comfortable in the context of these group meetings. In fact one day, after one of our regular meetings, one male student asked “Why is she behaving this way?” in reference to a student he perceived as particularly guarded during the meeting.
His question made me wonder about my role as the facilitator of such a diverse group. I wondered if it would be a good idea to review the norms for interaction at meetings and emphasize the group as a “safe” place for expressing diverse views as well as concerns or questions. I wondered what role culture, and gender played in this situation and how I might work with both students involved to ensure they benefitted maximally from their involvement in our regular group meetings.
To learn more about this scenario, including the author’s own response, please attend the Intersections of Diverse Teachers and Diverse Learners at CSSE 2013, or stay tuned to the DiT website because we will be posting those details in the near future.
Until then, please leave a comment so that we can read your responses to this scenario. Here is a question to consider interacting with each other and the author (Dr. Antoinette Gagne, from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, at the University of Toronto) about:
- How would you address such a situation?
Connect with us
Facebook
Twitter
Blogger
Youtube