Research Review Form

Resource Review 1:
Name: Down the Hall: Communicating Cross-Culturally: What Teachers Should Know
Resource reviewed: (video, readings, website, etc.)
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Pratt-Johnson-CrossCultural.html
Communicating Cross-Culturally: What Teachers Should Know
Yvonne Pratt-Johnson

Key ideas I have learned:

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5.4 million children are English language learners in the U.S.A.

Teachers must understand the role that culture plays within the multi-cultural school setting.
Competence in cross-cultural communication requires diving below the surface to see the rest of
the iceberg: acquiring deeper cultural information that might affect how a teacher instructs and how
a student learn.
Cultural competence is a gradual process.
Different cultures acquire information differently. Most other cultures use non-academic sources.
Ways of solving problems is different in each culture too. Each reasons differently based on their
distinctive values, philosophy and beliefs.
Non-verbal communication is just as important as verbal communication.
Students in other cultures view the teacher as ultimate authority and dont want to question because
they are afraid they are challenging that authority.
Conflict can range from face-to-face to embarrassing or demeaning depending on the culture. But
conflict is always not desirable for students.
Symbols play a huge role in everyones learning.
Things that teachers can do to help: Build relationships with students and parents, listen
empathetically, look for cultural interpreters in school or community to be resources, take
advantage of the resources available to you.
Teachers must educate themselves on how to communicate with other cultures so that they can
teach students how to communicate with other cultures.

Ways I can use the ideas:

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Non-Verbal cues through the use of apps on the iPad like iTunes U for teaching my students what
they should and shouldnt do.
Use Facetime on the iPads to communicate with people in other cultures to have them personally
explain things students should and shouldnt do in communication with others.
Through the use of iPad apps find resources to help educate myself, as well as my students, on
symbols, conflicts and other cultures that could help with the communication between cultures.

What I need to know more about:

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What resources are available for me to learn about how to communicate with different cultures?
How do I get parents more involved in the communication?
What are some of the biggest non-verbal communication errors that people make when
communicating with other cultures?
Where can I find cultural interpreters in my area that can help me understand?
What are the similarities and differences that we see across cultures that could help build a
common bridge for students to understand?

Talking with my building leadership team, we feel that the things in this article should be shared
with all of the teachers in a building. We discussed how we believe that there is a lack of
knowledge on these kinds of topics and how they would be really beneficial for everyone to
know.

Research Review Form

Resource Review 2:
Name: Student- Directed Learning
Resource reviewed: (video, readings, website, etc.)
www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education_update/dec95/vol37/num09/StudentDirected_Learning.aspx
Student-Directed Learning
Balancing Student Choice and Curriculum Goals

Key ideas I have learned:

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Student directed learning allows kids choice within a range of potential objectives.
By allowing students to in-depth research on a topic over from a broader choice it allows them to
take ownership and become experts on their topics
Teachers must embrace role of Co-learner
Must rely on the enthusiasm and initiative of students
Teachers need to be guides- its about the process of learning

Ways I can use the ideas:

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Allow my students to be more self-directed in their learning, especially in my classes like Current
Issues. Specifically using apps on the iPads for them to direct their own learning.
Find ways there are overarching themes and then allowing my students do self-directed learning on
things that interest them and provide resources for them through the use of iPods and iPads
Find resources, like podcasts and resources on iTunes U, that can help my students in their learning
so that they are not always asking me for help
Allow them time to get to know their peers so that they can become more at ease with asking each
other questions

What I need to know more about:

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Are there other schools/classes close to me that are self-directed classes?

How to start a self-directed class
Where to find resources to help model what self-direction looks like
How each of the things we do during self-directed learning helps cover the standards my students
are expected to learn.
What specific apps can I use to help with self-directed learning?

I really like this idea of self-directed learning and have discussed with a couple other teachers in
my building and many think that it is a great idea. The biggest downfall we see is that we have
to rely on the students to be motivated and enthusiastic what they are learning. One of my coworkers teachers a self-directed accounting class and it is the single biggest struggle she has to
get the students to do the work on their own. I dont know if it is a lack of liking the subject and
not taking ownership or a lack of motivation of a combination of both.

Research Review Form

Resource Review 3:
Name: Culturally Responsive and Relevant Teaching & Learning
Resource reviewed: (video, readings, website, etc.)
www.tkcalifornia.org/teaching-tools/classroom-instructional-planning/cultrually-responsive.html#lacoboni
Culturally Responsive and Relevant Teaching & Learning

Key ideas I have learned:

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Students learn best in interactive relations

Parents have to be involved with this process
Development on all levels has to be supported daily through the things being done within the
classroom and at home
Using things like art, music and movement are important to development and the learning

Ways I can use the ideas:

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Getting to know parents on a more personal level to help understand them and their student better
Sending ideas/newsletters home to parents to help support them in the learning at home
Using iTunes U to interact with the parents and students throughout the different assignments
Getting our choir and band directors to come in and help show my students new ideas through the
music they listen to
Collaborate with my art teachers about projects that my students would find interesting that have
roots in different cultures.

What I need to know more about:

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How do I get to know parents better?

How do I get parents more involved?
What kind of lessons could my fine arts department and I could collaborate on?
Where do I begin to find ideas that could incorporate into my high school classroom?
What is the best way to use iTunes U to interact with students and parents?

Trying to get parents more involved has always been something my co-workers and I have tried
to do, but its the problem of figuring out how to get them involved and stay involved. Having
met with my choir teacher we came up with some great ideas for how to teach some cultural
ideas through music with my Geography class. I have also had conversations with our tech
integrationist about how to use iTunes U to reach parents at a different level. Being able to have
them use Calendar along with the iPads so that way students and parents can be in
communication of when things are due.

Research Review Form

Resource Review 4:

Name: Teaching Diversity: A Place to Begin

Resource reviewed: (video, readings, website, etc.)
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/teaching-diversity-place-begin-0
Teaching Diversity: A Place to Begin
By Janet Gonzalez-Mena, Dora Pulido-Tobiassen

Key ideas I have learned:

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Start with 2 important questions: What does it mean to be a parent raising a child in this diverse
world? What does it mean to be a young child growing up in this diverse world?
Child rearing is influenced by cultural beliefs and values.
Must use family as resources too
Must be skilled at talking with parents about differences
Must find out how families are involved in their childrens learning, be willing to learn about others
differences
Start teaching anti-bias lessons early and reinforce them as they grow up
Model the behaviors you want children to follow

Ways I can use the ideas:

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Have students do cultural heritage projects

Have students use iTunes U to listen and watch things from other cultures
Making lessons focused on what culturally acceptable behavior is and how it looks in the real
world
Provide examples using iTunes U and podcasts of what acceptable behavior looks like
Have students work with the idea of a diverse world to create projects that help teach others about
what is going on in our world by using different apps

What I need to know more about:

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What cultural beliefs and values do my students have?

How do find out what those beliefs and values are?
How do families play into the education portion that are impacted by beliefs and values.
What specific ways can I model culturally appropriate behavior in my classroom?
What specific apps could I use to help my students create these projects?

The biggest thing with the article that we talked about on this one is trying to figure out what
beliefs and values each of our students have. For a majority of our students they have grown up
in the town and have gone to the same church since birth and share the same beliefs, but
figuring out who has different beliefs is sometime difficult to do.

Research Review Form

Resource Review 5:
Name: Creating Culturally Responsive, Inclusive Classrooms
Resource reviewed: (video, readings, website, etc.)
http://www.nclr.org/images/uploads/general/A1d_%20Creating%20CR%20Classrooms.pdf

Key ideas I have learned:

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Many teachers are limited in their knowledge of other cultures than their own
Should do a self-Assessment
There is a need for culturally responsive instruction
Must use specific and explicit instruction with students to explain to them the why, how and when
or they will not want to do it or understand it.
Make sure there is scaffolding
Many different ideas for self-reflection through the use of different means
Classroom culture that respects individuals and different cultures

Ways I can use the ideas:

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Do a self-assessment for myself

Make lessons specific to cultural respect with specific instructions for my students
Use the students own cultural background to scaffold the lessons
Journaling, blogging, etc. on iPads/iPods to use for self-reflection
Discuss ideas with students about different cultures within every day lessons
Use specific apps on the iPads/iPods to help students understand different cultures

What I need to know more about:

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What kind of self-assessment do I need to do?

How specifically can I put ideas about different cultures within every day lessons?
How can I encourage blogging/journaling with my students?
How do I get to know the cultural backgrounds of my students?
How can I use iPads in my classroom to help accommodate this process?

When talking about this with some co-workers the piece that we focused on the most is the idea
of self-assessment. This is something that we need to do more of as teachers, its a step within
the life long learner piece that each of us needs to do. Trying to get students to blog and reflect
honestly would probably be the biggest hurdle that we would face.