Theme 1
Understanding Cultural, Educational, and Personal Trajectories
Understanding Cultural, Educational, and Personal Trajectories
Lesson 1: Mapping the Teacher-Self in Education
Time: 2 hours
Overview:
This is the introductory lesson. Teachers will explore how their own educational and cultural backgrounds have shaped their beliefs, biases, and their pedagogical approach. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and Bourdieu’s cultural capital, teachers will be engaged in collaborative activities focusing on self-reflection and analyzing their journey and how it shapes their teaching strategies..
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the lesson, participants will be able to:
Identify key cultural and educational experiences that influence teaching identities.
Analyze the role of context (family, society, education system) in shaping teacher beliefs.
Construct an asset-based view of learners' trajectories based on teachers’ backgrounds and experiences.
The essential questions to be asked during the lesson:
How have my experiences shaped how I view teaching and learning?
What messages about education, power, and identity did I internalize growing up?
How do my personal experiences as well as cultural and social background help or hinder how I relate to multilingual and international learners?
Content/Theories:
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory
Bourdieu’s Cultural Capital
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory
Activities:
Identity Map: Teachers will create a visual map of their identity focusing around language, place, race, class, gender, and education.
Educational Autobiography: Short writing on a key moment in their own schooling that shaped their educational values.
Gallery Walk: Teachers share maps and autobiographies, then the peer-discussion reflecting on commonalities and differences.
Formative Assessments:
Teacher’s autobiography activity: identity map + educational autobiography
Reflection post: What is one belief about education you now question? Write a reflection on how a teacher's identity affects classroom interactions and comment on other ideas
Summative Task:
The summative task “Reflective journal” is introduced, however the submission is by the end of the theme one. The focus of the paper is to analyze the teaching through the lens of cultural capital and ecological systems and would be presented more clearly at the next lessons.
Materials for Instructor and Participants
For Instructor:
Handouts on Bronfenbrenner and Bourdieu
Slides with theory overviews and discussion questions
Prompts for activities
For Participants:
Devices for activities
Paper/whiteboard and markers for maps OR Jamboard (or similar websites: Padlet, Trello) for online maps
Sticky notes
Lesson structure:
Before Class:
Assigned readings in order to have a short overview of Bronfenbrenner, Hofstede and Bourdieu. Initial question for reflection about the theories and their connection with teachers’ experiences.
Assigned Readings:
Bourdieu, Pierre. (1986). The Forms of Capital. In L. Richardson (ed,), Handbook of Theory of Research for the Sociology of Education. Greenwood Press, 241-258.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (2000). Ecological systems theory. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Psychology (Vol. 3, pp. 129–133). Oxford University Press.
Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online readings in psychology and culture, 2(1), 2307-0919.
Beginning (15-20 minutes)
Warm-up (5 minutes): 5 words that describe school experience.
Instructor’s lecture + Discussion: Overview of the theories. Teachers discuss how these concepts might apply to their own schooling and teaching (15 minutes).
Middle (70-75 minutes)
Activity 1: Identity Mapping (25-30 minutes):
Teachers do a visual representation of their identity focusing on language, race, place, class, gender, religion, and key educational moments. Some prompts are provided. For instance, to guide mapping the teachers can be asked: How did language shape your access to learning? Did it affect your own teaching experience? Was there a person/ experience that challenged your potential?
Activity 2: Educational Autobiography (25 minutes):
Participants write a 1-page reflection, draw a mindmap on the key educational moments that shaped their teaching values.
Activity 3: Gallery Walk and Peer Dialogue (15-20 minutes):
Teachers show their maps digitally or in person. They rotate around the room (or Jamboard) reading each other's stories, leaving sticky notes or comments. Then, teachers are grouped in pairs and share insights and discuss common themes.
End (30 minutes)
Group Discussion (15 minutes): Guided reflection on the following question:
What beliefs about students might you now re-evaluate?
How might these insights impact your classroom?
Formative Assessment (10 minutes):
Exit ticket - reflection post: What is one belief about education you now question? Write a reflection on how a teacher's identity affects classroom interactions. Comment on at least one post of other peers.
Preview of the summative assessment that would be used for Theme 1 (5 minutes):
Introduce the reflective journal that they need to submit at the end of Theme 1. Teachers are encouraged to gather insights from this lesson to analyze their teaching identity through the lens of cultural capital and ecological systems. The focus of the paper is to analyze the teaching through the lens of cultural capital and ecological systems and would be presented more clearly at the next lessons.