The competent teacher structures a safe and healthy learning environment that facilitates cultural and linguistic responsiveness, emotional well-being, self-efficacy, positive social interaction, mutual respect, active engagement, academic risk-taking, self-motivation, and personal goal-setting.
This document outlines a lesson plan to expose students to different cultural ways in celebrating the Christmas holiday. The two cultures presented are Mexican and German. This was an assignment in my Fine Arts Education class where we brought in various art and music into the classroom while getting ready for an upcoming holiday. My team and I created a modified lesson plan showing how we could show similarity between two distinct cultures, Spanish and German.
"The competent teacher structures a safe and healthy learning environment that facilitates cultural and linguistic responsiveness...mutual respect" is part of this standard's passage. This artifact demonstrates how we can create a safe learning environment while teaching students about differing cultures in similar manners for the same holiday. The more ways we can expose our students to new and familiar cultures, the better our society will be in understanding our differences and learn to appreciate them. When things are unfamiliar, we tend to be hesitant and shy away from new experiences. As an educator, we can introduce these cultures in safe ways to show how we celebrate the same holiday but with different traditions. We gain a respect and understanding of the traditions importance to the holiday. From there, we open our minds to new experiences and realize different does not mean scary.
One of the activities is learning to sing a typical Christmas song in the native language. A second activity is teaching students how to play the same music piece with an instrument from each culture. These activities support learning standard 2B.3a. Explain how individual, social, and cultural differences may increase vulnerability to bullying and identify ways to address it. As an educator we want to expose students to different cultures than their own and learn to be accepting of those differences. Not only do I enjoy singing and playing music but I enjoy learning about other ways to celebrate similar holidays. I like learning about their traditions, sampling their festive foods and identifying any differences. I consider myself American but my family has certain traditions we observe at various holidays. I recognize that I have much to learn about other cultures and am willing to research those cultures. In addition I want to provide my students opportunities to share, in a safe environment, their culture so we can learn more about them.
Social Emotional Check In
Accounting Unit Poll & End of Semester Poll
The two polls provide an insight into the tool I used to gauge how the students were feeling or coping with the material being learned and with the current semester coming to an end. I created the poll to understand the student's perspective and create an open discussion with the students on their results. The first poll gave me insight as we were ending the Accounting unit so I could understand how the students gauged their knowledge as the unit exam was near. I used this information to answer any questions and to provide a practice set for the students to execute in class together. The second poll was created to poll the seniors in their graduation required Economics class during the last week of the semester. Many students were behind in their assignments and as the days passed I could start to see demeanor changes in my students. I wanted to provide a fun and safe way for the students to acknowledge their thoughts and feelings. From there I validated those thoughts and feelings, I validated my own feelings to the class as I was ending my student teaching semester. We discussed the importance of validating the feelings and thoughts but to also discuss them with a trusted family member, friend or school adult.
This standard notes "The competent teacher structures a safe and healthy learning environment that facilitates...emotional well-being, self-efficacy..." and these polls demonstrate my ability to provide for that safe and healthy learning environment. The COVID pandemic has highlighted social emotional and mental health importance and I want my students to know that we are all in this together in our unique way. It is how we deal with those emotions that impact how we will learn in the classroom. In order to defer how the students are feeling, I will play music as the students enter the classroom and during work time, if it helps the students relax. My school has pods outside a group of rooms and I allow my students to work independently in the pods or with a partner. By providing flexibility to their learning environment, I am showing I trust their judgement to complete work and that they know best the environment that works for them.
My students have learned that they need their mental health in a good place to perform their best. I know this to be true for myself so I demonstrate the same behaviors to my students as a mentor and role model. I plan to continue the use of polls as checks into their mindset regarding a unit, specific topic or just to understand how they are feeling. Using polls or word art are creative ways to gather information about a student but in a unique and fun way. I found that by using youthful and fun imagery, even the high school students find it fun and engaging as it promotes classroom discussion. The interaction between students and educators is important because we are a unit that works toward a goal of learning.