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This competency includes so much more than simply culture. Although culture and diversity are very important, it also looks at a teacher's knowledge on the topic and their ability to connect it with students' lives. Giving students opportunities to share their opinions and make use of their prior knowledge is very important in the classroom as it fosters a student-centered environment. However, this all has to be done in a meaningful way.
For EDU 309:
Throughout the 6 week practicum I completed during my 3rd year of my teaching degree, I found I worked a lot on this competency:
Although my LES (Learning and Evaluating Situation, also known as a unit plant) focused on plants, I incorporated a lesson on the Abenaki use of plants. This allowed me to use local culture to teach my students how valuable plants are to people.
I ensured I was knowledgeable on the topics I was teaching and when I was asked a question I did not know, I made sure to find out the answers for my students.
I did my best to ensure my LES of plants could be relatable to my students as I constantly asked them to use any prior knowledge they had on the topic and made a point to ensure that every lesson could be connected with something they experienced in their personal lives.
I found the hardest part was ensuring that the work I was showing students was as accurate as it possibly could be. I am by no means an expert in plants and the amount of research I did only surrounding the plant life cycle can vouch for that. However, I will admit that I did try my hardest and even asked my AT for assistance when I was stuck. It is difficult to present yourself as someone who is, to some degree, quite knowledgeable on a topic you are not sure you know enough about. There was a time as well were the students corrected me but that is not something I can fault myself on as it does happen. It only shows how attentive the students were to my lessons that they were able to catch a mistake I made.
I also found that a large part of being a cultural facilitator and being considered, to some degree, the most knowledgeable person on the topic you are teaching your students is to admit what you don't know and to acknowledge students who present the information you did not know about. This happened quite a bit as students asked questions I did not know answers to or students have very niche information about obscure topics related to what I was teaching. What is important is that you also present yourself as someone who is still learning as I found it helps students become more motivated in learning as well.
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