Teaching Tolerance: Bringing Culture into the Classroom

84% of classroom teachers in the United States are white, American females while our students come from all over the world and all have extensive and interesting backgrounds. What are some ways in which teachers can close the cultural gaps in the classroom and make it feel like home for everyone. The truth is: Culture matters. 

One way the students can learn about different cultures, or help other classmates understand specific cultures is by bringing different aspects of one's culture into the classroom. The students can create, plan, and invite other classes to a cultural food fair. Just a heads up, remember to keep food allergies in mind when your students are cooking or tasting each others food!

Another way the students can learn about different cultures is to learn about the different types of music or dance a culture listens to or performs. The students can be paired up or put into small groups. Each group can research, listen to, and learn different cultural dances. They can then perform these in front of the class. The teacher can even help the students set up a community showing of what they have learned.

Another great way to have students learn about different cultures is to share folklore with them. Have them each research a folklore story of their choice. They can choose any country of origin. Have them try and find out as much as they can about the story: when and where it originated, what kind of story it is, and how it relates to the history of the country it originated from. The students can learn the folklore story and tell it to the other students in the class. Not only  is this fun, the students can learn a lot by becoming story tellers. Encourage them to bring in music to play in the background or different props to get the audiences attention.

I hope these all come in handy when teachers are trying to bring culture into the classroom. As I said before, culture is VERY important. By bringing this into the class, the world becomes a smaller, more inviting space! 

The Art of Inference

There are many kinds of books that can help students learn to infer information that is not implied or directly stated in literature. Some types are books in which students have to infer meanings of words, predict endings, use pictures as well as the words, and search for a change in a character. Books that spin off from a well-known tale, have a surprise or twist ending, have subtle humor, and force students to delve into a theme are also very helpful.

The OnTarget Strategy Books, by the South Dakota Department of Education, provides a wonderful list of books that can help students infer throughout their reading.

Even though books are very important in helping students learn the art of inference, teachers can also play games and use activities in the classroom so the class as a whole can learn together.

One activity that teachers can do is called the Trash Bag Lesson. This is a game in which the teacher, before class, packs a bag with different objects. The objects can be things like a baby bottle, a tennis ball, a comic book, and so on. The teacher would tell the students that this bag was found in a dusty attic somewhere and they needed to go through it to find out about the person to whom it belonged. The teacher would have different students come to the front and pull the objects from the bag. The class could think about what each object tells about the person. By pulling out the tennis ball, one would infer that the person who owned the bag liked to play tennis. Many different inferences could come from this game. Students can learn that even though no one explicitly told them that the owner of the bag plays tennis, has a child, and likes to read comics; they still were able to infer that these things about the owner.

Another activity that a teacher can do is to bring in old photographs from the 1800's and early 1900's. These can be found in the library, online, or maybe the teachers has them of past relatives. The photos should have some sort of funny element such as a crying baby or an invention that is no longer around today. The teacher can show these pictures to the students and have them infer what is happening in the pictures.

There are so many other ways for teachers to help their students learn the amazing and important art of inference. By using creativity, teachers and students alike will be able to infer about anything!

It's that time of year again...

The Indiana Statewide Test for Educational Progress, also known as ISTEP+, is back again! All of last week, students in grades 3 through 8 sat down in separated desks with two, sharpened #2 pencils to take test after test. These tests measure students' mastery of basic English language, science, reading, writing, and mathematics skills. The Indiana Department of Education (http://www.doe.in.gov/achievement/assessment/istep-grades-3-8)  summarizes the ISTEPs as:

The purpose of the ISTEP+ program is to measure student achievement in the subject areas of English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science (Grades 4 and 6), and Social Studies (Grades 5 and 7). In particular, ISTEP+ reports student achievement levels according to the Indiana Academic Standards that were adopted in November 2000 by the Indiana State Board of Education. An Applied Skills Assessment and a Multiple-Choice Assessment, which are required components of the ISTEP+ program, are used to measure these standards.

 Since I am observing in an Indiana classroom and will most likely teach in Indiana after graduating, I was think about what  Indiana classroom teachers can do to help students prepare for a test that determines so much for a student, their teacher, and their school. I have come up with a list of appropriate activities that I feel a teacher can do to make these tests less stressful for students. 

1. Teachers need to understand that this is not a test that students can "cram" for. The teachers can find plenty of time in their curriculum to go over specific examples, show questions from past tests, and clear up any questions the students may have.
2. The teachers not only should prepare them for the content of the tests, but should also review some test-taking skills such as reading every question thoroughly and paying attention to any bold, italicized, and underlined words. 
3. The teachers should take the students to a computer lab to practice using computer skills as some schools will be giving part of the exam on a computer.
4. The teachers should explain to students that even though this test is important, it is not supposed to be stressful and it is not the end-all to everything. This test, in part, shows the teachers what they need to work on when teaching in following years, so it's not all on the students.
5. The teachers should not give the students any homework the nights before ISTEPs and should encourage the students to get plenty of sleep and eat a well-balanced, healthy breakfast. If allowed, apples and bananas could be provided for the students to eat as they unpack their bags in the morning.

I hope that all of these ideas can be helpful. I plan on using every one of them when I become a classroom teacher. There are also many helpful tips on the Indiana Department of Education website listed earlier in the blog. Good luck to all of the teachers and students out there who are part of the 2013 ISTEP program!