Analyzing Cultural Relevance In Instruction

In Chapter 12, Wardle (2013) summarizes the important characteristics  of a culturally relevant teacher. Use this information as a guide or  resource throughout this assignment to help inspire your thinking as you  apply your knowledge of culturally relevant pedagogy toward specific  solutions to problems facing a teacher with a very diverse student  population. This exercise provides excellent practice over the  application of culturally relevant principles in the design of effective  instructional solutions. You will need to design such instructional  solutions within the Final Project, so it is very important to practice  such skills here. Specifically, for this assignment, you will view a  brief video taken with a cell phone by a student in a high school social  studies class. Student “Jeff Bliss” Mad at Teacher at Duncanville High (Links to an external site.) (Bliss,  2013) documents a meltdown Bliss experienced during his World History  course at Duncanville High School in Duncanville, Texas.

Review the Instructor Guidance before this task. In your paper, include the following:

  • Address the items below based on your inferences and ideas after viewing the events captured in the cellphone video. (2 points)
    • Describe the problem from Jeff Bliss’s perspective as well as from Ms. Phung’s perspective.
    • Explain what probably caused it.
    • Identify who benefits and who loses.
    • Indicate your position on this issue.
    • Discuss how a more equitable, culturally relevant approach to the class could improve the situation.
    • Express how Ms. Phung might respond differently to Jeff’s concerns.
    • Describe any equity strategies you noticed or inferred being implemented in the video. (2.5 points)
    • Suggest at least one strategy for each of the following four  categories that the teacher could have utilized to help meet student  needs in a more equitable fashion: 
      • Instruction
      • Classroom Environment
      • Student Grouping
      • Student Recognition/leadership
    • Describe evidence of any culturally relevant pedagogy in action in the cellphone video. (2.5. points)
    • List at least three strategies that could be used to create a more  culturally relevant classroom. Such strategies might be drawn from the  following areas: 
      • Maximizing academic success through relevant instructional experiences
      • Addressing cultural competence through reinforcing students’ cultural integrity
      • Involving students in the construction of knowledge
      • Building on students’ interests and linguistic resources
      • Tapping home and community resources
      • Understanding students’ cultural knowledge
      • Using interactive and constructivist teaching strategies
      • Examining the curriculum from multiple perspectives
      • Promoting critical consciousness through opportunities to challenge predominant elements of the students’ social norms

If you are enrolled in the MAED Program, it is imperative that you  keep copies of all assignments completed in this course. You will return  to them for the portfolio that you will create in your final MAED  course. This portfolio is a culminating project that will demonstrate  that you have met program outcomes.

Review this week’s Instructor Guidance for additional information  about completing this assignment. Contact your instructor for  clarifications about this or any assessment in the course before the due  date using the “Ask Your Instructor” forum. Then, also using the  Grading Rubric as a guide for your performance on this assignment,  construct your assignment to meet each of the content and written  communication expectations.

Review your assignment with the Grading Rubric to be sure you have  achieved the distinguished levels of performance for each criterion and  submit the assignment for evaluation no later than Day 7.

 
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Communication Negotiations

  1 page (500 words)               

You should be selecting a different negotiation experience for each week’s discussion so that you are exploring many different scenarios and applying your growing understanding of strategic negotiation to those scenarios. For example, if you have been using family-based negotiation events in Week 1 and Week 2, try using a professional (e.g., business or organization) negotiation for this week. You should not be using the same negotiation example each week.For the first paragraph of your initial post, describe the negotiation event that you are using for this week’s discussion, including the participants, the key issues, and the outcome.For the second part of your initial post, evaluate any one of the following starter bullet points, using research on course concepts to support your analysis:In the basic communication model, information is sent and received using channels. Apply the basic communication model to your negotiation model. 

  • In what ways did each party function as a sender and a receiver?
  • What channels were used?
  • How did the use of nonverbal communication influence the negotiation?
  • What feedback methods were used, and how might have feedback been used to enhance negotiations?

Distractions and distortions (noise) can occur in the negotiation process. 

  • What distortions were evident?
  • What were the sources of those distortions?
  • What other communication problems existed?
  • How did those distortions and problems impact the negotiation?What could be done to correct those issues?

Questioning is a powerful communication tool and is also very effective in the negotiation process. Perceiving what questions to ask can often lead to more creative alternatives and to better solutions. For your situation, evaluate the questions that were asked.

  • Were they open ended?Were they leading?
  • How did the questions impact the negotiation?
  • Did the question type (e.g., leading versus open ended) fit the negotiation context? Provide an example of how you might reword a question (e.g., change a leading question to an open-ended question) that occurred in your negotiation to support a more effective negotiation process.

Active listening is an important skill for leaders and negotiators. Being fully attentive to the other party and asking clarifying questions to ensure understanding are the primary skills. Evaluate the listening behaviors in your negotiation scenario. 

  • Did either party use active listening?
  • Did either party use inattentive listening or manipulative listening?
  • What behaviors did you see that support your conclusions?How did the listening skills displayed in the negotiation scenario influence the outcome?

Culture and gender increase the complexity of negotiation events.

  • How were cultural (either in a multicultural sense or a global sense) and gender factors evident in your example?
  • What do you wish you had known during the negotiation that you now know (e.g., based upon some research into the cultures of the parties present in the negotiation)?
  • How would you change your approach in future negotiations to account for cultural and gender concerns?

Power can be used in overt or subtle ways. Power can also be conceptualized as power from, power with, or power over. 

  • How was power or leverage utilized in your negotiation?
  • What power bases were evident? Assess the ethical nature of how power was used.
  • How did power influence the outcome?How might you build greater power in future negotiations?
 
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Supports Training

After reading this week’s case study answer the following questions.

  1. Explain your understanding of the following statement and concept “growing their own people.”  
  2. Identify one challenge that ABC is currently facing. 
  3. How is training and development promoted and supported in ABC? 
  4. What methods does ABC employ to get the message across in order to engage as many employees as possible? 
  5. How are these training interventions supported in ABC? 
  6. Why do you think is ABC so successful in their training and learning interventions? Or are they successful? Is there any room for improvement?  
  7. How do training officers contribute to the training and learning intervention in ABC? 
  8. List the approaches for measuring performance. Should more be used? Why or why not? 
  9. If you were CEO for a day at ABC what would you do to ensure training was supported? 

The requirements below must be met for your paper to be accepted and graded:

  • Write between 1,250 – 1,750 words (approximately 3 – 5 pages) using Microsoft Word in APA style, see example below.
  • Use font size 12 and 1” margins.
  • Include cover page and reference page.
  • At least 80% of your paper must be original content/writing.
  • No more than 20% of your content/information may come from references.
  • Use at least three references from outside the course material, one reference must be from EBSCOhost. Text book, lectures, and other materials in the course may be used, but are not counted toward the three reference requirement.
  • Cite all reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) in the paper and list on a reference page in APA style.
 
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learning competencies

Programs for students with exceptionalities must extend beyond the basic literacy and numeracy skills and instead be aligned to students’ needs and abilities and what they will be expected to know and be able to do. Effective leaders ensure that special education teachers design and implement innovative practices that develop deep learning competencies and effective measures for monitoring students’ progress toward their IEP goals and objectives, as well as state and district standards. As a result, students with and without exceptionalities have to be given equal opportunities to engage in rich learning experiences within the general education classrooms in an effort to deepen learning. How will you deepen learning of your staff to be invested in program change and sustainability?

For this Discussion, you will use the same case scenario from Modules 2 and 3. Then, you will consider the six deep learning competencies (Communication, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity, Character, and Citizenship) to develop a plan for addressing the district mandates. As you begin to reflect on the 6C’s, consider two or three things that will most improve teaching and student learning.

To Prepare:

  • Review Chapter 4 in the Fullan and Quinn text, reflecting on the three elements that deepen learning. Reflect on how these elements would impact the organization in the case scenario.
  • Review Figure 4.2: Deep Learning Competencies—The 6Cs. Consider what the learning would look like for each competency.
  • Consider the five examples presented in the text, reflecting on the similarities each district displayed in moving whole systems toward deeper learning.
  • Review the case scenarios presented in Modules 2 and 3 and reflect on how you would deepen learning of the staff to understand the goals of the new initiative.

By Day 3 of Week 6

Post your plan sharing the steps that you, as the leader, would take to clarify learning goals and develop precision in pedagogical practices to “shift practices” within the case scenario site. Be sure to include reference to the 6C’s and other chapter topics, such as the student learning model and the role of technology.

  • Explain what learning would look like for each of the competencies.
  • Identify the pedagogies that foster those competencies.
  • Design measures to assess student progress.
 
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