Kmiko's Reflective Journal/Blog 2

Do you think we all have a bias and if so what can we do to recognize it and overcome it? What are some ways you can become a more culturally responsive teacher? I feel like that as people we have many biases. As Ms. Purdie-Vaughns stated, I too, feel that often times the biases we have go unnoticed. Although, we may be unaware of our biases, it is not an excuse for people to continue to act upon them. People must take the time to become more aware of biases and what they may look or sound like. Often times biases are connected to moral or things we have been taught or believe. Due to this we must take the time to learn what common biases look like. This will help us to become more aware and conscience of them. Being aware of personal biases is very important for teachers. As teachers, we work with a wide variety of children, with many different, backgrounds, cultures, families and more. Due to this, it is important that we take approaches to providing a classroom that is safe and free of biases. The first approach to this would be taking the steps to learning your personal biases and ways to keep them away from the classroom. Another approach would be taking a cultural approach to teaching. As a teacher this can be done by incorporating ways in which students can share their cultures. For example, in my classroom, I have my students conduct a project in which they create a presentation in which they get to express their identity. They are to bring four artifacts that represent who they are their culture and family life. This allow for myself and other students to learn who they and to better be able to accept them. This also allows for students to feel comfortable and apart of the class. In addition to letting students share their personal cultures, incorporating other cultures into your classroom, can foster better understanding and less bias. This can be done through literature, discussion, and content. What is the Kamehameha School doing to embrace students' culture? What can we learn from the Kamehameha School? The Kamehameha school is embracing students’ culture by embedded it within school curriculum and content being taught. They are using Culture Based Education. Like the Cultural Approach to teaching, Culturally Based Education incorporated not only the culture but also the community around them. This is fostering and environment that allows for students to feel “right at home” or safe. This leads to higher levels of learning. In the video one of the teachers discussed how she took the “Starting at home and moving out approach to teach Advanced Placement Literature. She described how her students were struggling to understand the English forms of literature so she begins with literature that is more common and relatable to them and then more out toward other cultures and forms of literature. This allows for students to learn skill in context in which they understand before access content they may not understand. As a teacher, I feel we could all learn a great deal from the approach this school is taking. In education, we are aware that students learn better in environments in which they feel safe, secure and comfortable. Although we know this, schools and curriculum is not created to support this idea, which in turn declines students achievement. I feel school could learn from Kamehameha that embedding culture into the classroom will make the learning environment more successful. Embedded the cultural will provide and environment that is safe and will foster confidence in the students. Increasing confidence will allow for students to be even more successful. Watching this video, made me think of STEM education. STEM education is also proven to foster great and engaging environments for learning. While working at a STEM school, I was able to see the students thrive and prosper in areas of problems solving and critical thinking, which aren’t direct standards but skill very much need in the real world and learning process. Like the students at Kamehameha, test scores may not be high but students are actively engaged and prospering in the learning environment and becoming prepare for the community around them.