Personal Journal Entry #6 : Chapter 11 p.175, Going Deeper

What will you do with your pebble of influence?

From the knowledge I have gained from my teachings on cultural proficiency, I plan to toss my pebble of influence towards making a difference in my students and colleagues educational and professional development. I plan to continue to research techniques and skills along with content knowledge to accommodate my diverse learners. I plan to inspect my own teaching practices and reflect on what worked and did not work, while making adjustments were deemed necessary in my instructional practices.

 

Professional Growth Plan

 

My personal growth plan includes a need for the recognition of diverse learners and communication within my community of practice, which includes students, families, and colleagues. I know my classroom will contain diverse learners. Some may have special needs, some may be from another country, others will have parental or guardian situations at home. I believe all these circumstances create a diverse teaching environment. I have to know my students, understand their needs and scaffold their learning.
In my efforts to develop my culturally responsive teaching practices, I plan to continue to promote student engagement through the use of cooperative learning groups. Secondly, I plan to use various forms of formative assessments within my lessons to gain more insights on my students’ strengths and weaknesses. In addition, I plan to develop a collaborative partnership with parents in order to get a better understanding of their expectations and desires for their child. Furthermore, I am planning to use more frequently, resources other than texts books for developing learning activities that are more relevant to students’ cultural background.  Lastly, I am planning to incorporate a new social media program called Engrade into my teaching practices that will enable me to have active discussions with my students and their parents. In regards to support of my colleagues I plan to implement and facilitate various Professional Development Sessions and multi-cultural luncheons and assemblies to engage my colleagues further with developing their cultural competency skills.





The study of cultural responsive pedagogy has given me an opportunity to really think about how I envision my teaching practices. This reflection process has allowed me to revisit my thoughts and views on students’ cultural diversities. I have acknowledged opportunities in my teaching practices for the need to deconstruct and reconstruct in order to respond effectively to the diverse needs of my students.

 

Reference:

Robins, K.N., Lindsey, D. B., Lindsey, R. B., & Terrell, R.D. (2006) Culturally Proficient Instruction: A Guide for People Who Teach (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc