4.3 Diversity, Cultural Understanding & Global Awareness
Candidates model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness. (PSC 4.3/ISTE 5c)
Artifact: Increasing Cultural Understanding and Global Awareness (ITEC 7430)
Reflection:
Learning about other cultures and making connections and comparisons with students’ own culture is a daily exercise in a foreign language classroom. The report “Increasing cultural understanding and global awareness” that I posted on my e-portfolio’s blog was a requirement of ITEC 7430, Internet Tools in the Classroom. The report focuses on ways to use technology to bridge cultural divides in all classrooms as well as the importance of understanding the value of other cultures and perspectives. Our students will one day be ambassadors of our culture as they go into the world and explore it for themselves. Developing an appreciation for the diversity of knowledge, experiences, and perspectives that exist in the world is a skill that will be vital to their success.
Creating this Professional Growth Blog allowed me to demonstrate mastery of Standard 4.3, which states that candidates must “model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness.” “Increasing cultural understanding and global awareness” provides examples of how teachers can use technology to open lines of communication between students from classrooms in different parts of the world, to encourage students to explore daily life in another country through the trending hashtags on Twitter in that country, and to view events from the perspective of another country. These ideas can be incorporated into pre-existing lessons or could be used as a springboard to create all new lessons.
In working with teachers across the school to model the use of digital tools to increase global awareness and enhance cultural understanding, it is important to include sample activities for mathematics and science courses. The various fields of science in particular can provide a vast depth of knowledge and perspective when studying how scientists from different countries and beliefs view a discovery or a theory. While researching this topic and writing the blog post were good starting points, in order to truly model these ideas, I would need to present information to the staff about why it is important for teachers to learn about other cultures and show how they can use digital tools in order to improve their own understanding and that of their students.
Learning about other cultures and making connections and comparisons with students’ own culture is a daily exercise in a foreign language classroom. The report “Increasing cultural understanding and global awareness” that I posted on my e-portfolio’s blog was a requirement of ITEC 7430, Internet Tools in the Classroom. The report focuses on ways to use technology to bridge cultural divides in all classrooms as well as the importance of understanding the value of other cultures and perspectives. Our students will one day be ambassadors of our culture as they go into the world and explore it for themselves. Developing an appreciation for the diversity of knowledge, experiences, and perspectives that exist in the world is a skill that will be vital to their success.
Creating this Professional Growth Blog allowed me to demonstrate mastery of Standard 4.3, which states that candidates must “model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness.” “Increasing cultural understanding and global awareness” provides examples of how teachers can use technology to open lines of communication between students from classrooms in different parts of the world, to encourage students to explore daily life in another country through the trending hashtags on Twitter in that country, and to view events from the perspective of another country. These ideas can be incorporated into pre-existing lessons or could be used as a springboard to create all new lessons.
In working with teachers across the school to model the use of digital tools to increase global awareness and enhance cultural understanding, it is important to include sample activities for mathematics and science courses. The various fields of science in particular can provide a vast depth of knowledge and perspective when studying how scientists from different countries and beliefs view a discovery or a theory. While researching this topic and writing the blog post were good starting points, in order to truly model these ideas, I would need to present information to the staff about why it is important for teachers to learn about other cultures and show how they can use digital tools in order to improve their own understanding and that of their students.
