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)
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)
While I created this data presentation for the ITEC data analysis class, I believe I received some of the best diversity training in this course. As such, this artifact represents my mastery of Standard 4.3: Diversity, Cultural Understanding & Global Awareness. While I expected to learn about data analysis in this course, I did not expect to learn about collaborative inquiry and equity of voices as means to guide a high-functioning data team. I made this project to present my conclusions, based on 11th grade Milestones scores, to the language arts department and school leadership. I am the sole creator of this artifact.
As a precursor to this project, I assembled a hypothetical data team, based on my school context, and I learned how to create norms among the group that will lead to honest, data-driven conversations. I also learned about the importance of a diversity of perspectives in data-driven conversations, so that the team can explore different avenues and arrive at the best solutions to support student learning. In order to serve students, team members should familiarize themselves with the Cultural Proficiency Continuum in order to avoid biased thinking about groups of students that might limit their potential to learn. In this presentation, I come to conclusions that affirm groups, rather than blame them, in an attempt to model culturally respectful and supportive thinking, Furthermore, using the data analysis decision-making, as I did in this presentation, can help identify achievement gaps that the data team can troubleshoot. Later in the same class, I made an action plan based on the conclusions I drew from the data, including plans to increase scores for students with disabilities—the biggest gap in achievement I identified in the drill down process. Essentially, I modeled and facilitated the use of digital tools and resources in order to advocate for the needs of students who are not reached by our current instructional strategies. Furthermore, I believe introducing staff the Cultural Proficiency Continuum and using it in conjunction with data analysis strategies would lead to conversations that enhance cultural understands, ultimately leading to global awareness.
From completing this artifact, I learned that my school could benefit from data-based conversations that are careful about making inferences before all possibilities are explored, a process reduces biased thinking. Often, at staff meetings, when we look at data, I hear teachers use “our student population”—which is majority non-native English speakers—as an excuse for why students are not performing at the level of the district. I feel that celebrating diversity goes hand-in-hand with the belief that all students can learn. To improve the quality of this artifact, I would drill down further to the level of individual teachers in order to identify strategies that work for mastering various skills.
The work that went into making this artifact has impacted school improvement because I shared my conclusions and experiences with the English Language Arts department chair and administrator. Furthermore, they are interested in creating a data team at the school. The impact can be assessed by observing professional learning communities and department meetings to see the extent to which department leadership is acting to close the gaps identified in this project. Ultimately, student learning will be improved with the correct strategies are implemented, and we should see results in next year’s Milestones scores.