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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Resources for Classroom

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Resources for Classroom

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Resources for Classroom

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This is a great site for accessing resources promoting diversity, equity, inclusivity & respect and appreciation for all cultures. Use the materials to spread the word in your classroom and school community. The site not only provides reviews but quick and easy links to valuable information and materials. Some free sites include the "Anti-Defamation League," "Asian Art Museum," "National Geographic Education," and the "National Museum of African American History & Culture." Explore and you will be sure to find the perfect fit for your style of teaching and students.

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources for Classrooms | Common Sense Education

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources for Classrooms is a list of 36 apps, games, and websites curated by Common Sense Education editors.

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ISTE BLOG|4 Ways To Use Tech To Create A Culturally Responsive Classroom

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ISTE BLOG|4 Ways To Use Tech To Create A Culturally Responsive Classroom

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This blog post focuses on the importance of appreciating, respecting and building upon the cultural assets students bring to the learning community. It specifically points out ways in which technology can facilitate culturally responsive pedagogy. For example, integrating and making translations tools easily accessible to students and families, and implementing platforms that support communication, choice and collaboration, such as text-to-speech, Google Hangouts, Skype, personalized videos and comment threads. Read more and watch Alicia Discepola share her thoughts by clicking the link.

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Expecting students to leave behind all that they are when they enter the classroom isn't just unrealistic, it's unfair. But that's often what's expected of students: Show up and be prepared to take what we offer. Technology, however, has delivered the means to provide more culturally relevant instruction.

"When a lesson is relevant, the student becomes a learner, their interests are sparked and their brains ignite, and that is how we close the achievement gap," says Alicia Discepola, a digital literacy and learning specialist for Millville Public Schools in New Jersey.

"Culturally responsive teaching focuses on students' cultural knowledge and frames of reference. So, if we're going to meet the needs of our students and communities, we have to know who they are."

Technology provides ways to do that every step of the way, Discepola says. Here are four ways to make your classroom more culturally responsive with technology.

1. Translation

Use apps like Google Translate, iTranslate or Reverso to communicate with families who don't speak English.

2. Livestreaming

Use sites like YouTube Live, YouNow or Live to virtually bring families into the school for special events or to showcase learning.

3. Web accessibility

On websites, include text-to-speech and translation tools, and provide accessible information through multiple means, like interactive images with ThingLink.

4. Collaboration

Promote student voice and choice by allowing kids to decide how to show what they're learning. Google Hangouts, ePals and Skype let students collaborate and communicate with people around the world. Teachers can provide meaningful feedback through personalized videos and screencasting, comment threads and G Suite.

Finally, Discepola says, look within and examine your own biases and judgment. Have tough conversations with yourself and see where there's room to learn.

"Our students' cultures, interests and backgrounds, can no longer be left out of learning. When we know better, we do better, and we have the power and the potential to involve and empower all learners. So, let's do it."

You can learn more by watching Alicia Discepola's presentation below on creating a culturally responsive classroom.
Jerry Fingal is a freelance writer and editor who covers education, finance, business and agriculture.

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4 Ways To Use Tech To Create a Culturally Responsive Classroom

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Culturally responsive teaching focuses on students' cultural knowledge and frames of reference. So, if teachers are going to meet the needs of our students and communities, educators have to know who they are, and technology can help.

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PenPal Schools-A Global Project Based Learning Community

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PenPal Schools-A Global Project Based Learning Community

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PenPal Schools is a platform providing students in 150 countries with opportunities to connect, communicate, and make friends, while simultaneously participating in collaborative project-based learning experiences - all while fostering respect and appreciation for cultural diversity. Click the link to join and consider having your students write a poem with a student in another country or discuss solutions to pressing world problems.

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"Part 1: What do you mean when you say student agency?"

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"Part 1: What do you mean when you say student agency?"

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Before you begin your journey of promotion and facilitation of "Student Agency" be sure you can define it. This article analyzes the characteristics of self agency - some being goal setting, planning, reflecting and a belief in one's ability to achieve - all which can be developed with the right teacher support and guidance.

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I've learned that the term-and related terms, such as "self-regulated learning"-has a rich lineage of researchers and practitioners who have carefully defined it.
This article is the first part of a two-part series exploring student agency as it has been defined through decades of research and how we can apply the lessons learned in a culturally-competent frame.
What the heck is "student agency"?

Those like me who frequently invoke the phrase don't always identify it as edu-jargon. If you know what it means, kudos. But, if you try rattling it off around your everyday friends, you may discover blank stares, empty head-nods, or worse, misunderstandings. Even frequent users like me tend to kick up dust around it when we are less intentional with our words.

When trying to explain the concept in layman's terms, I have used a hodge-podge of half-right descriptions. I might say, "It's when students take ownership and responsibility for what they learn." Or sometimes, I have described it as, "When students take an active role in their education rather than having school 'done to them.'" Whenever someone else defines it as "voice and choice" or "autonomy," I have nodded my head in agreement without really pausing to wonder if that definition is right.

But, are all these things really the same? My mom-of-a-toddler brain hears "taking responsibility" as if it's a behavior issue that a solid timeout will solve. "Voice and choice" conjures the meme of the shotgun guy, American flag in hand, fighting for his free will. And, what do we really know about what "active" versus "passive" looks like when it comes to the inner contours of the mind? My off-the-cuff definitions are adding to the noise.

It's only recently that I've become much more disciplined in my use of the term "student agency" and how I apply it. Thanks to a research assignment on behalf of the Center for Innovation in Education's Assessment for Learning Project, I've learned that the term-and related terms, such as "self-regulated learning" -has a rich lineage of researchers and practitioners who have carefully defined it.

There is no broad consensus on the definition of student agency...That said, by looking across researchers, practitioners, and other thought leaders, common elements arise that begin to suggest a consensus.

Some definitional efforts are relatively new but many are much older. And, meditating on this question-what is "student agency"?-has given me a more sophisticated understanding of what "student agency" really means and how to develop it in students.

First, I should say, there is no broad consensus on the definition of student agency. Many different words are used to describe the concept, and sometimes the same words are used to describe different concepts. That said, by looking across researchers ¹, practitioners, and other thought leaders ², common elements arise that begin to suggest a consensus.

From these sources, the dust seems to settle on a concept of "student agency" that involves four distinct components. The first three are temporally linked covering future, present, and past:

Setting advantageous goals;

Initiating action toward those goals; and

Reflecting on and regulating progress toward those goals.

Several sources also agree on a fourth dimension, that undergirds the others-a belief in self-efficacy. That is, whether one believes they can act with agency actually enhances or diminishes that agency.

For me, this multi-part definition clears the air by allowing me to situate related terms-like voice, choice, and ownership-as valid pieces that fit within a larger whole.

More importantly, this definition demystifies what it means to seek agency as an outcome for students. It's not a binary "you have it or you don't" quality. In Education Reimagined's lexicon, Learner Agency is the " methodological development of both the capacity and the freedom of learners to exercise choice regarding what is to be learned and to co-create how that learning is to take place" (italics mine). Meaning: educators can work with young people to intentionally and progressively develop each of the four components.

Setting Goals

For example, one can help students become more adept at setting goals. Educators can design pathways of learning that promote students' awareness of their current strengths and weaknesses relative to a developing sense of where they want to go. They can provide opportunities to practice, self-assess, and receive feedback on specific skills such as forethought, intentionality, and "planful competence."

Of course, the point isn't to set goals willy-nilly but to drive toward goals that are advantageous to the student. This is a value statement that calls into question what gets counted as a worthwhile goal and who gets to make that determination. The way we answer these questions has important ramifications on equity-a point I'll dwell on in the second post in this conversation.

Initiating Action

Once a direction is set, students don't just gaze out the window of the bus. They drive. This second part of the definition-initiating action-invokes existential concepts such as voice, choice, free will, freedom, individual volition, self-influence, and self-initiation.

Educators can help students develop these capacities by providing choices or open-ended opportunities to select strategies and tactics for meeting a goal, allowing students to diverge from their peers as they explore something relevant to them. Educators can encourage independent learning by teaching effective learning strategies, such as organization, note-taking, rehearsing, and so on. Educators can also encourage initiative by creating learning environments that optimize motivation and engagement.

By providing students autonomy over "time, task, technique, and team" as they tackle learning objectives; or by making learning social through group work or community-based projects, educators can help students develop a sense of voice, ownership, and self-determination.

Reflecting and Redirecting

Even the best-laid plans and most meticulous follow-through can't guarantee results. So, students with agency not only plan and act but also reflect and redirect. This involves perseverance and grit. It requires skills such as reflection and self-discipline. It is something that educators can encourage by structuring opportunities for students to externalize their thinking, self-reflect, and offer and receive feedback with adults and peers.

From an equity standpoint, it is also an opportunity for educators to complement the development of self-reflection and perseverance with practices focused on building critical consciousness as a way to understand and situate one's agency within a "broader collective struggle for social justice."

Internalizing Self-Efficacy

The fourth and final component of the definition-beliefs about self-efficacy-is less outwardly apparent but no less important to instill in students. Research on "growth mindsets" by Carol Dweck has shown if students understand they aren't born "smart" or "dumb" but have capacity to get smarter, they put in the extra effort necessary to achieve more.

Researchers have similarly applied the concept to agency, associating one's belief in their ability to succeed with their level of effort and their ability to persist when facing challenges. Conversely, students with low self-efficacy exhibit learned helplessness, a belief they "have no power over what goes on around them, and nothing they do contributes to their success or lack of it."

Educators can help students overcome learned helplessness and reinforce their self-efficacy through several tactics, such as providing multiple opportunities for students to develop and showcase mastery of their learning (as in a competency-based system); stretching students by targeting their zone of proximal development; sharing about peers and role models who overcome hurdles; instructing about and reinforcing growth mindsets; and explicitly attending to students' physical and emotional states.

Using the research available to us, let's be clear with one another about student agency...In doing so, we can better develop strong young adults capable of effecting positive change in their own lives and the world around them.

Keeping this four-part frame in mind has enabled me to more proactively focus on building student agency through my work, such as in ensuring all four components are expressed in self-assessment rubrics guiding educator practice.

Using the research available to us, let's be clear with one another about student agency. It is not a fleeting behavior or an innate personality trait.

It is not (just) a manifestation of free will, or an exercise of one's vocal chords, or a "buck up and be responsible" mentality. Rather, it is a multi-faceted skill-and disposition-invoking past, present, and future. It is students' abilities to set advantageous goals, initiate action toward those goals, and reflect and redirect based on feedback, all the while internalizing the belief they can have agency.

The next time someone asks you about the meaning of "student agency," will you consider all four components in your response? And, when you're working with students and schools to develop agency in students, will you intentionally build skills and mindsets in each component? In doing so, we can better develop strong young adults capable of effecting positive change in their own lives and the world around them.

1. Hitlin and Elder, Bandura, Zimmerman and Schunk, Heritage, Andrade, the National Research Council, and the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research, among others

2. Education Reimagined, Summit Public Schools, New Tech Network schools, the Next Generation Learning Challenges, Students at the Center, the Hewlett Foundation, Transforming Education, Transcend, and the Assessment for Learning Project grantees

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Part 1: What Do You Mean When You Say "Student Agency"? - Education Reimagined

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Education buzzwords are a dime a dozen, but just one of them, like student agency, can have limitless interpretations or definitions depending who you speak with. Let's clear the air on what student agency is and is not.

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Self-Efficacy Toolkit - Transforming Education

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Self-Efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to succeed in achieving an outcome or reaching a goal.
This belief, specific to a task or an area of knowledge or performance, shapes the behaviors and strategies that help one pursue their goal. High self-efficacy reflects confidence in the ability to ex…

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To connect to cultures other than their own, one virtual learning tool teachers can integrate into classroom instruction and students can navigate is the “Digital Civics Toolkit” website, which is a digital platform that provides learning opportunities through a series of modules tailored for high school students - but adaptable for all ages – and encourages and supports participation, investigation, dialogue, voice and action in relation to civic responsibilities and cultural issues - in one’s own community and communities around the world. The purpose of the site is to empower student advocacy through exploration of issues personally relevant enough to prompt further research, dialogue, and action steps – such as drug use, racism, immigration, and LGBTQ matters, to name a few. Students start with conversation starters then proceed through a series of activities before a final reflection.

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Participate.

The Digital Civics Toolkit is a collection of resources for educators to support youth to explore, recognize, and take seriously the civic potentials of digital life. The Toolkit draws on the research and work of the The Toolkit explores a range of civic opportunities and dilemmas via 5 modules focused on: Exploring Community Issues, Investigation, Dialogue, Voice, and Action. MacArthur Research Network on Youth and Participatory Politics (YPP).

We invite you to explore the modules and choose the resources that best meet the interests and needs of your students, classroom, and community. The modules were designed for high school students but can be adapted for earlier grades. Each module contains a conversation starter, several activities, and a closing reflection with very broad suggestions. Depending on the age and level of your students, you may need to integrate additional scaffolding and supports. If you would like to dig deeper into concepts, there are links to extension activities. For more information on the ideas in each module, we provide a Teacher Background Information with links to articles, blogs, videos, and further resources.

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Participate. The Digital Civics Toolkit is a collection of resources for educators to support youth to explore, recognize, and take seriously the civic potentials of digital life. The Toolkit draws on the research and work of the The Toolkit explores a range of civic opportunities and dilemmas via 5 modules focused on: Exploring Community Issues, Investigation, Dialogue, Voice, and Action.

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Self Efficacy in Students' Every Day Lives

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Self Efficacy in Students' Every Day Lives

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Self-Efficacy In Students' Everyday Lives