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It was a great story I read this week, it also tells me to make sure to creat a classroom that is not anti-bias and teach our children to not being anti-bias and respect other.

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Multicultural story telling encourage students to open-up themselves and to share experiences that help them better understand each other as well as broadening their own horizons. By providing a safe inclusive environment, the practice of multicultural story telling among peers allow students to express themselves freely without feeling distressed, unsafe, and insecure. This is a great way to help students to build self-esteem, confidence, acceptance, reflective and embracing. It also helps to create a safe, inclusive and anti-bias classroom environment for the students in which they learn better about their peers and understand that everyone has their own unique stories and histories that are all matter and important. It teaches students to be respectful and appreciate the beauty of diversity and differences in the classroom.

As an early childhood educator, it is crucial to create such anti-bias, inclusive and safe environment to allow and encourage young children to be able to be themselves as being free of speaking, thinking, questioning, and sharing thoughts and ideas.

Implementing multiliteracies in the classroom is also an important part of the support of developmental and learning of all students. As educators, we strive to provide different ways, materials as well as different learning styles to better support and guide students’ exploration and learning in the classroom.

Culturally responsive teaching is to help student understand and see different cultures, languages, traditions, celebrations that they brought into the classroom as assets to the classroom community. Educators should provide an environment where students are free of speaking different languages’ students’ voices and ideas are valued and heard! Student’s families and family engagement are welcomed, appreciated and encouraged.

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Something I learned from reading "We Begin to Know Each Other" is that changing norms is possible if done so as a community. Rather than having the student change their preferences and have the school work around them, the school was able to work with them and make them feel included rather than outsiders. Students and teachers were involved in discussions regarding this topic and had their questions answered which I think is important in order to avoid creating assumptions. I think  learning about different cultures, having students open up about their culture/identity and being open to all questions is one way to use multiliteracies in the classroom. The purpose of this would be for everyone to get to know each other and learn how to respect other cultures. I think there is a connection between multiliteracies and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy/ Cultural Responsive Teaching as both work towards inclusivity and bringing awareness to ones differences.

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Jinna Mai Week 5: A story Circle Reflection

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Jinna Mai Week 5: A story Circle Reflection

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From the Autobiographical Multicultural Stories assignment and from the reading “We begin to know each other” by Maiya Jackson and Alaura Seidl, I think it’s a great way and time to look back to our experiences and life. It’s a great time to learn about yourself and our peers. In my opinion of the great way to have people felt connected is that when they share something in common, and I believed when we share out our own stories or experiences, someone would feel the same or have the same experiences as I do. I think it’s a great chance to meet with one and other with heart to heart and to listen to other stories.

As teachers or educators, there are many opportunities and ways to use multiliteracies in the classroom settings. For example, use technology, nowadays technology had been used all around in our daily life. Using technology in the classroom can support students to open a more wide aspects and students can research more informations. Also, teachers can use of visual supports to support students’ understanding of texts, vocabulary, or symbols. The purpose of creating a multiliteracies classroom setting is to support students, open wide their mind thinkings, expand their ideas and thoughts, and better support students’ development.

In my opinion, I think there’s a connection between multiliteracies and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy/Cultural Responsive Teaching because it would create a opportunity for students to learn from one another. It opens a space for students to explore other culture, background, language, race, value or identity. It supports students to learn to be respect of others and create a good value.

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This was one of the activities that I enjoy the most. Although it was a bit personal to share some of the things we experience as whole in our lives. It allowed me to understand that even though we all come from different backgrounds people go through some roadblocks in life or even injustice. However those things are the things that help us become stronger and even more empathic towards
people's situation. From the reading I take away the importance of having a voice and someone who is listening.

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The autobiographical multicultural stories assignment was both triggering and emotional for myself. It brought up memories and experiences that I have been through which shaped the way I view the world and my culture. I would implement this framework in my sessions in order to have my students be able to better understand one another, build empathy within the classrooms and school overall as well as for students to be able to learn about other cultures which they may not be exposed to.

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The story circle was a powerful experience to participate in and I am grateful to be a part of this community. Culturally responsive education is grounded in a recognition of multiple expressions of diversity, that affirms and celebrates all people's identities and stories. The story about Laura and SJ at Manhattan Country School show us the importance of providing a platform for open discussions, questions, reactions, and stories of different identities in order for them to feel respected and included. I believe the same was true of our group story circle. Learning more about my classmates diverse identities and life challenges helped me feel more connected to others. This made us all feel more human and vulnerable. In learning more about each other, we became more willing to share ourselves. Although I didn't have a chance to share in the story circle, I did feel a lot of connection and empathy to other people's stories and felt inspired to want to share myself. There is something powerful about group sharing that helps us to put our guards down and be more comfortable with one another. This leads to community building and connections that support greater learning. I hope to facilitate similar story circles in my future classrooms.

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Grisel Mercado

Class Billed 779                                                                                                     March 15, 2022

Profesor: Laura Antúnez Rodríguez

A Story Circle Reflection

What did we learn from the Autobiographical Multicultural Stories assignment and from the reading "We begin to know each other,” by Maiya Jackson and Alaura Seidl?

I want to start with one of my favorite phrases from Mahatma Gandhi, “Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” One important thing that I learned from the autobiographical story assignment is that as individuals we all have our own stories, we have our own way of solving our own problems. People are born different. Since our birth we are unique individuals that have different ways of visualizing the world that surround us. It doesn’t matter if we have the same color or come from the same culture, we all have a different perspective of life. In the reading “We begin to know each other,” by Maiya Jackson and Alaura Seidi, I learned about the importance of planning ahead. While I was reading the story, communication and planning among staff and  parents are highlighted as important behaviors. I was impressed that as the staff collaborated to plan ahead to integrate the topics so that the students Laura and SB felt that they were part of the classroom community. Although there are different perspective that students have regarding gender identity, as educators we need to guide the students with structured and scientific information that foster equality and cultural diversity. Another aspect of the reading that I would integrate are workshops for parents. We need to continue integrating our students’ parents to workshops so they can also learn how to support their children at home when speaking about topics that can be challenging for them to explain. When parents are aware and informed about the topics of gender identity, sexuality, cultural differences, and other distinctions that are part of our human nature it can be easier for them to communicate with their children at home. These workshops must be consistent for both parties. Also, educators and staff should be continuously updating their knowledge in workshops that can help them build, sustain, and transmit topics such as gender identity that can be challenging for students and their community.

3. How can we use multiliteracies in the classroom setting? What would be the purpose? As educators we can integrate in our daily lessons the use of visuals so the students can understand and evaluate information through images such as pictures, symbols, photograph, and videos. It goes beyond simply looking at the image. Developing strong visual literacy involves teaching students to observe and analyze images. Finally, students should learn to infer the image’s significance. The student can compare the pictures and talk about their similarities and differences. They can write about a song the picture reminds them of or connect the image with an experience they had in the past. Then, they can share the experience with their classmates. Also, we have textual literacy which we teach the students how to evaluate a context by challenging the context, analyzing, and responding to books, articles, and news. This can be through opinion writings, persuasive writing, also creating their own stories by using narrative writing, or writing their own fiction books about their favorite animal, sport, country, or others.  The use of technology is another variation to introduce literacy by having the students interact with iPads, smartboard, and have access to digital information of topic that are assigned for research. For example, if the students are asked to write about animals, they can use digital books or sites that can provide them with videos or articles about the topic. As teachers there are multiple digital platforms, we can use to help our students to engage in our classroom’s learning. The purpose of integrating multiliteracies in the classroom is to give the students choices and to expand their minds to the idea that there are multiple methods to communicate and access knowledge. This gives them a learning experience that relevant to past, present, and future.

4. Is there a connection between multiliteracies and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy/Culturally Responsive Teaching? Yes, there is a connection with multimodal literacy, such as when students become engaged as the authors of texts, as mentors during collaboration, and as directors of their own learning. With all the new digital literacies, there are new “skills, knowledge, and tools in use within social practices” that educators and students must develop (Knobel & Lankshear, 2014, p. 97). Since digital literacy applications are changing constantly, teachers will need to keep abreast of new digital literacies to help their learners access all types of text, both print and multimodal. By providing students with the opportunity to engage with multimodal, culturally diverse texts, especially from underrepresented groups, and by creating an environment where they can freely discuss the inequities that they see in literature and in the world, educators are preparing students to challenge those inequities. Inclusion of multimodality as part of the classroom curriculum leads to a new way of using and creating texts, shifting the power structure in the classroom toward students and away from those in “positions of power, (including teachers, principals, professors, district-level administrators),...[as they begin to] openly question and challenge their own perceptions about race, ethnicity, language, sexual, and gendered identities” (Kalantzis & Cope, 2012). In conclusion, the Multi Modal Literacy in connection with the culturally Relevant Pedagogy are alliances that can empower students to expand their knowledge and critical thinking to prepare them to survive in Century 21 Generation.

6.  Scan the document to find out How the use of Multicultural Narratives supports the NYC Framework on Culturally Responsive and Sustainable education. The use of multi-cultural narrative supports the  framework on culturally responsive and sustainable education by exposing the students to a culturally diverse library of text that will increase awareness and global perspectives of certain topics. Exposing students with books with characters and situations that involves various cultures and ethnic backgrounds will help students develop the abilities to connect across cultures, according to the NYC frame. Another example is providing the students a Project Base Lab where they can have the opportunity to share cultural backgrounds using visuals, and symbols that represent their countries. This experience provides and expose the students to develop their abilities to connect across cultures and appreciate the values and beliefs of others. We as educators can also integrate as part of multicultural narratives in our classroom social issues that cover a broad range of topics that include gender identities, race, religion, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, and/or disability.  This as indicated in the NYC frame empowers learners to be agents of positive social change.  It provides the opportunity to learn about perspectives beyond one’s own scope. It works toward dismantling systems of biases and inequities, and decentering dominant ideologies in education.

7. What are our takeaways today? Our takeaway today after our week 5 reading and the story telling, multiliteracies is that it is very important as future educators to be prepared to encourage our students about the importance of accepting people, peers no matter if they see them different. It is essential that we help to build a community in our classroom, where the students no matter what their credential are they can come to school and feel included. We are an important and essential part in helping to implement goals that are going to help our school community to acquire the knowledge, attitude, and skills to function in this new diverse and changing society. We all have our own stories that we can integrate to our class and use to develop a sense of community and empathy towards our peers.

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I found that sharing multicultural stories in class created a very intimate moment for us as a whole. Completing activities such as these helped me visualize how valuable circle time can be for our students as well. I found Maiya Jackson's and Alaura Seidl's reading really informative. Many of the questions asked by staff and students can easily come up when encountering similar situations at our own schools .

By using multiliteracies in our classrooms our students have the ability to learn from one another. It can help students learn to listen and communicate, all whilst developing positive social relationships.

Multiliteracies and the Culturally Relevant Pedagogy/Cultural Responsive Teaching is interconnected. Both of these concepts allow us and our students to learn from one anothers culture, ethnicity, values, etc. and create room for acceptance and growth amongst other qualities.

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It was great sharing my story and seeing how my classmate reacted to it and supported me. Also, I enjoyed seeing how my classmates had similar stories to me, and how we all dealt with similar situation in different ways.

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I really enjoy the story circle. I was able to get to know my classmate and hear their stories.  I also learned that we all had more in comment than we realized. It was great to hear that they wen through similar adversity in life like I did. Sometime when you are young you think why is this only happening to be but the I grew up and realized that other are also affected by the same issue.

The story circle was a way to bringing student together and build relationship with one another. I use this method when I conduct group therapy with kids that aren't getting along with each other to school them that they have more things in comment. This works every time.

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What are our takeaways today?

It was very comforting to hear that my story isn’t unique. It was also saddening but I really appreciated the vulnerability amongst my peers to discuss a topic that could be so personal and so life changing. I learned to value my identity even more and most importantly be proud of the milestones I have reached because there are people out there that are rooting against you. But hold on to your people, your support team because with them you will be able to accomplish your dreams.

How can we use multiliteracies in the classroom setting? What would be the purpose?

I think it is important to understand that we all have a story, and some of our stories may have similar themes. It is useful to share so we can see how our journeys can coincide with others and use that to push each other forward. I teach K so I was thinking how could I use this in my classroom? One idea I came up with was during celebrations such as Christmas or New Years it would be nice to have my students tell about what they do, how they celebrate, if they celebrate and study the differences and similarities. Best of all we would be learning from each other.

Is there a connection between multiliteracies and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy/ Cultural Responsive Teaching

Most certainly, I think both provide an opportunity for discussions to be had. Both also provoke thought and allow the students to learn from each others cultural differences,

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I enjoyed the story circle.  The sharing of stories among each other and knowing we were in a safe space.  As I commented in class, I felt I was in a support group and realized that I was not the only one that went through something similar.  In this class alone, three students were discriminated against for being Latina and devalued.  We must make sure our students have their heads up high and know their worth, no matter what anyone says.  I stayed quiet when I was told the negative comment because I believed the educators knew what was best for us.  Always follow that gut feeling and if it makes you feel uncomfortable, then something is wrong, ask and speak up.

The multiliteracies narratives taught me that many individuals go through difficult situations but come out stronger in the long run.  The article led me to accept others and understand and appreciate everyone’s identity.  It is a process, and some people need time to process.

The purpose of multiliteracies is to engage all students.  We are providing different ways of learning and being motivated.  Providing different learning styles in a classroom gives students various learning opportunities.  The connection between multiliteracies and culturally responsive teaching considers everyone’s culture and makes the setting a comfortable environment.  Having an environment to express yourself creates a learning space that leads to many opportunities.

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A Story Circle Reflection- Josefina Bahamondes

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A Story Circle Reflection- Josefina Bahamondes

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While International Women's Day was being celebrated, in class we were talking about how someone else's bias had affected us and how that experience shaped our lives to become who we are today.

The circle reflection showed me how experiences repeat and how important it is to be a critically conscious person. To work in education, we need to continuously advocate to help students achieve their goals, stepping away from our biases.

The culturally responsive framework is a step in recognizing how important is to meet the diverse needs of American children and families.

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Sharing our stories during this week’s class felt very profound. As I mentioned in class, I feel like I have had a very privileged life and it was very impactful for me to hear my peers’ stories. As I teach in a predominantly white-upper class private preschool, the way I interpret this activity is mostly in the importance of awareness. The students in my school may not hit a ton of roadblocks in their life. In that way, they are very privileged. However, I do believe in the importance of acknowledging, understanding and respecting other people’s situations and doing what we can to help. One of my peers was talking about making sure her ELL students were participating in activities along with the other school students. Not only is this important for her class but also for the students in the regular classes. They should not only see people that are just like them but also be aware of other people’s needs, struggles and strengths. It is important for the people in the majority groups to become allies. In my preschool class, I try to do this (still in progress) by making my students aware of different people’s situations. For example, we talked about the importance of eating to grow and then brought food to a nearby community fridge to make sure other children in our neighborhood can grow strong like us. We talk about different family structures, about different life situations that may affect people they know and love as a way to teach them respect and awareness, always at a level of language that makes sense to three-year-olds, of course. I also try to get to know the families to make sure they feel included, involved and comfortable sharing with me anything that could affect their child’s daily life. Of course, all of this is work in progress and I find a lot of inspiration in our current readings and discussions to help me grow as a culturally responsive educator.

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The use of multicultural stories supports Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education because it allows students to hear the experiences of facing roadblocks and social injustice their classmates have had. As well as them sharing their stories which serves to create a connected space where students understand each other and can relate to one another. I believe that with the use of multicultural stories it will create culture appreciation in students. This will allow "children's development of a positive cultural identity, and their comfortable, respectful interaction with the cultures of others" (Sparks p. 55). By implementing this framework, we will be transforming our classroom into a anti-bias form of education.

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The assignment to write our own multicultural story stirred many feelings and memories for me. Reflecting on my personal life experiences and sharing in class was emotional, and fruitful. The conversations we shared as part of our live story circle push me to utilize my multicultural identity as an educator. We bring our life experiences to the classroom, the teachers and the students. Being in touch with our own story can help us actually be culturally responsive. If we embrace our own culture, we can respect the culture of our students and school community.

The reading, “We Begin to Know Each Other” by Maiya Jackson and Alaura Seidl, shows us how important it is as educators to be open-minded, proactive, and willing to learn. Jackson ends the article by stating, “Their stories underscore what happens in school when we live our lives together, so that we begin to know each other.” She made the effort to learn about transgender issues and how they would affect both students at her school, trained staff, and held meetings with students throughout the year. Jackson was responsive to the transgender culture.

I am not sure how I will transform the classroom, but I will follow the four principles of a Culturally Responsive Sustaining Education:

1. Welcoming and affirming environment

2. High expectations and rigorous instruction

3. Inclusive curriculum and assessment

4. Ongoing professional learning (p. 14, http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/crs/culturally-responsive-sustaining-education-framework.pdf)

I especially believe in professional learning because teachers can always learn more, and educator training benefits all.

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From this beautiful activity, I learned the importance of being heard and also the importance of expression. From the multicultural stories as well as the reading I learned how much courage you have to have in order to share something so personal. I want to thank all of my classmates for allowing us to know them in a more personal level as well as being extremely supportive of my own story. I was able to be part of a very important and meaningful moment because we learned about topics we need to be aware of as educators. These stories helped me understand more my own biases and be more careful about how we approach certain situations.

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I enjoyed the reading and the assignment. It was a great way for us to share some of our stories and to learn about our peers. From the group discussion it is incredible to learn about each other, hear a bit about who we are and where we come from. The story about Laura is a great example of how we need to need to create this space where children can feel comfortable sharing who we are and a place they can trust. We need to advocate for students and be able to accept each other because we are all different.

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From both the reading and our assignment, we’ve learned that telling your autobiographical multicultural story can be an incredibly emotional way of opening up your world and personal experiences to those who may or may not relate to it. When you have the opportunity to sit around others who are being just as vulnerable as you and share an experience, you not only feel entirely supported but finally heard. This can be incredibly moving for someone who may not relate to you but now understands what your struggle is like and finally sympathize with it. This also leaves an opportunity for those who do relate to feel less alone about things they do not talk about. As a counselor, I can see myself using this in a group counseling session, especially the first or second sessions where we are just trying to get to know one another. I could also see myself using this if I had the opportunity to step into a classroom and do a guidance lesson. I’m positive this would leave students feeling closer to their peers and becoming more empathetic and mindful that everyone is going through something.

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"We Begin to Know Each Other" by Maiya Jackson and Alaura Seidl demonstrates that the use of Multicultural Stories can transform the school community into a space for meaningful discussions that lead to greater understanding and an increased awareness of multicultural issues. The story also shows how important it is for educators to provide an avenue for students to use their voices and to advocate for themselves. As we learned in class, sharing our Multicultural Stories is a great way for us to use our voices and to feel understood. Sharing my story, in the form of a poem, allowed me to express emotions, experiences, and thoughts that had been buried for years. Though it was a painful process, I can feel that I'm growing from it. Though we all had different experiences, my classmates were able to connect to my story and I was able to connect to theirs. This type of connection can bridge gaps that exists between students. The understanding that stems from the sharing of stories also allows educators and peers to be sensitive to the needs of students.

Though I am not a teacher, I plan to create a school environment that encourages students to share their experiences and to respond respectfully and sensitively when others share theirs. I also plan to learn from students. This quote from the reading resonated with me:
"This has been a welcome reminder for me, as an educator and a parent, how much we have to learn, as adults, from children and how resilient and open and mature they can be."

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Melania Ulloa, I enjoyed reading the article because I believe it is important to talk about topics that are not paid attention to in schools. Oftentimes, educators and administrators do not want to spend the time discussing sensitive topics that arise in middle school through high schools. If students are educated on the topics they can become aware of the situations people have to deal with and can become more understanding. The educators in the school were great at taking the time to welcome SJ and Laura as well as educate all students about transgender. Laura had the courage to speak to her classmates and the school about how it is to be transgender and how she is asking for people to treat her as everyone else. Both students were receiving the support they needed to help them feel comfortable and welcomed. It is very important as educators to teach our students about sensitive topics and to not ignore any issues that may arise. If we do not know the answers to questions the counselors are there to support us in areas where we do not have the expertise. Forming a multicultural classroom helps students become more self conscious and it helps us come together as a community to learn from each other and to support each other. In order for us to become more understanding we need to make sure to listen and to seek for help when we are unsure of what steps to take. 

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Melania Ulloa, I enjoyed reading the article because I believe it is important to talk about topics that are not paid attention to in schools. Oftentimes, educators and administrators do not want to spend the time discussing sensitive topics that arise in middle school through high schools. If students are educated on the topics they can become aware of the situations people have to deal with and can become more understanding. The educators in the school were great at taking the time to welcome SJ and Laura as well as educate all students about transgender. Laura had the courage to speak to her classmates and the school about how it is to be transgender and how she is asking for people to treat her as everyone else. Both students were receiving the support they needed to help them feel comfortable and welcomed. It is very important as educators to teach our students about sensitive topics and to not ignore any issues that may arise. If we do not know the answers to questions the counselors are there to support us in areas where we do not have the expertise. Forming a multicultural classroom helps students become more self conscious and it helps us come together as a community to learn from each other and to support each other. In order for us to become more understanding we need to make sure to listen and to seek for help when we are unsure of what steps to take. 

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What did we learn from the Autobiographical Multicultural Stories assignment and from the reading " We begin to know each other, by Maiya Jackson and Alaura Seidl?

Being involved in the story circle, writing my own story, and reading other stories like “We begin to know each other” taught me a couple of things. First, that everyone is human at their foundation, we all have a struggle or issue we are dealing with and it is thanks to other people or concepts introduced to us that we are able to progress. For instance, when Leydi shared her story about being bullied for not knowing how to speak the English language; she mentioned her teacher was an important figure in her timeline because she asked what was wrong and helped her improve on her English. Similar to the story, Jackson and Seidi explain how it was a school that took a chance on a transgender girl and made her feel comfortable as opposed to her previous resistant school. Laura was supported in her new school and the upper school director attempted  to bring everyone on board and welcome Laura in their school as well as educate the students and staff on being transgender. Thanks to this action, the school made it a welcoming experience for other transgender students to reveal themselves and feel supported by the school. The school addressed all of the students’ questions on being transgender and that accepting transgender students is important.

We also learned that multiculturalism applies to everyone and that means everyone will face a different issue at some point of their lives. It is crucial for schools to have open discussions and address questions and concerns that students may have either for themselves or for others. Learning about these stories transpired the overall message of being accepting and welcoming of others and living in coherence. Unfortunately, harmony won’t always be the case but schools and educators can do their best in educating students on different cultures, social justice issues, and issues that students are dealing with or want to learn more about. As well as the importance of respect and unity among each other.

How can we use multiliteracies in the classroom setting? What would be the purpose?

We can use multiliteracies in the classroom setting by hanging up posters explaining the different cultures in the room. To do this, we would ask each student what their culture means to them as well some of our own research. The goal in mind would be for students to be informed about what their classmates are experiencing and to develop empathy toward one another. This can also be done by implementing the story circle in the classroom which encourages students to share their personal and individual stories; this activity can help evoke emotions related to empathy and understanding which can help in becoming literate in all of the different multicultures.

Is there a connection between multiliteracies and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy/ Cultural Responsive Teaching?

There is a huge connection between multiliteracies and culturally responsive teaching in my opinion. Both concepts allow for the opportunity to introduce a new culture to the student as well as acknowledge the students’ own culture. In a sense , when both concepts are used, the student is heard and hearing other students. Additionally, teachers are able to help voice students’ stories while building empathy among them.