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My classroom consists of high SES students from a variety of cultures. The community research project and discussions with peers opened my eyes to the lack of poverty represented in my school, as well as the lack of cultural diversity represented in my classroom. On this board you will see how my understanding of diversity, cultural responsiveness, and social justice will impact how I (re)design my first grade classroom.

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TOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

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Currently the recess bin in my classroom has toys associated with the White culture. There is Janga, Chess, card games, puzzles, coloring books, and Legos. These current games are asking students of diversity to assimilate to the dominant cultures game play. Next year I would like to ask all students to request different games to add to the bin. By asking students to share their wants, I can ensure that all cultures are represented in the recess bin. This will also allow the White students in the classroom to experience playing games from diverse cultures around the world. At the first grade age, play time is crucial to development. Students also still do not see the difference between race/ethnicity. Through play time they can learn more about others and we can break that structural dimension of privilege within the classroom. Image from: https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/2014/12/08/20-toys-games-from-around-the-world/

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In my classroom I have a huge bulletin board that only sees little use for anchor chart display. I would like to create a bulletin board similar to one in the picture. Where students of all cultures can celebrate their culture and heritage. It would be my hope to change this bulletin board regularly to celebrate different holidays and different cultures among the different students. As I interviewed students in my classroom. I had three students celebrate Diwali, two that celebrated the Chinese New Year, and one that celebrated Edith. I would love to have parents come in and decorate the board to show other students the power of these celebrations among cultures. The goal would be to create structural norms where all groups feel included, and the dominant group receives meaningful experiences form the minoritized group. These are often lacking when the dominant group sets the structural norms of institutions. (Is Everyone Really Equal? p. 86)
Image from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/107664247325224890/

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The area that will impact the most change in my room is in book selection. My classroom library is full of books, but most of these books do not show minoritized groups in them. The first step will be in finding books that all my students from different race/ethnicity can see themselves in. No longer will they internalize the idea that the dominant group is the only group that is visible in literature. By adding more books with a variety of diversity in them students can begin seeing themselves as important members of the society. Having these books for students of the dominant group to read will help create a classroom where new norms are set. It will also help to dismantle the internalization of messages of superiority (Is Everyone Really Equal. p. 92)that young students have no understanding of. I not only want to provide books with a variety of race/ethnicity in them, but also books that show social justice issues such as poverty. My research of my community indicated that I teach in a community with a high socio-economic-status. This shows me that it is important to show students that there are people who live in different classes than themselves, and at the primary age literature is the place to start. A majority of our day is spent reading, whether that be whole group, small group, or independently. By integrating read-aloud and library books that expose students to different identities students can begin to develop an understanding of different identities, and begin challenging them.
Image from: https://www.naturalbeachliving.com/multicultural-books-for-kids/

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Image from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/212935888612382010/

Another thing I have already started in my room is flexible seating. However, I would like to increase the amount of flexible seating I have to accomodate for all students in the classroom. For all different students from different identities. This year we had a boy in a wheel chair in first grade. When he came to my room it was very difficult for him to get around. I am hoping next year to make my room comfortable for all students, not just able bodied students. I will also be having two students with behavior 'issues'. These are not always considered identities that go with ableism, but I feel that creating an environment that helps them do their work at their speed and comfortability will be important in showing students that not all of use learn the same and have the same abilities and that is okay.

Another piece I would like to implement from this picture is an area where flags are represented in the room. A flag for every different nation in our classroom or even school.

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In a hypothetical world, I would love to have this image or something similar to this image painted on my wall. I enjoy this image because it shows young students of all different cultures together to create a beautiful world. As I teach first grade, I would like the painting to show characteristics of coloring, so students can make a stronger connection to it. We are often socialized to only see one group in our culture, the dominant group. By only seeing this dominant group minoritized groups are internalizing different forms of oppression. I hope by creating a mural such as this below, I can begin to break that internalization and students will see that we are all in this world together to make it the best it can be.
Image from: http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-cultural-exchange-and-cultural-appropriation

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When doing my Funds of Knowledge and Community Research, I found that a large number of students within my building are students who speak English as a second language. Due to this knowledge I want to do a better job of celebrating language in my classroom. As we have learned throughout class, language is a social identity we often forget about if we are included into the dominant group. However it is something that makes us who we are, no matter where we come from. As I learned about the history of the different racial communities I realized deculturalization (Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality, Chpt 1) began with the dismantling of a minoritized groups language. (The dominant group (White Europeans) took language away from different races to assimilate them. Schools teach, speak, and read in English. I would like to redesign my classroom to celebrate the different languages spoken at all students home, and have them share their language with everyone. Instead of telling students they have to only speak English at school, I want them to feel they are able to speak their first language. Throughout my classroom I would like to have different posters and words that teach English Speaking students new words in different languages. By showing students at a very young age how important language is to us they are aware of the it, and learn it is something to be celebrated not destroyed.
Image from: http://www.irc.vbschools.com/fortheweb/ForeignLanguages/pages/HowWouldISayHELLOSimple_jpg.htm

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I love music in my classroom. It is almost always playing during independent work or stations. However, I realized the music I pick is not very diverse or offer a lot of different social identities within it. For example, most of the time I pick instrumental music. This music is usually some sort of guitar or piano playing either upbeat or relaxing music. The music I have chose in the past does not offer a variety of styles or different cultures. In order to redesign my classroom completely. I need to redesign my music selection. When having a group of students that come from a variety of countries it is important for me to make sure they not only see themselves on the walls and in the books, but also in what they hear. Finding and playing music of the variety of cultures in my classroom will be a big step in redesigning my classroom.
Image from: https://lunaguitars.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/music-education-is-essential/

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When I interviewed my students about their traditions, I found that many celebrated special holidays within their culture. Updating my Calendar to include all Holidays celebrated not only in my class, but within other cultures around the world. Our school does not celebrate in holidays, even those from the dominant group (White European). It is almost as if we keep those quiet so they don't cause problems among different cultures. I would like to change this to celebrating holidays from all cultures. No longer oppressing any culture. whether it be the dominant culture or the minoritized culture.  Instead of keeping traditions quiet, I would create a classroom calendar that celebrated a diverse group of Holidays, and use the new Common Core Social Studies standards to help teach students about the diversity within our school.
Image from: http://www.orientaltrading.com/classroom-calendar-pocket-chart-