Course Description

Examination of culture and cultural diversity and the relationship to academic achievement, development, implementation, and evaluation of culturally inclusive instruction. Topics include cultural concepts and perspectives, cultural contact, cultural diversity in California and the United States, cross-cultural interaction, the roles of culture in the classroom and the school, culturally inclusive learning environments, family and community involvement, and culturally inclusive curriculum and instruction.

I enrolled in this course at an interesting time because the school I teach at was taking a careful look at how the community includes and celebrates diversity.  The term had between added to the list of the school’s core values a few years prior, and programs were being designed to educate students, faculty, and staff about how to teach and learn in ways that embrace that value.  In addition to presentations by the affinity groups on campus, we had also just attended a day devoted to presentations and panel discussions about the topic of diversity.    

In this ePortfolio, I have included links to several assignments from the course.  The first is a journal entry about cultural identification, followed by two article reflections.  The cornerstone assignment for this course was designing a lesson plan that is culturally inclusive.  I also included a checklist for making sure I include everything I learned from this course when designing future lesson plans.