An Explanation for the Descriptor “Culturally Sensitive”

Click Prefixes and Suffixes: All around the World to view me being culturally sensitive.

In Block IV, during my internship, I was teaching prefixes and suffixes and wanted to incorporate some social studies themes into the lesson.  I wanted my students to learn some facts that would help them with what they were studying.  This lesson lesson worked out perfectly!  I had sixteen multicultural books; each book was from a different country.  The books showed a variety of people, land, and customs.  Students really got into this lesson and were eager to share their new found facts with other classmates.  Also, students were able to identify tons of prefixes and suffixes in these books.  Some of the words were not familiar to the students, but they were able to decode them because they had previously learned what certain prefixes and suffixes mean. 

This lesson allowed students to develop awareness and understanding of people and cultures different than their own.  They learned that languages, culture, traditions, everyday life, and education vary from what they are accustom to.  This was a eye-opening lesson with beneficial, long term affects.

Click Dia de los Muertos to view implementing a culturally sensitive lesson.

Dia de los Muertos was taught during Block IV which was my internship.  This lesson compared the language and history of Dia de los Muertos to the history and language of Halloween.  Most students did not know the history of Halloween and 97 percent of the class had never even heard of Dia de los Muertos.  I taught this lesson because I wanted students to know and understand these very historical holidays and how they came to be.  I wants student to see and understand that our traditions/holidays are not the only ones; there are more out there.

This lesson, comparing Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, helps develop the student's awareness of the world around them.  This lesson also helped students understand the customs, traditions, and origins of individual groups of people.  Some of my students were able to add and share valuable information because of first hand experience.  The students were very attentive, curious, and listened to their classmates.  I feel this lesson definitively developed sensitivity for cultures!

Click Dynamic Dictionary Skills to view me demonstrating culturally sensitive.

In Block IV of my internship I did this lesson to go along with my unit.  We studied the dictionary and its many parts.  Students then had to create a made-up word to go in our class dictionary.  In the definition part of their word, students had to tell the country of origin.  Where did their word originate?  Also, when we looked at words in an online dictionary we studied country of origin.  Students would locate where specific words came from.  Students learned some really cool and interesting facts about words.

This lesson helped students with world geography and location.  Some of my students who speak a language other than English were actively involved and were able to add paramount information.  I believe this lesson helped develop awareness and understanding of other individuals language and group differences.

Click Thinking Tombstone Thesaurus to view a lesson that is culturally sensitive.

During Block IV, the internship, I had students look up overused used words in their thesaurus.  We learned how to use a thesaurus, the parts, and what synonyms are.  Students also used a English/Spanish Thesaurus to find synonyms in Spanish.  All of these words, English and Spanish, were placed on the tombstones.  The word at the top of the tombstone, the word looked up, were "put to rest".  Students were no longer allowed to use the overstated word; instead they had to use a synonym they found in their thesaurus.  The tombstones were placed throughout the room so students could see what words to use and not use.

This was a fun activity that incorporated another language.  Students were enthusiastic about the lesson and were eager to find new words.  This lesson helped develop awareness and understanding, not only of other words but how to embrace global perspectives.  The students of Non-Spanish speaking homes were encouraging the students who do come from a Spanish speaking home.  It was wonderfully, amazing to see students encourage and support one another.  This lesson helped build understanding among students, which will last a lifetime.