Course | Celebrating Cultural Diversity

Course Summary

Celebrating Cultural Diversity in Your Classroom
These lines were added to the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal in 1906, about 25 years after she was gifted to the Americans as a celebration of renowned French-American friendship and the abolition of slavery. To this day she greets millions of Americans as they pass below her towering maternal gaze via New York harbor. Like the shackles around her feet, this poem is easy to miss, and its meaning has been overlooked. Since its inception, America the “dream” boasts promises of idealistic new beginnings for the “homeless” and “tempest-tossed.” Yet, the struggles our immigrant brothers and sisters bear has been carried on the backs of subsequent generations. The seeds of democracy, equality, and freedom for all were intentionally sewn into her founding documents, but for many the harvest of our multicultural democratic experiment has yet to be reaped. Has our country really capitalized on the strength of its diversity?

The road to celebrating cultural diversity in America is long and plagued with a history of slavery, civil rights violations, and systemic setbacks. This course attempts to recognize the importance of our multi-cultural fabric and explore ways to celebrate and promote diversity in our classrooms.

Explore our online professional development course designed for teachers to celebrate and promote cultural diversity in the classroom. Dispel myths, reduce bias, and learn strategies that close achievement gaps and create an equitable education experience for all! Join this 18-hour online professional development course for teachers to embark on a journey of celebration and growth.

Just as Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. When you know better, do better.” Let’s celebrate diversity and strive for inclusive classrooms together!

Projects To Be Completed

1. Puzzle Pieces
2. Breaking Stereotypes
3. Immigration Stories
4. Celebrating Success
5. Article Analysis and Response
6. Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap
7. Video Analysis and Art
8. Resource Analysis

Prerequisites

• Basic computer file management skills.
• Basic internet search and bookmarking skills.

Materials

1. Computer
2. Word Processing Software
3. Internet Access
4. Adobe Acrobat Reader 11.1.01 or later.

Professional Learning Objectives

1. Watch a video on cultural diversity and respond to reflection questions with 100% accuracy.
2. Create a puzzle pieces activity using information from the video with 100% completion.
3. Respond to reflection questions about providing equitable education using the “Breaking Stereotypes” video and course text with 100% completion.
4. Research and choose one immigration story to read fully and write a response with 100% completion using course text and the provided immigration website.
5. Guess the names of immigrants matching their accomplishments and type the correct names of immigrants who created successful businesses in America into a provided template with 100% completion using the provided name bank.
6. Respond to celebrating success reflection questions with 100% completion.
7. Watch the “Tale of Two Teachers” video, use the provided video and course text, and respond to reflection questions with 100% completion.
8. Complete the art integration activity with 100% completion using the provided artwork.
9. Choose one culturally responsive teaching scenario (building rapport, designing culturally responsive classroom space, modeling culturally responsive behavior, designing a culturally responsive lesson, or reflecting on culturally responsive teaching practices) with 100% completion using strategies provided in the course text.
10. Create a custom resource template to save culturally diverse resources of their choice with 100% completion using the provided Wakelet example and culturally diverse resource examples.

Common Core Standards

• CCSS: ELA- Literacy- Speaking and Listening K-12
• CCSS: ELA-Literacy
Writing K-12
Reading Literature K-12
Reading Informational Text K-12