The message in this school is clear: Cultures are welcome and cultural differences are worth embracing.
Our public charter school in Washington, D.C., has "international" in its name and cultural competence in its mission statement. But it's not just the classes in Chinese, French, and Spanish or trips to embassies that prepare students to take on the world.
Instead, the journey to global readiness begins the first week of 6th grade—when students bring objects from home to share with classmates while sitting in a circle in their advisory class. This is their contribution to a cross-cultural garden. Students explain their objects to highlight an aspect of their culture and then place the artifacts in the middle of the circle. In this activity, originally suggested by Debra Rader and Linda Harris Sittig (2003), students' home cultures literally come to school.
Although the activity is about recognizing and appreciating differences, the most powerful effect doesn't come from students seeing their classmates' cultural objects. It comes in displaying and explaining their own. It's that ability—and requirement—to voice their own culture that really starts students toward global readiness.
Creating a Culture of Cultures
We start from a place of cultural positivity. We believe all cultures are interesting, worthwhile, and powerful.
We want our students of color to feel less of the divided self—the tension between home and school that has afflicted students asked to assimilate into a perceived "mainstream" society (Perry, Steele, & Hilliard, 2003). They are valued for who they are as well as for what they can become—and the buy-in from students and their families is enormous.
Where Cultures Meet
Not every school has "international" in its name or a focus on language learning. But in a diverse society and with students heading for a fully globalized future, every school can—and should—be a culturally positive school. These tips can get you started:
- Structure ways for staff, students, and families to bring in their cultures early in the school year.
- Take individualized (rather than broad) approaches to cultural celebrations.
- Ensure that everyone both teaches and learns. For global readiness, culture is never a one-way street. Everyone needs to know: "I have a culture, and I can learn from other cultures."
This includes teachers. We begin during staff development week in August with a staff version of the cultural object activity. It takes a long time for more than 50 people to explain the objects they've brought, but it's worth it. We display the objects in the staff lounge (except for the edible ones, which, of course, don't last much longer than the meeting). The message to staff, both explicitly and implicitly, is the same as to students: We want you to bring your culture to school. - Integrate cultural learning both in and out of class
To read more of Simon Rodberg's article, please click here.
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