3 Culturally Inclusive Skills That All Students And Teachers Should Have
In today's increasingly diverse world, it is more important than ever for students to be culturally aware, culturally sensitive, and have strong intercultural communication skills both within and outside the classroom. School leaders can play a key role in helping students develop these important skills and teaching students how to utilize them.
What is Cultural Awareness?
Cultural awareness is the ability to understand and appreciate different cultures. It is important for students to be culturally aware because it allows them to interact effectively with people from different cultures. Culturally aware students are more likely to be respectful of other cultures and to avoid making assumptions about people from different backgrounds.
As teachers, it is our job to help students become more culturally aware. We should start by understanding the cultures that are represented within our own classrooms. This can be done by talking to your students and their families, reading books and articles, and visiting cultural centers. Next, it is important to incorporate cultural awareness into your lessons. This can be done by using books and articles from different cultures, bringing in guest speakers, and celebrating holidays from different cultures. While we are making our students aware of the cultures present in our classroom and around the world, we should also be teaching students that culturally diversity is natural and necessary.
One way to make the cultural diversity in your classroom apparent is to create a culturally diverse classroom library. In order to create a culturally inclusive classroom library, it is important to have a variety of books that represent different cultures. This includes books that are written by authors from different cultures, books that feature characters from different cultures, and books that tell stories about different cultures. It is also important to have books that are written in different languages. By having a variety of books in the classroom library, students can learn about different cultures and see themselves represented in the books they read.
What is Cultural Sensitivity?
Cultural sensitivity is the ability to be respectful of different cultures. It is important for students to be culturally sensitive because it allows them to avoid offending people from different cultures. Culturally sensitive students are more likely to be aware of their own cultural biases and to be open to learning about other cultures.
As school leaders, we needs to help students become naturally culturally sensitive. Classrooms should be a safe space for dialogue. This means creating a classroom environment where students feel comfortable talking about their cultures and their experiences. Make a point of acknowledging and celebrating the diversity of your students. This can be done by displaying artwork from different cultures, reading stories from different cultures, or celebrating holidays from different cultures. This show culturally diverse students that they are appreciated and seen.
Culturally sensitivity is best taught by having students examine different situations from a different culture's perspective. When reading a book, ask students to identify the different cultures represented in the story. How are they affected by the events of the story? When discussing current events, ask students to consider how different cultures might be affected by the events. How is the way we are affected by this event different from those from different cultures? When students understand the perspectives of people from other cultures they will become more culturally sensitive.
What are Intercultural Communication Skills?
Intercultural communication skills are the ability to communicate effectively with people from different cultures. It is important for students to have intercultural communication skills because it allows them to work and live in a globalized world. Intercultural communicative students are more likely to be able to understand and be understood by people from different cultures.
The classroom is a great place to foster students' intercultural communication skills. With your students, start a class discussion about intercultural communication. Identify with your students the aspects of different cultures that are similar to their own. Ask your students what they can learn from other cultures and how can they incorporate that into their lives. Encourage students to share their own experiences with cultural diversity. By understanding the different cultures involved in the communication process, we can better understand each other and build relationships that are based on mutual respect and understanding.
Cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, and intercultural communication are key skills we need to teach our students. Teaching these skills are just a few of the ways that we can be culturally inclusive teachers. Read Hacking Culturally Inclusive Teaching and master being a culturally inclusive teacher.
How School Leaders Can Help
There are many things that school leaders can do to help make students culturally aware, culturally sensitive, and foster intercultural communication skills. Here are a few ideas:
- Provide professional development for teachers on cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, and intercultural communication. This will help teachers to learn how to teach these important skills to their students.
- Create a school culture that is welcoming and inclusive of all cultures. This can be done by displaying artwork and celebrating holidays from different cultures, and by creating a safe space for students to share their thoughts and ideas.
- Incorporate cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, and intercultural communication into the curriculum. This can be done by using books and articles from different cultures, and by bringing in guest speakers from different cultures.
- Partner with community organizations that promote cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, and intercultural communication. This can help to provide students with opportunities to learn about different cultures outside of the classroom.
- Be a role model. School leaders should model the behaviors that they want to see in their students. This means being respectful of all cultures and being open to learning about new cultures.
- Provide resources. School leaders should provide resources to help students learn about different cultures. This can include books, articles, and websites.
- Celebrate diversity. School leaders should celebrate the diversity of their students. This can be done by celebrating holidays from different cultures and by displaying artwork from different cultures.
By taking these steps, school leaders can help to make students culturally aware, culturally sensitive, and foster intercultural communication skills. These skills are essential for students to succeed in school and in life.
