Action Plan and Reflection
Alexa Armentano
Introduction:
Throughout the experience of observing in my current school environment, conducting staff interviews, reading the New York State Culturally Responsive-Sustaining framework, and creating a photo journal, I learned a lot about practices implemented in my school and thought about how the CR-S framework can be better implemented throughout the school. Culturally responsive-sustaining practices are essential for fostering an inclusive environment for students, especially multilingual learners. It is also essential that educational environments are welcoming, respectful, safe, and culturally responsive to ensure MLs, and all students, feel represented. The New York State Culturally Responsive-Sustaining framework introduces four key principals that aims to ensure all students regardless of their cultural or linguistic backgrounds receive the same opportunities as all students. The four principals are 1) welcoming and affirming environment, 2) high expectations and rigorous instruction, 3) inclusive curriculum and assessment, and 4) ongoing professional learning. (NYSED). In this paper, I will reflect on my observations and interview findings, and create an action plan proposal on how to better implement all four principals of the framework in my school.
Background and Demographic Information:
The school I currently work in and the school where I conducted interview and observations is a preschool located in Park Slope, Brooklyn in New York. This school has three ages, two-year-olds, three-year-olds, and four-year-olds. The three- and four-year-olds are a part of the Department of Education Universal Pre-K program, and the two-year-olds are a private program. Brooklyn is known for its cultural diversity and inclusive communities, which is represented within my school. The students in my school have various cultural and linguistic backgrounds which reflects the multicultural nature of the community. There are English language learners in my school whose L1 Russian, Spanish, Hindi, and Mandarin. This past year, there were 4 students from Russia who started school only speaking Russian. There are three students whose L1 is Spanish, 1 student whose L1 is Hindi, and 2 students whose L1 is Mandarin. All the ELLs in my school mainly speak their L1 at home, and English in school. Many of our English language learners begin school without any prior exposure to English which can make the transition challenging. According to the interviews I conducted, this is one of the main challenges my school faces due to the fact that students cannot easily communicate and are nervous. The staff is extremely dedicated to creating a welcoming environment for all students, and especially MLs, to help with the adjustment of staring school.
Action Plan:
During the interviews I conducted, my observations, and the process of creating the digital photo journal, it was evident that my school implements beneficial practices into daily instruction and other aspects of the school that supports a culturally responsive pedagogy. While this is true, there are also better practices that can be implemented to better support the four principals of the New York State Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework. Looking at the four principals which are 1) welcoming and affirming environment, 2) high expectations and rigorous instruction, 3) inclusive curriculum and assessment, and 4) ongoing professional learning, I was able to assess and reflect on ways my school can be performing better in these four key areas. Creating a curriculum and environment that is culturally sustaining is imperative for a positive, engaging, and effective learning experience, especially for multilingual learners. Culturally Responsive-Sustaining education recognizes cultural differences and uses the differences as assets for teaching and learning. (NYSED). Incorporating students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds into instruction can be very beneficial and help foster a positive learning experience for MLs. Valuing students’ identities and respecting their cultural and linguistic backgrounds is imperative to create an inclusive environment where MLs feel comfortable, safe, and welcome. “CRP theory recognizes that teachers can enrich students’ classroom experience through their instructional content (what they teach) and practices (how they teach) to make learning encounters more engaging and, in turn, increase students’ access to learning and opportunity for academic achievement.” (Franco et. al., 2023). Keeping this in mind, I have created an action plan proposal on how to better implement all four principals of the framework in my school and incorporate practices that support CRP theory.
Principal 1: Welcoming and Affirming Environment
My school has made impressive efforts in creating a welcoming and affirming environment for all students. For example, my educational director highlighted how the school respects and incorporates students’ native languages by playing music and reading books in those languages. The classroom teacher in the 4-year-old class also emphasized the importance of celebrating different cultural holidays as part of their curriculum. Creating a welcoming and affirming environment will help students feel respected, safe, comfortable, etc., which will allow them to immerse themselves into the learning process. “CRT validates and empowers ethnically diverse learners by cultivating their cultural integrity, abilities and academic success (Gay, 2000; 2013; Laughlin & Nganga, 2009; Nganga, 2015). Banks (2006; 2008) also noted that CRT is an equity pedagogy that aims at eradicating differences between learners’ home environments and the school to facilitate success.” (Nganga, 2015). Four key points to creating a welcoming and affirming environment is 1) collective responsibility to learn about student cultures and communities, 2) close relationships with Students and Families, 3) social-emotional learning programs, and 4) materials that represent and affirm student identities. (NYSED). While there are many practices my school implements for principal one, there is always room for improvement for consistently integrating students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds throughout the school year to ensure they feel represented, respected, and comfortable.
To better implement a welcoming and affirming environment, expanding the integration of students’ cultural backgrounds into daily classroom activities would be a great place to start. This could include a “Cultural Spotlight” program where each week focuses on a different culture that is represented in the class. This program will involve parents and community members during the process. During this program, students will have the opportunity to share about their cultures, traditions, etc. and invite a parent or someone special to them to come into school to help teach their classmates about their favorite aspects of their culture. Incorporating families into this program will strengthen the home-school connection.
Throughout the school, there are many signs and visuals, but not many in different languages. It is imperative that my school increases the use of multilingual signage and visual aids throughout the classrooms and hallways to reflect the languages spoken by the students in the school. This can help MLs feel more connected to the school environment and facilitate language learning.
Principal 2: High Expectations and Rigorous Instruction
The staff at my school are dedicated to ensuring that all students, including MLs, meet academic milestones. Key aspects of this principal are 1) student-led civic engagement, 2) critical examination of power structures, 3) project-based learning on social justice issues, and 4) student leadership opportunities. (NYSED). According to the classroom teacher, while the initial focus for MLs is on ensuring they are comfortable, feel welcome, and are happy, students eventually meet or exceed academic expectations throughout the school year. However, there is a need for more structured support to maintain high academic expectations for MLs while also ensuring the continuation of feeling comfortable, safe, respected, etc.
For an action plan step for this principal, I would recommend implementing activities that support critical thinking and problem solving. Since this is a preschool and the students are younger, incorporating fun, hands-on activities that allow students to explore is essential. Incorporating a class project where students have to work together to solve problems and find solutions will encourage students to think critically and problem solve. These activities will allow students to engage in discussions that support their reasoning and take academic risks while sharing their thoughts with their classmates. Introducing STEM activities where students can engage in building structures, experimenting with materials, exploring cause and effect, and more will help students apply critical thinking to real-world scenarios.
Principal 3: Inclusive Curriculum and Assessment
For this principal, the key aspects are 1) current events incorporated into instruction, 2) students as co-designers of curriculum, 3) resources written and developed by racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse perspectives, and 4) instructional strategies that adapt to diverse learning styles. (NYSED). My school incorporates some multicultural elements into instruction such as learning about different holidays celebrated by different cultures, and after completing the digital photo journal I learned there are many multicultural books, but the school can incorporate better practices of multicultural education to create an inclusive curriculum and assessments. Also, my school incorporates different units and themes based on the students’ interests. If students show interest in a specific topic or seem to be asking a lot of questions about a specific topic, it guides the teachers to know what the next unit or theme should be. The current curriculum can improve by incorporating more multicultural elements into instruction which will ensure students see their cultures represented throughout the learning process. “Culturally responsive teaching helps students acquire knowledge of self and others, and the attendant values that come with having a better and more accurate understanding of who diverse people are and how they came of be as individuals, groups, and nations.” (Gay, 2010). Incorporating an inclusive curriculum and inclusive assessments helps support this idea to ensure students have a better understanding of themselves and others.
After conducting interviews and completing the photo journal, I noticed there is a need for more multicultural lessons. The school has many multicultural books, toys, and decorations for bulletin boards, but it can be more involved within daily instruction. Creating multicultural units that are engaging and effective for students will allow them to explore various cultures and learn about each other’s backgrounds. Within these units, students can read different books, participate in various art projects, listening to music, all to gain a deeper understanding of various cultures. As a preschool, incorporating hands-on art projects are always engaging, and could be a great way to learn about different art techniques, for example, from different cultures.
Principal 4: Ongoing Professional Learning
The interviews I conducted with staff members revealed a strong commitment to professional growth, and one of the teachers mentioned how she believes more professional development for teachers who don’t have a background in ENL would be very beneficial. The key aspects of this principal are 1) diversity, equity, and inclusion training, examining implicit bias and interrogation of beliefs and assumptions, and 2) support in aligning curriculum and instruction to the histories, languages, and experiences of traditionally marginalized voices. (NYSED). Professional development in a very helpful tool and resource that all educators should have access to. “Professional learning designed for culturally responsive pedagogy highlights the role of culture in teacher learning, with consideration for the ways in which educators learn and make sense of their daily practice (King et al., 2009).” (Rieckhoff et al.) While the school already engages in some professional development activities, and professional development days provided by the NYC DOE, there is a need for more focused and ongoing learning opportunities related to culturally responsive teaching.
The action plan recommendation to help accomplish this goal is to provide monthly workshops for all teachers in the school to focus on culturally responsive teaching and the specific needs of the school’s diverse population. These workshops can provide ideas about activities, units, lessons, practices, and themes that are related to culturally responsive-sustaining education. They can focus on specific instruction ideas while also addressing the challenges of how-to best support ELLs throughout the day and how to incorporate multicultural content into the curriculum. The workshops can be led by teachers within the school, teachers from different schools, people who work within the DOE, and more.
Reflection:
The process of completing this fieldwork assignment was enjoyable and beneficial to me as an educator. Throughout my experiences of conducting interviews with school staff, and creating the digital photo journal, I learned a lot about the culturally responsive practices my school incorporates into the school, and reflected on areas that need improvements. The interviews and photo journal creation provided clear insights into where growth was needed to incorporate culturally responsive-sustaining practices. My school’s dedication to creating a welcoming environment is extremely clear, especially in the ways we incorporate students’ native languages and celebrate diversity and cultural traditions. It is clear these practices support MLs when they come into school after learning about students who started off the year nervous to come into school, and now knowing they have completely adjusted and are happy every day when they arrive.
The interviews and photo journal also showed that there are some challenges and areas that need improvements. While there is a strong focus on making MLs feel comfortable, there is a need for more consistent use of multicultural materials and integrating more of students’ cultural backgrounds into everyday instruction. There is also a need for staff to have access to more professional development, especially supporting the ideas of a culturally responsive- sustaining pedagogy. “It is validating in that this form of teaching values students' cultures by embedding them into learning experiences. Teachers must be competent in the ability to see cultural diversity as an asset and use cultural knowledge to develop the curriculum.” (Djonko-Moore et. al., 2015). Ensuring teachers have access to professional development to understand the importance of using cultural diversity as an asset will better meet the needs of students, especially MLs.
After reflecting on my findings, I understand that my school focuses on fostering an inclusive environment, but there is always room for improvement and to incorporate practices that better align with the NYS CR-S Framework. By continuing to create a welcoming environment, having high expectations, inclusive curriculum, and ongoing professional learning and support, students and especially MLs, will be a part of an effective, and engaging learning experiences where they can grow personally and academically.
Conclusion:
My school shows a commitment to creating a learning environment that is inclusive, diverse, welcoming, and comfortable. The action plan I created enhances the practices that are already in place and will help implement important aspects of the New York State Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework. By improving practices that support the four key principals, the school can better support students by ensuring all students, especially MLs, feel welcome, have high academic expectations, and have access to an inclusive curriculum.
Bibliography:
Culturally responsive-sustaining education framework. NYSED. (n.d.). https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/crs/culturally-responsive-sustaining-education-framework.pdf
Djonko-Moore, C. M., & Traum, L. C. (2015). The Influence of Early Childhood Educators' Teacher Preparation and Efficacy on Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices. Teacher Education and Practice, 28(1), 156+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A514657849/AONE?u=nysl_oweb&sid=googleScholar&xid=062c02af
Franco, M. P., Bottiani, J. H., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2023). Assessing teachers’ culturally responsive classroom practice in PK–12 schools: A systematic review of teacher-, student-, and observer-report measures. Review of Educational Research. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543231208720
Gay, G. (n.d.). Culturally responsive teaching. Google Books. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uD9qDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=culturally%2Bresponsive%2Beducation%2Bearly%2Bchildhood&ots=v0uC581kc8&sig=vmdjAzVOcSu5vpFGTuiH7ZOoGY0#v=onepage&q=culturally%20responsive%20education%20early%20childhood&f=false
Nganga, L. (2015). Culturally responsive and anti-biased teaching benefits early childhood pre-service teachers. Journal of Curriculum and Teaching, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.5430/jct.v4n2p1
Rieckhoff, B., Ockerman, M., Proweller, A., & Wolfinger, J. (n.d.). Building teacher empathy and culturally responsive ... https://scholar.stjohns.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1138&context=jovsa