Running head: MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCY WORKSHOPS

Multicultural Competency Workshops on Long-Standing Communities in the Seattle University Youth Initiative Area Justin Dickens, Catie Holker, Leanna Patricio Seattle University SDAD 578 Student Development Theory Dr. Erica Yamamura November 28, 2012

MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCY WORKSHOPS Introduction

In designing our lesson plans we utilized what we believe it means to have a strong multicultural competence. Our definition of multicultural competence takes into account the degree of awareness, knowledge, and skills that relate to cultural practices of diverse populations. A persons level of multicultural competence directly correlates to their development in the above categories. Is an individual aware of their own identities and how they affect those around them? Do they have an understanding of how all identities come together to create a system of oppression? Do they possess skills to increase the awareness and knowledge of other individuals? These are questions that we would ask in assessing ones level of multicultural competence. We utilized our definition of multicultural competence to shape our lesson plans. Additionally, we designed our lesson plans so that each of them would address how immigrant populations affect long-standing communities, which was our appointed project focus. To provide effective lesson plans we also utilized theory to reinforce our ideas. In the beginning lesson plan student worked through a case study, and then talked about different forms of Community Cultural Wealth that individuals offer to the greater community. The advanced lesson plan allowed students to gain a strong understanding how oppression is pervasive and affects everybody differently. Kolbs Cycle of Learning helped us structure the lesson plan so that students would have rewarding learning outcomes when the lesson was finished. Activities, Goals, and Connections - Introductory Lesson Plan In this workshop designed as an introduction to diversity training, our group decided to develop a case study to teach and illustrate a few main ideas from Yossos (2005) theory of Community Cultural Wealth. This particular theory was chosen in relation to our research topic

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because our group felt that when working with any type of student- whether a recent immigrant or a student whose family has lived in the Bailey Gatzert neighborhood for years- it is important to seek strengths and values that might not traditionally be found of importance in education as a means of empowerment. Our group identified four key goals: By the end of this lesson, students will: Understand the term and meaning of community cultural wealth Understand threes forms of capital: aspirational, linguistic, and familial Understand deficit thinking Apply this knowledge to their volunteer work At the beginning of the lesson plan, we felt it would be important to include an introduction of our group as well as implement an ice breaker activity. Assuming we would have a small group to work with (no more than ten students) we decided that the activity would involve a beach ball with questions written on different colored sections. By passing this ball around the circle, each person would need to introduce themselves and answer the question where their right thumbs land on. This would allow for the group to know each others names while practicing sharing before the training begins. Upon completion of the ice breaker activity, the case study would commence. Yosso (2005) gave examples of six forms of community cultural wealth, and for the sake of this short, introductory workshop, our group decided to focus on three: aspirational capital, linguistic capital, and familial capital. We felt that of the six forms of community cultural wealth, these three might be found most often among students they would be working with. The case study (see Appendix A), in brief, describes the experience of a young Vietnamese-American student who is not doing well on tests for one of his classes. Going into detail regarding his

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school life, family, and home life, the singular question asked of the workshop attendees is not to figure out why the young student is struggling, however; how would they approach the situation at hand? Using this prompt as a means to have the participants think about ways to empower and speak with the student, a group dialogue would open up where everyone would share their ideas. During this section of the workshop, the format would be somewhat open. Depending on the amount of discussion from students and the direction they were going, our group was prepared to steer the group towards the formal lesson on community cultural wealth. Our group felt that keeping this area open and brainstorming ahead of time the different types of answers and levels of awareness of the participants would make for a more tailored workshop as a whole. If it seemed that the participants already had a grasp on the forms of wealth we were looking for, then we would circle the activity towards a formalized education of the theory (response example: Good! It seems that you have a great grasp on possible ways to find strengths and values in different types of students. Lets move on to give these formal names.). On the other hand, if it seemed that the participants were focused on a different direction, such as what the student lacks or does not have, then we were prepared to guide the participants into the lesson in another manner (response example: Alright, so those were a few ways that we could approach the situation. Today, were going to introduce another way of approaching this situation by talking more about deficit thinking and Yossos theory of community cultural wealth.). With either of these segues, our group would then move forward to describe the forms of capital. By the end of the lesson on multicultural competence and deficit thinking, we would open up another discussion to the group using one final prompt: With this new (or formalized)

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knowledge, how would you approach the situation now? It is our hope that the participants would then be able to better identify the strengths of the student from this new perspective. Upon completion of the discussion, we would then tie the case study and lesson to the Bailey Gatzert community by providing demographics of the students and a background of the neighborhood. Activities, Goals, and Connections - Advanced Lesson Plan The advanced lesson plan for teaching students about multicultural competence allows each participant to develop a stronger understanding of their own identities. Students will explore their own identities using Kolbs Cycle of Learning (Evans, 2010) and reflect upon how those affect relationships with those around them. Students will begin to recognize how their identities play into systems of oppression and will have the ability to apply what they learn to the Bailey Gatzert community. We utilized Kolbs Cycle of Learning to construct and implement the lesson plan. First, concrete experience was gained when students learned what oppression is, their role in a system of oppression, and specifically what that role meant for others in the room. Reflective observation occurred when students used the matrix of oppression to self-identify with different identities in the table. During abstract conceptualization students formed a larger picture of how they fit into a larger system of oppression and learned how their identities affect everyone around them in different ways. Finally, active conceptualization gave students an understanding of how their new knowledge informs them for their volunteer work at Bailey Gatzert. To fully utilize and explore Kolbs Cycle of Learning students would utilize the matrix of oppression, from Teaching for Diversity in Social Justice (Adams, Bell, & Griffin, 2007), to steer their learning. This table is comprised of typical identities that individuals possess. Social identity categories are broken down into privileged, bordering, and targeted groups. Privileged

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groups are usually the oppressor, which means that the target groups become the oppressed. Individuals can identify in the bordering groups category as well. This means that their identity places them in the oppressor role is some occasions and in the oppressed role for others. The matrix of oppression demonstrates which role everyones individual identities play in the greater systematic structure of oppression. During the activity and discussion we also utilized a few other methods to ensure that there were meaningful conversations. In the beginning, students were first asked to define oppression, and then we provided a definition for them. Students were further engaged throughout the session when we provided prompting questions for them to answer. Before anybody shared their identities with the group we established ground rules. These included concepts such as: this is challenge by choice, use I statements, and assume positive intent in everybody. As a facilitator I shared my personal identities first, which may have helped some of the participants to feel more comfortable about sharing their own. After we entered a discussion about what role our identities had in oppression, a facilitator offered a personal reflection of their own as well. Then students were asked to offer any realizations that occurred for them throughout the activity. These vulnerable contributions by the facilitators not only provided students with an example response, the reflections also created a more comfortable environment where students were more likely to share with one another. Facilitators also provided demographic data about the student body at Bailey Gatzert to enhance the groups conversation about relating what they learned to the Bailey Gatzert community. Conclusion and Lessons Learned Throughout the collaborative development of both our lesson plans, our group has learned valuable lessons and gained relevant experience by applying the theories we have studied

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throughout the quarter to practice by putting together and implementing these workshops. One lesson we learned is that it is difficult to get people talking without first connecting with them. During the advanced level workshop, we started off with an engaging get-to-know-you ice breaker. The questions we wrote on the ball that got passed around were fun, personal questions that encouraged friendly discussion amongst the group. To us, the efforts to break the ice were obvious. However, with the environment we were in, and also taking into account the group of students we were working with, we should have spent more time breaking the ice and allowing the group's comfort level to rise. More casual conversation could have instigated more serious conversation amongst members later on in the lesson. Another important lesson we learned came from our experience with the silence. As nervous as we may or may not have been, all three of us had to make a conscious effort to be comfortable with silence amongst the group in order to allow for participants to think and process the content and ideas we just presented. We've been hardwired, as social human beings, to dislike silence; we see it as uncomfortable, awkward, or that something has gone wrong, particularly in a group setting. In this case of a multicultural competency workshop, we have learned from experience that silence in a group is acceptable, and in fact sometimes encouraged. By allowing adequate silence, we allowed the participants time inside their head to process what was just discussed. We realized that it was after periods of silence was when the most profound sharing from the students would come about. Fortunately, in general our workshop ran smoothly and successfully. What worked for our lesson plan was when the students shared or spoke up, it was a relatively equal balance of sharing from all members and the content of their contribution was always seemingly honest and insightful. We may not have heard much in quantity from the participants, potentially due to the

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issue outlined above being the lack of more interactive icebreakers, however we did get them to at least participate to a degree. Another success was the implementation of one of the tools we used in our workshop: the matrix of oppression. Justin, the lead facilitator of this activity, clearly explained the matrix and successfully opened up several windows for discussion. When the matrix was introduced, the participants appeared intrigued and they seemed to appreciate the tangible handout. It was important that we had copies of the matrix for the students. Instead of just talking about the matrix, or displaying it on the board, we accounted for those students who may prefer tactile learning. By giving them copies of the matrix, they also have a take-away and physical reminder of what they may have learned from our workshop. To implement a more effective workshop, there are a few changes we would make to our lesson plan as it stands before teaching it again. First, we would have more friendly and personal group interaction in the beginning of the lesson, prior to the deeper topics and discussion questions. Encouraging the participants to speak up in the beginning, about easy and/or personal topics, will make it easier for them to participate later on in the lesson, when the discussion topics become more vulnerable or unfamiliar. They will have already established a degree of rapport with the group after sharing personal experiences and this rapport is vital to the inclusion of deeply personal and vulnerable topics. This way, they get the most out of the deeper conversations toward the end of the lesson. Another change to our workshop would be to include more short activities, in the place of just one extensive activity. Though we believe the matrix activity is useful and effective, the lesson plan as a whole can be made to be more interactive and less static if we make that activity shorter and include additional activities that better distribute the use of the forty five minutes.

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This will take care of issues relating to short attention spans. Another beneficial change we would make to our workshop would be to share the speaking floor more often. It was not intentional that certain members talked for a longer amount of time than others, but it happened that way. Next time, we would be more intentional to bounce off each other, as facilitators, more often than we did the first time around. A final change that our workshop would need, is the use of more visuals and teaching mediums in order to better satisfy the variety of learning styles we encountered. We were intentional about the amount of time we scheduled for discussion and engagement, however, some students, and even some of us as facilitators, could have benefited from additional tools such as the white board, visuals, or activities. One addition would be to have a large version of the matrix of oppression. This way, students could discuss the matrix without immediately revealing how they filled it out personally. We could also compare the demographics of the group by using a larger version of the matrix to superimpose all participants answers onto it. This would easier facilitate discussion about who is in the room and what populations are represented.

MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCY WORKSHOPS References

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Adams, M., Bell, L. A., & Griffin, P. (2007). Teaching for diversity and social justice. New York: Routledge. CEO Presser. 2011. Best Clip Art Blog. Retrieved from http://bestclipartblog.com/24-school-clip-art.html/school-clip-art-11 Evans, N. J. (2010). Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice, Kolbs Theory of Experiential learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Yosso, T.J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69-82.

MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCY WORKSHOPS Appendix A Introductory Lesson Plan

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Lesson Plan #1 - Introductory This lesson aims to educate the student volunteers about the types of community cultural wealth that is overlooked or undervalued in the traditional context. Goals By the end of this lesson, students will :

Understand the term and meaning of community cultural wealth Understand the 6 forms of capital outlined by Yosso Understand deficit thinking Apply this knowledge to their volunteer work

1. Introductions and Ice Breakers- 5 min a. Intro ourselves 2. Case Study - 25 min
o

o o

Fifth grader, remedial English, needs tutoring, teachers don't understand what his problem is and shared their worry with you during school one day First language Spanish, fluent in English (linguistic capital) Parents are separated-- lives mothers, visits dad on the weekend. (familial) Both parents wish for Johnny to succeed in class, expects him to go to college, although neither have gone to college themselves (aspirational) Support of family Older cousin, senior in high school in the area -- can help with (social/navigational capital) navigating k-12 system What challenges does Johnny face? How can you work with this student to boost his confidence in order to succeed academically and socially?

3. Community Cultural Wealth - 10 min

o o o

Yosso briefly, quick of CCW 6 forms capital outlined by Yosso Bringing back to case study-- what did you miss?

4. Application to volunteering in the schools - 5 min

Student demographics -- immigrants students and American students Statistics -- SUYI resources? o Percentages of neighborhood o Neighborhood strengths and challenges --- Academic achievement gap

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Moral of the story: do not work with students assuming a deficit in their knowledge-each student brings their community cultural wealth to the table

MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCY WORKSHOPS Appendix B Advanced Lesson Plan

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Lesson Plan #2 - Advanced This lesson aims to have students explore their identities using Kolb's Cycle of Learning and reflect upon how those affect relationships with those around them. Through reflection, students will have the critical thinking skills that they can apply to their volunteer work with the Bailey Gatzert community. Goals:

By the end of this lesson, students will : Have a strong understand of their own identities Recognize the different parts of oppression Apply what they have learned to the Bailey Gatzert community

1. Introductions and Ice Breakers 5 min a. Introduce ourselves 2. Concrete Experience - Table of Identities 15 min 1. A categorical table of identities and where they fall underneath a system of oppression. 2. Students will use this table to assess their own identities 3. Reflective Observation - 20 min - Synthesis questions (small groups, then larger to report out) 1. Working in small groups, students will go through questions introduced by us. 2. Students will report back to larger group of their findings 4. Abstract Conceptualization - Applying learning experiences to life - 5 min 1. Why does this matter in life/society? 2. Providing information to students 5. Active Experimentation - tying it all in to Bailey Gatzert (how you affect the students) 10 min 1. How this can be incorporated to SUYI 2. Statistics -- SUYI resources? 1. Percentages of neighborhood 2. Neighborhood strengths and challenges --- Academic achievement gap