Bridging Cultures

Teacher Education Module

Carrie Rothstein-Fisch

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2003
• ISBN:
  9781135635541
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Bridging Cultures: Teacher Education Module is a professional development resource for teacher educators and staff developers to help preservice and in-service teachers become knowledgeable about cultural differences and understand ways of bridging the expectations of school settings with those of the home. In a nonthreatening, cognitively meaningful way, the Module is based on teacher-constructed and tested strategies to improve home-school communication and parent involvement. These innovations were developed as part of the Bridging Cultures Project, which explores the cultural value differences between the individualistic orientation of mainstream U.S. schools and the collectivistic orientation of many immigrant families. The goal of the Bridging Cultures Project is to support and help teachers in their work with students and families from immigrant cultures. The centerpiece of the Module is training resources, including an outline, an agenda, and a well-tested three-hour script designed as a lecture-discussion with structured opportunities for guided dialogue and small-group discussion. Throughout the script, "Facilitators Notes" annotate presentation suggestions and oversized margins encourage integration of the facilitator's personal experiences in presenting and adapting the Module. Ideas for using the Readings for Bridging Cultures are provided. A section of overhead transparencies and handout masters is included. The Module also provides a discussion of the role of culture in education and the constructs of individualism and collectivism, an overview of the effects of the Bridging Cultures Project, and evaluation results of the author's use of the Module in two sections of a preservice teacher education course. Bridging Cultures: Teacher Education Module brings the successful processes and practices of the Bridging Cultures Project to a larger audience in college courses and in professional development arenas. Designed for use in one or two class sessions, the Module can be incorporated in courses on educational psychology, child development, counseling psychology, and any others that deal with culture in education.

Chapter 1
Introduction to the Bridging Cultures Project

Culture and Education

Large waves of recent immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, the Middle East, and Asia have necessitated new ways of thinking about learning and teaching. However, most educators are not adequately prepared for the cultural mix which faces them, and they do not have adequate resources to help them understand underlying cultural values. Although it is highly useful for teachers to learn about all the cultures that make up their classrooms (Banks, 1997; Banks, 2001), accumulating the information necessary to understand their nuances can be daunting. A Bridging Cultures kindergarten teacher, Kathy Eyler, expressed her frustration, “I wanted to understand my students better so I started studying Mexican culture. Then I realized that the children in my class came from many distinct regions, each with different histories and traditions. I just knew I would never know enough. I had to give up trying” (Rothstein–Fisch, Greenfield, & Trumbull, 1999, p. 64). However, Kathy’s frustration turned to understanding, action, and advocacy as a result of the Bridging Cultures Project.

What is the Bridging Cultures Project?

The Bridging Cultures Project is a professional development project that has found ways to improve cross-cultural understanding in classrooms and schools. It is based on a series of empirical studies demonstrating that deep, invisible cultural values affect the ways teachers, parents, and students solve home–and school– based problems (Greenfield, Raeff, & Quiroz, 2000; Quiroz & Greenfield, forthcoming; Raeff, Greenfield, & Quiroz, 2000). The research focused on immigrant Latino families and the cultural values system that is common in Mexico and Central and South America, especially among the rural poor and those with limited access to formal education. These immigrants come to the United States with a cultural value system called collectivism (Greenfield & Cocking, 1994; Triandis, 1989). Collectivism refers to a cluster of interrelated values that reflect a particular worldview and motivate a whole range of thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. In this value system, children are seen as part of a family whose members are interdependent. Sharing and helping others are essential because the goal of collectivism is group–family interdependency. Collectivism is the culture of immigrants from many parts of the world. In fact, 70% of the world’s cultures can be characterized as collectivistic (Triandis, 1989).

In contrast, mainstream schools in the U.S. foster individualism, a set of values associated with independence, self-expression, and personal achievement. Individualism stresses personal choice and autonomy. In this value system, children are seen as individuals who need to become independent of their families. In the Bridging Cultures Project, we have used a framework in– corporating these two value orientations as a way to help teachers become aware of the deep meaning of culture and how it affects everything from how schools implement federal breakfast programs to how teachers approach literacy.

Initial research studies prompted the question, could teachers understand and apply the framework of individualism-collectivism to positively affect communication, instruction, and learning?

In the fall of 1996, we tested whether the Bridging Cultures framework of individualism and collectivism could be useful for teachers serving large populations of immigrant Latino children. Seven elementary school teachers (four Latino and three European American) in bilingual classes in the greater Los Angeles area participated with staff researchers from WestEd (a regional education laboratory); University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and California State University, Northridge (CSUN) (see Appendix 1). The teachers were invited to attend three half–day workshops conducted by the staff researchers that would introduce them to the framework of individualism and collectivism. Pretest data revealed that the teachers were largely individualistic in their solutions to scenarios presenting home–and school–based problems. On the pretest, 85% of their responses were rated individualistic. At the end of the third workshop, teachers responded to another set of scenarios in a more balanced manner (50% collectivistic responses, 29% individualistic, and 21% a combination of individualistic and collectivistic) (Rothstein–Fisch, Trumbull, Quiroz, & Greenfield, 1997).

Pretest and posttest data and videotaped records from the three workshops demonstrated three changes in teachers’ thinking about culture. The following quotations from the Bridging Cultures teachers indicate that:

1. Teachers understood children and their families in new ways that bridged home and school cultures.

I am much more aware of how strong[ly] the collectivistic model is ingrained in my Latino students and how strong[ly] the individualistic model is ingrained in our curriculum, teaching methods and society. (Amada Pérez)

I feel less isolated and more heartened. I’m more aware of my individualistic tendencies. I have made efforts to connect more with parents. Awareness of the model and the possibility of change is encouraging. (Pearl Saitzyk)

2. Teachers improved classroom activities by emphasizing meaningful collaboration among students.

My reading and math journal is going to be much more group oriented. (Catherine Daley)

In my classroom, I started being really conscious of the helpers—not just allowing it, encouraging it. It is a much different atmosphere. I can tell by the looks on their faces. (Kathy Eyler)

3. Teachers used personal reflection about the role of culture in thinking, learning, acting, and communicating for themselves and others.

I think before I act or speak when dealing with conflict that may occur between students and also participate more from this perspective on a professional level at faulty meetings or just at lunch. (Elvia Hernandez)

I am more conscious of my perceptions and immediate reactions to others. (Catherine Daley)

At the conclusion of the third workshop, the teachers unanimously asked to continue their participation in the Bridging Cultures Project. They described the roles they would like to take.

Developing a team that can present together at schools. (Marie Altchech)

I’d like to continue to research, share my experiences, write and work on presenting at conferences and do in–service workshops in my district, county, state, country, and world. (Amada Pérez)

I would like to continue to be a participating member of this group and help in any way I can. (Giancarlo Mercado)

I’d be interested in developing materials for students and teachers, as well as informing parent groups. (Elvia Hernandez)

All of the teachers described the framework as vital to their ongoing understanding of students, families, and themselves. Although the staff researchers planned to document the changes teachers made as they attempted to address goals they had set for themselves, we could never have anticipated the teachers’ enthusiasm to continue as a group and ultimately their commitment to leadership in developing innovations in their classrooms and schools. As researchers in their own classrooms, the teachers have created their own unique ways for operationalizing the framework to solve a wide variety of problems. Indeed, it is largely the teachers’ innovations, drawn from the cultural strengths of students and their families, that are used throughout this Module to demonstrate how to reduce cross–cultural conflicts.

The teachers and staff researchers continue to document their applications of the individualism– collectivism framework in many ways. Together we have generated a variety of data sources:

• Videotapes of the 3 initial training workshops and the first group meeting thereafter

• Field notes from 24 semi–monthly meetings that yielded detailed documentation of the teachers’ experiences using the framework

• Written surveys and reflections from the teachers at numerous times throughout the past 4 years

• Observations by staff researchers of all 7 teachers at least twice in their classrooms for several hours (in 1998 and in 1999)

• Intensive individual teacher interviews, each often lasting more than 2 hours

Teachers also took on the role of professional developers. Their efforts have included planning and presenting at local, state, and national conferences. They have integrated Bridging Cultures content into courses for intern teachers, critiqued publications, and contributed to professional development materials. Detailed documentation of the teachers’ growth is contained in the Bridging Cultures Project Five-Year Report, 1996–2000 (Trumbull, Diaz–Meza, Hasan, & Rothstein– Fisch, 2001).

The framework of individualism and collectivism has proven useful because it generates insights and understandings that enable teachers to build cultural bridges between home and school (Trumbull, Rothstein–Fisch, Greenfield, & Quiroz, 2001). For example, teachers discovered that students’ natural desire to help their classmates could yield improved multiplication test scores (Rothstein–Fisch, Greenfield & Trumbull, 1999). They also discovered that when a writing prompt was changed from something general (“Describe a favorite TV show”) to something that includes the family (“Describe a TV show you like to watch with your family”), writing increased in length, detail, and sophistication of vocabulary because students seemed much more interested in describing the joy of sitting with their parents, siblings, and cousins watching television, noting in particular how each family member liked something different about his or her favorite show. Thus, understanding value systems through a simple two-part framework, has allowed teachers to look at students, parents, and themselves in new ways that promote learning (Trumbull, Diaz–Meza, Hasan, & Rothstein–Fisch, 2001; Trumbull, Rothstein–Fisch, Greenfield & Quiroz, 2001).

Validity of the Bridging Cultures Framework and Module

The content validity of the framework is derived from several scholarly sources. The framework of independence (individualism) and interdependence (collectivism) has been applied to Native American roots (including conquered indigenous peoples of North America, including Mexico), African roots, and Asian roots (Greenfield, 1994, included in Readings for the Bridging Cultures Teacher Education Module as Article 6; Greenfield & Cocking, 1994). Empirical studies include a series of videotaped, naturally occurring parent–teacher conferences (Greenfield, Quiroz, & Raeff, 2000, Readings Article 4) and a series of open–ended hypothetical scenarios solved by students, parents, and teachers at two schools, one serving European American families and the other immigrant Latino families (Raeff, Greenfield, & Quiroz, 2000, Readings Article 5). This body of research confirmed that the values and beliefs of schools can conflict with the values and beliefs of families, causing confusion, misunderstanding, and sometimes misguided punishment.

The Module also draws on two sources of process validity: The original longitudinal study with our seven teacher–collaborators and the evaluation data from students and participants in Bridging Cultures presentations. The impact of the framework on the teachers was the result of prolonged interaction and collaboration, a...

Table of contents

• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Preface
• Chapter 1 Introduction to the Bridging Cultures Project
• Chapter 2 Facilitator’s Script
• Chapter 3 Effect of the Module on Pre–Service Teachers
• Chapter 4 Overhead Transparency Masters
• Chapter 5 Handout Templates
• Appendices
• References
• Author Index