Gray, R.

Reflection
4.3 Diversity, Cultural Understanding & Global Awareness
Candidates model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse
student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness.

To master this standard, I completed three artifacts to demonstrate my ability to model

and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs, enhance
cultural understanding, and increase global awareness. These artifacts include a Diversity Blog
Posting, an action research study entitled, Increasing Cultural Awareness and Identity in At-Risk
Students: Using Technology to Support Multicultural Education and an ELL report. In the
Diversity Blog Posting, I advocate for changing the traditional classroom into a multicultural
classroom, which means implementing a strategy that incorporates students' values, beliefs, and
culture into the curriculum (Oran, 2009; Hidden curriculum, 2014). According to Hollenbeck
and Hollenbeck (2009), technology is an effective strategy because it enhances learning by
bridging the gap between cultures and breaking language barriers. In the action research study
entitled, Increasing Cultural Awareness and Identity in At-Risk Students: Using Technology to
Support Multicultural Education artifact, I was able to conduct a qualitative research study that
explored technology, as an effective strategy in aiding at-risk students in increasing cultural
identity, cultural awareness, and academic achievement. I was pleased to find that when
successfully combined, multicultural education and technology are effective strategies that create
productive and diverse learning environments. The ELL Report artifact describes a field
experience in which I differentiated instruction by instructing two ELL students to complete an
assignment that incorporates their heritage and culture through the use of technology. I have also
included additional artifacts such as photos of my students as they collaborate and communicate
with each using Google Translate as they discuss the August Wilson play, Fences.
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Gray, R.
Reflection

Standard 4.3 states that candidates must model and facilitate the use of digital tools and
resources to support diverse student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase
global awareness. In the Diversity Blog Posting, I advocated the importance of supporting
diverse student needs by bridging the gap between multicultural pedagogy and technology. I
describe how when effectively implemented, technology can differentiating instruction and
fostering cultural diversity. For example, assistive technology provides additional support to
students, by presenting information in ways that they can understand and provides a platform for
students to demonstrate an understanding of concepts. I also describe how students with
disabilities and English Language Learners can benefit from text-to-speech software to help them
read their textbooks and can use speech to text by dictating any document over the phone. Also,
software such as Dragon allows users to create documents using their voice ("Dragon Speech
Recognition Software," n.d.). Citing Holzl (1999), to increase global awareness, I was able to
describe how the online learning environment can remove barriers and increase students' cultural
understanding by improving the way they communicate and collaborate with others.
The ELL Report artifact demonstrates my ability to differentiate instruction to support
diverse student needs. I guided my ELL/IEL students in incorporating their values, beliefs, and
culture into the curriculum through the use of technology. My ELL/IEL students created an
English/Spanish theatrical performance for their Spanish speaking and English speaking peers
with the aid of technology. Using apps such as Google Translate, aided them in translating
spoken word and written text.
The research study artifact, Increasing Cultural Awareness and Identity in At-Risk
Students: Using Technology to Support Multicultural Education, is a perfect example of my

Gray, R.
Reflection

ability to model and facilitate the use of technology to support diverse student needs,
enhance cultural understanding and increase global awareness. In this action research study
artifact, I conducted research to explore technology, as an effective strategy in aiding minority
students in increasing cultural identity, cultural awareness, and academic achievement. I
described how the increase in immigration had changed the traditional classroom and the
workforce. Minority students are often at an economic disadvantage and are considered at-risk
due to social, cultural, and economic factors which affect their academic achievements and selfesteem (Cooper, 1998; Mac Naughton, 2006, Osborne & Walker, 2006). Therefore, it is
important to ensure that at-risk students have a level playing field in education and are prepared
for the 21st century. This artifact explains my ability to support diverse student needs,
enhance their cultural understanding, and increase their global awareness through the
implementation of multicultural education and technology. In this action research study, I
studied participants of various ethnic and religious backgrounds, as they created two digital
stories using PowerPoint, Audacity, and Windows Movie Maker. This software was used to
create a digital cultural narrative of the participants lives, family, language, and culture. The
second digital story was created to describe the cultural life of a classmate of a different race or
culture. This study found that by creating these digital narratives, students not only increased
their sense of cultural awareness but it also served as a teaching opportunity to educate their
peers and dispel any negative stereotypes. As a result of this artifact, I was able to support
diverse student needs by implementing instructional strategies that included the students
values, beliefs, and culture into the curriculum. I was able to enhance cultural understanding,
and increase global awareness by implementing a technology assignment that encouraged

Gray, R.
Reflection
students to value themselves while valuing the cultural diversity and the multiple perspectives of
their peers.
To address this standard, I have also provided additional photos of my students as they
collaboratively read and discuss the August Wilson play, Fences. In these photos, students of
diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds are collaborating as they discuss the themes of racism,
coming of age, and barriers. The students in these photos are of Latino, Haitian, Nigerian, and
Portuguese decent and are considered ELL. Using Google Translate, they are translating the
written text into Spanish, Creole/French, Igbo, and Portuguese. They are also using Google
translate to aid them in communicating with each other.
After completing these artifacts, I learned that changes in the traditional classroom and
the workforce should lead to changes in instruction. A culturally responsive educator is willing
to seek effective strategies that combine multicultural education with technology to create
productive and diverse learning environments. To be a culturally responsive educator, educators
must be willing to use self-reflection, remove negative perceptions regarding race, and
implement culturally diverse pedagogy to increase the academic success of minority students.
As I reflect on these artifacts, I believe the Increasing Cultural Awareness and Identity in
At-Risk Students: Using Technology to Support Multicultural Education artifact could have
been improved if teachers were involved in the study. Despite citing research that suggests that
negative perceptions, biases, and fear of minority students have an impact on the academic
achievements of these students, I failed to involve teachers in this research study (Ford and
Quinn, 2010; Ikegulu, 2009; Wayman, 2002). Therefore, given the opportunity again, I would
seek to discover the connection between how educators view minority students and how these
students perform academically.

Gray, R.
Reflection
Due to the increase in cultural diversity in the classroom, these artifacts can make a great
impact on school improvement, faculty development, and student learning by providing
resources, information, and supporting research that supports multicultural education and
technology. In schools where there are large minority populations, it is important for educators
to use artifacts such as mine to recognize the benefits of combining multicultural education and
technology. To assess the effect cultural diversity has on school improvement, interviews and
surveys can be administered to students, faculty, and staff. In a diverse classroom, technology is
an effective tool that can be used to bridge cultures together, while enhancing student learning.

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Reflection
References
Cooper, R. (1998, December). Socio-cultural and within-school factors that affect the quality of
implementation of school-wide programs (Rep. No. 28). Retrieved November 6, 2014,
from National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students website. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED426173)
Dragon Speech Recognition Software [Computer software]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 9, 2014,
from http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm
Ford, T., & Quinn, L. (2010). What are their perceptions about multicultural education?
Multicultural Education, 17(4), 18-24.
Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education reform.
Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum
Hollenbeck, J., & Hollenbeck, D. (2009). Using technology to bridge the cultures together in the
multicultural classroom (Master's thesis, Oklahoma State University, 2009) (pp. 1-6).
Stillwater: Donald P. French.
Holzi, A. (1999). Designing for diversity within online learning environments (Rep.). Brisbane:
Qld University of Technology, Brisbane.
Ikegulu, T. (2009). Economically disadvantaged student failure: The role of non-minority
teachers of elementary school students. Unpublished manuscript, Department of
Curriculum and Instruction, Beaumont Independent School District, Beaumont, Texas.
Mac Naughton, G. (2006). Respect for diversity: An international overview (Rep. No. 40).
Netherlands: Bernard Van Leer Foundation. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service
No. ED522695)

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Reflection
Oran, G. (2009, December 23). Culturally relevant pedagogy. Retrieved November 6, 2014, from
http://www.education.com/reference/article/culturally-relevant-pedagogy/
Osborne, J., & Walker, C. (2006). Stereotype threat, identification with academics, and
withdrawal from school: Why the most successful students of color might be most likely
to withdraw. Educational Psychology, 26(4), 563-577.
Wayman, J. C. (2002). Student perceptions of teacher ethnic bias: A comparison of Mexican
American and Non-Latino white dropouts and students. The High School Journal, 85(3),
27-37.