Originally published on 10/16/20
The Alvin ISD English Learners and Cultural Services department developed the Culture Class training two years ago to help teachers begin to understand and address the needs of students from various cultures. Since then, the name of the training has changed to Seek to Understand: A Conversation about Diversity.
“Our work is centered on the "Who" that we serve. We believe in honoring the diversity of our students’ cultures and backgrounds. We believe in creating culturally responsive learning environments where every student is seen, valued, and respected,” shared Paula Camacho, the Executive Director of EL & Cultural Service Department.
The "Seek to Understand" training allows staff members to explore and discuss the meaning of culture and how the various aspects of culture shape each individual. Participants learn about and reflect upon the cultural proficiency continuum and how culture and bias affect how adults and students learn and respond to each other.
“We have found that the participants leave training encouraged to view daily interactions through a broader cultural lens in order to better understand and respond to the needs of students, parents, and coworkers,” said Camacho.
The first section of the presentation is intended to encourage people to talk about their experiences with various cultures and to focus on the realization that the United States has a large mix of cultures and cannot be defined as one culture, in and of itself. Also discussed is how culture is not exclusive to race and ethnicity; it encompasses everything that makes us who we are, such as: life experiences, work, hobbies, beliefs and books we have read.
The second section focuses on the Cultural Proficiency Continuum from the book Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School Leaders (Lindsey, Nuri-Robins, and Terrell, 2009). During this portion, participants discuss their feeling about each stage and are encouraged to reflect on where they may be in regards to each stage of the continuum.
The final section of the training focuses on implicit bias, identifying the implicit biases that each of us has, and not allowing those biases to affect how we treat and interact with each other.
Teachers, administrators, and counselors from various races, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds have vetted the presentation across our district.
“Due to COVID, we have only been able to hold smaller group trainings, and have already trained 30 campus leadership teams and multiple Alvin ISD departments,” Camacho shared. “We plan to train all departments and the Alvin ISD Board of Trustees by December, 2020.”
Alvin ISD’s goal is to train all campus staff members. This started on October 9, when all of the Alvin High School staff was trained on these important issues.