Using cultural competency in today's classroom
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) is a discretionary grant program funded by the U.S. Department of Education designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in post-secondary education. GEAR UP provides six-year grants to states and partnerships to provide services at high-poverty elementary, middle and high schools. The grant was awarded to the RI Office of Higher Education and is administered by the College Crusade of Rhode Island.
The Rhode Island Office of Higher Education (RIOHE) offers a one-graduate credit professional development workshop in cultural competency and its applications in multi-cultural classrooms for educators, counselors, advisors, and other youth-serving professionals from five target communities (i.e., Central Falls, Providence, Pawtucket, Newport, and Woonsocket). The workshop is offered at no cost and was developed in partnership with Rhode Island College and the College Crusade.
The goal of the workshop is to assist urban educators working in high poverty districts to develop the special skills, understanding, and competence necessary to integrate their knowledge of cultural competency into their classrooms. The introductory workshop (Level I) helps educators develop cultural competency to meet the challenges of a changing school culture. Levels II, III*, IV*, and V* will focus on topics that enable educators to further develop and apply their cultural competency knowledge.
Level I participants are required to submit a final project. Participants are required to prepare a Power Point presentation based on a review of literature that discusses the impact of culture, cultural diversity and socioeconomic status on families, teachers, curriculum, teaching strategies, and student achievement. Listed below are links to Power Point presentations that have been created by past workshop participants.
Gina DiMartino - the College Crusade
Meeting Diverse
Student Needs in Urban Schools
Michael King - the College Crusade
Successful Inclusive
Practices Middle & Secondary Schools
Lauren Plante – William E. Tolman Senior High School
Teaching
for Social Justice, Diversity, and Citizenship in a Global World
Frederick Silva - William E. Tolman Senior High School
Academic
Disidentification, Race and High School Dropouts
Manuel Papagolos - Woonsocket Area Career & Technical Center
Learning
Styles-An Overview of Theories, Models and Measures
Paul Stroup - William E. Tolman Senior High School
Youth at the
Crossroads
Robert Clark - Goff Jr. High
Urban Education: Challenges in Educating
Culturally Diverse Children
Krista Taft - William E. Tolman Senior High School
Latino Households
and Schooling
Linda Stanley - Woonsocket Area Career & Technical Center
How
Bi-Lingual Hispanic Youth Work through Adversity to Become High Achieving
Students
Sharlene Rossi - Providence School Department
Presenting a Technical
Report Comparing Two Local Schools
Michelle DeSerres - William M. Davies Jr. Career-Technical High
School
Cultural Competencies Literature Review
Joanne Sherry - Coleman Elementary School
Cultural Diversity-Hispanic
Sound System Affecting Students Literacy in English
Chris Ray - Pawtucket School Department
Cultural Relevance and
Computer Assisted Instruction
Dorothy Poirier - The Providence Center School
Evaluating Parent
Empowerment: A Look at the Potential of Social Justice Evaluating in Education
Elizabeth Ward - William E. Tolman Senior High School
Meeting
Diverse Student Needs in Urban Schools
Erin Mahan - William E. Tolman Senior High School
Power of the
Professor: Promoting Teacher Efficiency for Working with Culturally Diverse
Students
Heather Cyr - Mount Hope YMCA
A Look at Hispanic Youth and Academic
Performance
Debbie Painter - Holy Ghost School
Teacher Beliefs and Student
Achievement in Urban Schools Serving African American Students
Natalie Vanegas - Community Prep.
The Social and
Economic Realities that Challenge all Schools: Independent, Charter & Regular
Public Schools
Jodi Kopecky - Alternatives School
Why Are “Bad Boys” Always
Black
Brenda Mallicoat - Woonsocket Middle School
“Race, Class, and Disproportionality
Reevaluating the Relationship between Poverty & Special Education
Placement”
Melissa Flaherty - YWCA
When Homework is not Home Work: After-school
Programs for Homework Assistance
William Foley - William M. Davies Jr. Career-Technical School
The Cultural Plunge: Cultural Immersion
as a Means of Self-Awareness and Cultural Sensitivity among Students/Teachers
Marty Sprague - Providence Academy of International Studies
Theoretical Foundations for an
Art Education of Global Culture & Principles for Classroom Practice
Kaydi McQuade - Roger Williams Middle School
Stereotype Threat: What is
it? & what
are its Effects?
Maureen Toth - William E. Tolman Senior High School
Overrepresentation of Minority Students
in Special Education
Christina Mitnik -Central Falls Senior High School
Literacy Development of Latino Children
Michaela Frattarelli - Pawtucket School Department
Student Perceptions of Teacher
Ethnic Bias: A Comparison of Mexican American and Non-Latino White Dropouts
and Students
Jennifer Sawyer-Chaplin - Joseph Jenks Junior High School
Acknowledging the Language of
African American Students: Instructional Strategies
David Sousa - William M. Davies Jr. Career-Technical School
The Impact of Culture on a Child’s
Learning
Diane Russell - Central Falls School District
Closing Achievement GAPS
Amanda Rowley - Central Falls Senior High School
Class Readings:
Story & Discourse Among Girls in Working-Poor America
*Levels III, IV, and V will be offered in 2008, 2009, and 2010 respectively.
Last updated February 19, 2007
