Letting Culture Speak Even When It Has No Voice

When we have conversations about multicultural education, we talk about students who are self-aware, in simple or complex ways, of their race and its place in their lives. However, what do we do when we have students who do not have the cognitive capacity to understand their racial identities? As a special education major, I have to ask myself this question. Should cultural curricula still be weaved throughout classroom experiences for students with more severe and profound disabilities? I believe the answer is yes, absolutely yes. We have a responsibility to culture!

My brother Mark has no concept of race or ethnicity (including his race or the race of those around him), let alone their perspectives and complexities. However, this does not mean that he is not exposed to other cultures or engages in activities that promote cultural diversity. Both through his high school and local park program, he has experienced culture through a variety of hands on experiences. Whether it be through creating a Chinese Mandala for an art project, cooking and trying foods of other students' cultures, or experiencing the music and dancing of another culture, Mark has participated. These experiences have helped him learn and try new things which he has the ability to recognize if he sees them again. Even though Mark may not understand the implications associated with culture and the struggles individuals of differing cultures face, he has been exposed to a foundation in which later skills and ideas can be built upon. Mark loves Mexican food and has gotten the chance to try new dishes through his friends at the park. If he were to participate in cooking those different foods and then continue on to make art projects related to Mexican culture, and associate those components with different people and places, he has learned valuable information about culture!

This is a Chinese Mandala that Mark created!

Here is a website with ideas for multicultural art projects. Click here! 

A valuable component we can expose to our students is music. When Mark was super young, our family would attend a music therapy class with him. Mark loves Music and always loves listening to his Ipod. He even enjoys when my Dad introduces him to older music from past generations as my Dad is quite the music buff, especially when it comes to what he would consider the classics. Music can be a great way to help students connect non-linguistically. Play music from different cultures and in different languages and see what feelings/emotions they create in your students. It might even be a great way to connect music to different feelings such as happy, sad, angry, etc. You can also introduce different musical instruments whether through hands on use or through pictures and recordings of those instruments.

Neat way to incorporate art and music- creating different instruments from recycled materials! Click!

I really like this bulletin board I saw on pinterest! :)

If your students are verbal, maybe teach them something basic like learning to say hello in a different language! I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Toppel article in which the teacher talked about ways to be culturally responsive with her kindergarten classroom. All of her ideas were great! The concept of learning how to say hello in different languages and then leading students to greet each other in those different ways each morning is a small way to expose students to other languages. Another great idea from the article is getting the students families involved in helping the individual student express their own culture. Having students bring in pictures of their family and important family possessions, traditions, favorite foods, etc., can help students connect to pieces of their own culture while teaching other students about what is important to them. We can break the complexity of culture down into steps our students can grasp.

We never know what pathways we might open up for our students if we try. Our students often know more than we think! Whether it be connecting students to their own culture or connecting them to other cultures, we should not miss the opportunity we have to teach our students something valuable. We owe our students meaningful experiences! Whether students can fully grasp or identify with culture or not, simply brushing it off and claiming that it would not matter to them either way is doing our kids a huge disservice. We have a responsibility to that student and need to respect their whole identity. I wrote this blog post to start a conversation about a topic I have been thinking on. I hope that I can delve deeper into this matter throughout my future work with students!

Perspectives on (Dis)ability

When I hear the word disability, I don't think of a definition, I see images of my life. I see my brother Mark, I see my parents, I see challenges, and I see the most rewarding gift the world could have ever given me, a sibling with Autism. Growing up with my brother Mark has shown me that having a disability means living in a world that was not made for you. Mark does not look at the world the way I do, he seeks to make it a place that is safe and predictable. He interacts differently, he works differently, he understands things differently. These are the things that make him wonderful. His differences. Mark having Autism means that he has needs that the world cannot meet for him. He needs additional support and care from family, teachers, and adults. He faces significant challenges that need to be worked to be addressed so he can work towards increased levels of independence. Although my brother has a disability, I have never viewed him as such. I have viewed him as Mark, my sweet and silly brother who can ask me questions like "what happens if you eat potato chips in the bathtub" and "what if you cut off Santa Clause's beard?" These are the "sweet spots." When the kids teach you to laugh louder, love harder, and have patience. Mark has taught me to value the little things in life. Although there are challenges, there are even greater rewards. Disability is not a definition to me, it's snapshots of my life. Beautiful, sometimes messy, but beautiful snapshots.

Person first language is extremely important to me. When I hear someone say, "autistic kid" I cringe a little inside. I have always made it a priority to speak with person first language as I believe the words we choose to use in our conversations are extremely important. When I choose to use person first language, I can reflect the ideal that we must focus on the unique person before we label them as their disability. When I talk this way, I can influence others to do the same. The words we use reflect our beliefs, and our beliefs shape our actions. Person first language reflects that I am conscious and aware of the value and respect that people with disabilities deserve, and from there I can make decisions in helping them, looking at their whole self and all of the qualities that are attached.

Here's an article on person first language that relates to what I was saying about the importance of words! Click here!

Looking at our class article, I fear that the "person first" ideal is missing. Blanchette talks about how so many African-Americans end up in special education, which teachers play a part in deciding. I feel like some teachers have lost their ability to use "person first" not just for students with disabilities, but also when they are thinking of students of other races and cultures. They rely on themselves to make decisions and biases and subjectivity get in the way. This can only negatively impact the students as they will be the ones who may be labeled or placed inappropriately.

Since disability has the question attached of normal versus not normal (or at least I feel it does), I am going to have to evaluate that with my class of students. Many times, cultural differences arise that make a student appear to not be acting in line, when in reality, they are just acting the way they have always acted. In academics, students who have spent their school experiences struggling may have their struggle be misinterpreted as a disability when really they were just in a cycle of external forces. As a teacher, I cannot rely on my observations and opinions solely to make the call. There have been evaluation and testing procedures put in place for a reason, and there are professionals who can make more accurate diagnoses and decisions. So first things first I will have to rely on others besides my self. I alone am not the expert of anything. This includes teaming with parents and treating them like the experts too. :)

When disabilities are seen as problems to be fixed, the classroom becomes a place where students cannot truly flourish and thrive. However, when we choose to see the definition of disability as something different, seeing the children we serve not just as who have significant struggles, but who also have special talents and traits, we can look at each helping situation seeing our students strengths and weaknesses together. When we focus just on what we see students' weaknesses are, our perceptions are skewed. We do not have the full picture. You should never base decisions off of just weaknesses. But if that is how you view disabilities, you are subject to it! In a multicultural classroom, teachers may look to struggling minority students and refer them to special education without having the appropriate amount of knowledge.

I cannot change the educational system alone. I cannot fix every situation and make the perfect scenario for every child. But I can go into my career field looking at all the parts I am going to get myself into. I can seek out information, I can be self-reflective, I can analyze. All children are wonderful and special. Whether children have a disability or not, they all have needs. And those needs all look different and need different types of support and services. Therefore, teams of professionals must work together to make decisions and placements that are accurate and appropriate. 

One of my favorite quotes is this, "If you want to make a difference, you need to choose to see things differently." As teachers, we are advocates, and we need to rise to the challenge. We need to develop, strengthen, and train so we can be fully prepared for this challenge.