Ashley Trotter EDU 533 Spring 2014 Reflection Statement Motivation and Management: The candidate uses an understanding

of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning/counseling environment that encourages positive cross cultural interaction, active engagements in learning, and self-motivation. The Intercultural Competency Research Project enabled me to further understand the differences and similarities my students will be bringing to the classroom. Through this assignment I have had the opportunity to deeply explore another culture, their values and perspectives, and evaluate how it may be difficult to reach students specifically of Russian descent because of differing approaches to education and-more broadly-the world. Also, through this assignment I gained a deeper understanding of the value of differences in the classroom and how those differences can be used to teach tolerance, awareness, and beauty. Through the annotated bibliography section of this assignment I was able to learn about the many resources available to help teachers who are interacting with Third Culture and minority culture students. There are many ways to make them feel less like outsiders and more like celebrated and appreciated members of the class and society, I hope to be able to implement many of the strategies I discovered, such as incorporating reading that relates to their experiences (multicultural literature) and having them share their different perspectives with the class in order to gain a better understanding of the world beyond our front door. Secondly, through the chapter notes and reflections I believe I was able to genuinely dive into the different motivations and obstacles of working with diverse cultural groups.

Through these activities I was able to evaluate what parts of education I deem as most important. I realized my desire to educate students about the beauty of our differences whilst emphasizing our similar humanity is what I most desire to instill in my students. I believe if they have an understanding, appreciation, and awareness of the differences and similarities between themselves and others they will grow to be caring, considerate, and compassionate members of society. This class and particularly this assignment really focused on affecting our minority or multicultural students where they are developmentally, socially, and emotionally. We need to be able to assess the possible upheavals and instability these students who have moved countries or even cities have faced and to be sensitive to those. While those students may be more mature than their peers because their knowledge of the world is greater, there is a great likelihood they feel like outsiders because of their lack of knowledge about pop culture or because they look or dress differently. As educators we need to constantly be aware of the dynamics in the class and simply because a student looks like theyre getting it or because theyre not causing problems doesnt mean they are adjusting well and special attention needs to be paid. As someone who desires to spend a significant portion of her life living and educating in an international setting this class was beneficial to prepare me for the difficulties I might face and to emphasize the need to truly know about the culture Im going into. If I attempt to educate from an American perspective with little regard for the learning patterns or values within the country Im in, I will be of little use. I need to take into account the biases, history, cultural norms, and values of my host country to

understand how and why my students learn. I hope as I embark onto the international scene that I can do so with grace, understanding, and a desire to always be learning.