You are on page 1of 6

MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

My Personal Philosophy Regarding Multicultural Education and the Inclusion


and Support of All Learners
Daniela Cupples
California Baptist University

MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

The increasing cultural diversity of our nation has a lasting and mounting impact on
education. Our classrooms are melting pots of different races, ethnicities, cultures, languages,
socioeconomic backgrounds, and diverse academic, physical, and social abilities. Currently, over
one thousand cultures are represented in schools all over the United States and one in five
students speaks a language other than English at home or speaks English with difficulty (Iris,
2016). These diverse backgrounds create new challenges for educators. School and classroom
practices need to be in tune with the needs of the students; failure to adjust practices creates an
inequity in student learning outcomes because the students are not equipped with the same
foundational skills and background knowledge. Furthermore, expecting all students to learn the
same way, learn at the same pace, and failing to adjust instruction to the needs of the students
also impacts the educational growth. Cultural differences similarly influence behavior and
interaction among students, not providing a positive behavior support system can therefore
severely affect the success of the students in a school setting.
Working in the computer lab, I work with 750 elementary students in grades K-5 every
week. In this environment, I experience the diversity of my students in countless ways, and I see
how this diversity brings challenges to my classroom. My personal experiences, as an English
learner, a student, and world traveler all add to my perspective of life and learning. Learning
multiple languages and growing up in a different culture have shaped my understanding that
there are different ways of life and learning. I find evidence of my bias in my lack of application
of multicultural education. While I know that my students have very diverse needs, I do not
always implement additional tools and resources to support those needs. As an instructional
assistant, I often lack the background information to implement supplementary instructional
support tools for my students.

MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

Awareness, acknowledgment, and reflection on personal bias are all integral steps to
becoming cognizant of practices and actions that perpetuate my personal bias and prevent me
from best supporting culturally diverse students. Getting to know my students and including their
cultural experiences into educational experiences, exploring other cultures, making personal
connections with other cultures, and immersing myself in other cultures all support my
continuous journey to cultural proficiency.
Through life experience, I have learned that my values are a combination of personal
experiences, worldview, culture, and interactions with others. My personal truth is grounded in
the Christian perspective, which provides me with guidance, support, and a stable foundation to
deal with lifes joys, challenges, and adversities. However, interactions with others continuously
add new aspects to my life experience because they bring new ideas and perspectives.
Continuous growth and self-reflection based on professional development, collaboration with
peers, and interaction with others are part of my professional practice to further my
understanding of the multicultural classroom. I am committed to implementing laws, policies,
school rules, and expectations because I understand that it is my professional responsibility to do
so to serve the needs of all students. My students are developing minds who are learning about
the world; my goal is to empower them to embrace learning by providing multicultural
perspectives and making students feel included because I respect their values.
I am committed to creating a safe, nurturing, learning environment for all of my students
by applying equitable pedagogical practices. My experiences working with a broad range of
students from different races, ethnicities, cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, languages, and
different academic abilities strengthen my ability to empathize with students and to realize that
cultural diversity is an integral part of education. My students inspire me to learn and grow every

MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

day to better support and understand them. The courses in the Multiple Subject credential
program at California Baptist University and the Masters in Education Technology program at
Azusa Pacific University strengthened my ability to support diverse students. My clear focus on
continuously expanding my practice as an educator helps me recognize my biases and take action
to implement multicultural activities. My participation in the school culture team supports the
quest to find the best tools and practices to serve the individual students in my classroom.
The diversity of our society creates a deep need to establish universal guidelines for
interactions; we need to learn how to interact in the classroom because a students background
may lead him or her to behave differently. I will manage my current biases by actively adopting
and implementing clear, consistent guidelines regarding discipline, expectations, and behavior. I
will employ Positive Behavior Intervention Support tools and strategies to do so. Through the
application of PBIS, I will establish a framework that provides a sound, culturally responsive
behavior support system that teaches my students valuable core competencies, which help them,
learn, collaborate, and interact with others. Research by the Equity Alliance (2012), clearly
suggests that a common foundation and a clear plan for implementation of life skills and
expectations both support cultural diversity and help lay the groundwork for all students. Clear
guidelines reduce the reactive nature when interacting with students, thus minimizing the
possibility of impacting the students in a negative manner because of personal bias, which could
lead to over-referral of Hispanic, African-American, or students with disabilities. I plan on
implementing a positive culture of collaboration between school, family, and community and
embracing the challenges of the diverse classroom as an opportunity to build a new positive
classroom community. Furthermore, I will leverage technology tools and resources to include

MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

personalized learning experiences that provide a chance for students to shine and show their
strengths.
I will strengthen my professional commitment to multicultural education through
collaboration with peers within my school, district, and community and participation in my
professional learning community. Part of my commitment to best supporting my students is an
ongoing commitment to learning and keeping up with new practices, research, tools and
strategies. My Leading Edge Certification, participation in leadership teams, such as school site
council and the district technology steering committee are all part of my collaborative
professional growth.
In conclusion, I will become a culturally responsive educational professional by
implementing the following action steps as part of my preservice teaching experience. Before I
earn my credential, I will incorporate a multicultural, global learning project in the computer lab
and provide students with an opportunity to collaborate with students from a different part of the
world. Second, I will continue to learn and grow in my strategies and practices for supporting all
learners by reading professional, multicultural publications. Third, I will collaborate with school
staff, the SAI teacher, the targeted intervention specialist, and classroom teachers to strengthen
the support and accommodations for students with IEPS, 504 plans, and English learners to help
all of my students with their diverse learning needs.

MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

6
References

Equity Alliance. (2012). Culturally responsive, positive behavioral support matters. Retrieved
March 28, 2016, from
http://www.equityallianceatasu.org/sites/default/files/CRPBIS_Matters.pdf
Iris Center. (2016). Is it important to acknowledge students diversity in classroom settings?
Why or why not? Retrieved March 28, 2016, from
http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/div/cresource/q1/p01/#content

You might also like