Monday, February 23, 2015

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director
BSc(UNB,Canada), BEd(UNB,Canada), TEFLA(University of Cambridge), MEd(HKU, Hong Kong)

Book: "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education"

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education is indeed an extremely attractive and colourful project.
-Clara Ho, Editor, Hong Kong University Press

The Letter 'D'...



Diwali, Christmas, Hanukkah
Love and happiness that never cease
Easter, Kwanzaa, Buddha's Birthday
Sharing, giving, joy, and peace


Days go by and we learn different things, still all can agree that we:
  • enjoy dancing
  • want to find a real live dinosaur
  • avoid danger
  • count seven days in a week 
  • know how to quack like a duck
  • depend on our parents 
  • love to draw
  • have dreams when we sleep
  • like it when the teacher makes what seems difficult a little easier
  • know how to print the letter D 

When I lived in several Papua New Guinea villages for extended periods to collect data, and when I go to Alaskan villages for work with Alaskan Native communities. nd it unquestionably easier - psychologically and pragmatically - when some kind soul has directly informed me about such matters as appropriate dress, interactional styles, embedded meanings, and taboo words or actions. I contend that it is much the same for anyone seeking to learn the rules of the culture of power. Unless one has the leisure of a lifetime of 'immersion' to learn them, explicit presentation makes learning immeasurably easier.

Delpit, Lisa

Thursday, February 19, 2015

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director
BSc(UNB,Canada), BEd(UNB,Canada), TEFLA(University of Cambridge), MEd(HKU, Hong Kong)

Book: "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education"

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education is a fantastic combination of elementary and adult cultural awareness.  Moreover, it provides a vibrant and visually stunning look at our multicultural world.
-Editorial Department, Random House Canada


The Letter 'C'...




Chopsticks, knife
Fork and spoon
Or eat with your fingers
It must be noon


Come now, although we are different, all can agree that we:
  • cry salty tears 
  • care about our families 
  • enjoy colouring a special picture 
  • know a centipede has many legs 
  • dislike cruelty 
  • love to draw with a brand new crayon 
  • enjoy chocolate treats 
  • comb our hair 
  • wonder 'what is a cloud'?
  • know how to print the letter

In any society, individuals are gathered into social groups or social strata on the basis of attributes and frame. The way in which these underlying factors are commonly weighted bears a close reciprocal relationship to the values that develop in the social consciousness of the people in the society. For example, the group consciousness of the Japanese depends considerably on the immediate social context, or frame, whereas in India it lies in attribute (most symbolically expressed in caste, which is fundamentally a social group based on the ideology of occupation and kinship).

Chie, Nakane


Thursday, February 12, 2015

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director
BSc(UNB,Canada), BEd(UNB,Canada), TEFLA(University of Cambridge), MEd(HKU, Hong Kong)

Book: "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education"

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education is excellent.  I should adopt it as a standard reader in my Cultural Perspective class at Harvard University.  The illustrations are beautifully drawn with s style of elegance.
-Professor Cheng Kai-ming,
Chair of Education, University of Hong KOng
Visiting Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education


The Letter 'B'...



Brown, white, yellow
All learning to cope 
Together, we make a rainbow of hope

But though we are different, all can agree that we:
  • once were babies
  • know the bitter taste of a lemon
  • enjoy the pretty song of a bird
  • brush our teeth
  • like reading books
  • have our view of what is beautiful
  • know the sound of the school bell
  • agree that the sky is blue
  • take care of our bodies
  • can print the letter B

...(another) approach to the nature of the mind (is) cultural-ism. It takes its inspiration from the evolutionary fact that mind could not exist save for culture.  For the evolution of the hominid mind is linked to the development of a way of life where 'reality' is represented by a symbolism shared by members of a cultural community in which a technical-social way of life is both organized and constructed in terms of that symbolism. This symbolic mode is not shared by a community, but conserved, elaborated, and passed on to succeeding generations who, by virtue of this transmission, continue to maintain the culture's identity and way of life ...

A system of education must help those growing up in a culture find an identity within that culture.  Without it they stumble in their effort after meaning.  It is only in the narrative mode that one can contrast an identity and find a place in one's culture. Schools must cultivate it, nurture it, cease taking it for granted.

Bruner, Jerome


Tuesday, February 10, 2015

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director,
TEFLA, BSc, BEd, MEd

Book: "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education"

Introduction
Writing "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education" was an absolutely rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable experience. I wished to write a book that would demonstrate the role of cultural perspectives in education.  Late one evening it 'all came together' for me.  As I thought - 'What does education mean to me?' - I realized it meant teaching and teaching meant students.  Yes students ... this was the direction I would take.  I would write and compile a book that would be of interest to students - to all students whether they be in elementary school or university.  From here the idea of 'A to Z' germinated; 'A to Z' the building blocks of communication that we first learn upon entering school.

For younger school children I have prepared - for each letter of the alphabet - a short four line poem that identifies how students may perceive their differences in a multicultural environment - be it the classroom or the community, followed with a list of how the children, despite their differences, are all similar.

To ensure that the book meets the interest of the university level students I have used 'A to Z' to aid them in searching out the names of researchers and famous individuals found in the field of 'culture and education'.  I have given quotations from their work which I hope students will find inspirational. 

The masterpiece illustrations were prepared by a grade 12 students at the time - Kim Seon Min.  Her art is truly inspirational!! Her talent is a wondrous gift.
-Vaughan M. Blaney

The Letter 'A'...

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Diverse Student Population

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director
TEFLA, BSc, BEd, MEd

With each passing day, as our global community gets smaller and smaller, our schools are filled with a greater diverse student population. As such, teachers take it upon themselves to gain an understanding of all their children’s unique academic, emotional, and cultural differences in order to help them on their life journeys. To support a culturally sensitive learning community, teachers attempt to design and teach lessons that address all students’ academic needs, learning styles, and multiple intelligences.

With respect to diversity - one area we often forget to be sensitive to is a specific child's home life. What living environment is a specific child going home to every day after school.   This must be considered by the teacher in his or her  interactions with the child and the child's family. It is here where we see the importance of a close professional relationship between the teacher and the family. I have always been very sensitive to this issue.  As a school principal I would always insist that my teachers be well-aware of a child's home life before any phone call was made to a parent or guardian -  'Could that call in anyway cause greater hardship or distress for the child and or family than was truly warranted?'

I was reminded of the very different home lives that students have through AmMetLife's incredibly powerful video: