Julia Barrett

SPF 301 Signature Assignment Script

Slide One: ​Hi! My name is Julia Barrett and I am so excited to share with you my vision
statement for my future career of being a youth ministry director in a nondenominational church.
My vision statement is "to create a loving, inclusive, and gracious environment for my students
regardless of their background."
Slide Two:
My desire is to teach in youth ministry within a Christian Church. I recognize that not every
child coming to church may identify with a certain religion, therefore I want to respect their
culture and still make them feel included. According to Edward B. Tylor from his book,
Primitive Culture, c​ ulture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law,
morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society"
(O'neil, 2006). I want to be able to respect the student’s culture as well as make them feel
included in the culture of our church. Now, the culture that we will have in our church is
considered a subculture because it is defined as “self-organized tradition of shared interests,
lifestyles, beliefs, customs, norms, style or tastes" (Spacey, 2016). The subculture that I hope to
create in my classroom in the church is a place where students are loved, accepted, and feel
included.

According The Glossary Of Education Reform, Hidden Curriculum is defined as the “the
unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn
in school” (2015). I desire to have the hidden curriculum in my classroom to teach the children
the love of Jesus and the truth that they are created by God and so loved by him. I believe
students will not want to listen unless they feel cared for and respected, so my actions towards
the students and how I treat them is a huge part of my hidden curriculum. I have to first
demonstrate the love of Jesus in order for them to know it. According to Merfat Ayesh Alsubaie
in his article “Hidden Curriculum as One of Current Issue of Curriculum,” hidden curriculum
such as Hidden expectations, skill sets, knowledge, and social process can help or hinder student
achievement and belief systems” (2015). I desire to have my hidden curriculum of love to be one
that helps my student’s learning experience and their beliefs.
Slide Three: ​I strive to create a classroom culture that is inclusive, fun, and one that encourages
creativity. I did this by creating comfortable couches, chairs, and pillows for a reading corner. I
also provided a fun and comfortable learning space underneath the ‘reading tree.’ I created an art
corner where my student’s creativity can flourish. I want them to feel inspired by the outdoors in
my classroom and be able to see God's creation all around them, so that is why the walls are full
of windows. I believe having natural light and being able to see the outdoors can boost the
student's mood and creativity as they look outside for inspiration. Additionally, according to the
video in the article "Schools' Design Can Play Role in Safety, Student Engagement," "natural
light enhances learning and creativity" (Zubrzycki, 2013). I want the hidden curriculum in my
classroom to be gratitude for God’s beautiful creation, that is shown through our nature themed
classroom.

Slide Four: ​According to the American Institutes For Research, the Achievement Gap refers to
the "disparity in academic performance between different groups of students" (2017).
According to The Teacher Educators' Journal, some causes of the Achievement Gap include
"gender, racial, and ethnic differences between teachers and students" and students living in
"poverty, students living with parents who were less educated, and students who were
non-white" (2020, pg. 99-100).
For example, in the video "Supporting States to Close the Education Achievement Gap," I
learned that in Minnesota, "87% of Minnesota white high school seniors graduated… while only
52% of Native American seniors graduated" (2017).
Another example: “In 2009, at the national level, the achievement gap between Hispanic and
White students at grades 4 and 8 in mathematics and reading was between 21 and 26 points on
the NAEP scale” IES: National Center for Education Statistics, 2011).
As a future educator in the church, I will ensure students are provided equal opportunities to
achieve success by providing sufficient time and extra support for each student when needed,
being sensitive to students' home cultures, and use effective strategies to reach my diverse
learners.

Slide Five: ​Culture as a disability means “that we are arrogant to think we know better than
people in other cultures, and the second, that we are foolish to not appreciate how much is
known by others in their own terms” (McDermott & Hervé, 1995). As a future educator, I will
strive to create a classroom where all cultures are celebrated and included. Apologetics will be a
great tool to do this, by teaching my students about different religions, not just our own. After
all, it is our goal to love others, and that means getting to know them and their culture.

“Cultural conflict is a type of conflict that occurs when different cultural norms clash” (Markos,
2018).
Cowhey in her book ​Black Ants and Buddhists​ provided examples on how to incorporate
different cultures in her classroom and how to make students feel comfortable. She incorporated
stories from her life, the student’s lives, and ultimately stories from their different cultures help
make the students feel “affirmed and connected, like they belong in this classroom” (Cowhey,
2006, pg. 174). She stated that “deconstructing a stereotype and developing human relationships
can reverse the almost reflexive responses of fear and distrust in the face of tragedy” (Cowhey,
2006, pg. 187). I found it so inspiring that when her students learned about Islamic terrorists,
Cowhey invited Marria, a devout Muslim friend to come into their class to teach more about
Islam. This is so great that the students were able to learn about Islam first hand and not just
associate it with the stereotype. This is the type of learning I want my students to engage in;
learning first hand from someone from a different culture than ours.
Slide Six:
It is important to incorporate pop culture into the classroom to help students have fun and have
topics that are relatable to their life. Gustavo Fischman uses comics to bring fun and joy into the
classroom. He suggests that you can use a familiar and fun concept of comics to then teach
greater lessons to students (Fischman, 1998). According to the TeachThought Staff,
incorporating pop culture into the classroom allows teachers to “meet students where they are.”
They go on to say that “meeting students where their interests lie allows educators to better
communicate with their pupils” (2013). I will incorporate pop culture into my classroom in order
to relate to my students and to meet them where their interests are. I can do this by making pop
culture references or using pop culture graphics in our lessons. This way, students will desire to
be more engaged.

Polly Greenberg in her article “The Value of Classroom Rituals and Routines” suggests that
educators “incorporate routines into the school day in order to support each child’s emotional
and social well-being” (2020). One way she suggests doing this is by creating a daily greeting
ritual at the door that welcomes the student into the classroom and has a personal touch to it. I
can incorporate this into my classroom by having personalized greetings for each student daily to
make them feel welcomed and loved the second they enter the classroom. She states that when
you implement these daily greetings the messages that are being shared are “we value and
include all people and we consider it good manners to greet each person by name. Good manners
help others feel comfortable.” (Greenberg, 2020).

Slide Seven: ​According to Kristina Daluddung in her article “Being Culturally Responsive In the
Classroom,” she states that “culturally relevant or responsive teaching is a pedagogy grounded in
teachers’ displaying cultural competence: skill at teaching in a cross-cultural or multicultural
setting.” She also suggests that “teachers using this method encourage each student to relate
course content to his or her cultural context. In doing so, teachers enrich students’ classroom
experiences and ensures student engagement” (Dalunddung, 2019).

Dr. James A Banks shares his five dimensions of multicultural education:

His first being content integration which means integrating various races and cultures into the
curriculum. The second is knowledge construction which Banks states as “teachers help[ing]
students to understand, investigate, and determine the implicit cultural assumptions and frames
of reference and perspectives of the discipline they’re teaching” (Banks, 1998).
The third being equity pedagogy in which “teachers change their methods to enable kids from
diverse racial groups and both genders to achieve” (Banks, 1998).
The fourth is prejudice reduction which is teachers working to reduce prejudice in the classroom.
The fifth is empowering school culture and social structure which is defined as “looking not just
at individual classrooms, but at the total school culture to see how to make it more equitable”
(Banks, 1998).

I can be culturally responsive in my classroom by using Dr. Banks five dimensions of

multicultural education and implementing each of his strategies. By integrating various cultures
into the curriculum, helping students understand a variety of cultures, working to help my
diverse learners achieve, working to reduce prejudice in the classroom, and empowering my
churches culture and social structure, I can better equip my classroom for multicultural
education.

Slide Eight/Nine/Ten:
These are the references that I used in my presentation. Thank you so much for taking the time to
watch!