I have managed to distribute a couple of surveys to my students with the hope of acquiring information about the cultural background of my students. I initially sent out a short survey to determine cultural origin, date of immigration to Canada, and reasons for immigrating to Canada. Although the survey contained useful information, I realized that I would require more information to carry out my plans for the field study. I distributed a more complete survey which asked students to share their thoughts about their own culture and whether or not they felt it was important to learn about their and other cultures at school. I also asked the students to share whether or not they would be more understanding of other cultures if they learned about them. The students were asked to identify the source from which they learn most about their and other cultures. At the conclusion of the survey the students listed any questions they had about different cultures and they also provided ideas of what people from different cultures can do to understand each other better.
With this data collected and reviewed, I had a much clearer idea of how I would proceed to change my practice as an educator and what I could do to raise awareness of cultural diversity. This is all a work in progress and is tied into the Social Studies unit on Immigration to Canada. I post questions on the the class blog to gain an understanding of what students are thinking/learning. The goal is to have students realize that Canada is a nation which has been built through immigration, many immigrants have come to Canada for similar reasons, many different cultural groups have made a contribution to Canadian society, and the fact that Canada can be considered a role model for other countries with diverse populations.
Stay Tuned….
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