How to Create an Inclusive Classroom | Cultural Inclusivity

  Creating a Culturally Inclusive

As I've said before, creating an inclusive classroom is a prerequisite to student engagement & learning.

The Oxford Dictionary defines Culture as "the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively."

Translation?  Culture is the collection of ideas, music, art, dance, & beliefs which unifies a group of people.

Notice how music is instrumental here?  If you're not honoring a variety of cultures in your classroom, you're missing out on incredible opportunities!  

After reading this, hopefully you'll either reaffirm the awesome job you're already doing in terms of creating a culturally inclusive classroom OR have some simple steps to take this school year.

Culturally inclusive Checklist

• Say your students' names correctly.  
• Ask students about the holidays they celebrate in their homes.
• Sing songs from around the world
• Pick at least 1 song from a non-dominant culture per concert
• Select diverse books that reflect your students' cultures
• Educate yourself - a lot!

Educate yourself: Names

Acknowledge that you don't know everything - and that's okay!! We have so much information available to us which is great, but it can be overwhelming.  

Ask your students how to say their names. A few years back I found the picture book "Your Name is a Song" and fell in love.  Like, use it for back to school lessons each year!

In this story, the main character is a little girl whose teacher has difficulty saying her name.  To combat it, the girl's mom reminders her "Your Name is a Song" which ultimately helps everyone pronounce her melodious name correctly.  It also takes the reader on a journey filled with diverse names.  Love stories?  Here are some more of my faves.

I use this book with a lesson to work on rhythms with differentiated worksheets & activities, but you can practice student names & rhythms with dry erase boards just as easily.

Educate yourself: Holidays

As music teachers, we are lucky in that we see multiple grades of students, so we often see kids year after year as well as teach siblings.  That gives us extra time to learn about family holidays.  The flip side of that coin is that we rarely hear from parents as much as homeroom teachers do, and often miss out on key information.  

Here are a few ways to overcome those challenges:

• 
  Ask families to fill out a holiday form at Back to School or Meet Your Teacher nights.  You can ask explicitly or create an open invitation where parents can elect to share or opt out.
  
• Meet with students & ask about holidays, things they do on weekends, etc.  HUman beings are relational, so it's okay to let them know a bit about you, too.  If they share the same love of horseback riding as you do, say so!  
• Ask classroom teachers to share information they've gathered.
• Follow a holiday calendar and plan music for a variety of holidays around the world.  
• Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year, Chinese New Year, Ramadan, Eid, Easter, Diwali, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, 
• Harvard's Heritage Month list
• Culture is more than holidays and they do not have to be religious in nature.  
• Do your students love the superbowl or go nuts for March Madness?  Incorporate secular celebrations as well.
• Recognize similarities & differences, but be sure not to confuse 2+ holidays.  For example, Día de los Muertos, All Saints Day, & Halloween are celebrated at similar times of the year and certainly have similarities but ARE NOT THE SAME!

Educate yourself: World Music

Folk songs are ideal for music classrooms because they often have similar melodies & musical forms.  

Do you have Spanish speaking students?  Consider songs from Spanish speaking countries:

1. La Cucaracha 
2. La Bamba 
3. Remember Me (Coco)

What about using a holiday such as St. Patrick's Day to sing Molly Malone?  Then just go to neighboring country Scotland for:

1. Mhairi's Wedding 
2. Loch Lomond 

Follow heritage months such as AANHPI / AAPI:

1. Arirang - Korea
2. Eyes that Kiss in the Corner - Taiwan & China
3. Sakura, Sakura - Japan
4. Ai Hay Io - China

And I bet you're already teaching music around the world such as Hall of the Mountain King from Norway, France's Frere Jacques & Carnival of the Animals, or Peter & the Wolf from Russia.

Some more of my favorite folk songs are:

1. African Noel - Liberia
2. Siyahamba - South Africa
3. Kye, Kye, Kule - Ghana
4. Ram Sam Sam - Morocco
5. Four White Horses - Caribbean

Lastly, know your content

When you know the music you're teaching, you will be more comfortable taking time and space for students to ask questions. 

I have a fairly diverse student population and that requires me to be on my a-game.  before I had really learned about other cultures & holidays around the world, a student caught me off guard with a question, "Did you pick this book because you think cows are really important?  Because I do."

We were reading the book   titled "I am Cow, Hear Me Moo" as a part of my vocal exploration unit with the wee ones.  That student, as I would come to learn, is part of a Hindu family, but because I hadn't taken the time to learn that particular fact, it hadn't dawned on me to prepare for that question.  

Now, I could get into a long-winded explanation about my own biases formed by my own lived experiences, but let's cut to the chase:  

I didn't know enough & had to educate myself.  I'm glad to say that I know more now, but there will always be questions to which I do not have answers.  ANd that's okay.  I'm learning to be comfortable asking questions and admitting I don't know loads of things about loads of things.  

So, off you go; Educate yourself, select culturally inclusive music, & make peace with the imperfection of being a teacher.

Musically,

Jaime