4Tbs (1/4 cup) vegetable or olive oil

2Tbs flour

4Tbs (1/4 cup) chili powder

1tsp cumin

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp oregano

6oz tomato paste

2 cup vegetable broth

This sauce comes together quickly once you get started, so measure the dry ingredients (the flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, salt and optional cinnamon) into a small bowl and place it near the stove. Place the tomato paste and broth near the stove as well.

Warm the oil until it’s it’s hot enough that a light sprinkle of the flour/spice mixture sizzles on contact. Once it’s ready, pour in the flour and spice mixture. While whisking constantly, cook until fragrant and slightly deepened in color, about 1 minute.

Whisk the tomato paste into the mixture.

Slowly pour in 1.5 cups of the broth while whisking constantly to remove any lumps and to control thickness.

Raise heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer.

Continue adding broth/water until perfect consistency.

Cook, whisking often, for about 5 to 7 minutes, until the sauce has thickened a bit and a spoon encounters some resistance as you stir it. (The sauce will thicken some more as it cools.)

Haven’t Tried This — (Remove from heat, then whisk in the vinegar and season to taste with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Add more salt, if necessary (I usually add another pinch or two).)

Varvara Leventopoulou

TeachNow Cohort 14

Through research, but also through my past teaching experience I learned that formative assessments benefit both, students and teachers. They help students to understand what academic content they have already mastered and what they have not mastered yet. Teachers on the other hand see where students are and can their further instruction accordingly. 

In the following I would like to share my strategies for using, changing, and modifying formative assessments in my classroom. I researched some formative assessments for English Language Learners (ELLs) ingrades 5/6 and want to present my findings.

Assessment 1

What’s the assessment and what will I ask my students to do?

Assessment 1 is a formative assessment about ‘weather’ and ‘holiday words’, topics which are usually covered within the first months of English instruction. I expect students to write down the words which were introduced and learned in class and create sentences with them (exercise 3). 

Assessment 2

What’s the assessment and what will I ask my students to do?

Assessment 2 is an alternative and interesting way to check the students’ knowledge of irregular verbs which have been introduced earlier. I expect students to write in the missing verb forms and then put the fish into the buckets by coloring them. This activity is very appealing to 5/6 graders because it includes coloring and sorting and younger students need a lot of diverse activities. 

Assessment 3

What’s the assessment and what will I ask my students to do?

Assessment 3 is about reading comprehension. Vocabulary and grammar assessments are formative assessments and help to check the taught material. After these formative assessments the students can be given a summative assessment about reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is a more complicated and elevated procedure than vocabulary and grammar quizzes. Students have to master grammatical phenomena and know a certain amount of vocabulary to be able to understand a text, sort paragraphs, identify right/false statements, etc. Reading comprehension is the last step before the most complicated procedure of mastering a language: producing texts, e.g. writing letters, reports, or essays. 

In this assessment I expect students to put the different parts in the correct order (exercise 1) and to underline the correct sentences (exercise 2). 

I personally think that it is very important to peer-review assessments with colleagues in order to be able to adjust and correct weak points. After having had my assessments peer-reviewed, I got some ideas on how to modify and better adjust them for my target audience. In the following I will cite the changes I would make based on the feedback I got.

The modification I would make for assessment 1 part 2 is to read out the sentences and ask students if they understand them. This way I would ensure that unknown words won’t hinder students fill in the gaps with the tested vocabulary word. In order to vary with the form of assignments I could give this assignment as an online assignment in Quizlet. Finally, as an additional idea for differentiation in part 1 and 2 I could provide a box that has all of the vocabulary words and the students could choose the proper vocabulary term to fill in the gap.

Assessment 2 is an offline assessment on irregular verb forms. I have tried it out several time and despite the concern that it might not be age-appropriate – students too old to color the fish – I can assure that students love this unconventional and innovative method to work with irregular verb forms. 

In assessment 3 – reading comprehension – I test for the vocabulary, the grammar, and the sentence structures the students have had so far. By analyzing the outcome, I will be able to see which content area the students have not mastered yet and by talking to the students I will know what to reteach. I could modify the extension of the activity by having students continue the dialogue between Susan and Mike. A very innovative proposal for presenting this assessment would be through a cartoon or comic strip.

Rob Carey, Cohort 14

General Science Pre-Assessment Quiz about the Water Cycle

This pre-assessment precedes the water cycle unit.  The water cycle teaches students about how water moves in, on, and above the earth.  It touches on concepts of evaporation, precipitation, transpiration, and water’s ability to change matter states from liquid to gas, gas to liquid, and liquid to solid.  Students have most likely been introduced to the concepts in previous grades. This is a project based unit that culminates with the students creating a model of the local area’s water cycle.

The pre-assessment will help determine the student’s level of understanding prior to the unit and allow me to differentiate and modify corresponding lessons accordingly.  The pre-assessment is a quiz that can be performed on Kahoot. Click the following link to view and try the Kahoot assessment:

https://create.kahoot.it/share/water-cycle-pre-assessment/ec3dd42a-ed02-4ed5-a643-20ce881eae64

After the pre-assessment, I will review the data and create differentiation plans to target three performance levels: high, average, low.  Click the following link to view the Coggle flowchart that demonstrates how students performed on the pre-assessment, how they will be differentiated, and what activities will be used to track performance:

https://coggle.it/diagram/XivGn2Yss-nNJSoR/t/water-cycle-pre-assessment/db23595a19c32efddbc92ac9108cc96101b20a94a51a90b44ba83c2142c211de

by Rob Carey

TeachNOW Cohort 14

Project Objective:

The Project Unit is titled Adventure Challenge. It is Project Based Learning Unit that I adapted from the ‘Adventure Challenge Planner’ by Andrew Vasily. Understanding that solving problems with others involves communication, perseverance, teamwork, and an open mind.

Grade Level:

Upper Elementary School Physical Education Class (Grade 5 or 6)

Project Description:

Adventure Challenge is a 6-week project where students work together in small and large teams to solve physical challenges.  Students will be challenged individually with their own communication and open mindedness.  Students will also be challenged as a group to complete adventures and compete against each other.

Students will need to demonstrate teamwork skills, as they will always be working in groups.  Conflict is sure to arise and they will develop plans to communicate and share ideas.  In order to successfully complete the adventure challenges, students must persevere through difficult moments.

Several of the adventure challenge games/activities require one or more team members to be blind folded. Another teammate is only allowed to speak to them to help accomplish the challenge.  No touching is allowed.  For example: Untangle Rope Activity.  In this activity, there is a team of four students and everyone is blindfolded.  A rope is tangled up in the center of the gym.  Students must find the rope, untangle it, and form it in the shape of a square.  Once they think they have completed the challenge, they call over a teacher.  The teacher asks one person to remove their blindfold and assess if the formation on the ground is a square or not.  If not, then that un-blindfolded person verbally guides their team to complete the challenge.

Over the 6-week project students solve a variety of adventure challenges and for each challenge there are discussions before and after to reflect on what worked and what didn’t.  Students are asked about their communication, open mindedness, teamwork and perseverance.

Project Rubric

Monitoring and Feedback Plan

Reference:

Vasily, A. (n.d.). An Example PYP PE Planner. Retrieved January 11, 2020, from https://www.pyppewithandy.com/an-example-pyp-pe-planner.html.

by Rob Carey

TeachNOW Cohort 14

Formative assessments is a bit of a buzzword in the education field, but the data from many independent studies all show that student learning increases when formative assessments are utilized.  The days of simple lecture and test are long gone and formative assessments are a current and excellent way for teachers and students to learn.

My formative assessment strategy is rooted in involving students in the assessment process as much as possible.  I want students to understand why assessments are important, how they relate to the required curriculum, and how self-assessment is a critical thinking skill that adds value throughout their educational career.

I think teachers need to use a variety of formative assessments.  Teachers have associated names with different types of assessments to make them easy to remember and discuss. Regardless of the name, there should be a mixture of technology, quick verbal assessments, and more traditional paper handouts.

Don’t forget that observation is another cornerstone to proper assessment.  Observation is done all the time and can also be more structured. For example, a teacher walks around the classroom during a group work activity and has an assessment document with them (on clipboard or tablet device) and consciously assess and makes notes about students.

Only one assessment is never the perfect measurement of student learning.  The assessment used could have poor or confusing wording that might through off students answers.  And on any given day, a student could be having a bad day and won’t give their best answers.  Also consider that some students do better at writing a response to a question that demonstrates their thinking; compared to a multiple choice quiz.

That’s why it’s important to have many formative assessments given in various ways.  Once teachers have the assessment data, then it’s time to digest it and decide what to do with the information.

Since my goal is to involve students in the process, I will always strive to return that assessment data to them so they can see and understand where they are on their learning curve.  It’s not so much about getting a letter grade than it is about learning and helping the student understand how best they learn.  With this information, I can come up with better ways to teach the content and the students can come up with better ways to learn the content.

As a future teacher of middle school students, another deeply rooted strategy for formative assessments is to make it engaging and interesting (along with my lessons, haha).  Middle school students are easily bored and no student is interested in learning if they are bored.

Getting students to work collabratively by assessing each other and providing feedback to each other can provide them the little push needed to keep it interesting.  The side benefit is that students may walk away with a better idea of what they know and don’t yet know.

One last tip on formative assessments is to consider them in three categories:

• Where is the learning going
• Where is the learner right now
• How will the learner get there

(Andersson and Palm, 2017)

Teachers can consider these groupings when preparing formative assessments and in doing so they can more accurately measure student learning.  For example, a formative assessment could be like throwing out a big net in the sea and catching all kinds of sea creatures verses using a specific type of lure to catch a swordfish.

References:

Andersson, C., & Palm, T. (2017, January 6). Characteristics of improved formative assessment practice. Retrieved January 8, 2020, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20004508.2016.1275185.

As a teacher you are highly engaged by your students on a daily basis. This is a fact that we as teachers should always keep in mind when working in class. I felt quite inspired when having read the article about how to evaluate a teacher. For sure, it feels a little strange when there is another person evaluating you. At our school, during a new teacher’s first year, our principal and colleagues visit the classroom to look at the teaching strategies he/she uses, the content and level of teaching, the routine, the resources being taken into the lesson, and also the language that is used to differentiate learning. I had these visits too, and I must admit that I felt a little hesitant. But the more the visits took place, the more self-confident I felt. One of the main reasons is our school culture – the honesty, fair treatment, respectful argumentation and kind way of talking – fostered by my principal and colleagues. I felt there has been a lot of respect related to my work taking place, and also felt a positive atmosphere when talking about what I could have improved for the upcoming lessons. I think that one of the main aspects being observed by colleagues is that the feedback is relevant to my teaching and shows an honest way of criticism, so you don’t feel unvalued or upset about the statements. This way of reflection has helped me to improve my teaching, and today I feel quite calm when being observed and not fearful any more. As I haven’t been observed and judged by students, it would be very interesting to see the outcome, for instance, to read on a paper: what makes me a “good” teacher? (By the way, what makes a good teacher?!”)

In the article “Teacher Evaluation 2.0” it is said that there exist several problems related to current observation systems, such as not enough meaningful feedback of lessons given, statements about how professionals teach, or not enough opportunities to differentiate the observation.[1]

Instead the students can evaluate a teacher quite well, as they can master academically rigorous material, regardless of their socioeconomic status. A teacher’s primary professional responsibility is to ensure that students learn. Therefore, measures of student’s learning should play a predominant role in teacher evaluations. Evaluation results should form the foundation of teacher development. Although there must be meaningful consequences for consistently poor performance, the primary purpose of evaluations should not be punitive. Good evaluations identify excellent teachers and help teachers of all skill levels understand how they can improve; they encourage a school culture that prizes excellence and continual growth.[2] The following statement is taken from another online-article. AFT president Randi Weingarten said: [3]

“…teacher evaluations must be about improving teaching, not just rating teachers.”

I haven’t been evaluated by my students yet but I developed a survey that could be easily used as an Early Years survey, even for our three to five year old students (see below link).

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pWUd9Q6zbe-cpSs9nD6DgCjeKu4y4k_LwG9ZSffkbv8/edit?usp=sharing

In my opinion, a teacher should always be open towards these kinds of activities as they will bring me to a higher level of reflecting on my work and my teaching strategies.

By Carola Deinet-Knittel

 

[1] Online-article “Teacher Evaluation 2.0 “

file:///Users/deinet-knittelc/Downloads/M4U4A3_Teacher-Evaluation_2.0-20150707115740.pdf

[2] Page 4, see above article

file:///Users/deinet-knittelc/Downloads/M4U4A3_Teacher-Evaluation_2.0-20150707115740.pdf

 

[3] Article: Teacher Development and Education

https://www.aft.org/position/teacher-development-and-evaluation

 

Pre-assessment and innovative differentiation strategy related to a different learning level of students

Today I will write about the importance of assessing students, while using differentiation related to each student’s learning on a good, medium or lower learning level.

For a long time I have been assessing our youngest learners at the International School of Stuttgart. This has been challenging sometimes: on the one hand we have a wide range of students that have no, hardly any, or some English knowledge (EAL learners = English as an Additional Language), and on the other hand a group of English native speakers. Therefore I will use pre-assessments that will also include the individual child’s language development.

Our team and I always need to find strategies how best to assess our students: for example, amongst 36 youngest learners in a mixed-age group of 3 to 4 and 4 to 5 years we/I differentiate according to their age and cognitive development while assessing them. Also, there will be differentiation according to their knowledge, individual learning level, special needs, and understanding. Children who just started school need another assessment than those who have been with us already for one year. For example, for some pre-assessment related to our Unit “The Natural World” I will individually ask which parts of a tree a child will remember or know. Our youngest learners who just started new at our school mostly have no idea how to describe a tree. The older children being with me for one year (even EAL students) already might differentiate and use vocabulary such as, branch, bark, etc. These students will be more challenged during the follow-up assessments as their learning level will raise: they will gain more knowledge about nature, the forest-area, the vocabulary related to the unit, etc. As a pre-assessment I will develop a quiz related to the Unit “The Natural World” that each child is able to play- related to their age, their language (if necessary for EAL students I might ask for some Mother tongue support), their learning disability and their cognitive development. Assessing on a one-to-one correspondence will give me a first impression what about each child’s learning level and knowledge. At the end of the unit the quiz will be assessed another time, to show what the child has learned during this period of time.

Carola Deinet-Knittel

https://b.socrative.com/teacher/#quizzes 

My password: CAROLA2769

I created a quiz for young learners. It is a game for Early Years and Kindergarten students that have no, only little or some more experience related to “The Natural World”. Teachers (and parents!) should help read on a one-to-one correspondence. I hope it will be accessible and the students will enjoy.

I created the following links to the “Lucidchart”platform, where I created a flowchart that shows differentiation of pre-assessments for young learners. I hope that one of these will show my flowchart.

https://www.lucidchart.com/invitations/accept/a5ecf114-458b-490f-9b03-2b0cd147f4a7

https://www.lucidchart.com/documents/edit/c36925f0-4f44-4af9-acae-a74c86c65166/0?shared=true&

https://www.lucidchart.com/invitations/accept/41a14f2f-0e59-4fcf-a61a-1cb617f0f7a6

I also got ideas from the following link related to- pre assessing students.
https://sites.google.com/site/lrtsas/differentiation/5-preassessment-ideas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Analyzing the use and implications of high stakes assessments on students and teachers in the International School of Stuttgart

 

Teachers need to think about how to best assess student learning and how to implement assessment effectively in order to understand the outcome of the tests for each individual student. I have been thinking about this topic a lot, and have had several discussions with my colleagues. I’ve also realized that there has been a gap of knowledge related to assessments in other countries.

First of all, RTI has been new to me. What is it?

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs. The RTI process begins with high-quality instruction and universal screening of all children in the general education classroom. Struggling learners are provided with interventions at increasing levels of intensity to accelerate their rate of learning. These services may be provided by a variety of personnel, including general education teachers, special educators, and specialists. Progress is closely monitored to assess both the learning rate and level of performance of individual students. Educational decisions about the intensity and duration of interventions are based on individual student response to instruction. RTI is designed for use when making decisions in both general education and special education, creating a well-integrated system of instruction and intervention guided by child outcome data.

http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/what/whatisrti

 

 

I have been teaching our youngest students for a very long time (nearly 26 years), and throughout this time there have always been students who need a little, some, or a lot of teacher’s support. And honestly, I have asked myself several times: how could I help the best? How can I best help my student develop in a way that is not interruptive, and where he/she is engaged in reaching a higher learning level? Where do I get the tools to help, to assess and to use the best practice?

I have read several articles about how to assess students, also using the RTI. In one article it is mentioned that students mostly get support when they are interruptive, not fitting into the classroom routine, disturbing all the time.

So –I went to a page where RTI is translated into German to get an idea how this is set up.

The article itself has been very interesting: It is about RTI related support for children’s learning in reading at German schools.

RTI describes three levels where it is shown that the approach is effective:

1. Phase 1: all the students get tested in a way where the level isn’t too high so each student might achieve the score.
2. Phase 2: If there are students who show some kind of learning difficulties in the test the teachers figure out how, when and what might cause a problem.
3. Phase 3: there will be individual training for all these young learners related to their reading level. Strategies will be taken on board to engage the children’s learning in a way that there are little steps for success. So –the child is taken where he/she is assessed related to their current ability, brought to higher learning by finding out which strategy works best, and also to slowly integrate them into class.

German Article: Inklusive Schulentwicklung durch response-tointervention (RTI) – Realisierungsmöglichkeiten des RTI-Konzepts im Förderbereich Lesen Christian Huber, Michael Grosche und Peter Schütterle

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christian_Huber12/publication/264236261_Inklusive_Schulentwicklung_durch_response-to-intervention_RTI_-_Realisierungsmoglichkeiten_des_RTI-Konzepts_im_Forderbereich_Lesen/links/55c261c908aebc967defdc14.pdf

 

 

At the International School of Stuttgart (ISS) assessments are used to show how a child works for the IB (International Baccalaureate) curriculum. I need to find out whether RTI is used for assessing our students.

First I met with one of our Educational Psychologists Melanie S. who mentioned that there is Standardized Testing going on at our school, such as: ACER tests from grade 3 to 10. She, as a school psychologist, analyzes the data once a year.

MAP testing for Grades 2 to 5 (and further, sometimes). This MAP testing is taken two times per year.

MAP® Growth™ measures what students know and informs what they’re ready to learn next. By dynamically adjusting to each student’s performance, MAP Growth creates a personalized assessment experience that accurately measures performance—whether a student performs on, above, or below grade level. Timely, easy-to-use reports help teachers teach, students learn, and administrators lead.

https://www.nwea.org/map-growth/

 

 

PIPS testing: This testing is taken in Kindergarten (for 5 to 6 year old children) two times a year. Our school counselor Paul M. runs this and we use this data twice a year.

 

PIPS measures the progress of a 5-year-old new entrant over their first 12 months of school. PIPS provides a profile of a child’s strengths and weaknesses to help plan appropriate learning experiences. It is an early indicator of special educational needs and can monitor progress made over the first year at school. It helps answer the questions:

• What do children know when they start school?
• What progress is made in the first year?
• How effective is my school program compared to other schools?

The start of year assessment is conducted within the first two weeks of the new entrant beginning school.http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/cem/assessment/value-added-assessments/pips/

In talking to our 3^rd grade teacher, Kimberly V., I learned that the students are tested through ACER, MAP, and Fountas and Pinnell.

Benchmark Assessment System (BAS)

Using the Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Systems to determine student’s independent and instructional reading levels, teachers are able to observe student reading behaviors one-on-one, engage in comprehension conversations that go beyond retelling, and make informed decisions that connect assessment to instruction.

http://www.fountasandpinnell.com/bas/

Also, Kimberly works with: rubrics, Mathletics tests, normal ones like formative assessments and reflections. She said that reflection forms, self reflection forms and anecdotal records are taken as well.

 

ACER: ACER is a recognized international leader in the development and provision of high quality assessment and reporting tools and services for schools, universities, TAFE institutes and Registered Training organizations, health professionals, employers, and governments in Australia and internationally.

https://www.acer.org/assessment

 

I also had a conversation with our Lower School Principal Mr. Paul Morris, and our PYP coordinator Mr. Alexander Whitaker. They told me how or students are assessed, especially those children who have special needs or disabilities.

 

As I live in Germany I also know about the Europe Testing called PISA, a test that is taken for 9^th graders all around the world. Just a few weeks ago there has been a report from the “Stuttgarter Zeitung”, a local newspaper with the PISA results for Baden-Württemberg. Those results have been unsatisfying – the reason might be too many children in one class, too many different learning levels, a wide range of students with migration background who still need some German language support, and also children with specific needs (such as ADHA), which is important to be supported individually- but there are teachers missing. So far, the outcome of this article has been that the government will make an attempt to support schools in finding support from teachers, assistants and others, especially in providing extra support for children with special needs.

However, Germany still ranked among the top European countries for education, according to the PISA report.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published its highly anticipated PISA report for 2015, comparing the aptitudes of around 540,000 15-year-olds from 72 different countries in the fields of science, reading and mathematics.

Overall, German students performed above the OECD average in all three areas tested. Germany also had a higher share of top performers – those who scored the top levels or 5 or 6 in at least one subject – than the OECD average, as well as a smaller share of low achievers – those who scored below level 2 – than the OECD average.

The ranking placed Germany on par with the United Kingdom, and below Slovenia, Finland and Estonia, which performed the best of the European countries. There, less than 5 percent of students were low performers in all three subjects, whereas in Germany this proportion was more than double at nearly one in ten students.

German students performed best in science and reading, but science scores saw a drop since the last PISA report in 2012 by 15 points out of a possible 1,000, and math scores dropped from 514 to 506. Reading scores increased by one point.

In the category of science, 11 percent of German students were top performers, which was 3 percentage points higher than the OECD average.

Rich-poor achievement gap

Germany has more of a gap between students based on their socioeconomic backgrounds than other countries on average: there was a 16 percent variation in student performance based on socioeconomic status, compared to the OECD average of 13 percent.

Still, this gap did shrink by 4 percentage points since 2006.

“As in the majority of OECD countries, a more socio-economically advantaged student in Germany scores more than 30 points higher in science (the equivalent of one year of schooling), on average, than a disadvantaged student,” the report explained, noting that this point difference was 42 in Germany.

In contrast, Canada, Estonia, Finland and Japan all had 10 percent variation or less between advantaged and disadvantaged students.

“Germany’s education system is less equitable than the average across OECD countries,” the report added. “However, equity has improved in Germany since 2006. Students’ socioeconomic status became a less reliable predictor of achievement.”

 

https://www.thelocal.de/20161206/germany-among-top-european-countries-for-education

 

I think I need to get even deeper into these assessments that I have mentioned, and hope that by using these my students will be tested in a fair and developmentally appropiate way.

Carola Deinet-Knittel

 

 

Blog: How to incorporate diversity and multiple perspectives into lesson plans

 

by Carola Deinet-Knittel

Today I‘d like to give some input related to the International School of Stuttgart, where I have been working for about eleven years.

For thirty years, the International School of Stuttgart (ISS) has been the only school in the Stuttgart region to offer a truly international education – authorized and accredited by the Council of International Schools, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and the International Baccalaureate Organization.

From Kindergarten through grade 12, ISS is a vibrant, student-centered learning community where both subject rigor and character development are fostered, where tradition is valued and innovation embraced and where partnership with parents is a fundamental part of our philosophy.[1]

Philosophy Statements: (Our beliefs)

We believe in the importance of:

Innovation: Emphasizing creative problem-solving and confident adaptation to change.

Respect: Fostering empathy and integrity to nurture a caring responsibility within a diverse cultural community.

Engagement: Challenging and inspiring understanding through active curiosity and individual involvement in learning.

Relevance: Accessing and discerning real life connections between intellectual experience and the changing world.

The ISS experience inspires its learners to develop a sense of pride and commitment to making a difference. A transparent and reflective partnership between students, teachers and family is fundamental to our mission.

Mission Statement: (Our purpose)

Leading education for internationally minded families

Our school mission is to inspire, challenge and actively support our students and each other to become positive participants in a changing world.[2] I am a member of the International School of Stuttgart and teaching the youngest students (aged 3 to 5 years old) for the past eleven years. What I absolutely love and honor is the fact that, we, as a school community highly value each cultural background. Overall we have about 40 countries represented in our staff and students. The children I work with are mostly from Japan, Germany, the United States, and Great Britain. There is a great diversity and cultural perspective at our school: daily I see people communicating in their home and family language, or dancing on the floor to some Indian music. Each kind of event is highly valued and celebrated related to our mission. It is necessary that everybody feels welcomed, accepted and respected by each and everyone – whatever colour, background or handicap we have. We treat people respectfully, and are open-minded towards our community.

I am convinced that sharing and celebrating events brings people together- this is my personal experience. We celebrate big events, such as the Multicultural evening that takes place every March. People show their cultural diversity through all kinds of performances, such as dancing, singing and sharing food with one another and getting dressed in their national costumes. Also, we ask the parents of our class to tell us about their individual cultural background, and how to share their events or celebrations with us. This diversity is shared during the circle-time in the mornings, where we have had people performing through music, dance, art and special treats from all around the world (including “Diwali”, “Thanksgiving” or “Hinamatsuri”). Living in Germany is a part of sharing our/my own cultural background as well. Sharing the local environment is a great opportunity to tell people about our history, community and events. With the younger students we share the St. Martin festival- a festival full of light, and lanterns with a background that leads to deep understanding: how we take care of other people. Through this event the children have a chance to learn about respect and support for other people, -a message that St. Martin sent hundreds of years ago as he always helped the poor, and became a bishop of Tours in France. Related to this event I created a lesson plan that gives my youngest learners input in learning about this cultural background of a part of Europe.

I realised, that the older I get, the more open-minded towards other cultures and nations.  I truly feel that we share the whole planet with one another so therefore also need to care for one another. I get a cultural perspective not only by sharing food or celebrating, but also through feedback related to international diversity from teachers, parents and children. They feel that they are all valued people in a world where each of us is unique. And this we teach our children- respect others however they are dressed, behave or move, and accept their languages. One aspect I also appreciate is one of the standards we teach: all our languages are special- in a way that we communicate whether non-verbally, through performance or conversation, share cultural background and events, laugh and sing and celebrate being together –as a great community.

In my lesson plan about “St. Martin”, I have included several different languages so people can understand one another better, and share ideas and thinking between one another.

I hope that I could contribute in sharing ideas how to include the diversity of Multicultural Perspectives between one another.

Carola Deinet-Knittel

Lesson plan related to the topic: “St. Martin Celebration”

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sYtTOoQGKAkK3Tz05iCV1GRSuUetXxjmCkr9KPvTZ1A/edit?usp=sharing