Adapted from the National Center for Culturally
Response Educational Systems (NCCRESt)
Families Objective 4: Students will demonstrate sensitivity for the culture, language,
religion, gender, disability, socioeconomic status and sexual orientation of individuals.
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Review your own cultural beliefs and behaviors so you can
broaden your cultural responsivity to preschool children,
their families and your (students’) cultures.
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Understand the impact of culture on individuals and
systems- why does it matter?
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Develop a diversity perspective- understanding the
developmental process of becoming a culturally responsive
early childhood professional
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Understand the development of a culturally
responsive perspective and pedagogy

Understand what happens when we are NOT
culturally responsive
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Entrenamiento Profesional
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Experiencia Profesional
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Preguntas que tengo acerca de la educación de
niños que hablan otro idioma y vienen de diferentes
culturas en la escuela prescolar.
How did you feel when the language of the presentation was
switched to Spanish?
How did you feel when you were asked to work on an
assignment presented to you in Spanish?
How do you think the child and the family feel when they are
instructed and expected to learn in a language that they
have still yet to fully master?
Activity: Ground Rules
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What would it take to feel safe when talking,
sharing, and participating in this session?
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Include in your dialogue how a safe, culturally
responsive, and interactive learning environment
can be created through body language, words
and language, physical arrangement, and
instructional design.
5 Minutes
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Part 2: Setting Ground Rules.
As a whole group, share suggestions from
the small group activity and summarize
them into three to five ground rules for
this session.
5 Minutes
A combination of thoughts, feelings, attitudes,
beliefs, values, and behavior patterns that are
shared by racial, ethnic, religious, or social
groups of people.
Two different Culture Lenses:
 Big C: Membership in particular racial/ethnic groups,
Between group differences
 Little c: Individual cultural identity, continuous and
unrelated to any specific group and honors the
complexity in each of us; Within group differences
language, food,
physical attributes,
customs, clothing,
gender
assumptions, perceptions, biases,
values, thought patterns, politics,
beliefs, intelligence, learning style,
concept of trust, income, habits,
desires, skills, imagination, character,
moods, world view, sense of purpose

The arbitrary division of humans according to
their physical traits and characteristics. It has
been commonly defined as a biological fact,
with specific genetic characteristics.
There is only one race.
The human race!
The Human Genome Project
www.hgri.nih.gov/10001772
Ethnicity is a complex construct that is defined
differently in different places:
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1.
2.
3.
Ancestry
Religion, language, caste or tribal group.
A strong sense of belonging that can only be determined by the
individual, not assigned by outsiders.
Ethnic, racial, or gender slurs or jokes
Little to no social interaction with different groups
Negative comments or expectations regarding
other groups
 Display of symbols offensive to ethnic, gender,
racial, or religious groups.
 Assumption of favoritism, preferential treatment.
-Diversity tool kit
(Gardenswartz & Rowe)
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Recognize differences
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Build Your Self-Awareness
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Acknowledge any discomfort,
hesitation, or concern
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Give your time and attention
when communicating
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Don’t evaluate or judge
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Try to meet the expectations
of your communication
partner
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Develop trust
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Respect boundaries
Describe and Identify, then
Interpret
Don’t assume your
interpretation is
 correct
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Verbalize your own nonverbal signs
Share your experience
honestly
Language
Space and Proximity
Time
Family Ties
Education
Life Cycles
Gender Roles
Taboos
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Define Cultural Responsiveness
(3 minutes)
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Cultural responsiveness refers to the ability to
learn from and relate respectfully to people
from your own and other cultures.
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Increased level of comfort
Increased knowledge
Increase in freedom
Discovery of passions
Increased capacity to teach
Increased resources and knowledge
Increased capacity to work with young children and
their families
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Develop cultural self awareness
Appreciate the value of diverse views
Avoid imposing our own values on others
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Examine our own assessment practices for
cultural bias
Build on the child and families’ cultural
strengths
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Discover your child and families’ primary
cultural roles
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Learn what you can about various cultures
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Accept your own naiveté
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Enjoy the journey
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Your library and school events
Professional journals
Websites such as CLAS
Local cultural celebrations
Local culturally-based organizations
Your culturally and linguistically diverse
friends

Review your own cultural beliefs and
behaviors so you can broaden your
cultural responsivity to young children
and families and your (students’)
cultures.

Understand the impact of culture on
individuals and systems- why does it
matter

Develop a diversity perspectiveunderstanding the developmental
process of becoming a culturally
responsive educational professional

Understand the development of a
culturally responsive perspective and
pedagogy

Understand what happens when we
are NOT culturally responsive

Take advantage of resources to learn
about other cultures. Use the library,
parents, coworker, or cultural
celebrations to increase your
knowledge.