Have you heard of the “Culture Tree”? Exploring this metaphor can become a useful tool for building a culturally responsive classroom. This is a teaser for the Micro Lessons that scaffold our guide.
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Let’s jump into talking about the culture tree and how you can use this illustration, as a tool for your holidays and students’ presentation. The culture tree is broken down into four main areas roots, trunk, branches and leaves. The leaves represent “surface culture”- aspects of culture that is easily observable, such as “language”, “holidays”, “clothing”
“hairstyles”, and many other observable aspects. The trunk of the tree represent “shallow culture” – aspects of culture that are unspoken but relies on trust to function.
A few examples of this include “child rearing principles” ,“concepts of time” and “personal space”. Lastly, the roots represent “deep culture” – aspects of the unconscious beliefs and norms. There is a heavy relationship with trust within “deep culture”. Examples include “world view”, “concepts of self”, and “notions of fairness”. Think about this culture tree analogy for a moment and how can the different levels of culture play a major part and how we engage with the cultural backgrounds of our students. Do we spend too much time focusing
at the “Surface Level”? Do we ever get to the level of “Deep Culture” within our classroom? Our interactive exercises can help you ignite your thinking about this illustration.
Try them here.
Our Guide on School Belonging
Most educators have heard of school belonging, but do you know the origins of this topic as well as common instruments that measure or take the temperature on school belonging across a learning community? Related to this concept is school climate. Our module incorporates mirco lessons with a mentorship program for educators and leaders in education educates and explores applied measurement behind these concepts.
