TED Talk:  The Danger of a single story

Author Chimamanda Adichie's amazing TED talk introduces "The Danger of a Single Story." Teaching students of other cultures may require that you look past familiar stories and narratives to find school materials that resonate with your students' experiences and lives.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

If you're an educator, and you're not listening to the student's interests - you're failing to make that connection to aid in their personal development and doing them a disservice. After this talk from Jeffrey Dessources, you'll understand the importance of being culturally responsive in the field of student development. Jeffrey Dessources is a dynamic public educator, author, emcee of Haitian descent. The native New Yorker is the author of five books including his latest Trill Motivation which through imagery, poetry and commentary tackles leadership and motivation from a contemporary perspective. He has delivered lectures at over 25 universities including Columbia and Princeton University and has performed globally in Indonesia, Italy and South Africa. He’s been featured in Ebony Magazine, The Root and Urban Cusp Magazine. He currently serves as the Director of Campus Life at New Jersey City University and Co Founder of the Educational platform, Trill or Not Trill. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Valerie Purdie-Vaughns on Unintentional Bias

In this short video from Big Think, researcher Valerie Purdie-Vaughnsexplains how bias and assumptions can unconsciously affect the way you act. Although it's geared toward diversity awareness in the workplace, this is a good primer on cultural discrimination.

Expanding Teacher Self-Knowledge

Since bias is often unconscious, one of the first things a culturally responsive teacher can do is be aware of assumptions about themselves and their students. This quick tip from the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance initiative explains the value of self-reflection.

Culturally Responsive Teaching

In this interview, Dr. Kavatas Newell, a faculty member at the University of Mary Washington, introduces some initial ways that teachers can incorporate culturally responsive teaching methods into their classrooms. The audio quality here is a bit low, but the tips are worth it.

Building Trust with Families

Many students from other cultures are English-language Learners (ELL). Although this video is long at 14 minutes, the panel of teachers and principals organized by Colorin Colorado offers great tips for connecting with the families of ELLs.

Recognizing Individual Characteristics

This quick video, also from the Teaching Tolerance initiative, reminds viewers to respect students' individuality, even as you learn more about cultural differences and introduce more responsive practices into the classroom.

Culture Matters

This video from the Kamehameha Schools showcases the importance of culturally responsive educational programs. Students from the native Hawaiian population thrive when they learn in programs that incorporate their cultural heritage and traditions.

Cultural Sensitivity Training

This program will enhance participants' understanding of culture, self-cultural awareness, and diversity. Program faculty discussions will examine the impact of these issues in the workplace, as well as the benefits of cultural diversity and sensitivity in the workplace.

Teaching About Racial Bias

Starbucks employees were shown this powerful short film about race as part of a learning session on bias.

Implicit Bias: Melanie Funchess

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Everyone makes assumptions about people they don't know. Melanie will teach us to recognize these assumptions and work toward a common understanding.