Readings for Bridging Cultures: Teacher Education Module

This text provides background information for users of the Bridging Cultures: Teacher Education Module , but can also be used by education students or others as an adjunct to the module. It includes five previously published articles and one book chapter, each selected for a specific purpose. Bridging Cultures in Our Schools: New Approaches That Work explains the framework of individualism and collectivism, the Bridging Cultures Project, and the seven points of home-school conflict that are identified in the module. Bridging Cultures with Classroom Strategies and Bridging Cultures with a Parent-Teacher Conference describe teacher-constructed strategies that enhance learning and home-school communication. Cross-Cultural Conflict and Harmony In the Social Construction of the Child and Conceptualizing Interpersonal Relationships in the Cultural Contexts of Individualism and Collectivism are the original research cited throughout the module which provides the empirical basis for the Bridging Cultures framework. A chapter from Cross-Cultural Roots of Minority Child Development portrays the constructs of independence (individualism) and interdependence (collectivism) as developmental scripts with implications for theory, research and practice. The theoretical framework for the module and the readings, as well as for the closely related volume, Bridging Cultures Between Home and School (a text for pre-service and in-service teacher preparation courses), is found in Cross-Cultural Roots of Minority Child Development . The four publications support and enhance each other while serving a variety of needs, from theoretical to classroom applications.