90 Minute session delivered to educators attending the NWABR Ethics in the Science Classroom workshop. What keeps us from having dialogues about controversial or difficult topics in the classroom? How do practices like norm setting, studying cultural value differences, or dialoguing help ALL students become more inclusive, skilled, and informed?

1. NWABR
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
Seattle Girls’ School
Cultural Considerations
in Classroom Dialogue
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

2. About Seattle Girls’ School
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

3. What’s the Worry?
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

4. Goals
 Create Norms for the Workshop
 Understand how identity, culture,
and values affect our behaviors
 Identify elements of respectful
dialogue
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

5. Setting Norms
 What do you need to feel safe in discussing
controversial or difficult issues?
 What ground rules would be helpful in ensuring safe
and effective dialogue?
PROCESS
2 minute individual time
7 minute small group time
10 minute all group time
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

6. Example Norms from NWABR Curriculum
 A bioethics discussion is not a competition or a debate
with a winner and a loser
 Everyone will respect the different viewpoints expressed
 If conflicts arise during discussion, they must be
resolved in a manner that retains everyone’s dignity
 Everyone has an equal voice
 Interruptions are not allowed and no one person is
allowed to dominate the discussion
 All are responsible for following and enforcing the rules
 Critique ideas, not people
 Assume good intent
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

7. Dimensions of Identity and Culture
This model of identifiers and culture was created by Karen Bradberry and Johnnie Foreman for NAIS Summer Diversity
Institute, adapted from Loden and Rosener’s Workforce America! (1991) and from Diverse Teams at Work, Gardenswartz & Rowe
(SHRM 2003).
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

8. Individual - Collectivistic
Low Context - High Context
Task - Relationship
Low Uncertainty - High Uncertainty
Vertical - Horizontal
Dimensions of Variability
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

9. Cultural Values
Norms, and Rules
 Values
 Value Priorities
 Norms of Behavior
 Non-Verbal
Communication
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

10. CulturalValueDifferences
RELATIONAL
Individualism
self-reliance, independence
(selfish)
Collectivism
group interdependence
(mindless follower)
Informality
directness, give and take discussion
(rude and abrupt)
Formality
indirectness, protect "face"
(stiff and impersonal)
Competition
individual achievement
(egotistical, show-off)
Cooperation
group achievement
(avoiding doing work or taking responsibility)
AUTHORITY
Egalitarianism
fairness, belief in equal opportunity
(being picky, on a soapbox)
Hierarchy
privilege of status or rank
(power hungry or avoiding accountability)
TEMPORAL
Use of Time
"Time is money"
(doesn’t get the important things in life)
Passage of Time
"Time is for life"
(lazy and irresponsible)
Change/Future
Adaptability ensures survival
(muckraker, stirs up trouble)
Tradition/Past
Stability ensures survival
(old-school, afraid of change)
ACTIVITY
Action orientation
"Make things happen"
(rushes without thinking)
"Being" orientation
"Let things happen"
(indecisive and slow)
Practicality
Efficiency is always best
(impersonal and unscrupulous)
Idealism
Always maintain principles
(naïve and impractical)
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

11. Exercise: Non-Verbal Violations
1: Please pick a partner and stand.
2: Begin to converse about your hobbies
and interests.
3: You will receive a piece of paper
describing nonverbal behaviors.
4: Scan the piece of paper. Do not share
the information.
5: INCREMENTALLY dramatize the
nonverbal behavior.
6: Make note of thoughts or feelings you
experience.
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

12. Debrief: Nonverbal Violations
Did the INTENT of your described
behaviors allow you to display
them more enthusiastically?
What was the IMPACT of the
behaviors of your partner?
Did knowing that “odd” behaviors
may be part of the exercise
help you accept your partner’s
behavior?
In working and living with people
from various communities,
what do you take away from
this exercise?
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

13. Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
Dialoguing Across Differences

14. Effective Communication Models
Common Threads
Brenda J. Allen, Difference Matters: Communicating Social Identity
SUPPORTIVE DEFENSIVE
Description Evaluation
Problem-Orientation Control
Spontaneity Strategy
Empathy Neutrality
Equality Superiority
Provisionalism Certainty
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

15. Ethics, Dialogue, and Value-Based
Education = Multicultural Education
 Critical Thinking
 Multiple Perspectives
 Difference as Value Added not as
“Problem”
 Values and Stereotype Threat
 Respectful Conflict
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

16. Final Questions or Comments?
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

17. Presenter Information
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
6th Faculty and
Professional Outreach
Seattle Girls’ School
2706 S Jackson Street
Seattle WA 98144
(206) 805-6562
rlee@seattlegirlsschool.org
http://tiny.cc/rosettalee
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

18. Communication Resources
• “Stereotype Threat” by Joshua Aronson
• Brenda J. Allen, Difference Matters: Communicating
Social Identity
• William Gudykunst, Cross-Cultural and Intercultural
Comunication
• Milton Bennett, PhD, Intercultural Communication
Institute www.intercultural.org
• “Non-Verbal Communication Across Cultures” by Erica
Hagen, Intercultural Communication Resources
• Thiagi.com
• Thrive! Team Dynamics
• http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/action_science_
history.htm
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

19. Miscellaneous Resources
• Karen Bradberry and Johnnie Foreman, “Privilege and
Power,” Summer Diversity Institute, National Association
of Independent Schools, 2009
• Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, Nurture Shock
• Kevin Jennings, GLSEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education
Network) www.glsen.org
• Allan G. Johnson, Privilege, Power, and Difference
• Johnnie McKinley, “Leveling the Playing Field and Raising
African American Students’ Achievement in Twenty-nine
Urban Classrooms,” New Horizons for Learning,
http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/differentiated/
mckinley.htm
Michael J Nakkula and Eric Toshalis, Understanding Youth.
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)