1. Cultural Proficiency The Continuum
People are walking in and getting settled
Brief moment to clear mind and become present with where you are
Hand out Personal Journey sheet as folks come in

2. The Cultural Proficiency Continuum - (Dr. Terry Cross, 1989)
Six Ways of perceiving and responding to differences
Unhealthy Practice
Focused on “them”
Tolerates variation
Blame
Limits Possibilities
Healthy Practice
Focused on our practices
Values variations
Responsibility
Limitless possibilities

3. Cultural Destructiveness - “See the difference; stomp it out”
Eliminating others because of difference
Examples
Genocide
Exclusionary practices
Shun diverse perspectives
Not providing a group of students access to the curriculum
“If we could get rid of the trailer park kids; our scores would go up”
Getting rid of students who do not conform to the teacher’s norms
Refusing to teach kids who don’t respond well to the instruction and insisting that a specialist or other service provider work with them
“I shouldn’t have to teach those kids”
Theatre Program Related
Not allowing students access to works from diverse playwrights

4. Cultural Incapacity - “See the Difference; make it wrong”
Believing in and acting in alignment with cultural superiority
Examples
Lowered expectations of others
Unequitable allocation of resources
Expecting “others” to change
“Over here are my blue birds. They are very good students. My buzzards aren’t quite as talented, but they get along the best they can”
“Why do you think those kids are low? Their parents just don’t care”
Those kids just don’t learn how I teach. They must learn to adapt
Those kids just aren’t college material
Theatre Related
Spending the majority of your budget on a small group of similar students
My low income students just can’t do the more difficult works
Majority of examples and clips used in class are from the dominate culture

5. Cultural Reductionism - “See the difference; act like you don’t”
Acting as if differences between, among, and within cultures do not matter or exist
Examples
Discomfort with differences
Beliefs/actions that assume the world is fair and achievement is based on merit alone
Ignoring individual/group needs in favor of whole-group instruction.
I don’t see color in any of my kids. I treat them all the same. I’m not prejudice.
Every child achieves to the best of his ability. They just need to take advantage of the opportunities available
Theatre Related
I don’t really want to do Raisin in the Sun because I would have to deal with questions of race
I am going to color blind cast Dorothy in the Wiz because my white student is a senior and the african american student was only a sophomore

6. Cultural Pre-Competence - “See the difference; respond to it inadequately”
Recognizing the need to respond, but doing so with limitations
Examples
Delegate diversity work
Quick fix, packaged short-term programs
Episodic events (____ night, month, etc)
Theatre Related
We study an African American playwright in February each year
Every so often we have a guest speaker come in to talk about the roles

7. Cultural Competence- “See the difference; value it”
Effective cross-cultural interaction, in alignment with these standards:
Assessing cultural knowledge
Valuing diversity
Managing conflict (“dynamics of difference”)
Adapting to diversity
Institutionalizing cultural knowledge
Theatre Related
Frequently using material developed by and/or part of a minority experience
Allowing students time to share personal experiences to inform discussion
Valuing the experiences of everyone when rehearsing a show - creating action

8. Cultural Proficiency - “See the difference; respond positively
Cultural Proficiency - “See the difference; respond positively. Engage & Adapt”
The process of ongoing organizational development and professional learning about individual and organizational response to difference, in order to develop and nurture cultural competence
Examples
Personal Reflection, change, and transformation
Studying equity in education with the goal of change in support of social justice
Testing assumptions held about groups different from you.
Theatre Related
Acknowledging what you don’t know as a director
Keeping open dialogue with student groups
Asking questions and being honest and respectful
Selecting material that supports social justice

9. Points Around the Room
Prediction: What do you think you will see when people place their sticky notes around the room?
Place your sticky notes in the appropriate part of the room
Silently move around the room and read as many as you can
Explain that participants will examine the continuum, one point at a time. After a brief description of each point, they will have one minute of silent time to generate examples for that point. The examples should be from their experience (things they have heard, thought, and or observed in the school). They must write only ONE example per sticky note (no limit to the number of sticky notes).
Beginning with Cultural Destructiveness, describe the point and give several examples. Allow a minute of silent time for participants to generate examples, one per sticky note (there are no limit to the number of examples that they can generate; provide extra sticky notes if necessary). Note: Have participants label these sticky notes as “Cultural Destructiveness,” as they will have to sort these at the end of the exercise.
Repeat step number 3 with the remaining points on the continuum.
Tell participants that they will soon place sticky notes on the appropriate charts hanging in the room. Have them write a prediction of what they will see when all sticky notes are placed.
Have participants place sticky notes on charts and inform them to silently read as many as possible. Allow 5-10 minutes for reading sticky notes, encouraging participants to mill around and read all comments.

10. Debrief What did you notice as you wrote comments?
What did you notice as you read comments?
What did you feel, think, or wonder about the comments or the process?
What can you learn about yourself and your program from this exercise?
What can you take back to your school/ program?

11. The Three Barriers
The personal, professional, and institutional blockades and/ or blind spots that impede movement towards equitable and just service and opportunities for all.
Resistance to Change- Unawareness of the need to adapt,
Not acknowledging systemic oppression, and
Benefitting from a privilege and sense of entitlement.