Description
Personal Development Paper.
Write a 5-7 page, typed paper that describes his/her development regarding cultural sensitivity, racial/ethnic identity, and adaptation to other cultures.
You may search the UNF library database and select a developmental model to use. Suggested key words are: ethnic developmental identity model + a racial identity (e.g., White, African American, Latino, Asian, Biracial).
Examples are Bennett’s model of stages of developing intercultural sensitivity, Bank’s model of stages of ethnic identity development, Helms’ model of stages of racial identity development, Trifonovich’s stages of cross-cultural adjustment, or the work of Beverly Tatum to describe your development.
You may use parts of multiple models to describe your development. Be truthful. Do not exaggerate your development
Describe the stages of the model, then address the following questions: At what stage(s) do you place yourself and why?
What experiences and influences most profoundly shaped your views about and interactions with people of other ethnic groups?
What prejudices were taught to you by your parents and relatives? Who were you advised to date/marry?
What were you taught about skin color?
Does your lifestyle away from work reflect a bicultural, multicultural, interracial, integrated, non-racist lifestyle or primarily an ethnocentric, monocultural, racially segregated lifestyle?
How do you deal with cultural differences (denial, defensiveness, minimization, acceptance, adaptation, integration)?
Why are you pleased or displeased with the level of development you are/will be modeling for your own children and the students in your classroom?
What plans do you have for advancing your level of development?
How will your personal development affect your present or future work in education?
When appropriate, relate your major points to ideas presented in the textbooks, materials or discussions in this course.
Feel free to incorporate anything you have learned in this course and apply it to your personal development as well.
