Brittney Roddy
Santa Rosa Academy
27587 La Piedra Rd.
Menifee, CA 92584

April 17, 2019

Families and Stakeholders

Santa Rosa Academy
27587 La Piedra Rd.
Menifee, CA 92584

Dear Parents and Stakeholders,

Here at Santa Rosa Academy, our motto is excellence, integrity, and respect. We thrive to make
sure our students and teachers are living by those words every day. Part of having respect for
others is understanding their culture and differences and being accepting of it. Multicultural
education is based on the idea that all students, regardless of their race, sex, ethnicity, gender,
social class, or cultural characteristics, should have an equal opportunity to learn (Maloy,
Verock-OLoughlin, Edwards, & Woolf, 2017).

Using technology in education is a great way to make sure every student has an equal
opportunity to learn. There are collaboration tools such as Google Docs and Google Slides that
allows students to work collaboratively on projects without having to be in the same place. These
tools will help establish a supportive culture within the learning environment because students
will be working together with other students who might have a different cultural background.
They can learn from each other and be deepen their cultural understanding.

Another way for students to deepen their cultural understanding and increase their global
awareness within the school is using applications and tools that the Microsoft Education website
has to offer. Not only can students work with others from their own school, but they can also
work with other students from around the world. Applications such as Skype allow for students
to video chat with other classes that live in different places. They can learn about those students
and their culture, just as the other students are learning about our culture.

 
  

Microsoft education also offers discussion forums for students or classes to participate in.
Students could essentially have a pen pal through this site and talk with students from other
countries. Talking and working with students that have a different background will allow
students to value diversity. They will learn to value that not everyone is the same, has the same
culture, or values the same things.

Part of the ISTE standards for students is being a global collaborator. Having students use
applications such as Skype and Google Docs, will allow for students to connect with others from
a variety of backgrounds allowing them to broaden a mutual understanding (ISTE, 2018).
Students will also be able to explore local and global issues by using technology and work with
others to investigate solutions (ISTE, 2018).

Other ways technology can be used to support multicultural education and to meet the needs of
diverse learners is by using online translators and applications, multilingual web resources,
international newspapers and interactive maps, investigating English language word origins, and
using speech-to-text software and applications. There are many other applications available not
only for students to use for collaboration, but also for students to show their learning in a variety
of ways.

Here at Santa Rosa Academy, we believe technology is very important. This is why each student
from 6th grade up receives a MacBook Pro that they get to keep with them until they graduate
high school. The students are expected to bring their laptop with them to class every day to
complete work. Every elementary class is set up with either a class set of iPads or a class set of
Chromebooks. All of our homeschooled students receive a Chromebook that they keep with
them until they graduate as well. Every classroom is set up with an Apple TV and projector. The
teachers are also all provided with MacBook Pros.

We consider ourselves a “tech” school. We have a great technology team that is here on site
every day to help students, parents, and teachers with any technology needs that may arise. In the
beginning of every school year, there are trainings held for the students who are receiving their
new MacBook for the first time. There are also trainings held for parents that teaches them how
to access our learning management system, Illuminate. Overall, we have many resources and a
great team to make sure we can get the most out of learning by using technology.

I have included some additional resources that you can review to further your understanding on
the importance of technology use and multicultural education. It is with your guidance and
support that we can work together to make sure every student is receiving an equal opportunity
for education, and our motto of excellence, integrity, and respect is being met every day.

Teaching Multicultural Students Article

 
  

Welcoming Families of Different Cultures Article

The National Association for Multicultural Education Parent Resources
A Multicultural Perspective on Technology in Schools

Sincerely,

Brittney Roddy

Brittney Roddy
Technology Coach

 
  

References

ISTE. (2018). ISTE standards for students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-

students

Maloy, Verock-OLoughlin, Edwards, & Woolf. (2017). Transforming learning with new

technologies. Boston: Pearson.