An Analysis Of TED Talks Presentation By Jen Holladay

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Video number four features a “TED Talks” presentation from Jen Holladay. Jen Holladay described herself as a beginning teacher (she just took a job at a school in Denver, Colorado at the time of the TED Talks presentation), but her main role in education is being a mother of a child.
Jen Holladay based her presentation on how multiculturalism is implemented in schools, particularly in the United States. She talked about how most multicultural approaches present today promote stereotypes that actually hurt the students relationships to other cultures that are not their own. She used the example of allowing school lunches to contain tacos while celebrating Cinco de Mayo and fried chicken while celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Even though these details may seem minor, students will …show more content…

Just because other perspectives are incorporated in the classroom, this doesn’t mean that everyone will become more understanding and appreciative of other cultures. When multicultural practices have rigorous standards, allow the advancement of social communications with other cultures, and allow the advancement social justice concepts both inside and outside of the classroom, this is when students will become more appreciative of other cultures (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p.162).
These lessons are important in the classroom for several reasons. First off, we as teachers need to find ways to make sure that students from all ethnic backgrounds are included in classroom discussions and that they have the ability to apply themselves to the material taught in the classroom. However, teachers also need to realize that these practices need to be implemented so that stereotypes among the different cultures do not

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