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Multicultural education in the classroom
The effects of multiculturalism in education
The effects of multiculturalism in education
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During this semester, I had the opportunity of working with a class of 2nd Graders in the Long Beach area. Even though in my last two serve rotations I was exposed to students from different linguistically and cultural backgrounds, this year I had the opportunity of truly experiencing multicultural diversity in the classroom. Since Jane Addams is located in the ghetto area of Long beach, the majority of the students are the so called minorities. Mrs. Chavarria classroom represented pluralism and world cultures; in her classroom there were Filipinos Samoans, African Americans, Latinos a couple of white kids, and a Hispanic/Chinese boy. This last serve rotation gave me the opportunity to experience my mentor teacher's pedagogical approaches which engage cultural multiplicity in many effective ways. My mentor teacher as expressed earlier in my journals has been teaching for the last thirteen years and has been open to learn about new concepts and ideas central to addressing cultural pluralism in the core curriculum and have tested some practices that have proved to be useful. Some of th...
Robles de Melendez, W. (2010). Teaching Young Children in Multicultural Classrooms: Issues, Concepts, and Strategies (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
With the concept of multicultural education programs becoming more popular, educators are seeking new ways to present diversity into their school community, classrooms, and lesson plans. According to Birkel (2000), multicultural education is, first of all, education concerned with the teaching/learning processes and the acceptance and appreciation of diversity. Culturally relevant teaching practices give students the opportunity to learn in ways that are affirming, validating, and connected to their interests and backgrounds (Ladson-Billings, 1994). Effective lesson plans need to be designed objectively with consideration to all learners and their various differences.
The purpose of this essay is to familiarize the reader with some of the cultural values of two prevalent minority cultures in the Western Washington area classrooms in order to create a positive learning environ resulting in higher academic achievement for these students. The two cultures discussed in this essay are Mexican Americans and Filipino Americans. Although the Sumner School District, where I work, is not highly diverse, these two minorities are represented to some degree in most of the schools. Among the important factors that influence one’s cultural identity and are discussed in this essay are: language, socioeconomics, traditions, immigration, religion, and the family organization.
As stated in my Week 3 Journal Entry, at one point I was helping in a classroom with a child who speaks Spanish. Instead of trying to force the child to speak English, I tried to use some basic Spanish when I worked with them in order to make the child feel more comfortable. I believe by making this small effort to speak the child’s native language that the child was more willing to participate in class and try to learn English. An additional example of making a relation from the text to a personal experience is when I was in elementary through high school. I did not realize until reading Spring’s book how little cultural diversity was taught in my elementary, middle, and high school. I went to school in a very Scandinavian county, and we did not have a lot of diversity. There were several students in the district who came from Hispanic, Asian, or African decent—but they were very few. I cannot recall a day when a teacher spent time to discuss a one of these student’s cultures, which is utterly ridiculous. With the amount of time spent in school and the amount of diversity in the world, it seems illogical to barely speak of ethnic and cultural diversity. Even though there were only a handful of students in the district from different cultures, it would have been beneficial to learn more about the rest of the world because when high school is done we all go out into that diverse world. I know I will take the time and make the effort to teach my future students about the beauty of diversity and
Students who are enrolled in elementary schools with a diverse population usually develop an understanding of insights and perspectives of children from different backgrounds and learn to function in a multiethnic, multicultural environment (Morrissey, 2014). Therefore, students need to learn how to interact in diverse environments. Teachers face challenges of making lessons and instructions “culturally responsive” for all students to avoid favoritism (Griner, 2012). Some students’ cultural backgrounds may have a negative impact on them in a modern classroom (Burt, 2013). It is imperative for elementary school teachers to be knowledgeable of different cultural beliefs and practices to help students adjust to traditional classrooms (Nigma, 2015). Defining the
Our schools today contains a diverse population of students from different ethnic backgrounds. As educators we need to make sure we are applying culturally responsive teaching. Katie Toppel describes “applying culturally responsive teaching practices in a classroom benefits students along with having a positive effect on students coming from a diverse background. “Gay (2 010) defines culturally responsive instruction as “using cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (p. 31). Toppel explains there are three different themes which pertains to culturally responsive teaching method. Those three themes are “culturally appropriate texts, (2) engaging students’ voices, and (3) incorporating students’ funds of knowledge (Bell & Clark, 1 998; Hefflin, 002; Howard, 2 001; Ladson-Billings, 1 992; Morrison, Robinson, & Gregory Rose, 2008 ; Powell, 1997 ; Toppel, 2013 ). According to (Toppel), As educators teaching students who come from a culturally and linguistically diverse background we as educators need to remember to care for the students along with building some form of relationship. Other
Convertino, C., Levinson, B. A., & González, N. (2013). Culture, teaching, and learning. In J. A. Banks & C. M. McGee Banks (Eds.). Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives (pp. 25-41). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
As an educator one must understand that the children you will be teaching will all come from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different homes with different values. No one student will be the same, and no one student will learn the same. The role of a modern educator is to harness this idea of diversity and channel it into a positive learning atmosphere for children of all backgrounds. “I define culturally responsive teaching as using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (Gay, 2013, p.50.). The hope for all teachers is to capture the minds of their children, as educators we must learn how our students learn, adapt to their skill set and channel our curriculum to their strength.
Ramsey, P. G. (2004). Teaching and learning in a diverse world: Multicultural education for young children (3rd ed., pp. 104-106). New York, NY: Teacher’s College Press.
Diversity in classrooms can open student’s minds to all the world has to offer. At times diversity and understanding of culture, deviant experiences and perspectives can be difficult to fulfill, but with appropriate strategies and resources, it can lead students to gain a high level of respect for those unlike them, preferably from a judgmental and prejudiced view. Diversity has a broad range of spectrums. Students from all across the continent; students from political refugees, indigenous Americans, and immigrants bring their cultural and linguistic skills to American classrooms. Students not only bring their cultural and linguistic skills, but they bring their ethnicity, talents, and skills.
The earth is one big physical realm with a growing number of populations in every single second that passes by. The enormous numbers of people that surpass the seven billion mark are different individual each with unique characteristics. This uniqueness creates a certain form of segregation, which commonly falls on the count of culture. The difference in culture, which is also known as cultural diversity, affects everyday lives of any human. The effects of such are divergent and the quest for knowledge also faces the same challenges posed by diversity (White, 361). The quest for knowledge has led to students travelling and living in foreign countries in the mean time pursuing their educational aspirations.
No school can hope prosperously to edify today's children without acknowledging and embracing the cultural pluralism of our diverse society. To this end, independent school educators must work to engender learning communities that embolden and support a diversity of membership and multicultural curricula. Such communities understand that one's individual perspective depends, in part, upon one's location in society. Prevalent understandings are multifaceted; they grow in communities that in spirit people to bring their stories to the table. A monoculture view of the world is a distortion of authenticity.
The cultural diversity in society, which is reflected in schools, is forcing schools not to solely rely on content-centered curriculum, but to also incorporate student-centered lesson plans based on critique and inquiry. This requires multicultural education to a dominant part of the school system, not just an extra course or unit. Further, it demands that learning itself no longer be seen as obtaining knowledge but rather, education be seen as creating knowledge. Multicultural education should be seen as affirming the diversity of students and communities, promoting the multicultural ideas of the United States, and building the knowledge and behaviors needed for students to be a positive and contributing member of society and the global community as a whole.
We need to be aware of the diversity in the classroom. Cultural diversity includes: bi-racial, adoptive, immigrant, gay, and step-families. It is a large majority of the students today even in my generation. Focusing on making a balanced curriculum that exposes the students to all of these different backgrounds is very important. I know that it is likely that a teacher will not be able to cater to every student, but it is important to involve each of them. There is a large percentage of students that have dropped out due to the lack of having a connection with the curriculum. It is frustrating that we are lacking progress in our schools to help these children connect when studies show that each cultural group will soon be equal in numbers. We need to form a better
“Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another’s uniqueness” (Joseph). The most important part to a school is amount of diversity that is within the classrooms. By having community that is compiled of several different races, cultures, genders, languages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and individuals with special needs all contribute to what diversity is composed of. With having a wide range of diversity in the classroom, it is prominent to make sure that each family is part of their child’s learning and that you take into consideration each and every students culture. As a teacher that may experience diversity within the classroom, it is also prominent to make sure that you have good communication skills with