Multicultural Education Feb 22-28: Multicultural Schooling vs. Education

Multiculturalism...what does this mean? I believe it is the acceptance, understanding and promotion of multiple cultures. Why is it so important to incorporate multiculturalism in schools? Well for the obvious reason, our society is so diverse with people from all different ethnic backgrounds and schools are merely preparing students for that. I see the importance of implementing multiculturalism in schools today, however the question is how to accomplish this? How might a teacher teach multiculturalism to his or her students, especially when there are so many different cultures to represent?

A teacher needs to be able to creatively insert multiculturalism into the curriculum. For example, suppose the class was to analyze a poem. Each student could read the poem and interpret it in how it relates to their own life. As Sleeter and Grant note in chapter 5 of their book, Making Choices for Multicultural Education, it is imperative that a teacher puts the lesson into contexts and make it relative to students' lives, experiences, and ethnic backgrounds. Subsequently continuing the theme of learning about other cultures and sub cultures each student can present their own interpretation of the poem and how it connects to them.

In class today, we spoke a little about creativity and the importance of a teacher being creative in their classroom style and allowing the students to develop their own creative style. As displayed in the youtube video of Ken Robinson and according to John Holt, it is important for teachers to encourage students to... strive for success, develop their own gifts and talents, and not be intimidated by potential failure. In many schools, students are not only steered away from individual expression but they are trained from such an early age that if they do display creativity and if it goes against what the teacher is teaching they will not be successful. We are teaching our students to avoid risks when doing assignments.

Now I ask, why does failure need be such a negative thing? Some of the most successful people in this world have had many failures. A famous quote from Donald Trump, is "I learned that to be successful you must never give up. Every failure is a step on the way to success". This quote shows that it is through the failures in life that we learn and grow and reach ultimate success (however success is personally defined). When a child fails at something instead of punishing him or her, a teacher should take that student aside and see why they did poorly, what was it that they did not understand and how can they do better next time. And on another note, maybe it wasn't even that they didn't understand the topic but perhaps the method in which it was assessed was unsuitable. Prof. KM Smith recalled that she had a student who she allowed to do an art project rather then the final writing assignment critiquing a lesson. The student knew the information and understood it but was unable to articulate it through his writing. I found that very interesting and very comforting to know that there are teachers out there who cater to their student's individual expressive abilities.

I have posted a video link below. I have chosen this video because it highlights a point spoken about in class today. One aspect of multiculturalism is the importance of involvement from the parents, the community and the school. I found it so interesting that principal Perry said that people need to stop blaming the government and start taking responsibility. He explains that communities, parents, schools, and religious leaders need to take responsibility for why kids from low income communities are failing. And as it was mentioned in the Hillard article, students from the "non-white cultures" such as African American or Latino American are more likely to fail academically. This is why I believe it needs to stem from the involvement of the family, community and school to help students be successful and reach their potential. Please enjoy this short video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Ozi-eQLH4&feature=related

Multicultural Education Feb 8-Feb 14: The Historical Context

What does it mean to be a teacher? According to the book Making Choices in Multicultural Education by Christine E. Sleeter and Carl A. Grant, there are two primary models to define teaching. The first model puts a strong emphasis on what the teacher does; its main focus is a teacher-centered learning approach. This approach is when the teacher is telling the students what to do and how to do it.

The second model engages students and assist them to make sense of the academic concepts they are learning; this approach is geared more toward the student. Historically, our education system has followed the teacher-centered approach. I believe that this approach is becoming less common. However, due to the pressure that many teachers are under, the student-centered approach has not taken off in the way it should have. Because of the No Child Left Behind Act, which puts pressure on teachers and making them accountable for how their students test. The focus rests with the test results thus taking away time for creativity and true learning in the classroom.

Since I aspire to be a teacher, I take this issue to heart. Although I think it is important for a teacher to be held accountable, I wonder if there might be a better way to achieve this. I agree with Prof. KM Smith’s method of how she assesses her students, which is through the progression of a personal portfolio. I think a portfolio potentially measures an individual’s progress rather than comparing a child with other students their age from around the country. All children are different and come from different background and cultures. I therefore, believe it's important to measure a child by their individual progress rather than comparing them to other students.

In addition to my concerns with the method by which students are tested today, I am also concerned as how racially, culturally and socioeconomically biased the tests are. I believe this can somewhat be shown by the statistics shared in the book Making Choices for Multicultural Eduction. The statistics illustrated that in 2006, only 10% of white children lived in poor families, 33% of black children lived in poor families and 27% of Latino children lived in poor families. These statistics seem to be related to the average earnings of these different races and their subsequent graduation rates. It was shown that poverty is negatively correlated to test scores, which then affects the chances of higher education, employment and income. In 2002, whites with a high school degree earned 28,145 dollars a year, while Blacks only earned 22,823 dollars and Latinos earned only 24,163 dollars. This shows there to be a direct correlation between education and employment. These statistics cause me to wonder what exactly is wrong with our schools today, especially in the low income and culturally diverse areas. What I think is the biggest issue, an issue that was talked about in my class today, is the level of expectations teachers have for their students. I think that many teachers who work in these lower income schools tend to think their students aren't really capable of that much. Teachers need to increase their expectations of their students and show that they believe they can do well and succeed in school and in life.

This whole concept of a student–centered learning approach and increasing the level of expectations, especially in neighborhoods that are poverty stricken, is shown in the movie, "Dangerous Minds", starring Michelle Pfeiffer. The movie is about a retired Marine officer who is hired to teach angry teenagers, all from lower class and underprivileged backgrounds. Most of them are involved with gangs and drugs, and refuse to engage in anything academically or school related. Desperate to connect to her students, LouAnne (Pfeiffer’s character) begins to use themes and the language that the students can relate to (which was something Matthew pointed out and I agree). She also took a very interesting approach, in the way she tried to motivate them. She began the year with giving them all an A and the only way to maintain that A is if they can understand the symbolism from the lessons she teaches and then are able to relate it to their own lives. LouAnne shows how she believes in them and expects that they will all do the work needed to keep their A. I have posted a link to a short scene from the movie. I had a tough time choosing what part to show because I think the whole movie is an excellent example on how a big part of a student’s success is dependent on a teacher and the expectations he or she has of them. This video shows that when students have someone who believes in them, they will make the right choices. Please enjoy this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9yGsweX6eA

In addition to this fascinating clip from "Dangerous Minds", I also think many of you will find this article (link below) very interesting. The article centers around Capital Prep, which is a school in Hartford, Connecticut started by principal Steve Perry. Perry is a tough principal with extremely high expectations of his students. The school is more than 80% Black and Latino students. I found this article extremely telling because it shows how with the right teachers and proper encouragement and motivation, anything can be accomplished. Many would say that principal Perry is defying the odds, but I disagree. I think he is just proving that no matter what someone's race, gender, religion or ethnic background - all people are capable of being successful when given the proper tools and motivation. I think this all relates back to the importance of the way teachers teach and of standardized testing. These tests are putting students into a 'box' and defining what their capabilities are. Someone's potential cannot be determined by a single test. It is through motivation and assessing the student in an individualized way, that he or she will truly become successful.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/07/22/bia.education.success/index.html

Multicultural Education Feb 1-Feb 7: Definitions and Experiences

Today I felt class was a lot more stimulating than it was last week. I really think my classmates, myself included, were able to use Geneva Gay's list of definitions to form our own personal definition of what multicultural education is and why it is important to have in our society. I believe multiculturalism is something our society has formed in trying to bring everyone to an ‘equal playing field’. But then I ask, is everyone equal? And what does ‘equal’ actually mean? Well, I personally feel that everyone is equal, meaning everyone was created equally in the eyes of the Creator, but with that being said our world is not an equal playing field; not everyone has the same opportunities. As mentioned in the book Rethinking Multicultural Education by Wayne Au, he talks about white privilege and how it is harder for some cultural groups in the United States to achieve certain things. Au explains that while the places we get to in life are credited to hard work, being part of a certain race or from a certain culture does make it easier. Some cultures have more doors open to them than others. The dominant culture today I think chooses to believe that everyone is equal and has equal opportunities, but that is not necessarily the truth and that is discomforting to me.

Another point, touched upon in my education course today, was why do we need to put into practice multicultural education in our schools? This I think brings up an even more important point; it highlights the question of what the primary purpose of schooling is. Why does our country mandate school for all youth? Now, I understand there are many different views on this question, but I personally believe the primary purpose of schooling today is to prepare kids for the work world and our global economy. Schools today have reported that they are not only ‘teaching to the tests’ but they are also prepping kids in areas that future employers will want. For example, teaching kids how to collaborate together, to build a strong work ethic and to teach the youth to use technology - all to make sure that the next generation will be a strong contributor to society. It is from this perspective that I believe multicultural education is essential in our schools. In the future, our youth will come in contact with people from all over the world and from all different backgrounds, and they need to have the knowledge and understanding of those backgrounds and cultures. It is for that reason that we need to prepare students for these future interactions.

I would like to make one last point; I find it important that we should not think of multiculturalism as a separate entity, and as an extra class that is sometimes offered to students. But it should be something that is incorporated into all subjects. When learning about American History - the curriculum should include the history of the Native Americans, the coming of Blacks to this country, as well as colonial history. We need to intertwine multiculturalism into all our classes and our daily lives so we can gain an understanding, acceptance and knowledge of other cultures and subcultures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos&feature=related

Please enjoy this video link. It shows how our world is moving at a fast pace, our world is flat and ever changing. I think this video strongly relates to multicultural education and its primary purpose in schools today. Since I feel that schools today are trying to prep kids for the future jobs-this video shows how these future jobs are all over the world, and are being filled by people of all cultures and backgrounds. I think this video helps to highlight the importance of educating ourselves on other cultures.