Transcript Multicultural Education: What, Why and How?

THE MULTICULTURAL CURRICULUM:
Children can and will learn important concepts
while incorporating cultural diversity into daily
lessons and the overall curriculum
A multiculturally-oriented curriculum…
•
Enriches courses by including multiple perspectives on American
culture and history, reflecting various viewpoints of different groups of
Americans;
•
Uses comparisons in describing and analyzing traditions, events, and
institutions to help students know and appreciate similarities and
differences among various ethnic groups;
•
Communicates to students of various ethnic identities that they are
valued members of the school community;
•
Provides opportunities for students to have positive interpersonal
relations with individuals of various ethnic groups;
• Reaches beyond the textbook to use community resources
on ethnic diversity;
• Strives to expand students' knowledge of ethnic groups in
American history and contemporary society through reading
programs that expose students to books of fiction, biography,
and history, and to magazine and newspaper articles about
ethnic diversity;
• Stresses values of ethnic diversity and national unity.
Culturally responsive teaching…
•
Acknowledges the legitimacy of the cultural heritages of different
ethnic groups…that affect students’ dispositions, attitudes, and
approaches to learning and as worthy content to be taught in the
formal curriculum;
•
Builds bridges of meaningfulness between home and school
experiences…and lived sociocultural realities;
•
Uses a wide variety of instructional strategies that are connected to
different learning styles;
•
Encourages students to know and praise their own and each others’
cultural heritages;
•
Incorporates multicultural information, resources, and materials in all
the subjects and skills routinely taught in schools
Organization of the curriculum
• Multicultural curricula is organized around concepts/themes
dealing with history, culture, contemporary experiences of
ethnic groups in US life, contributions of ethnic groups to the
mainstream culture, expressions such as immigration,
discrimination, protest and resistance, cultural assimilation
and acculturation, etc.
• Attention must be given to the developmental level of the
students, e.g. in the primary grade curriculum, the focus must
be given to concrete concepts such as examples, similarities
and differences, historical facts and evens and not to
abstract concepts such as “results of constitutionalized
racism on the lives of minorities.”
Concepts that may be included in the
multicultural curriculum
• Interdisciplinary concepts include:
• Culture, ethnicity and related concepts: culture, ethnic
group, ethnic diversity, minorities
• Socialization and related concepts: prejudice,
discrimination, racism, values
• Intercultural communication and related concepts:
intercultural communication, perception
• Power and relations and related concepts: power,
protest and resistance
• Migration and immigration
Guidelines for Teaching Multicultural
Content
• Get in touch with your own cultural and ethnic heritage
• Have knowledge about ethnic groups
• Analyze your own racial behavior and attitudes towards
other cultural groups
• Be sensitive to racial and ethnic attitudes of students -“children are not color blind”
• Classroom should convey positive images of various
ethnic groups
• Be sensitive to the possible controversial nature of some ethnic
studies materials
• Use trade books, films, videotapes, and recordings to supplement the
textbook treatment of ethnic groups
• Avoid mainstream-centric-only views and present the perspectives of
ethnic groups from within the group
• Set “high expectations for all students alike”
• Keep in mind that most parents of minority groups are very interested
in education and their children’s academic success.
• Make sure classroom formal and informal groups are racially
integrated
National Council for the Social Studies
(NCSS): Curriculum Guidelines for
Multicultural Education
 Ethnic and cultural diversity should permeate the total school
environment
 School policies and procedures should foster positive multicultural
interactions and understandings among students, teachers, and
the support staff
 A school’s staff should reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity
within the United States
 Schools should have systematic, comprehensive mandatory, and
continuing staff development programs
 The multicultural curriculum should provide students with
continuous opportunities to develop a better sense of self
 The multicultural curriculum should provide students with
continuous opportunities to develop a better sense of self
 The curriculum should help students understand the totality of the
experiences of ethnic and cultural groups in the United States
 The multicultural curriculum should help students understand that
a conflict between ideals and realities always exists in human
societies
 The multicultural curriculum should explore and clarify ethnic and
cultural alternatives and options in the United States
 The multicultural curriculum should promote values, attitudes, and
behaviors that support ethnic pluralism and cultural diversity as
well as build and support the nation-state and the nation’s
shared national culture.
 E pluribus unum should be the goal of the schools and the nation
 The multicultural curriculum should help students develop their
decision-making abilities, social participation skills, and sense of
political efficacy as necessary bases for effective citizenship in a
pluralistic democratic nation
 The multicultural curriculum should help students develop the skills
necessary for effective interpersonal, interethnic, and intercultural
group interactions
 The multicultural curriculum should be comprehensive in scope
and sequence, should present holistic views of ethnic and
cultural groups, and should be an integral part of the total school
curriculum
 The multicultural curriculum should include the continuous study
of the cultures, historical experiences, social realities, and
existential conditions of ethnic and cultural groups, including a
variety of racial compositions
 Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches should be used
in designing and implementing the multicultural curriculum
Materials for Developing Multicultural
Content
• NPR.org : Multicultural Books Offer Diverse Reading
Experience
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyI
d=12093236