Multicultural Awareness for Teachers (pt. 1)

1. Multicultural Awarenessfor Teachers (pt. 1) A Wider Perspective From http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-5/perspective.htm

2. It’s About Perspective Teaching with a multicultural per-spective encourages appreciation and understanding of other cultures as well as one's own. Teaching with this perspective promotes the child's sense of the unique-ness of his own culture as a positive char-acteristic and enables the child to accept the uniqueness of the cultures of others.

3. The Development of Stereotypes Children's attitudes toward their race and ethnic group and other cultural groups begin to form early in the preschool years. Infants can recognize differences in those around them, and young children can easily absorb negative stereotypes. Child-ren are easily influenced by the culture, opinions, and attitudes of their caregivers.

4. The Development of Stereotypes Caregivers' perceptions of ethnic and racial groups can affect the child's attitudes toward those minority groups. Early childhood educators can influence the development of positive attitudes in young children by learning about and promoting the various cultures repre-sented among the children they teach.

5. The Development of Stereotypes Young children can develop stereotypic viewpoints of cultures different from their own when similarities among all indivi-duals are not emphasized. Teachers can help eliminate stereotypes by pre-senting material and activities that enable child-ren to learn the similarities of all indivi-duals.

6. The Development of Stereotypes Circle time is particularly helpful in this respect, as it provides children with a feeling of group identity and introduces them to the variety of cultures repre-sented in the class (Dixon and Fraser, 1986).

7. The Development of Stereotypes A multicultural program should not focus on other cultures to the exclusion of the cultures represented in the class. Children from different cultures often have to make major behavioral adjust-ments to meet the expectations of the school. Teachers should take whatever measures are necessary to see that child-ren do not interpret these adjustments as evidence of cultural stereotypes.

8. Dispelling the Myths Early childhood teachers and parents of young children should become aware of the myths associated with multicultural education so that they can enhance developmentally appropriate practices.

9. Dispelling the Myths MYTH #1: Other cultures should be presented as distinct ways of living that reflect differences from the dominant culture. The emphasis on so-called exotic differences will often accentuate a "we" vs. "they" polarity. Children who are not able to identify with another culture because of exotic differences will often feel superior or inferior to the culture. A multicultural program can focus on the presentation of other cultures, but at the same time allow children to be aware of the nature and uniqueness of their own culture. Children can learn about their class as an example of a common culture. Teachers can empha-size how other classes can be similar and yet different.

10. Dispelling the Myths MYTH #2: Bilingualism is a liability rather than an asset. Recent studies suggest that, all other things being equal, higher degrees of bilingualism are associated with higher levels of cognitive attainment. It is evident that the duality of languages per se does not hamper the overall language proficiency or cognitive development of bilingual children (Hakuta & Garcia, 1989).

11. Dispelling the Myths MYTH #3: Multicultural education is only relevant in classes with students who are members of the cultural or racial groups to be studied. Our world is multicultural, and children need to experience the diversity outside their immediate environment. If children are to know about minority groups, they must be taught about them in the same way they are taught about majority groups. Otherwise, children can grow to adulthood unaware of, and insensitive to, the experiences of other cultural groups.

12. Dispelling the Myths MYTH #4: There should be a separate, unified set of goals and curriculum for multicultural education. Children who are taught to appreciate and understand their own culture learn to understand others' cultures in the process. The appropriate curriculum for understanding America's diverse cultures is a multicultural curriculum taught within a developmental framework. It promotes recognition, understanding, and acceptance of cultural diversity and individual uniqueness. This curriculum is based in concepts such as cultural pluralism, intergroup understanding, and human relations. It is not restrictive or limited to a specific course, set of skills, or time of year. This myth conflicts with the purpose of providing relevant and meaningful education to children from all cultural backgrounds. Since we have a multitude of cultures in our world, it is impractical, perhaps impossible, to teach about all of them. Goals and curriculum will, therefore, differ considerably from class to class. It is important for early childhood teachers and parents to acknowledge that everyone has a culture, not just those who appear to be different. 

13. Dispelling the Myths • MYTH #5: Mere activities, which are not placed in an explicit-cultural context, constitute viable multicultural education curriculum. All activities should be accompanied by commentaries that explain their cultural context. Activities should always be chosen on the basis of developmental appropriateness.

14. Promoting a Multicultural Perspective Multicultural education embodies a perspective rather than a curriculum. Teachers must consider children's cultural identities and be aware of their own biases. It is tempting to deny our prejudices and claim that we find all children equally ap-pealing. Teachers and parents need to acknow-ledge the fact that we, like our children, are in-evitably influenced by the stereotypes and one-sided view of society that exists in our schools and the media. Not only must we recognize those biases, but we must change the attitude they represent by accepting all children as we receive them.

15. Promoting a Multicultural Perspective One problem with the current thrust in multi-cultural education is that it pays little or no attention to teaching people how to recognize when culturally and racially different groups are being victimized by the racist or biased attitudes of the larger society. In order to change people's oppressive ways, we must learn about oppression. We must examine our responses to diversity, devoting as much effort to changing them as we devote to learning about culture. Nurturing diver-sity means making multicultural education a pro-cess of action, through which we as adults achieve clarity about our condition in this society and ways to change it (Phillips, 1988).

16. Promoting a Multicultural Perspective Teachers and parents can take several approaches to integrate and develop a multi-cultural perspective. The promotion of a posi-tive self-concept is essential, as is a focus on activities that highlight the similarities and differences of all children's lives. Children's play, particularly role play, is an excellent strategy for developing new perspectives on culture and lifestyles.

17. Promoting a Multicultural Perspective The treatment of children as unique individuals, each with something special to contribute, is an important strategy. If a teacher is to under-stand the whole child, he or she must become aware of the child's cultural background. Children can benefit from understanding the teacher's heritage and background. The feeling of connection that results is vital to the child's acceptance of the similarities and differences of others.

18. Promoting a Multicultural Perspective Through multicultural literature, children discover that all cultural groups have made significant contributions to civilization. A well-balanced multicultural literature program includes literature that depicts people with a variety of aspirations, from different socio-metric levels, with different occupations, and with a range of human characteristics (Norton, 1985).

19. Conclusion As our country continues to exhibit great diversity, the need for understanding and accepting the differences among all people has never been more important. Thus, the challenge for educators is to present an effective multi-cultural education foundation by means of which all children can learn to accept others.

20. Conclusion The goal of multicultural education is not only to teach children about other groups or countries. It is also to help children become accustomed to the idea that there are many lifestyles, languages, cultures, and points of view. The purpose of multicultural curriculum is to attach positive feelings to multicultural experiences so that each child will feel in-cluded and valued, and will feel friendly and respectful toward people from other ethnic and cultural groups (Dimidjian, 1989).

21. Conclusion One key to helping young children develop a sense of being citizens of the world lies with the early childhood teacher. The disposition ex-hibited by this individual in promoting every-one's culture will be the successful factor in the child's development of a multicultural perspec-tive.

22. Multicultural Awarenessfor Teachers (pt. 2) Key Characteristics of a Multicultural Curriculum by Paul C. Gorski for EdChange From http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/ curriculum/characteristics.html

23. 1. Delivery Delivery must acknowledge and address a diversity of learning styles while challenging dynamics of power and privilege in the classroom.

24. 1. Delivery • Vary Instructional Techniques • Lecture • Cooperative Learning • Dialogue • Individual Work • Student Teaching

25. 1. Delivery • Understand the dynamics of power in the room so you do not perpetuate privilege and oppression. • Who do you call on? • Who do you encourage to work through a problem and for whom do you provide the answer?

26. 1. Delivery • Challenge the notion of Teaching as Mastery. • Ask students what they already know about a topic. • Ask students what they want to learn about a topic. • Ask students to participate in the teaching of a topic.

27. 2. Content Content must be complete and accurate, acknowledging the contributions and perspectives of ALL groups.

28. 2. Content • Ensure that the content is as complete and accurate as possible. • "Christopher Columbus discovered America" is neither complete nor accurate.

29. 2. Content • Avoid tokenism—weave content about under-represented groups (People of Color, Women, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People, People with Disabilities, etc.) seamlessly with that about traditionally over-represented groups. • Do you present under-represented groups as "the other"? • Do you address these groups only through special units and lesson plans ("African American Scientists"; "Poetry by Women") or within the context of the larger curriculum? • Do you "celebrate" difference or study, explore, and acknowledge it as part of the overall curriculum?

30. 2. Content • Study the history of discrimination in curriculum and ensure that you are not replicating it. • Are supporting stereotypes (learning about Native Americans by making headdresses and tomahawks) or challenging them (learning about Native Americans through resources created by Native Americans)? • Are you supporting or challenging the assumption that our society is inherently Eurocentric, male-centric, Christian-centric, heterosexual-centric, and upper-middle-class centric?

31. 3. Teaching and Learning Materials Teaching and learning materials must be diverse and critically examined for bias.

32. 3. Teaching and Learning Materials • Vary instructional materials. • Texts • Newspapers • Videos/Movies • Games • Workbooks

33. 3. Teaching and Learning Materials • Examine all materials for bias and oppressive content. • Does your history book show stereotypical or inaccurate images of people from certain groups or eras (ex. railroad workers)? • Do your science materials use male-centric language? • Do your reading or literature materials have racist language or stereotypical images (ex. the Huck Finn debate)? • Does the language you use and the language your materials use assume heterosexuality, a 2-biological-parent household, American citizenship..?

34. 3. Teaching and Learning Materials • Diversify images and content in bulletin boards, posters, and other constantly-visible materials. • Do you ALWAYS diversify, or only during special months or celebrations?

35. 4. Perspective Content must be presented from a variety of perspectives and angles in order to be accurate and complete.

36. 4. Perspective • Present content from a variety of perspectives, not only that of majority groups. • How do we define "classic literature" or "great books" or "the classics" and from whose perspective? • From whose perspective do we tell history? When is "westward expansion" the same as "genocide"? When are champions of "liberty" the same as slave owners?

37. 4. Perspective • Present content through a variety of lenses, not just those of a few heroic characters. • Slave narratives to teach about slavery (not Frederick Douglas). • British narratives to teach about colonial Virginia. • Native American texts to teach about westward expansion.

38. 5. Critical Inclusivity Students must be engaged in the teaching and learning process—transcend the banking method and facilitate experiences in which students learn from each other's experiences and perspectives.

39. 5. Critical Inclusivity • Bring the perspectives and experiences of the students themselves to the fore in the learning experience. • Make content and delivery relevant for the students—facilitate experiences in which they connect it with their everyday lives. • Recognize your students as your most important multicultural resources.

40. 5. Critical Inclusivity • Encourage students to ask critical questions about all information they receive from you and curricular materials, and model this type of critical thinking for them. • Who wrote or edited that textbook? • Who created that Web site? • Whose voice am I hearing and whose voice am I not hearing?

41. 6. Social and Civic Responsibility If we hope to prepare students to be active participants in an equitable demo-cracy, we must educate them about social justice issues and model a sense of civic responsibility within the curriculum.

42. 6. Social and Civic Responsibility • Starting with the youngest students, incorporate discussions about dif-ference and inequality into your lessons — this can be done across all subject areas. • How has misapplied science been used to justify racism and anti-Semitism?

43. 6. Social and Civic Responsibility • Look for ways in which recognized names in various disciplines used their work and stature to fight social in-justices. (It can be particularly power-ful to find people from majority groups who fought certain types of oppres-sion.) • Mark Twain • Albert Einstein • Eleanor Roosevelt

44. 6. Social and Civic Responsibility • When an opportunity arises to address racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, or other forms of oppression, facilitate it. • Have honest discussion with your students about the history of privilege and oppression in your subject area, school, education, and society at large.

45. 6. Social and Civic Responsibility • Connect teaching and learning to local community and larger global issues. • Encourage students to think critically about the United States, capitalism, the two-party system, and other traditionally untouchable subjects of critique.

46. 7. Assessment • Curriculum must be constantly assessed for completeness, accuracy and bias. • Work with a cohort of teachers to examine and critique each other's curricular units, lesson plans, and entire frameworks. • Request and openly accept feedback from your students. • Return to this model from time to time to make sure you haven't reverted to former practices.

47. Credits • All information taken from aforementioned websites • More information is readily available on the internet. • Search for “Multicultural” or “Intercultural” Educational sites. • PowerPoint created by Sandra Divnick