Plan for Implementing and Advancing Multicultural Education - Essay Example

My Plan for Implementing, Enhancing, and/or Advancing Multi-Cultural Education I believe that a multicultural approach towards student interaction provides for the accommodation of diverse groups of students through equitable treatment of the students. This will be my main strategies towards enhancing student achievement in the classroom through diversity and understanding exceptionality of students. Culture plays an important role in the development of students and their families. It is estimated that students of color in the United States comprise an estimated 40% of the total students in public schools. Diversity among students in public schools ranges from racial diversity, religious diversity and cultural diversity all of which must be considered in classroom instruction. Multicultural education is made up by a variety of supports namely culture, diversity, equality, democracy, and social justice. I think that all of these are critical elements towards successful and interactive classroom instruction in multicultural settings. I seek to understand the cultural backgrounds of my students and ensuring equality prevails towards participation and engagement in the classroom. Student Placement I will endeavor to strategically place each student at the center of the teaching and learning process through numerous strategies. These strategies will involve incorporating every student’s voice and their knowledge in different forms of dialogue within the classroom. This is important to make sure they all participate to form an interesting and effective education process. This cultural approach will also help the students experience and informative intellectual, moral and emotional experience when they are learning. I will effectively perform this by ensuring that all students are engaged in group-based activities, tasks and assignments. These group based activities will be designed in a way that each group will have a fair mix of all the different cultures that are represented in the classroom at the time of the activity, and throughout the school year. This will also be supported by ensuring interaction among students of different cultural variation remain positive. Human Rights I will ensure that the classroom climate establishes and promotes the respect for each individual’s right to freedom and the freedom to express their culture as long as it does not infringe on the right of the other. These fundamental norms may not be available within the school and educational curriculum. However, by developing norms and beliefs in the classroom and the school that promote the respect for human rights, I will be able to promote a culturally diverse education process and procedure inside and outside the classroom. I will use strict guidelines for respect among students and prohibition of racial segregation and bullying would be a good start to achievement of equality among students. In addition, this is achieved by promoting positive messages to students. Instructors in their teaching activities usually promote a variety of unintentional biases through their conduct (Chin, Berheide and Rome). By using intentional examples in the class that depict instances of cultural bias, I will be able to highlight the underlying problems of cultural and racial bias and the advantages of multicultural existence. I will be conscious of individual conduct to ensure that positive messages are transmitted to the students and amongst the students. This includes ensuring that I carry myself in the highest possible professional conduct. The relationship that is established with other teachers and with the students has a great influence on the overall quality of education in an institution. Enhancing individual cross-cultural communication skills is essential towards enhancing learning among students in a multicultural setting. This demands the need to assume an accommodative and sensitive approach towards culturally sensitive issues. I will provide positive attitudes to the students within the classroom by example of leadership and values of honesty and equality in the classroom. Through provision of equal opportunities to all students in terms of participation in classroom activities is an essential indicator for the students of the presence of equality. They readily adopt such values from the teachers and become part of a society that values equality and respect of human rights in term of gender rights, ethnical and racial equality and overall individual participation of students irrespective of the socioeconomic backgrounds. Confidence I will ensure that I develop confidence within every student in the classroom. I will achieve this by having periodical one-on-one meetings with every student at a given time of the week. These meetings will be geared towards communicating with the student so that they can identify their potential and help them set their preferred goals, standards and expectations relative to their potential. This will also be enhanced by communicating my own expectation in the student as a teacher. This will be important in helping drive towards academic achievement while realizing their maximum potential. I will create individual and group oriented tasks that are geared towards testing and identifying each students underlying potential in ever given area. This will not be limited to academic work, but will include co-curricular activities that help build character, morals and values within students. By integrating these activities amongst the different cultures represented in the class, confidence within each student would help them effectively and considerately express their cultural background and heritage, while accepting and appreciating other cultures apart from their own. Culturally Responsive Teaching I will employ teaching techniques that are responsive to the different cultures that are represented in class. This can be achieved by engaging every student in class through allowing them to share their cultural heritage, life histories and experiences. This will enhance how each student perceives cultures apart from theirs and use these experiences to build on their own histories and experiences. This allows for students to appreciate other cultures, and even possibly lead to the adoption of different aspects from different cultures. This creates an intertwined cultural education process that identifies and builds on the different cultural backgrounds. I will seek to highlight the histories of the different cultures that are represented in class in the history lessons. These lessons are crucial in unclosing the different fundamental cultural differences that exists between the students by understanding the history and chronicles of these cultural differences. This is essential in helping the students recognize each culture as a unique and distinct identity that forms part of the global culture, otherwise known as humanity. Equity I will employ teaching methods that enhance the themes of equity within the different cultures that exists within the classroom. It is important that students identify the different underlying inequities within society, generated by the difference in cultures. I will ensure that all students perceive each other as equals, each important and unique in their own way. By removing these underlying differences, it is much easier to breakdown cultural walls that exists within the class and society. I will also ensure that all teaching techniques address the issue of power relationships between the different cultures represented in class. Gender differences should not impede the learning and instruction processes in a classroom. This would amount to clear illustration of biases that is not healthy towards student educational achievement. There is also a need to ensure that biases are not exhibited by an instructor towards sexual orientation and socioeconomic statuses of students. Students are able to decipher messages in the behavior of a teacher. Power relationships in the classroom can be addressed by an instructor through the understanding of the realities of the lives of students. Understanding how students approach issues is essential towards gaining new perspectives on the realities faced by students in their social interactions. Gender equality trough grouping of the students is essential towards ensuring that both genders are provided with equal avenues towards participation in the classroom. Social Justice and Equality I will ensure that all teaching techniques model social justice and equality in the classroom. This will be important in ensuring that all students are able to think critically through developing critical thinking skills that are essential in fostering learning communities in which students work together to promote learning. Equality and individualism are essential concepts towards student instruction in multicultural education settings. Students should be instructed in an environment that provides for social justice and equality in the institution and other social settings. They are usually critical of their environments and should be taught on critical thinking towards individual experiences. This should include the ability to question any information and its sources. Such provides them with the ability to explore other perspectives in life towards finding solutions to social and classroom-based problems. I will ensure that social justice is engrained in each lesson, where possible. Social justice in learning amounts to addressing issues relative to democratic process in schools and society, issues relative to equity and other critical issues within the communities. Sing such a process, an instructor is able to mould students into citizens who have a high regard for social justice and are critical of their surroundings towards an equitable society. In addition, as an instructor, one is tasked with advocacy towards creation of an all-inclusive environment for all students especially those who are marginalized by the society. Encouraging racial, religious and social tolerance among students is illustrated by the actions of an instructor in his or her relationships with other teachers and students. This creates integration among the students given that they share similar ideologies. Works Cited Chin, Jeffrey C, Catherine W Berheide and Dennis Rome. Included in sociology : learning climates that cultivate racial and ethnic diversity. Washington: American Association for Higher Education : American Sociological Association, 2002. Print. Read More