Multi-Cultural Education Incorporation into the Classroom - Research Paper Example

Multicultural Education The purpose of this research paper is to discuss the increasing need for multi-cultural education incorporation into the classroom. And to investigate the teaching techniques of elementary school teachers and adaptations that can and should be made in order to increase the knowledge level of diversity among the students in the classroom. There are many definitions of multi-cultural education. The one most used and most relevant, I believe to this topic and today's educational society is: "An education free of inherited biases, with freedom to explore other perspectives and cultures, inspired by the goal of making children sensitive to the purity of the ways of life, different modes of analyzing experiences and ideas, and ways of looking at history found throughout the world." (Aldridge, J., Calhoun, C., & Aman, R., 2000). This definition is the most descriptive one found because it mentions the goal of sensitizing children to understanding diversity and the other children around them. Young children need to be exposed to the teachings about cultures other than their own. Many kids only know about their own cultures and it is imperative to their futures that they are educated about the other students around them. Children need to grow up in a world without having any prejudice towards others. Teaching which disregards diversity places students at a disadvantage by reducing their capacity to learn. An inclusive curriculum which acknowledges, respects and responds appropriately to student diversity, can contribute to: enhanced learning outcomes for a greater number of students, validation of student experiences and world views, developing international skills, cross-cultural perspectives, respect for different values and learning styles, and other skills useful in a diverse global environment (Derman-Sparks, 1989). From the day a child is born, they are raised into the cultures of their parents. A child is taught their native language and about their cultural beliefs. Different cultures eat different foods, have their own way of dressing and speaking, and possess many other distinct cultural aspects. Children grow up questioning and understanding many aspects of their background and many times aren't subjected to other cultures. It is up to a child's parents to be the first teachers of multi-cultural education. Many times parents are bias to their own culture and way of life (Hoff, 2001). There is a lot of discrimination in the world and many parents teach their children to discriminate against others. Part of the job as a parent is to teach their children right from wrong and this includes learning about and accepting people for who they are, regardless of their color or race. "Studies by Glock and others have shown that the more children understand about stereotyping, the less negativism they will have toward other groups" (Dietrich, D., & Ralph, K. S., 1995). This is common sense to most educators and parents. The increase in diversity among the student population is one of the greatest challenges facing teachers today. Teachers have to not only teach their students about diversity and other cultures, but they also have to adapt their own views. Teachers can't be bias to their own or other cultures. Teachers must treat every student equally. And most importantly, teachers may have to adapt their teaching styles and methods to adhere to the diversity among their students in the classroom. To adequately attend to cultural diversity in the classroom, teachers must look first at their own cultural background and understand how their biases affect their interactions with students. Then, teachers can examine the backgrounds and needs of the student population and understand their students' cultural biases as well. Many educators are bias to their own or other cultures and many are prejudice toward some cultures. This is a serious issue that teachers need to recognize and change before they can possibly begin teaching their students about diversity. If a teacher is biased, it will show in his or her teaching. Students may feel neglected or treated unequally. It may be difficult to treat every student equally, but it is important in order to maintain balance in the classroom. Teachers must recognize each student in the classroom as being just as capable as every other student is. Teachers cannot always call on the same students; they must give each and every student the benefit of the doubt. They must be aware of the variation and diversity in their classroom in order to adapt their teaching methods. Another important piece of knowledge that teachers should be aware of is recognizing the parents (Murphy, 2006). Effective teachers engage parent involvement and demonstrate interest in and respect for the family's culture when interacting with parents. Teachers should find out as much as they can from parents about each child's experiences and family situations. This can help them to understand and meet the child's needs. Teaching Methods It is extremely important that teachers evaluate their teaching methods in order to incorporate multi-cultural learning into the classroom environment (National PTA, 2000). Teachers need to be aware of the different ways that students learn and express themselves. Some students are better auditory learners, and some learn better with the use of visual aids. It is up to the teacher to notice these differences and adapt their teaching methods. There are so many ways to incorporate diversity into everyday lesson plans. Using children's names from different cultures, in word problems for example, is a simple way (Pattnaik, 2001). Like any new idea, diversity can and should be taught in relation to real life and connected with other subjects areas so that it is more meaningful and easier to understand. Allowing students to read certain types of books for certain times of the year will help them be acquainted directly on their own with how different people are like. Such as Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month or reading about certain legends that come from different ethnic parts of the world and what they have done for us and our history. There are many other ways to indulge students into learning about different cultures. The teacher may bring in a guest speaker or do certain art works with the students or have them make up their own writing activities from a certain culture that they might want to learn about or bring in certain foods (Pewewardy, 2986). The most effective way for students to learn about different cultures and experience it is by reading and getting involved. Teachers should read the books to the class and discuss the themes, topics and any unusual terms. This will help students to see the differences and the similarities between these literatures and those multicultural concepts. By having these types of lesson plans, the teachers are letting the students have a type of informative exposure that will let them know something about the world and the people that are around them (Ramsey, 1997). Literature is an extremely easy way to teach students about diversity. Having the students read about different cultures in reading groups or even reading aloud to them helps greatly. There are also very many holidays throughout the school year that recognize different cultures. Connecting lessons with examples from the real world is a great way to incorporate diverse learning into class curriculum. Another important aspect regarding multi-cultural incorporation is making sure that students get to know one another. Group work is very effective. Heterogeneous grouping and grouping students with different ethnicities together is an excellent way for students to feel more comfortable around each other. Students will learn more about a person and understand that they may be different but are still just like them (Stein, M. R. S., & Thorkildsen, R.J, 1999). "Research Findings that verify the conceptual claims about the effects of multicultural education are rather sparse. This relative lack of research is due largely to the nature and relative youth of the field. During the 25 or so years of multicultural education's existence, most research and scholarship have been devoted to defining the conceptual parameters of the field, documenting cultural characteristics, and developing sample curricula and instructional strategies for classroom practice."( Springate, K. W., & Stegelin, D. A, 1999). Many studies were conducted in the 1970's and the results are not conclusive, but indicate the following: the racial, ethnic, and gender attitudes of students can be positively affected by curriculum and instructional interventions. Multi-cultural materials, vicarious experiences, role playing, and simulations can help students develop more positive racial attitudes and perceptions (Swap, 1993) Multicultural education in U.S schools are a vital commodity for children in today's society because the United States of America is a nation of differences; with people of different race, culture, gender and religion. Today's nation has finally realized how the nation is a melting pot with an assortment of people. The realization is that the diverse people of the U.S were not indivisible socially. The race riots, gender issues and problems with prejudice helped to awaken the nation of the non-indivisibility. So it is understood that the focus for the children of the future is the countries responsibility now. This direct focus on the children is to educate them now about multiculturalism. Children today need to be noticed more and understood more because children today are very observant and smart, which is not noticed a lot of times. What children understand today is that they understand the differences and similarities, with that they accept multi-cultural diversity now. Teachers in classrooms today are teaching children at lower grade levels how to learn respect, and tolerance without prejudice and there's no one way to teach tolerance but we do have to start small. One strong way the new teachers of America are educating these students is with an anti-biased curriculum because connected with today's students are many diversities by family, culture, religion, etc. The only way the teachers are able to succeed with this anti-biased curriculum is to connect with the children on their level so they, the children, can comprehend. This curriculum over all teaches the children how to behave in society because to have friends, begins with tolerance. The present teacher does not battle with aggressiveness and power they focus on the positives. The teacher's tasks are to be nice and to be a model of niceness. Classrooms today should be a safe and fair place of the world with multicultural background (Swick, K. J., Boutte, G., & van Scoy, I., 1995). Humans did not choose to be different from one another, they did not choose to have different cultures and they did not choose to speak different languages. Long ago, when first humans were evolved on this planet, forces of nature and desire for better food, forced humans to spread all over the planet Earth, losing touch with their previous roots. With time people formed groups that would help them survive and provide better conditions of living for themselves. Each group developed their own words, which later formed a language, to help them communicate with each other. Every group developed their own traditions and beliefs, to help them live together. Groups encountered with one another but it was not enough contact between them to form the same language or the same culture. Through time some groups split, others became extinct and some had combined evolving their language and culture to the higher level. This way was formed our multicultural planet Earth. Until recently all educational structures taught their student to look at the world through eyes of Western Civilization. Even today there a huge disputes about what cultures should be taught in educational institutions. Such disputes have no place, especially, in country that is a melting pot of different nationalities (Teichman, 2001). Every culture in this country should be represented equally in all Universities; multicultural education should be available for anyone who desires to learn it. Teachment (2001) writes " It is necessary to place to place Western civilization and the culture to which it had given rise at the center of our studies, and we fail to do so at the peril of our students, country and the hopes for a democratic, liberal society." His idea is to place Western civilization in center of studies in all-educational institutions, because it stands for democratic and liberal society of the United States. Teachment believes that we can represent all other cultures through the study of Western culture, "It's flaws are real enough, but they are common to almost all the civilizations on any continent at any time in history " (Teachment, 2001). What he is saying is that all civilization cultures and history is similar enough to Western that we can omit studying them and concentrate all cultural studies only on Western civilization. His convictions are wrong, because each culture has assets that are not found in any other culture. As all culture have a common experience that they had encountered in one time in history or another, they also have different experience that is only seen in one culture other then Western. Leaving such experiences out would be the same as neglecting all the studies done in math, physiques, chemistry and biology, given to as by brilliant minds. Swap (1993) states" After all culture is always a congregation among different voices." His idea is that as long as we can communicate with each other and understand each other culture we all can live together sharing our knowledge for a common good. He also said, "Our society won't survive without the values of tolerance, and cultural tolerance comes to nothing without cultural understanding" (Swap, 1993). He is saying that for people from different background to live in one society takes tolerance of other cultures. Living peacefully and working together in country as United States can only be possible if learning other cultures is available to everyone. References Aldridge, J., Calhoun, C., & Aman, R. (2000). 15 misconceptions about multicultural education. Focus on Elementary, 12(3), 1-4. Derman-Sparks, L., & the A.B.C. Task Force. (1989). Anti-bias curriculum: Tools for empowering young children. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. Derman-Sparks, L., Gutierrez, M., & Phillips, C. B. (1989). Teaching young children to resist bias: What parents can do. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 425 836) Dietrich, D., & Ralph, K. S. (1995). Crossing borders: Multicultural literature in the classroom. The Hoff, D., Jr. (2001, September 21). Title 1 study: As teachers hone their craft, children gain. Education Week, p. 44. Murphy, S. (Ed.). (1996). The teacher's handbook of multicultural games children play. Ann Arbor, MI: Robbie Dean Press. National PTA. (2000). Building successful partnerships: A guide for developing parent and family involvement programs. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service. Pattnaik, J. (2001, December). Multicultural literacy begins at home: Research with parents. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Reading Conference, San Antonio, TX. Pewewardy, C. (1996/97). The Pocahontas paradox: A cautionary tale for educators. Journal of Navajo Education, 14(1-2), 20-25. Ramsey, P. (1987). Young children's thinking about ethnic differences. In J. Phiney & M. Rosenthal (Eds.), Children's ethnic socialization: Pluralism and development (pp. 10-28). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Stein, M. R. S., & Thorkildsen, R.J. (1999). Parent involvement in education: Insights and applications from the research. New Providence, NJ: BPR Publishers. Springate, K. W., & Stegelin, D. A. (1999). Building school and community: Partnerships through parent involvement. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Simon & Schuster. Swap, S. M. (1993). Developing home-school partnerships: From concepts to practice. New York: Teachers College Press. Swick, K. J., Boutte, G., & van Scoy, I. (I995). Family involvement in early multicultural learning: ERIC digest (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 380 240) Teichman, Y. (2001). The development of Israeli children's images of Jews and Arabs and their expression in human figure drawings. Developmental Psychology 37(6), 749-761. Read More