Creating a Multicultural Classroom - Essay Example

Plan for a Culturally Diverse room Year Introduction Having a multicultural room to take up isdoubtlessly a challenging task for a beginner. Its rich and diverse ambience would encourage the teachers to explore their professional excellence within a short span. It is impossible to have learnt everything about different cultural groups. It may be possible if the group we attend is only one. It is surely a question of integrity when we take more than two groups. There arises the stage for rich cultural exchange. On such occasions it is important to consider the class as a mixture of different cultural groups and motivate their residual ability to move as one. This is a plan that purports the significance of the role of a teacher in molding young minds and how he/she can successfully accomplish the task in a culturally diverse classroom. Classroom ambiance First of all, the teacher should be able to train the children the perfect manner of attending the classes. During the class hours he must be taught to be in his assigned seat and cautious about each bell. As Deegan (1996, p.15) states, the most significant elements which help students to negotiate with the contradictory perspectives and ethnic disparity are children’s friendships. Students must be taught to regulate their argumentative behavior in the class as it may disturb the entire system; so no argument with the teacher in the class room is permissible. The individual right of being recognized for a query is to be marked by raising his hand. They must be trained not to misbehave with co-students of any ethnic group. Let them learn the courtesy towards teachers and classmates. They should also be educated to respect the interest of other segments; this will enable them to be selfless individuals in the future. Above everything, it is important to understand that the teachers are looking to improve the grade of the students and promote the individual respect for each member regardless of their cultural or racial variance. Thus creating a clear set of student behavior expectations will help every teacher come out with great appreciation from students if the class room process ensures the overall development and functionality of the classroom. Psychological tactics When a new teacher enters a classroom for the first time, it is his duty to set the stage for positive behavior management for the entire year. This classroom strategy management is the yard stick to measure his ability to effectively manage the children who belong to different cultures. A positive ambiance is to be set in and around the class room, with detailed poster to show what positive things are expected from students. Many teachers like to introduce class rules by installing some of the students as leaders of the class. In such cases the teacher already would have had a clear set of rules made for the whole class and let the leader student modify it according to the living conditions and classroom conditions of the entire pupils. Even as this task of educating class room behavior is still tough, teachers find it easy by opting a credit system or a debit system. In credit system, each student is entitled to have a reward for the expected behavior; while in debit system, students are subject lose their privileges for inappropriate behavior. Multicultural concern This is of course difficult for a teacher to remember how different cultures think and act. It is also impossible to predetermine what they find acceptable or not. This could be the reason the teachers’ community always handled a book for references and studies done on several of their experiences. There are a number of difficulties in handling a multicultural classroom. This plan envisages a group of students from five different ethnicities. My utmost concern will be aiming at taming their attitudes and molding them well fit to the common classroom conditions. For the clear identification of each denomination of biological specificity, they are African Americans, Asia-Pacific Islander, Latino, Native American and White as my ethnic samples to be selected among students in the same observatory classroom. Cultural Issues and solutions The major factor that causes ethnic conflict among students of my geographical region is their religious outlook. No student is probably able to tolerate the feelings of students belonging to other religions. One might find it difficult to run the class in such conditions. However, take the example of Christmas being announced in a classroom where there are Muslims, Parsees, Sikhs and Hindus study. According to me the bulletin board approach easily settles the sparks of religious rivalry among students groups, for sure. I would adopt the perfect way of training religious tolerance by creating a bulletin board in the classroom. “bulletin boards in bridging cultures classrooms often reflect a collectivistic orientation not only in content but also in the way they are created frequently by the whole group” (Rothstein-Fisch & Trumbull, 2008, p.33). Since students are enthusiastic to celebrate their religious festivals, teachers may ask them to perform some cultural programs like small skits or mimes in the classroom. This is truly a diplomatic generalization of the importance of each religion without causing sentimental torment to anybody. Thus each religious group among students may take its turn to exhibit the fancy of faith and their fundamental right to worship. Apart from the ethical and religious elements, it is also necessary to learn how to behave in the classroom as a teacher. Teacher-student relationship The elementary factors standing on a teacher-student behavioral relationship are listed below; 1. Differences in body language and gesture, 2. Showy dress code 3. Ambiguities in questions and responses, 4. Gender specific problems 5. Meaning and frequency of eye contact 6. Timing between small talk These factors prove fatal if not managed well. Diversity among culture and religious faith is as true as life itself. Therefore, a teacher has to be very careful about how he stands, appears, speaks to or looks at his students. What all a teacher can effectively do is to get ideas from updated and reliable sources and recommend the students to refer them for clarity. Another aspect to be emphasized is the need for tolerance in a teacher’s career. Tolerance leads to acceptance and the same results in turning even a rascal into a scholar. I would suggest my colleagues of measures to create enthusiasm among children to learn new topics by entertaining them with toy demonstrations or modeling of the theme. Conclusion Teaching essentially means educating the young minds to explore the inhibitions to find out the deposit of intellect within them. This great task, if it is in a culturally diverse classroom, undergoes a number of processes by which the mentor initiates experiments and observations for better result. For the successful outcome of each process, it is inevitable to have expectations for classroom behavior when preparing to teach students. Classroom behavior of the students is of greater concern in levels schooling. The professionals who teach in a culturally diverse society should be enthusiastic learners of the job because their genuine involvement can give students a better view of the prospective lesson. References Deegan, JG. (1996). Children’s Friendships in Culturally Diverse Classrooms. Routledge. Rothstein-Fisch & Trumbull. (2008). Managing Diverse Classrooms: how to build on students’ cultural strengths. ASCD. Read More