Showing papers in "Multicultural Education in 2004"

Heightening Awareness about the Importance of Using Multicultural Literature.

Abstract: Using multicultural literature in the classroom has become a focus in recent years as classrooms have become more diverse. While offering teachers and students many opportunities to gain broader understandings about the world, the use of multicultural literature also presents challenges. The challenge is not only obtaining high quality multicultural texts, but the greater challenge may be creating an awareness among teachers of the important role multicultural literature plays in the lives of children. Multicultural literature helps children identify with their own culture, exposes children to other cultures, and opens the dialogue on issues regarding diversity. As instructors who teach language arts methods courses, these challenges became evident through an assignment given to our preservice teachers in which students were prompted to examine their beliefs and practices regarding the use of multicultural literature in the classroom. It is not uncommon for preservice teachers to have unexamined beliefs about cultural diversity and to have little understanding of the impact of their beliefs on classroom interaction, discussion and practices (Sleeter, 2001; Wiggans & Folio, 1999; Willis & Harris, 1997). This became apparent as our students shared their ideas after reading and reflecting upon “African American children’s literature that helps students find themselves: Selection guidelines for grades K-3” (Hefflin & Barksdale-Ladd, 2001). In this article, Hefflin and Barksdale-Ladd (2001) discuss the importance of children relating to characters and situations found in books reflective of their own culture. The absence of African American characters and culture in books found in many primary classrooms is discussed and its impact on children of color is highlighted. Students need to be able to make connections between literature and their everyday lives. Children need to receive affirmation of themselves and their culture through literature (Bieger, 1995/1996), and be able to connect text to self in order to promote greater meaning (Dietrich & Ralph, 1995; Keene & Zimmerman, 1997; Rosenblatt, 1978). With this in mind, we set out to explore prospective teacher’s understandings of the use of multicultural literature in the classroom. Specifically, we examined changes in their beliefs and proposed practices based on new understandings regarding the importance of using literature in the classroom that portrays a variety of cultures, themes and views. Our students were asked to respond to the Hefflin and Barksdale-Ladd article using one or more of the following prompts (adapted from Reif, 1992): quote and discuss, ask questions, share experiences/memories, react, and/or connect. Upon reading these reflections, we were struck by the Heightening Awarness about the Importance of Using Multicultural Literature

What Do We Know about Heritage Languages? What Do We Need to Know about Them?.

Abstract: Stephen Krashen is a professor emeritus with the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. Heritage languages (HL) are language spoken by the children of immigrants or by those who immigrated to a country when young. The purpose of this article is to briefly review what is known about heritage language development over time and to identify some gaps in our knowledge. We will consider three aspects: how much HL speakers use their HLs, how well they know them, and the attitudes they have toward their HLs, focusing here on older children, adolescents, and adults.

Is the Diversity Issue a Non-Issue in Mainstream Academia?

Abstract: Many educators today have been unpretentious about regarding mainstream thought as the supreme channel through which knowledge is disseminated. This may be the product of minds that appreciate the mainstream’s intellectual contribution, positively or otherwise, to humanity. However, the growing cultural diversity of the United States makes it incumbent on educators to have a better understanding of the diverging values, customs, and traditions among all learners with different multicultural experiences as the minority thought or view may be just as equally legitimate and valid as the mainstream. The melting pot metaphor, which used to be a prototype of the assimilation of immigrants into the United States, does not apply any longer because it does not in reality describe the country accurately. Rather than a melting pot, we actually have a tossed salad in which every segment maintains its own character, but adds a new spice to the whole, as immigrants to the United States do not lose their identity (Broman, 1982). However, because issues concerning diversity are delicate and complex, many educators adopt a hands-off approach to them. Diversity, however, pervades and persists no matter what the consequences are. Educators, therefore, need a better understanding of the different rich cultural tapestry of the nation that is increasing daily because schools have never offered any enthusiastic welcome to student differences (Perez, 1994; Manning & Baruth, 2000). This article examines why educators should be concerned with cultural diversity in the United States classrooms, spotlighting on demography, stereotyping, socio-economic class, different learning styles, and achievement/cognitive processes. The problems and challenges that educators encounter daily, including lack of genuine educational and societal support, lack of teacher knowledge, parental disapproval, and lack of materials will also be addressed. The final look focuses on issues like responsive diversity/multicultural education programs and globalism in teacher education programs, drawing instances from the authors’ own personal experiences.

Language as We Know It, Literacy as We Know It, and Content Area Instructions: Conscious Strategies for Teachers.

Abstract: This article focuses on the process of promoting academic achievement for second-language learners by imaginatively connecting expository comprehension. The curiosity leading to the presentation of instructional strategies centers on what the teacher does during instructions and on students’ activities (what the students do during instruction). The critical discussion of reading in the content areas here is curiously framed in the broader context, thus providing a comprehensive program for second language speakers of English. In all grade levels, the academic and symbolic demands of constructing meaning from material creates issues of language as we know it, literacy as we know it, and access for teachers to infuse the core curriculum, particularly for teaching and learning (See Cummins’ discussion of cognitively demanding; also see Wink, Critical Pedagogy: Note from the Real World, 2002, on conscientization, or recognizing that we know that we know). The goals of this article are: (1) to increase understanding of instructional strategies among teachers at all levels that impact on reading comprehension in the content areas for second language speakers of English; (2) to provide curiosity and insight into the development of comprehensive instructional programs for linguistically and culturally diverse students; and (3) to suggest instructional strategies for what the teacher does during instruction and student activities (what the students do during instruction).

Diversity Initiatives in Higher Education: Multicultural Education as a Tool for Reclaiming Schools Organized as Breeding Grounds for Prisons.

Abstract: Most teachers, and students alike, know what a “good” education is, at the same time they also know that, most often, they are not providing and receiving one, respectively (Cho, 1999; Clark, 1993; Jenkins, 1994; Stowers, 1998). This begs the obvious question, why is this the case? While the plethora of public discourse surrounding curriculum standards and outcomes-based instruction suggests a national investment in the development and implementation of a good education that leaves no child behind, unfortunately, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that schools are today — as they have been especially since the advent of public education in the United States — systematically designed to privilege some students at the expense of others (Cho, 1999; Foucault, 1977; Irons, 2002; Stowers, 1998). While various forms of private education have always been synonymous with privilege, public education has been hailed as the “great equalizer.” But, from its inception, even public education has been structured in a two-tiered fashion, one tier aimed at educating leaders and the other for skilling workers in the context of, first, an agrarian society and, subsequently, a capitalist economy (Stowers, 1998; Bowles & Gintis, 1976; Kozol, 1991).

Color-Blindness vs. Race Matters: Pre-School Education and the Need for a Communal Vision

Abstract: When she received the Academy Award for Best Actress on March 24, 2002, African American actress Halle Berry found herself unable to speak calmly for minutes as she was shaken with tears. “Tonight, a window has been opened,” she stated as she saw herself receiving the Oscar for “every nameless woman of color” who had been denied the privileges and honors of a whitedominated society. She is the first African American actress to have received the award in its 76-year history. If race did not matter, if color made no difference, as is reassuringly repeated ever so often in the different public, political, and academic discourses of the day, what would account for Berry’s excitement and the standing ovations that followed her speech?

Commencing an Educational Dialogue about the Economic Disparities among Racial Groups in the United States Population.

Abstract: An overlooked issue in multicultural education involves how financial education processes, or how one acquires, manages, and develops their financial resources, affect different cultural groups. That is, whether educational processes provide equal opportunities for those of different groups to understand and follow sound financial practices. In general, economic statistics depict increasing income disparity among U.S. citizens (U.S. Department of Commerce Census Bureau, 2002e). Wealth accumulation is generally understood as the ability to retain one’s income. Theoretically, this occurs through prudent spending and savings practices, but it also occurs through the receipt or inheritance of financial resources from benefactors. The possession of wealth determines one’s access to many resources, such as education, medical care, transportation, technology, and information. As fewer people gain control over the nation’s wealth, financial disparities persist, challenging equal societal participation. Commencing an Educational Dialogue about the Economic Disparities among Racial Groups in the United States Populations

Diversity Initiatives in Higher Education: Social Justice from Classroom to Community.

Abstract: In the Fall of 2003, the Office of Human Relations Programs (OHRP), the campuswide equity compliance and diversity education arm of the Office of the President at the University of Maryland, College Park, created, developed, and began implementation of the three-year Social Justice from Classroom to Community (SJCC) project through its Student Intercultural Learning Center (SILC). That implementation is ongoing. This article is the first of three in a nonconsecutive series of articles on the SJCC project. This article will provide a detailed overview of the project, the next will report on the project’s findings, and the last will discuss project institutionalization and future directions.

Narrative History in the College Classroom: Re-Contextualizing Multicultural Issues through Close Re-Reading of Juvenile Literature.

Abstract: This article brings to the foreground what I find to be the most difficult of all teaching tasks—raising awareness. I teach cultural and linguistic diversity and hope to instill a measure of tolerance in my students. I use the Narrative Inquiry1 format to help uncover the many layers that surround discriminatory practices, and I urge my students to explore self and other in great depth throughout the college semester. During the course of fourteen weeks, we explore personal accounts: our own written and oral narratives, and those of our community. Our aim is to learn more about ourselves as we listen to others. In this process, we uncover layers upon layers of discriminatory knowledge that had not surfaced before—during our “less enlightened” years, when we did not have a name for certain things. Hopefully, this unobtrusive, non-judgmental, sharing explored in the college classroom offers my pre-service teachers an example of best practices in equitable instruction. My dream is that my own caring, equitable stance will be imported into their future classrooms. I don’t know whether I can teach them tolerance; however, I can offer insights about developing a tolerant stance in life. I work with teacher-education candidates in their third year. They participate in a required field-based course that is lodged in the multicultural arena. The course, designed to raise cultural and linguistic awareness, is delivered in a nondiversified, middle class, rural environment. Many of the students have not traveled to larger cities, or seen much cultural and linguistic diversity. I have heard comments in class that attest to the fact that students have never seen a person of color and perhaps never will. However, I have fourteen weeks to complete the job of: (1) raising cultural and linguistic awareness; (2) breaking their protected bubble; and (3) introducing painful topics that uncover barbaric acts of hate and violence. During the lecture portion of the course, students explore: (1) their own biases; (2) their own experiences with diversity; (3) their sense of cultural and linguistic awareness; and (4) their threshold of tolerance. During the practical portion of the course, students go into the field, and experience realities of classroom life in a very culturally diverse, low-income, semi-rural area. They continue to attend college lectures while spending eight weeks in a school classroom assisting teachers and students. Prior to sending the students out into the field, college staff and school administrators ensure that students: (1) know current legislation; (2) can deliver equitable instruction; (3) communicate clearly; (4) reflect on their insights; and (5) deliver wellthought-out lessons. I screen my students closely before placing them, seeking a suitable match for each individual situation. Students then sign a contract whereby they uphold district requirements and college statutes. However, before sending them out on this mission, I lay the foundations to prepare them for dealing with diversity. The following is my narrative of how I do this. To begin, students are given a simple questionnaire that asks them to reflect on who they are, how they feel about certain issues, and what their personal experiences tell them about cultural and linguistic diversity. When addressing the question about their threshold of tolerance, a generalized answer looks like this:

Multiethnic Education for White Ethnic Children: A Study Revisited.

Abstract: 29 Gloria Tansits Wenze is a professor with the Education Department at the University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Great Migration (1885-1925) brought scores of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe to American shores at the turn of the twentieth century. For a number of years, various professional fields documented the assimilation of the White Ethnic immigrants and their descendents into the general American populace. In the earliest years, a melting pot was the analogy used to describe the assimilation of the immigrants into mainstream America. To become more American, the immigrants sacrificed much of their native ways to become a part of this new world. In the 1960s and 1970s, with the White Ethnic populations then in their thirdand fourth-generation from the original immigrant, an interest in ethnicity and ethnic identity ensued. It was 1968 that Stein and Hill (1977) marked as the beginning of the White Ethnic Movement. By 1973, Novak argued that the melting pot did not work, that the descendants of the Great Migration were unmeltable ethnics. Contemporarily, Andrew Greeley (1974, 1975) and others (DeMichele, 1982; Dickeman, 1973; Greene, 1978; Handlin, 1973) wrote prolifically about White Ethnics participating fully in being American, but living in, or returning to, ethnic neighborhoods where traditional foods, languages, and customs persisted. Concurrent with the White Ethnic movement, the multicultural education movement emerged focused on a concern with creating educational environments in which students from all cultural groups (racial/ethnic, religious, special needs, gender, linguistic) would experience educational equity. In his description of multicultural education, Banks (1981) further defined the concept by discussing multiethnic education as a specific form of multicultural education. Multiethnic education is concerned with modifying the total school environment so that it is more reflective of the ethnic diversity within American society. Among its goals are: (1) to help reduce discrimination against ethnic groups and to provide all students equal educational opportunities; and (2) to help reduce ethnic isolation and encapsulation (Banks, 1981). One of the ways these goals can be approached is through ethnically relevant curriculum materials. Although multicultural education grew with the times and continues to play a vitally important role in planning school curriculum for diverse populations, the uniqueness of White Ethnic groups seems to be overlooked. White Ethnicity draws slight attention despite the persistence of ethnicity found among White Ethnic groups. For example, beyond the White Ethnic movement of the 1970s, Waters (1990) found similarities in ethnicity among White Ethnic groups in California and Pennsylvania, and Alba (1997) wrote about the large White Ethnic populations in the major Northeast cities such as New York City. He noted that White Ethnic neighborhoods are “viewed with uncertainty by sociologists: a historical relic, yet evidence of the persistence of ethnicity.” Similar White Ethnic populations can be found in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the site of this study. The current study is a replication of the author’s unpublished dissertation conducted almost twenty years previously in a public school in Scranton, Pennsylvania (Wenze, 1984). Census 2000 indicated a growing cultural diversity in populations entering the Scranton area, however, it continued to show strong evidence of White Ethnic groups.