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According to Nieto (2008), multicultural education is a process and "no one ever stops becoming a multicultural person, and knowledge is never complete" (p.52). She also states that multicultural education primarily involves relationships among people. Right now I am in the process of learning and I know that I will be a life-long learner. I don't think it is possible to be done learning because our world is ever changing and becoming more diverse and more advanced. Also, each year teachers get new students. I know that I learn a lot from the children I work with now and learned from the students I had when I was student teaching. Since each child is different, you learn new teaching strategies to meet their needs. I also learned about my students' backgrounds, which helped in understanding them more. I think it is important to establish a caring and trusting relationship with your students, so that they feel comfortable asking question or sharing their own ideas with you. We have to remember that even though a school setting might not seem to be very diverse, the larger community is and we need to prepare our students to be open minded and inquisitive about it. In Nieto's (2008) book, Affirming Diversity, she references James Banks saying, "the main goal of a multicultural curriculum is to help students develop decision-making and social action skills" (p.54). This helps students realize that there are a variety of ways in seeing the same situation. If teachers model for and prepare students for seeing different perspectives, it helps them to be more open minded and accepting of others. Being open minded will hopefully lead them to want to seek more information or learn more about what they become interested in.
References:
Nieto, Sonia & Bode, Patty. (2008). Affirming diversity. Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.
A teacher's own beliefs, attitudes, and values can influence their teaching whether they notice it or not. These things are so built in to the person already, that they may not even notice how they come out in their teaching or actions. As a teacher, it is important to be constantly aware of what you are saying and how it can affect your students. In order to be aware, you need to first become aware of your own beliefs, attitudes, and values. In the article, "With New Eyes," Kelly explains that we must be willing to consider our own biases, including beliefs about social class (Kelly, 1999). Kelly (1999) states that "often erroneous assumptions about single-parent families, welfare, and conditions in the homes and neighborhoods of communities often translate into reduced expectations for the students who live there" (p. 2). Therefore, teachers should take time to reflect and become aware of there own biases so that they do not let them come out in their teaching. If you find you are bias of something, you can take the time to ask yourself, why do I feel this way? Determine why and for what reason you have those feelings. After that, look into that particular idea more and find our more about it. You may not feel the same way anymore. A lot of time things are assumed just from society and people around us, when we really just might not know enough. It is impossible to know everything about every culture and background. The key is to just be aware. A teacher might be confused about why a student does something the way they do or how they react to a certain situation. This could be a result of the student's own background and the teacher's unfamiliarity with it. For example, eye contact is a big one. In other countries, children learn not to give direct eye contact. It can be seen as aggressive or rude. If I found myself in a situation something like this, where I was unsure why a student was responding in a particular way, I think I would first talk with fellow teacher to see if they knew something more or a reason for it and then do my own research on that child's background to see if I could come to some kind of conclusion. I agree with Nieto (2008) that we should also be aware of beliefs that we have that "may be based on spurious assumptions or stereotypes" (p. 4). Stereotypes, I believe are a big issue. People are quick to assume things about groups of people who they really have know idea about. When working with diverse populations, I want to take the time to try and familiarize myself with as much as I possibly can about their backgrounds. This will help me be able to understand my students better and be more effective as a teacher.
References:
Kelly, Kathy. (1999). With new eyes. (Vol. 2, No. 7) Classroom Leadership, 3 pgs.
Nieto, Sonia & Bode, Patty. (2008). Affirming diversity. Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.
One of the first steps in becomming a teacher is examing your self and your own values. This is also true for being able to promote mulicultural learning in your classroom. Nieto (2008) states that their [teacher's] practices may reflect their experiences (p. 4). We grow up in different environments and some may be more or less obvioulsy diverse than others. I think that a lot of the time when people think of multicultural, skin color or language are the first things that pop into their heads. When in fact, there are several kinds of differences. These include gender, religion, abilities, class, etc. Our world is a diverse place and our students have every right to learn all that they can about it. I like to think of diversity in a sense that we all have different life experiences. No person is the same as another or has had the same experiences even though it may seem like it on the outside.
So, to begin, I am going to reflect on my identity. Who am I? This is not a simple question because it involves so much. If I am talking about race, culture, class, language, and gender, it is simple. I am White, Italian and English, middle class, speak English, and female. But what does this say about me? Some people are very involved in their culture, others are not. To me, I believe who I am is more about what I have experienced and the environments I grew up in and the people I have come in contact with. I know that I am comfortable with who I am. I do not think that I am better than anyone else. I have not really wished to be part of another group, but I have wondered if and how my life might be different if I were. I have curiosities about other people's lifestyles. I also wonder how other people view me and the so called "group" or "groups" I am a part of. I don't really think these groups define people. I feel I was lucky to have grown up and be schooled in a diverse population of people. These people have helped shape who I am. We learn from each other and it is always good to see things from a different point of view.
When do I notice culture? This is another good question. Obvious differences in culture tend to come from the outside, like language or color. Another is traditions or celebrations. When I find something that is different from what I am use to, I tend to become more interested in it. Now that I am on my way to being a teacher, I think about culture more. I know there is a deeper meaning to culture and it is just a matter of bringing that out. What are some ways that you notice culture?
References:
Nieto, Sonia & Bode, Patty. (2008). Affirming diversity. Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.
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