Multicultural Challenges

I really had to take some time after reading the links for the blog this week before writing. I still don't think that the ideas and things that I have read have really sunk in yet. I'm shocked...


I guess I always knew that there were people who were closed-minded and racist, but after reading the Pitthissippi Burning article, it really brought it to the front of my mind. These people are not just existing, they are creating flags, literature, and how-to's to support their feelings of white nationalism. While I agree with freedom of speech, this makes me think otherwise. This type of information, (FREE on the internet!!) is more than dangerous!


It is hard for me to understand why these people feel that there is a problem with multiculturalism. It seems that the only problem is the people who are creating the issues with it. Multiculturalism is about understanding and accepting, not dominating and diminishing.


The author included a section of the free internet book, The Brigade, that discussed the children's character, Dora. Personally, I do not have a problem with my children watching Dora. However, I do know some parents/people who do. They make comments about their children being white, not Hispanic. Why do you have to be of the same ethnicity to watch a television show?

As a teacher, I think that it is important to continue to encourage our students to express how they are feeling, if that means writing a book or creating art. It is equally important to encourage and demonstrate equality to our students. Our classrooms are changing; our community is changing; our world is changing. It always has, and it always will. Why shouldn't we embrace the new and various people and cultures?

Grammar

Growing up, grammar always seemed to come easy to me. I made great grades in English with little effort. That was,until college. I took a class that required us to diagram sentences. This included naming the parts, and not just noun, verb, subject, and predicate. I mean the works! Had I missed all this in my previous years of school somewhere?

One thing that really stood out to me in that class was a project that I completed on dialects. I had never really paid any attention to dialects. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I just thought that people who spoke in different dialects were just too lazy to speak "proper" English. Also, in my research I found that we view dialects as a sign of intelligence. Those who speak a lot of slang and with heavy dialects are thought to not be as educated as those who spoke "proper". I use quotations when using the word proper, because what is seen as "proper" English today, varies from what was "proper" fifteen years ago. Even in documents and letters words such as who, and whom are becoming scarce.

I wish that I had learned more about sentence structure and parts of speech, not only when speaking, but when writing as well. I feel that I can speak "proper" English well, but I have a very hard time writing in it.
I do agree with a need for a Standard English and think that we should be teaching our students to use it. It is important to know sentence structure, spelling and vocabulary.However, I think that we should also steer our students from judging others based on their dialect.

Multicultural Education

My working definition...

     When I think about multicultural education, I think about teaching, learning, understanding and appreciating other cultures. I am sure that my definition will change throughout this semester to incorporate all of the new things that I will learn regarding it. I don't remember learning about multicultural issues in elementary, middle or even high school. It was not until about a year ago that I realized how important it is to integrate other cultures into education. I have heard that America is referred to as a 'salad-bowl' in terms of diversity. We each make up a certain component of the salad, however we are all tossed together. I think that this accurately describes most of our school settings as well.

      I grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee which is located directly outside of Fort Campbell Army Base. Diversity was very common in our classrooms. When I was in fourth grade, we had a new student come from Korea. She had only been in America for six days when she started school and only knew one English word: Hi. I think when you are that young, you don't realize what those students are going through. As an adult, I often think back and wonder how hard it was for her. I try to carry this with me to remind myself of the struggles that everyone has when it comes to diversity.

Paul Gorski

      I completely agree with Gorski in terms of needing multicultural education reform. I don't think that enough is done to really embrace other cultures in our classrooms, regardless if we have students from that culture or not. I believe that there is so much more that we as teachers can do to integrate diversity into our curriculum. Gorski has a wonderful five stage model that breaks down various ways that we can integrate different cultures into our curriculum, and most with minimal resources.

     In the very first stage, Gorski describes an ongoing process that many of us struggle with: recognition. We all have different ideas, views, and working definitions about multicultural education. I don't think that it is necessarily a bad thing, as long as the need for integrating multicultural education is acknowledged and pursued.

What We Need...

      As teachers, we need to be open minded. We need to be accepting, patient and understanding of the various, wonderful cultures that surround us. We need to teach our students to have an appreciation for different cultures. And I believe that it starts with us: If we don't show an interest or appreciation for other cultures, what makes us think that our students will? We need to do our homework, meaning that we need to research and study about different cultures so that we can effectively incorporate them into our curriculum. We need to show our students how to love and appreciate all of the components of this wonderful, tasty 'salad'.

Getting Started

Hello all! Here is my first attempt at a blog post!! I must admit that I am extrememly intimidated by "blogging" and this whole blogger site! I apologize in advance, as I am still trying to learn how to use this thing! I have set up this blog for my SPSE course and am excited about making and reading posts related to the course!