Similarities Between Multicultural Education And Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

The importance of multicultural education is so significant that it is believed to impact a student’s life more than any other way of learning. In order for one to understand the importance of multicultural education they must first know the definition of what multicultural education is. James Banks a multicultural advocate, educator, and researcher, defined multicultural education as “an idea, an educational reform movement, and process whose major goal is to change the structure of educational institutions so that male, and female students, exceptional students, and students who are member of diverse racial, ethnic, language, and cultural groups will have an equal chance to achieve academically in school” (Ozturgut, 2011). “Throughout its history, multicultural education has been interpreted in many different ways and has been the site of many controversies both within the field and outside it.” (Ramsey, 2015).

Einstein said: “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Now imagine the various students that enter the classroom. They come from all walks of life with different backgrounds and stories to tell. If educators don’t recognize that these differences do in fact exist then some of the fish that pass through those school doors will leave the building believing that they are incapable because of the trees presented for them to climb. Enter culturally responsive teaching. This method or pedagogical device is the answer to bridging this gap that students may encounter when they are not given the opportunity to show their particular geniuses or to act as their own agent in their education.

Culturally Responsive Teaching is an emerging field that focuses on student cultural backgrounds and experiences in the development of pedagogy. According to Kea (2013) cultural difference is the single largest difference in U.S. schools and also the most neglected. The goal of Culturally Responsive Teaching is to provide an equal opportunity for all students to learn in school, regardless of their gender, social class, ethnic, racial or cultural characteristics (Banks 2005). Ladson-Billings (1994) suggest that the historic failings of educators in educating non-white students is that educators attempt to insert culture into education rather than insert education into the culture. In other words, educators are not providing an equal multi-culturally relevant education by bringing tokens of culture such as food, national flags, or maps from around the world into the classroom alone. Although these actions promote a sense of multiculturalism, an education that is relative to a diversity of cultures is not necessarily being provided. Culturally Responsive Teaching attempts to bring the various experiences of the student’s cultural home life into the classroom. Schmidt (2005) identifies seven characteristics that must be incorporated into curriculum in order to provide culturally responsive instruction. These characteristics are high expectations,

Culturally Responsive Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning (Ladson-Billings, 1994). This approach to teaching encompasses how knowledge is both communicated and perceived by the students. The teacher must have a good relationship with the parents, have high expectations, learn about their students culture, have culturally mediated student-centered instruction, willing to reshape the curriculum, and be a facilitator in order to accomplish this method of teaching. These are key points a teacher must be willing to do if they intend to be an effective teacher especially in a highly culturally diverse area like central

After reading Geneva Gay’s article Preparing for Culturally Responsive Teaching I realized my pedagogy is culturally responsive in many ways. For one, I always

Focuses on how race operates in schools and society—the effects of race on school practices, policies, structures, and teaching

Tekeisha Postell 9/15/15 ECSP 3131 Dr. Hill Dream Keepers Summary (Chapter 4-7) Chapter 4 In chapter 4, Gloria Billings applies the concept of family to the classroom. Teachers should look at their students as their own. She mentions how students should not be selfish by only caring about themselves; they should look at each other as one.

57-58). Moreover, culturally relevant pedagogy involves teachers focusing on getting to know their students, their students’ cultural backgrounds, and how that can all relate to course content. To implore culturally relevant pedagogy, a teacher needs to practice getting onto his/her students level. When a teacher emphasizes the students and puts them at the heart of their lessons, they are most likely to successfully engage the students in the course content. Beyond getting to know their students, it is imperative that teachers get to know the families of the students as well.

Multicultural education is a process of comprehensive school reform and basic education for all students that affirms the ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, economic and gender differences that students, their communities, and teachers reflect. “Multicultural education permeates the school's curriculum and instructional strategies, as well as the interactions among teachers, students, and families, and the very way that schools conceptualize the nature of teaching and learning” (Salili & Hoosain 2005). Multiculturalism promotes acceptance of others while rejecting racism and other forms of discrimination. Multiculturalism in education is exceedingly important in the United States, because it is a country comprised of many immigrants.

In The Art of Critical Pedagogy, Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade and Ernest Morrell provide vivid examples on how critical pedagogy is beneficial for academic success amongst individuals of color. Critical pedagogy is a multicultural form of teaching “that is rooted in the essential experiences of marginalized peoples; that is centered in a critique of structural, economic, and racial oppression; that is focused on dialogue instead of a one-way transmission of knowledge; and that is structured to empower individuals and collectives as agents of social change .“(Duncan-Andrade and Morrell, 2008, p. 49) This style of teaching is essential within urban schools, as it provides students the opportunity to establish critical intellectual and social skills.

As a global studies major with an emphasis on education, researching and trying to understand multicultural curriculum has become a great part of my educational journey. I recently did an internship in Washington D.C. where I taught afterschool classes on globalization to underrepresented students in D.C. More that 70 percent of my students were black, while the other 30 percent or so were Hispanic, Arab, and other minority groups. My main goal was to incorporate multicultural curriculum as a means for the students to understand the changing world through various perspectives other than their own. From my experience in DC, I received a small glimpse of how multicultural curriculum is imperative for student success. Chapter 10 gave a great break down of four approaches to multicultural curriculum and how we as future educators can implement those approaches in our own teaching styles.

Participants’ perceptions of their schools’ commitment to providing a multicultural education inclusive of the three domains under inquiry (promotion of cultural competence, cultural socialization, and critical consciousness) were represented under the theme entitled “Patterns of Practices of Diversity and Social Equality Awareness and Multicultural Education”. This theme is representative of all the methods through which our participants’ school systems sought to provide their students with curricula that attempted to expand their understanding of issues surrounding racism and discrimination, as well as expose them to cultures other than the dominant white culture of the United States. These methods are categorized according to the subthemes “Classes”, “Clubs, Organizations, and Events”, “School-wide Practices”, and “No Practices”.

and curriculum. The discussion of the historical and philosophical background of multicultural education teaches educators how race and culture influence educational policy and programs. Multicultural teaching and curriculum is also crucial for the development of equitable education for diverse students. The author asserts that multicultural education can lessen biases while also furthering democratic beliefs and practices among students. The text’s discussion of multicultural education is significant to the field of multicultural education as it demonstrates how multicultural educational practices help students become culturally literate and prepared for today’s diverse and globalized world.

I believe multicultural education is an essential part of the curriculum in the United States. As a culturally diversifying nation, multicultural education as become imperative. America is considered to be a “melting pot” because of the many people from different cultures and background have emigrated in search of a better life. Immigrants have brought with them their own unique cultures. When working with the public, especially children within a school system, it is imperative to become somewhat knowledgeable of different cultural beliefs and practices in order to help these children adjust to the traditional classroom. As demographic changes in the United States have significantly increased, the cultural diversity of student populations in public schools, multicultural policies, and practices have become important.

Multicultural Education is the a way of incorporating different cultures into one sole educational system. It is a way to give every individual equal opportunity for education and learning. The topic of Multicultural Education has been around for decades, but really started to take off after the Civil Rights movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Since then, Multicultural Education has been a hot topic of educators around the world. The concept is not yet perfect, but it is constantly evolving. Schools across the country are adapting the concept to make it their own. There are still issues, but, with time, things will continue to improve. As a future teacher, I am going to help in the improvement of our current society. The chapter discussed legislative movements, court cases, and theoretical approaches that relate to multicultural education. Many things have influenced Multicultural Education. Court cases, such as the Brown v. Board of Education, have drastically impacted the system. In that particular court case, schools were ordered to begin the process of desegregation. The court ruled that all students deserved a good education, no matter their skin color. The desegregation was not immediate, and took time, but it was a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, not all of the court decisions were positive. In another well known case, the Regents of the University of California v. bakke, the Supreme Court ruled that race could be a factor in admission to college. Since