Multicultural Workshop: Understanding How Culture Affects Teaching and Learning

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Multicultural Workshop Understanding How Culture
Affects Teaching and Learning

• By Eileen Cohen, Cheryl Ernst, Martha Hudson,
  and Kristin Poole

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Experiment in Cross-CulturalCommunication

• Presenters will hand out numbers to group the
  audience. The audience will then sit down across
  the table from someone they are not familiar
  with. Then, without saying a word, gently stare
  at each other and write down in five minutes
  everything that you can think you can tell about
  that person i.e. are they from a big family,
  small, how many brothers/sisters, kind of music
  they like, favorite food, likes city or country,
  sports, etc, nothing mean, just fun then after
  the silent time is over compare notes and see how
  much you got right/ wrong youll be amazeduse
  this to get to know your new buddy.

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What does culture have to with my teaching?

• On this slide Eileen will jot down teacher
  responses on chart paper and a discussion will
  follow.

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Statistics

• For the next few slides we will present the
  audience with several statistics demonstrating
  the need for one to evaluate his or her own
  teaching practice.
• While viewing the slides we will address the
  audience with following question What is the
  purpose of multicultural education?

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After analyzing the statistics, please discuss
the following questions with your group

• - What observations did you ascertain after
  viewing the slides?
• How did these statistics enhance your thinking as
  a professional?
• What is the purpose of multicultural education?
• (Groups will collaborate together and discuss
  these questions. Martha will lead group
  discussion after adequate time passes.)

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Culture is?

• Survival

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The principles of culture
Survival
Socialization
Enculturalization
Cheryl will discuss why this is important for
teachers to learn.
Source Robert A DeVillar,
PhD
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Survival
Survival - the methods or formulas a
group (2 or more people) applies to control and
understand their environment - How can
cultures survive?
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Socialization
- The process of transgenerational
transmission of survival methods or formulas
within whole groups - Informal
socialization agents include the mother and
father and other family members -
Formal socialization agents include schools,
churches, and community resources such as
Scouting, Little League, YMCA
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Enculturation

• Enculturation- native born socialization
• - the degree of successful transmission
  of the survival formula
• - the outcome of socialization
• - Do what I do but do it better
• Acculturation- non-native born socialization
• - selective allowance of those not born
  into a culture to be enculturated within the
  dominant
• culture
• - highly selective and racially
  based
• - only a few are admitted - not
  necessarily entire groups
• Marginalization
• - a distortion within cultures
  created by segregation
• - segregation increasing due to the
  number of people now living in the U.S.
• - Groups are pushed to the edges of
  society begin to create their own culture. Their
  state of preparedness is not the same as less
  marginalized cultures making educators jobs
  difficult to convey relevance and
  meaning to education.
• - being poor is NOT the same as being
  marginalized

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Three common responses teachers have when
teaching multicultural students

• Teachers see children rather than class, race,
  ethnicity, or gender.
• Teachers just want to be told what to do and
  theyll teach that way.
• Teachers believe that since we live in America,
  everyone must learn to be an American.

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Teachers as Socialization Agents

• How are teachers formal
• socialization agents?
• Why is this important?
• Why do educators need to change their current way
  of thinking?
• Culture is ethnocentric (I am the best).
  Personally teachers can be ethnocentric because
  of their own cultural reality.
• Professionally teachers cannot view their
  classrooms ethnocentrically because of the
  inclusion of different cultures.

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Patterns for success in school - Does being
schooled mean you are educated?
It starts with the individual and keeps going up
until it reaches the school.
School
Community
Individual
Family
Middle Socioeconomic Class patterns of
socialization for the individual - Children in
this class are given greater opportunities to
enhance achievement in schools. The family
environment exposes the child to informal
strategies encouraging success in school (ex.
reading at home at an early age.) Community
support and resources provide more opportunities
for continued academic success. Schools can
spend their money on the extension of knowledge
rather than remediation.
Source Robert A DeVillar, PhD
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Patterns for success in school - Does being
schooled mean you are educated?
It starts with the individual and keeps going up
until it reaches the school.
School
Community
Family
Individual
Lower Socioeconomic Class patterns of
socialization for the individual - Children in
this class are offered less opportunities for
success in school. Parents do not have the time,
money or resources. Less access of informal
educational strategies causes delays in language
and reading skills and in academic success. The
community does not have many businesses or
resources to encourage success. Schools spend
their money on remediation.
Source Robert A DeVillar, PhD
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Language as a Social Phenomenon
Language Dialect Variety Register Idiosyn
cratic (personal idiolect)
standard
group specific
nonstandard
argot
Source Robert A DeVillar, PhD
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Language as a Social Phenomenon

• Language is a form of communication that is
  understood by all (mutually intelligible).
• Marginality of language is caused by an increase
  in distance between groups (segregation).
• Non-standard language/dialect is rule governed.
• Bi-dialectal means speaking standard and
  non-standard dialects of a language.
• Language is changing in the U.S. as people read
  less.
• U. S. is moving away from standard English
  non-standard English is increasing.
• Teachers should
• - model standard language.
• - encourage reading for
  standardizing language.
• - create an environment to
  promote dialectal learning.

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Match the Languages

• __________ a. Stem in met hoe u bent?
• __________ b. Welcome, how are you?
• __________c. Recepciaon Como es usted?
• _________ d. Benvenuto come siete?
• _________ e. Wilkommen, wie Sie sind?
• _________ f. Bienvenue comment allez vous?
• _________ g. Boa vinda como e voce?

• German
• Dutch
• Portuguese
• English
• French
• Italian
• Spanish

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Alarming News

• Classroom Discourse found in todays classrooms
  
• - Two-thirds of classroom conversation is
  teacher talk teacher directed conversations
  with correct answer in mind.
• - Higher order thinking questions-reserved for
  those perceived to know it.

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Modifications and Strategies What can teachers
do to insure successful educational achievement
of all groups in the United States?

• Modifications and Strategies should include
• Modify classroom discourse less teacher talk,
  more student to student talking, variable wait
  time for answers, ask high order thinking, open
  ended questions to all students
• Provide relevant and meaningful examples, etc. to
  connect what is being taught to reflect the
  students experiences, perspectives and frames of
  reference
• Add meaning and relevance through extension and
  integration in learning situations
• Use small mixed groups of learners

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• Modifications and Strategies should include
  (continued)
• Use learning centers
• Vary passive learning activities (ex. listening
  reading) with active ones (ex. conversing
  movement)
• Create family style relationships between
  students and between teacher and students
• Classroom management devised with student inputs
  reflecting some different cultural codes and
  styles
• Involve community and parents as assets and
  resources for learning

(Kristin will discuss multicultural teaching
practices)
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Multicultural EducationAchievement
Culture R Education
Transmission
Pedagogy- Principles
Learning R
Information
Performance
(academic, social,
psychological)


Achievement
Datum Value Facts
Facts Value Information
This adds no value or meaning to students
This adds relevance, value, and meaning to
students
Equity Formula Equity f
(access participation benefit) Persistent
lack of equity between groups leads to
educational inequality.
Source Robert A DeVillar, PhD
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References

• DeVillar, R. A., (1994). Reconciling Cultural
  Diversity and Quality Schooling Paradigmatic
  Elements of a Socioacademic Framework. In R. A.
  DeVillar, C.J. Faltis, J.P. Cummins (Eds.),
  Cultural Diversity in Schools From Rhetoric to
  Practice (pp. 25-55). Albany State University
  of New York Press.
• Gay, G. (2000). Effective multicultural teaching
  practices. In C. Diaz
• (Ed.) Multicultural Education for the 21st
  Century (pp. 23-41). New York Allyn
• Bacon.
• Mehan, H., Okamoto, D., Lintz, A, Wills J.
  (1995). Ethnographic
• studies of multicultural education in Classrooms
  and Schools. In Banks
• and Banks (Eds.)  Handbook of research on
  multicultural education (pp. 129-143). New York
  Simon Schuster Macmillan. 

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• Web Based References
• Multicultural Awareness Quiz
• http//www.edchange.org/multicultural/quiz/awaren
  essquiz.html
• Pew Hispanic Center A Statistical Portrait of
  Hispanics at Mid-Decade
• http//pewhispanic.org/reports/middecade/