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We the Multicultural Learning Community
Using the Power of Perspectives to Build a
Cross-Cultural Community of Learners

• Rebecca K. Fox, Ph.D.
• Jorge P. Osterling, Ph.D.
• George Mason University
• Fairfax, VA
• 12th Annual International NAME Conference
• October 31, 2002

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Action Research Projectin a Multicultural
Teacher Education Program

• Report on Emergent Results Lessons Learned
  from a Qualitative Study
• George Mason University

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Session Objectives

• Report on Ongoing Research Study
• Share information about strategies used in
  retooled graduate course to help teacher
  candidates develop cross-cultural competence
• Promote a 21st Century philosophy that teachers
  must become cultural brokers
• Promote collaboration, discussion among attendees
  about best teacher education practices that
  foster equity for all learners

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Todays Agenda

• Background of the Study
• Overview
• Research question
• Strategies used to create a cross cultural
  community of learners.
• Examples
• Results
• Dialogue questions and discussion.

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Background

• Impetus for the study
• Co-teaching opportunity
• Major demographic changes
• USA Greater Washington Metro Area
• Graduate Student Population
• Challenge and opportunity to re-tool
• Required first-semester graduate course
• Opportunity for professional growth

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Research Site

• Graduate School of Education
• George Mason University
• Fairfax, VA

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Longitudinal Project Stages

1. Action research project conducted during 2001
   Fall Semester in EDCI 516 Bilingualism and
   Language Acquisition Research
2. Follow-up research on study participants
   learners in their PK-12 classrooms.
3. Emergent and ongoing recommendations for
   programmatic growth and change.

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EDCI 516 Bilingualism and Language Acquisition
Research

• Course Description
• Provides students with a knowledge of L1 L2
  acquisition, including the interaction of a
  bilinguals two languages with implications for
  the classroom.
• Required course for Virginia State PK-12 ESL/FL
  licensure and for foreign language immersion
  teachers.

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Vygotskys Contribution Zone of Proximal
Development

• Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (1896 1934).
• Social interaction plays a fundamental role in
  the development of cognition.

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Freires ContributionThe Teacher as a Learner

• Paulo Freire
• (1921 1997 )
• The importance of the interaction of teaching
  with learning on a dynamic and ongoing dialogic
  process.
• One does not happen without the other.
• Dialogue demands respect for the learner and
  his/her reading of the World.

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Our Point of Departure - part 1
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Our Point of Departure - part 2
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Developing a New Lens

• Becoming part of a larger
• Community of Learners

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EDUC 516 Learning Community

• Building and developing a dialogical learning
  community composed of graduate students and
  professors.
• Challenges
• Opportunities

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The EDCI Learning Community

• CHARACTERISTICS

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EDCI 516 Our point of departure

• Two professors of second language acquisition and
  multi-cultural education
• Teaching Bilingualism and language acquisition
  research to polyglots
• 28 polyglot students from romance to Asian
  languages, from Arabic to Russian, including ASL
  teachers working with students who come from
  countries where English is not the native
  language
• 25 - 30 of the class composed of non-native
  English speakers

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Co-Teaching a Graduate Course

• Potential zone of conflict?
• An opportunity for collaborative teaching?

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Our Learning Community
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Solo Teaching Professor A
Osterling
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Solo Teaching Professor B
Fox
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Covering Part of the Whole GlobeProfessors
Contributions
Fox
Osterling
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Students become teachersTeachers become learners
Fox
Osterling
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Strategies Used

• Instructors jointly planned and presented.
• Technology
• Blackboard-5 Instructional Platform
• PowerPoint guides for major topics
• E-Mail
• Multiple intelligences/ learning styles theory
• Guest speakers
• Literature and narratives

• Funds of Knowledge theory
• Group projects
• Small group hands-on collaboration
• Performance-based course products language
  analysis project
• Written feedback/ evaluations
• Student socialization e.g., snacks at break ,
  potluck dinner.

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Results of the Research

• 1. A community where everybody teaches and
  everybody learns.

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Results

• 2. The power of modeling negotiation and
  experiential learning in the preparation of
  teachers for the 21st Century
• Skill building through experiences
• All participants have a voice
• A respect is built out of and for all

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Results

• 3. The importance of on-going formative and
  summative assessment along the continuum of the
  semester
• help to draw conclusions
• provide opportunities for synthesis
• essential for constructivist learning approach
  and for scaffolding

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Results

• 4. Technology supplied an essential community
  building element
• discussion strands (Santiago and other topics
  drawn from weekly readings)
• power point guides to course themes
• postings from Krashen, Unz, and NCBE Newsletter
  provide current context
• emails and announcements facilitate course work
  and communication

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Results

• Open atmosphere lowers affective filter
• Time for formal and informal social interaction
  support collegiality and the philosophy of a
  learning community

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• We thank you for this rich opportunity to explore
  another dimension in our teaching and learning.
• It has been MOST enlightening!
• We look forward to hearing about your teaching
  and continuing learning pathways, so please stay
  in touch.