Multicultural Literature and Education
Who needs a multicultural education? Some think that students do not need to have a multicultural curriculum in the classroom, while others feel that multicultural education and literature will expand and increase knowledge in our children today. Multicultural literature and diversity in the classroom setting has become a very important issue in recent years. This type of education can enhance and teach children to become cultural and diverse people. Multicultural education is the process where cultural and historical perspectives are applied in a classroom environment. In an article written by Dorothy Heard (1990), she explains the goals of multicultural education are to develop within students a sense of esteem for cultures. She also feels that knowledge of historical perspectives and differences in world perspective shape cultures. She feels that children who do have this type of education have the ability to successfully interact with individuals and groups with different cultural backgrounds. In this first article titled How do teachers identify multicultural and cross-cultural, she pays particular attention to multicultural teacher effectiveness. She feels that most teachers do not have the appropriate tools, b
There are many other ways to indulge students into learning about different cultures. The teacher may bring in a guest speaker or do certain art works with the students or have them make up their own writing activities from a certain culture that they might want to learn about or bring in certain foods. The most effective way for students to learn about this and experience it is by reading and getting involved. In the gifted schools and in gifted programs they tend to avoid or even ignore that students that come from other countries have the ability to be at a high level of knowledge. Just because they may not speak the same language it does not mean that they are unable to comprehend what in reality is going on around them. Usually due to the fact that the student may be from another part of the world or that they may speak another language they get what is known as curriculum segregation. This is when students are assigned different course assignments, instructional styles, and teaching materials are routinely employed for different groups of students (Ford & Tarek, 1996). Even though to some extent it is necessary for a student from another country to have a different form of learning for awhile, they should not be discriminated from all other forms and opportunities as well. ackground knowledge or the motivation to teach multicultural education in their environment. Most classroom teachers lack the very intercultural experiences and skills they are asked to instill in their students (Heard, 1990). Without any knowledge or training it is not possible for the teacher to educate her students. As stated in the article, there are only twenty-six states that have multicultural education programs in scho
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Approximate Word count = 1165
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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