My idea of multicultural education means embracing all of your students and to nurture their growth. I agree with the working definition on EdChange Multicultural Pavilionhttp://www.edchange.org/multicultural/initial.html. The deifinition states that the underlying goal of multicultural education is to affect social change. As an educator, I think it is our job to create productive members of society. When teaching students, it is a priority that the academic information be put into words that the students can comprehend. I do not think it is our job to strip students of their cultures, and "Americanize" them. It is important that the students are able to embrace the American culture without discarding their own.
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Niki, I agree with you when you say students should not discard their own culture. Some teachers have asked why I don't stop my students from talking in Spanish. I reply that they are 5 years old and are still learning their own language, too.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I love to hear my students speak their native language. I see no reason to have them only speak English in class. They may need to repeat something to themselves or to a friend in their native tongue in order to understand what they are doing better.
ReplyDeleteYour entry is brief and to the point with regard to your agreement with the MCP site definition. Great that you have one comment from a classmate that you responded to on your blog.
ReplyDeleteIf you revisit the entry #1guide questions though, there are three distinct criteria points for discussion after you reflect on the information presented on the Multicultural Pavilion site, the Working Definition site, and on Paul Gorski's site.
•Write your own working definition of multicultural education.
•Record your initial, personal, reflective thoughts regarding the challenge of defining multicultural education.
•Briefly discuss the challenges facing classroom teachers as they strive to implement multicultural practices in their classrooms.