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The Changing Face of the Classroom

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Chapter 4 - Overview

The rise of multiculturalism Ethnicity and social class Multicultural education programs

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From melting pot to cultural pluralism

Melting pot Diverse ethnic groups assimilating into one mainstream

culture

Cultural Pluralism (Janzen, 1994) Every culture has its own internal coherence, integrity, and

logic No culture is inherently better or worse than another All persons are to some extent culture-bound

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Immigrants to the United States (p. 134)

Source: U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics (2003).

66,089,431Total

9,095,4171991-20008,795,3861908-1910

7,338,0621981-19903,687,5461891-1900

4,493,3141971-19805,246,6131881-1890

3,321,6771961-19702,812,1911871-1880

2,515,4791951-19602,314,8241861-1870

1,035,0391941-19502,598,2141851-1860

528,4311931-19401,713,2511841-1850

4,107,2091921-1930599,1251831-1840

5,735,8111911-1920151,8241820-1830

NumberYearsNumberYear

See Fig. 5.1

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The effect of ethnicity on learning

Five aspects of ethnicity that are potential sources of misunderstanding:

1. Verbal communication patterns (Losey, 1995)

2. Nonverbal communication

3. Time orientation

4. Social values

5. Instructional formats and learning processes

(Bennett, 2003)

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Goals of Multicultural Programs (Fig. 5.2)

Promote Respect for Diversity

Reduce Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes

Improve learning (culturally responsive teaching)

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Approaches to multicultural education –James Banks

Contributions Approach Ethnic historical figures whose values and behaviors are

consistent with American mainstream culture are studied while individuals who have challenged the dominant view are ignored

Ethnic Additive Approach An instructional unit composed of concepts, themes, points

of view, and individual accomplishments is simply added to the curriculum

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Approaches to multicultural education

Transformation Approach There is no one valid way of understanding people, events,

concepts, and themes; there are multiple views, each of which has something of value to offer

Decision-Making and Social Action Approach Incorporates components of all the other approaches and

adds the requirement that students make decisions and take actions concerning a concept, issue, or problem being studied

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Recommended instructional tactics

Peer tutoring Teaching of one student by another

Cooperative learning Working in small, heterogeneous groups to help one

another master a task

Mastery learning Approach that assumes most children can master the

curriculum if certain conditions are established

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0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

White (non-Hispanic)

Asian American

HispanicAmerican

African American

Native American(avg. 97-99)

Percentage of families

Source: U.S. Bureau of Census (2000).

Percentage of families within ethnic groups living below poverty level in 1999

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Discuss

What are some adverse factors experienced by low-SES children?

How do teachers interact with low SES children?

What is the “Teacher Expectancy Effect”?

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What are some adverse factors experienced by low-SES children?

Overcrowded homes/stressful neighborhoods(Levin & Levine, 1996)

May have not been exposed to a wide variety of experiences. (Levin & Levine, 1996)

Inadequate or poor health care (Stinson, 2003)

Single parent families

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Adverse factors experienced by many low-SES children

The interactions that occur between low-SES parents and their children often lack the characteristic of mediation (scaffolding) (Ben-Hur, 1998)

Many low-SES children do not place a high value on academic achievement (Cooper & Dorr, 1995)

Low-SES children may have no definite career plans after leaving school and may be limited to low-paying, dead-end jobs (Pollard, 1993)

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How do teachers relate to low SES students?

On the basis of such characteristics as race, SES, ethnic background, dress, speech pattern, and test scores, teachers form expectancies about how various students will perform in class

Those expectancies are subtly communicated to the students in a variety of ways

Students come to behave in a way that is consistent with what the teacher expects (Rosenthal & Jacobsen, 1968)

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Factors that help create expectancies

Middle-class students are expected to receive higher grades than low-SES students, even when their IQ scores and achievement scores are similar

African-American students are given less attention and are expected to learn less than white students, even when both groups have the same ability

(p. 149)

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Factors that help create expectancies

Teachers tend to perceive children from poor homes as less mature, less capable of following directions, and less capable of working independently than children from more advantaged homes

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Factors that help create expectancies

Attractive children are often perceived by teachers to be brighter, more capable, and more social than unattractive children

Teachers tend to approve of girls’ behavior more frequently than they approve of boys’ behavior

(p. 149)

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Factors that help create expectancies

Teachers are more influenced by negative information about students than they are by neutral or positive information

High-achieving students receive more praise than low-achieving students

(p. 149)

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Thought Question

How do I become more culturally sensitive in the classroom? Curriculum Behaviors Knowledge