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Herbert, Joanne M., Ed.; McNergney, Robert F., Ed.The Case of Columbus, New Mexico: Educational Life onthe Border. Multicultural Videocase Series.American Association of Colleges for TeacherEducation, Washington, D.C.; ERIC Clearinghouse onTeaching and Teacher Education, Washington, DC.Office of Educational Research and Improviment (ED),Washington, DC.ISBN-0-89333-140-696RR9300201563p.; For a related document, see SP 036 623.Videotape not available from EDRS.AACTE Publications, One Dupont Circle, Suite 610,Washington, DC 20036-1186 (Each videotape with oneguide $75, both videotapes and guides $120; extraguides $10 each; add $5 handling and shipping).Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (ForTeacher) (052) Audiovisual /Non -Print Materials(100) Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays,etc.) (120)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Bilingual Education; *Case Studies; Elementary

Education; Higher Education; *InstructionalImprovement; Instructional Materials; *MulticulturalEducation; *Preservice Teacher Education; TeacherEducators; Videotape Cassettes

IDENTIFIERS *Deming School District NM; Mexico; New Mexico

ABSTRACTThis guide accompanies one of a pair of videocases

depicting educational life in Columbus, New Mexico. The videocaseincludes 23 minutes of unstaged but edited videotape footage ofteaching and learning in and around an elementary school. The firstsection of the guide, "Teaching Note" (Linda Warner), contains atranscript of the videotape and questions designed to helpinstructors engage people in case-based discussions. In the teachingnote section, the videotape is divided into five segments: (1) theprincipal of Columbus School, Dennis Armijo, provides background onthe district's practice of educating students from Mexico; (2) LyndaLeyba, a second-grade teacher, introduces a set of vocabulary wordswritten in Spanish and English to her students; (3) Mario Vasquez,the bilingual resource teacher, conducts a lesson on chilies anddescribes his educational goals for students; (4) Leyba and membersof the resource team talk about similarities and differences amongcultural groups represented in Columbus School; and (5) the resourceteam discusses some of the challenges students from Columbusexperience when they go to junior high school in Deming, New Mexico.Finally, one resource staff member describes changes in curriculumsince she was a student at Columbus; another talks about efforts toinvolve parents in school activities. The second section, whichcomprises about three quarters of the guide, presents three criticalperspectives on the video written by Ursula Casanova, Deidre DancerMcMann, and Martin Haberman. Each of these essays relates itsauthor's life and professional experiences, the educational events in

the video, and the broader concept of multicultural education.(LL)

THE CASE OF COLUMBUS, NEW MEXICO:Educational Life on the Border

Edited byJoanne M. Herbert

Robert F. McNergneyU S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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MULTICULTURAL VIDEOCASE SERIES

A Joint Project of AACTEERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching & Teacher

Education University of Virginia

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THE CASE OF COLUMBUS, NEW MEXICO:Educational Life on the Border

Edited byJoanne M. Herbert

Robert F. McNergney

MULTICULTURAL VIDEOCASE SERIES

A Joint Project of AACTEERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching & Teacher

Education University of Virginia

AACTEAMERICANASSOCIAlIONOF COLLEGESFUR TEACHEREDUCATION ERIC

THE CASE OF COLUMBUS, NEW MEXICO:

EDUCATIONAL LIFE ON THE BORDER

Edited by

Joanne M. HerbertUniversity of Virginia

Robert F. McNergneyUniversity of Virginia

American Association of Colleges for Teacher EducationOne Dupont Circle A Suite 610

Washington, DC 20036TEL: 202/293-2450 A FAX: 202/457-8095

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This publication was prepared with funding from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Depart-ment of Education, under contract number RR93002015. The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarilyreflect the positions or policies of OERI or the Department.

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education is a national, voluntary association of colleges and uni-versities with undergraduate or graduate programs to prepare professional educators. The Association supportsprograms in data gathering, equity, leadership development, networking, policy analysis, professional issues, andscholarship.

The opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this monograph do not necessarily reflect the views oropinions of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. The AACI h does not endorse or warrantthis information. The AACTE is publishing this document to stimulate discussion, study, and experimentationamong educators. The reader must evaluate this information in light of the unique circumstances of any particular sit-uation and must determine independently the applicability of this information thereto.

Copies of The Case of Columbus, New Mexico: Educational Life on the Border rriay be ordered from:AACTE PublicationsOne Dupont Circle, Suite 610Washington, DC 20036-1186

Single copy for AACTE members/nonmembers: $10Please add $5 for shipping and handling

Copyright © 1996 American Association of Colleges for Teacher EducationAll rights reservedPrinted in the United States of America

International Standard Book Number 0. 89333-140-6

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

TEACHING NOTE

by Linda Warner (The Children's Museum, Boston, Massachusetts) 1

Case Summary 1

Transcript of Introductory Comments 1

Dennis An-nijo, Principal 2

Lynda Leyba, Second Grade Teacher 3

Mario Vasquez, Bilingual Resource Teacher 5

Resource Team 6

Moving Up and Moving On 8

Cinco de Mayo 9

CRITIC AL PERSPECTIVES ON THE CASE:

by Ursula Casanova (Arizona State University) 11

by Deidre Dancer McMann (Albuquerque Public Schools) 23

by Martin Haberman (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) 37

in

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful for the valuable help we received on this project. We thank the people who contributedtime, ideas, expertise, and financial support.

Students, parents, teachers, administrators, and school board members of Deming, New Mexico, PublicSchools allowed us to work in their schools and welcomed us into their homes. We doubt that any repre-sentation of their lives, including ours, could fully communicate their sense of community or the depth oftheir generosity.

Ernest Skinner, videographer, and Edward Damerel, sound technician, performed the technical work onthe videotape. We value their professionalism.

David Imig and Elizabeth Foxwell of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education took achance on this project. We gave them every opportunity to demonstrate their patience with us, and theyrose to every occasion.

Without the support of The Hitachi Foundation and their director of programs, Laurie Regelbrugge, thiswork might not have been undertaken; it certainly would not have been completed. The Foundation, Lau-rie, and her colleagues have stretched our thinking and changed our professional practice.

We assume full responsibility for our work.

Joanne M. HerbertRobert E McNergney

ntroductionIf you are a stranger in Columbus, New Mexico,

and you stop for gas, or to get lunch in one of thelocal cafes, don't be in too big of a hurry to get outof town. Ask, and someone will tell you where tofind the museum. It will be close by, like every-thing else in this villageof a few hundred soulslocated three milesnorth of the Mexico-U.S. border.

When you go to themuseum, watch the old35mm movie about Pan-cho Villa and GeneralGeorge "Blackjack" Per-shing. Villa crossed the

again each night. The Deming Public School Dis-trict pays to educate these children. And manypeople on both sides of the border support theactivity; some are even trying to establish the firstinternational school district. We think you would

be hard-pressed to pin-point another place in

The videotape showseducational life as it is in thisplace, or at least as we foundit when we were there.

border here in 1916 andshot up the local hoteland a few of its guests.Legend suggests the proprietor cheated him out ofsome money, and Villa took it as a personalaffront. The movie's narrator contends the raidmarked the only time in history that a "foreignpower" invaded the United States. Obviously, thefilm and life itself were conceptualized in simplertimestimes when soldiers galloped off under thebanner of democracy to force foreigners to theirknees, and terrorists did not fly in, plant plasticexplosives in the bowels of the World Trade Cen-ter, and fly out again. Nonetheless, you cannot sitin the museum's dark little theater on those hardseats, watch the movie, step out into the lightagain, and perceive life in that part of the world inquite the same way as you did when you first droveinto town.

In somewhat analogous fashion, that is what wehope will happen as you work through this video-case on educational life in Columbus ElementarySchool. We want you to imagine yourself in thisplace where children cross the international bor-der from Mexico to attend public school in theUnited States each morning, and return home

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the United States thatposes more sharplydefined issues about thenature of publiceducation and themaintenance and diffu-sion of culture.

Here, you will findtwo cultures separateddistinctly by a border;

but the ebb and flow of culture across the lineblurs the social-psychological separation. You willsee and hear "multicultural education" as it isdefined through practice in this community. Butyou will have to decide how real, how influential,how efficacious the practice is. You will also findyourself wondering about the meaning of "culture"as defined in part by languagea factor of increas-ing importance in many of our nation's schools.

The videotape shows educational life as it is inthis place, or at least as we found it when we werethere. Did people alter their words and deedsbecause we pointed a camera in their direction?Sure, they probably wanted to put on their bestface. At the same time, we have learned fromyears of videotaping in schools that the vast major-ity of people forget we are there after about 15minutes; by the second day, they have forgottenour names and why we are there. What we end upwith is footage of fairly natural, even ordinary lifein and around schools.

This videocase is one of a pair other is "TheCase of Deming, New Mexico: L. __ national Pub-lic Education." Deming, a village 30 miles north

of Columbus, is the location of the junior high,mid-high, and high schools. We have designed thetwo videocases to span the geography and to a cer-tain extent the sociology of the district. We thinkof these cases as slices of lifenot so good as beingthere, but useful devices for broadening and deep-ening one's view of education.

The Elements of a Videocase

These videocases are typically composed of threecomponents: a videotape of unstaged teaching andlearning in a multicultural setting, a teaching notefor an instructor using the videotape, and a writtenset of critical perspectives on the video (Herbert &McNergney, 1995). This particular case conformsto the general model by including: (1.) 23 minutesof unstaged, edited video footage of teaching andlearning in and around an elementary school inColumbus, New Mexico; (2) a teaching notecontaining a transcript of the videotape andquestions designed to help instructors engagepeople in case-based discussions about educationallife in Columbus; and (3) a set of three criticalperspectives on the video written by knowledge-able professionalspeople who compel us to thinkseriously about the situation.

After a brief introduction, the videotape isdivided into five segments. First, Dennis Armijo,principal of Columbus School, provides back-ground on the district's practice of educatingstudents from Mexico. Second, Lynda Leyba, asecond-grade teacher, introduces a set of vocabu-lary words written in Spanish and English to herstudents. She also talks about her background, herknowledge of Spanish, her beliefs about multicul-tural education, and some of the problems sheencounters in the classroom. Third, MarioVasquez, the bilingual resource teacher, conducts alesson on chiles and describes his educational goalsfor students. Fourth, Leyba and members of theresource team talk about similarities and differ-ences among cultural groups represented inColumbus School. Fifth, the resource team dis-cusses some of the challenges students fromColumbus experience when they go to junior-highschool in Deming, New Mexico. Finally, oneresource staff member describes changes in curricu-lum since she was a student at Columbus school,

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and another talks about efforts to involve parentsin school activities.

The teaching note contains many specific ques-tions about the videotape. The questions areorganized into five general categories that encour-age people: (1) to perceive problems andopportunities for teaching as they present them-selves on the video; (2) to recognize values thatdrive people's actions on the tape; (3) to call uppersonal, empirical, and/or theoretical knowledgerelevant to teaching practice as it might occur inthis situation or in a similar one; (4) to speculateon what actions might reasonably be taken in thesituation; and (5) to forecast likely consequencesof such actions. We think these five types of ques-tions can be used to trigger people to reflect or tothink professionally about educational practice.

The teaching note for Columbus Elementary waswritten by Linda Warner, director of teacher ser-vices at the Boston Children's Museum. Asdirector, Warner organizes a variety of professionaldevelopment programs for classroom teachers .

Before assuming this position, Warner directed themuseum's Multicultural Education Project forclassroom teachers in grades kindergarten througheight. Warner has a bachelor's degree in sociologyfrom Simmons College and a master's degree ineducation, with an emphasis in teaching English asa Foreign Language, from the University of Michi-gan. She taught for five years in Massachusetts'spublic elementary schools during the 1970s, a timewhen there was an influx of immigrants from Puer-to Rico into the community. Warner also taughtEnglish as a foreign language in Taiwan, China,and japan. After her return to the United States,she taught English as a Second Language for eightyears in refugee resettlement and literacy programs,college writing programs, and adult education pro-grams in Boston.

Three professional educators wrote critical per-spectives. Each is, in her or his own right,eminently qualified to comment on the content ofthis videotape.

Ursula Casanova is an associate professor atArizona State University. Her research has cen-tered on policy issues related to education andculture and has been disseminated in such publi-cations as Schoolchildren At Risk (Richardson,Casanova, Placier, & Guilfoyle, 1989), ElementarySchool Secretaries: The Women in the Princibal's

Office (Casanova, 1991), and Putting Research toWork in Your School (Berliner & Casanova, 1993).Since 1990, Casanova and David Berliner havecollaborated with the National Education Associa-tion on the publication of several books directedat bridging the gap between research and practice.Casanova also co-edited with Jay Blanchard AnAnthology of Modern Fiction on School Teaching (inpress). Before assuming her position at ArizonaState University, Casanova was a classroomteacher and a principal.

Deidre Dancer Mc Mann is a doctoral student inbilingual education with emphases in writing, lit-eracy/biliteracy, and teacher education at theCollege of Education, University of New Mexico.For the past five years, McMann has also served asthe writing resource teacher on the bilingualresource team at Adobe Acres Elementary School,Albuquerque, New Mexico. Prior to this time,McMann taught for six years in elementary andmiddle schools in Albuquerque. In summer 1991,she was a National Writing Project Fellow, and in1992, McMann was co-director of the year-longRio Grande Writing Project.

Martin Haberman, a distinguished professor ofcurriculum and instruction in the School of Edu-cation at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,has experience as a classroom teacher in grades 2 ,

4, and 6 and as a dean of urban outreach. Duringhis tenure at the university, Haberman has devel-oped several teacher education programs. Inrecent years he has focused in particular on thecreation of alternative certification programs forattracting minorities into teaching and for resolv-ing the continuing shortage of teachers for schoolsin poverty areas. His interview for selecting suc-cessful urban teachers is used in cities throughoutthe country. In addition, Haberman has writtenseven books, 45 chapters, and 145 articles, hismost recent book being Star Teachers of Children inPoverty, (West Lafayette, Ind: Kappa Delta Pi).Haberman is a former editor of the Journal ofTeacher Education.

Some Instructional Options

We have designed this videocase to be used indifferent ways. Participants' needs, pressures oftime, and instructors' personal styles make instruc-tional flexibility desirable. We have used all the

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options below and do not necessarily prefer oneover another. The audience and instructionalobjectives should dictate instructional strategy.

Teach One or Two Segments in a Session

The most common strategy for teaching avideocase in the context of a typical college oruniversity course is to break it into segments andto teach it over two class sessions. The segmentsare denoted by text slides interspersed among thevideo footage. (A numeral in the lower right cor-ner of the screen corresponds to the order in whichtext slides and their accompanying footageappear.) On this videotape, there is a brief intro-duction followed by five slides:

(1) "Dennis Armijo, principal "Armijodescribes the community of teachers and learnersat Columbus Elementary School. He also talksabout goals of the school's bilingual program, par-ents' expectations, and the home-schoolconnection.

(2) "Lynda Leyba, second grade teacher "Leybacalls the roll and then introduces a list of voL:abu-lary words in both English and Spanish. She asksstudents to read the words chorally and to usethem in sentences. Leyba also explains why shehas organized the lesson in this fashion, and shetalks about some of the challenges she faces as sheplans for instruction.

(3) "Mario Vasquez, bilingual resource teacher"Vasquez talks about his background and about hisjob at Columbus School. He also teaches a lessonon chiles to Leyba's students. As he does so, avoice-over reveals some of Vasquez's beliefs aboutteaching.

(4) "Resource Team"Leyba. Vasquez, and otherstaff members discuss similarities and differences inthe ways parents think about work, education, andchildren's behavior. One staff member also talksabout the importance of being able to speak a stu-dent's first language.

(5) "Moving Up and Moving On"Staff membeisdiscuss some of the challenges Columbus students

IV BEST COPY AVAILABLE

face when they go to junior high school in Dem-ing, New Mexicoa community about 30 milesfrom Columbus.

(6) "Cinco de Mayo"One staff member who,as a child, crossed the border to attend ColumbusSchool, describes how the curriculum has changedover time. She notes in particular that she neverstudied Mexican history or culture and thus feels"cheated." Another staff member talks about theannual Cinco de Mayo festival and its importanceto students and their families.

Time required for instruction. We have taughtthis particular case numerous times in two sessions,with each session lasting approximately 1 hour.The time required, however, depends greatly onthe maturity and experience of the class membersand on their willingness to share their thoughts.Rich discussion emanates from good questions andis sustained in an environment where people feelsafe to speak their minds. Generally we find expe-rienced educators have more to say than dobeginners.

Group size. We have taught groups varying insize from 6 to 80. A group needs to be largeenough to generate a discussion among membersbut not so large that people fail to have a chanceto speak if they wish to do so. Usually we use acombination of whole-group and small-group dis-cussions. We establish small groups of four to sixpeople, assign a recorder to each group, and havethe small groups report back to the whole group atvarious points in the session.

Instructional procedures. Although the orderof the steps below might vary on occasion, as wenote, each represents an important part of a case-based lesson.

(1) Post five large sheets of newsprint aroundthe classroorr., each labeled with one of the keywords: FACTS/ISSUES, PERSPECTIVES,KNOWL EDGE, ACTIONS, CONSEQUENCES.(It is a good idea to have a couple of extra sheetsready in case you need the extra writing space.)

(2) Provide an overview of the case and explainto students that after they view a portion of the

video, they will analyze what they have seen andheard by responding to some questions. Reviewthe meanings of the key words that will guide thediscussion.

(3) Show the introductory portion of the video-tape and the first segment ("Dennis Armijo,principal").

(4) Begin discussion of the first segment by ask-ing students to describe what they saw occurring(FACTS/ISSUES). Ask students to addressremaining questions represented by key words.Record students comments on the sheets or assigna recorder to do so. (If you are concerned abouthaving too little time, to keep discussion moving,do not record students' full oral responses; merelyuse key words to guide discussion.)

(5) Show a second segment. Ask students toaddress each of the five questions. Record respons-es on newsprint. If using small groups, appoint arecorder for each group to take notes on people'sresponses and to present the group's ideas to theentire class using a "nominal group" technique.Using this technique, the instructor takes only oneidea from a group at a time and then moves to thenext group for another idea. For instance, theinstructor might say: "Would group one pleaseidentify the single most important issue in the seg-ment of video you just viewed? Remember, giveme only one issue, and then we will move to grouptwo to identify another issue." The instructor goesfrom group to group in this fashion until the ideashave been exhausted.

Pull some direct quotations from the critical per-spectives. We often make overhead transparenciesof particular pages and highlight selected lines toemphasize with the class. The entire perspectivecan be assigned as homework later.

(6) Closure. Ask students to consider: (a) pos-sible explanations for similarities and differences intheir thoughts about the videotape, and (b) rea-sons for examining a particular alternative way ofthinking about teaching and learning in this situa-tion. Have individual students write about theirthoughts or encourage them to cooperate on asmall-group reaction paper.

Teach the Whole Case in One Session

This strategy is designed to teach the wholevideocase from beginning to end.

Time required for instruction. We have taughtthis whole videocase in slightly more than twohours, excluding time for reading expert perspec-tives. With three hours, there is time to proceedwith a whole-group/small-group approach, discussevents and reflections, and even consider selectedcomments from the expert perspectives. Onceagain, the time required depends on the experi-ence of the studentsmore mature groups oftenbring a wealth of practical knowledge to discus-sions. We strongly encourage people toexperimentshow the events, frame discussionquestions, take short breaks between such discus-sions, assign outside reading and writing relevantto a case, return the next day and reflect on theprevious discussions and readings.

Group size. We have held case-based sessionswith as few as six people and with as many as 80.When students are organized so they have ampleopportunity to participate in small and/or wholegroups, so they focus on the five key ideas, and somomentum in discussion is maintained, a sessionwill be successful.

Instructional procedures. (1) Post five largesheets of newsprint around the classroom, eachlabeled with one of the key words: FACTS/ISSUES, PERSPECTIVES, KNOWLEDGE,ACTIONS, CONSEQUENCES. Explain to stu-dents, as in Option #1, that after they view aportion of the videotape, they will think aboutwhat they have seen and heard by responding tofive questions. Review the meanings of key words.(2) Show the introduction and two segments. Askstudents to address each of the five questions. Tosave time, do not record students' responses. (3)Show the li-st two segments; again address the fivequestions, this time recording responses onnewsprint.

Note that instructor questions need not proceedin linear fashion. For example, the instructor maydeal with questions 1 and 2, move to question 4,then come back to question 3, and jump to ques-

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tion 5. As students work their way through thecase and learn more about the situation, theinstructor may need to focus less on the first twoquestions (FACTS/ISSUES, PERSPECTIVES)and more on the last three (KNOWLEDGE, alter-natives for ACTION, CONSEQUENCES).(4) Introduce students to the concept of a "Profes-sional Perspective." Do so by describing it as oneprofessionally defensible point of view on thevideotape. Provide one or more perspectives anddraw particular attention to the identities of thewriters. Ask what explicit and implicit aspects ofthe writers' backgrounds may bt especially impor-tant to understand when interpreting theirremarks. Because of the time required to read oneor more perspectives students will need to examinethem outside of class time.

When assigning one or more critical perspectivesyou might choose the one most at odds with yourown point of view. If you do so, you can reinforcethe idea that in education, as in other professions,there are often multiple acceptable points of view.Or you might select any two perspectives and havestudents report on the similarities and differencesbetween them with respect to events viewed anddiscussed during class. Have students file the per-spectives for future reference. (5) Invoke closurein the session. Ask students to consider: (a) possi-ble reasons for similarities and differences in theirthoughts about events depicted on the videotape,and (b) the strengths and limitations of the profes-sional perspectives.

View the Videotape as a Documentary

Although the videotape is designed to be used toencourage the development of people's reflectivepowers through active consideration of the fivetypes of questions as the situation unfolds, theinstructor might run it from beginning to end as adocumentary.

Time required for instruction. Showing thisvideotape and holding a brief discussion about itscontents typically takes us about 1 hour-5 min-utes to set stage for viewing by providing a briefoverview, 30 minutes to view the video, and about20 minutes or slightly more for discussion.

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Group size. Because there is less emphasis onin-class analysis and discussion under this option,group size is relatively unimportant, governedlargely by students' abilities to see and hear thevideotape.

Instructional procedures. The videotape can beviewed from beginning to end with no pauses fordiscussion much as one would view a documentaryfilm. To maximize the value of such a viewing, theinstructor should provide background informationon the contents of the tapethat is, foreshadowwhat will be seen and heard. If the instructorwants to focus discussion later on particular issuesor events, he or she should alert viewers to beattuned to particular points of interest.

For example, the instructor might focus viewers'attention on opportunities for teaching and learn-ing in a bilingual class by alerting viewers toparticular aspects of instruction in Leyba's class-room. What types of activities do Leyba andVasquez plan for students? How do they use Eng-lish and Spanish during instruction? What moremight you want to know about their lessons? If youwere a teacher in this classroom, would you usecooperative learning strategies? Why or why not?These and other questions might be used toencourage viewers to analyze what they see on thevideotape.

When the videotape is viewed as a documentary,it can be useful to assign one or more of the criticalperspectives to be read after class. The perspec-tives encourage people to think about what theyhave seen and heard in relation to someone else'sview. It is best to follow up later by asking stu-dents to respond to some questions, either orally orin writing, about the perspectives in relation totheir own position or via-a-vis one another.

Conclusion

Although we have designed this videocase to beused primarily with teachers, it can be used tostimulate conversations among other stakeholdersin education. A colleague of ours, Rudy Ford, hasused another videocase with administrators, par-ents, and students, as well as teachers. Thesegroups willingly shared their thoughts about whatthey saw and heardsometimes disagreeing on the

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finer points but more often than not agreeing onhow to define problems and opportunities inschools. Involving others in discussions aboutschool life seems worth both the time and effort ifpeople want to build consensus for action in publiceducation.

For example, the Columbus case might encour-age people with different points of view to air theiropinions about "multicultural education" and tolisten to one another in the process. What evi-dence do parents accept that education isoccurring, to say nothing of that education beingmulticultural? According to students and their par-ents, how many and which cultures must influencea program before education might reasonably betermed "multi" cultural? What activities otherthan festivals, cooperative work groups, andassigned readings do school administrators believeteachers should use to promote mutual apprecia-tion of cultures? And so forth.

A discussion about multicultural educationamong diverse groups today might well turn toquestions about the many conceptions of "politicalcorrectness," or PC. Do people view multiculturaleducation as a form of PCthat is, as an attemptto apply political criteria for acceptable publicexpression? Or do they think that multiculturaleducation goals and behaviors characterized as PCare honest and reasonable attempts to redress thecasual stigmatization of minorities? Do peoplethink that what is termed PC behavior is just plaingood manners? This videocase will not resolvethese complex problems, but, in the hands of askilled discussion leader, it could be used to exam-ine them carefully and fairly.

We do not present the Columbus videocase, andby inference the Deming school system, as a modelto be emulated. Our goal is more modest. Wehope people will think and talk with one anotherabout this slice of life, and in doing so, learn some-thing about the people and the schools in thisplace. Maybe students of the case will begin tosee their own situations in a slightly differentlightto think, talk, and behave in their owncommunities with a richer awareness of the peoplearound them.

References

Berliner, D.C. & Casanova, U. (1993). Puttingresearch to work in your school. New York:Scholastic.

Casanova, U. (1991). Elementary school secretaries:The women in the principal's office. NewburyPark, Calif: Corwin Press.

Casanova, U. & Blanchard, J. (Eds.). (in press).An anthology of modern fiction on school teaching.Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Haberman, M. (1995). Star teachers of children inpoverty. West Lafayette, Ind: Kappa Delta Pi.

Herbert, J. M. &. McNergney, R. F. (Eds.). (1995).Guide to foundations in action videocases: Teachingand learning in multicultural settings for foundationsof education. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Richardson, V., Casanova, U., Placier, P. & Guil-foyle, K. (1989). School children at risk (1989).New York: Falmer Press.

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rilby Linda Warnerg

(The Children's Museum, Boston, Massachusetts)

Case Summary

This case portrays Columbus Elementary Schoolin Columbus, New Mexico. A bilingual school forchildren in grades kindergarten through five,Columbus Elementary is located 3 miles from theborder between the United States and Mexico.About half of the children who attend the schoolactually live in Mexico. The case begins with adescription of the Columbus community and aninterview with the principal of Columbus Elemen-tary School. Next, there are scenes from lessonstaught by Lynda Leyba, a second-grade teacher,and by Mario Vasquez, a bilingual resource teacher.During each of these events, the teachers com-ment (reflect) on their lessons. The two classroomepisodes are followed by a discussion among LyndaLeyba and resource team members and scenes fromthe school-wide celebration of Cinco de Mayo(May 5).

Edited Transcript of IntroductoryComments (1 min. 30 sec.)

Narrator: Columbus, New Mexico, is an agricul-tural community near the international boundaryseparating Mexico and the United States. It is aquiet town where traditional views of communityand territory are being challenged.

Just three miles from the border is ColumbusElementary School, a bilingual school for kinder-garten through fifth-grade students. Of the some340 students enrolled at Columbus Elementary,approximately 97 percent are on free or reduced-price lunches. The school is unique because about49 percent of the students live in Mexico. Theyattend Columbus at U.S. taxpayers' expense.

In the early glades, basic skills are taught inSpanish. At the third-grade level, students beginto make the transition to English.

1

As you watch this videotape, you will be encour-aged by your instructor to think about educationallife in this community from multiple points ofview.

Discussion Questions

(1) The narrator states that "traditional views ofcommunity are being challenged" in Columbus,New Mexico. What might be the crux of the chal-lenge? Is tax money the critical issue, or is itsomething else (i.e., the fact that this is a bilingualschool)?

(2) What are some relevant perspectives?

Whose tradition might the narrator be con-sidering when he states that "traditionalviews are being challenged?"

By whom might traditional views be chal-lenged?

Who benefits from the arrangement thatallows children who reside in Mexico to goto school in Columbus? Might anyone behurt by the arrangement?

(3) What do you know about educational arrange-ments in other border towns in the United States?How do they compare to those in Columbus?

(4) What, if anything, do you know about schoolsin Palomas, Mexicothe neighboring town?

(51 What else might you want to know about thissituation? (e.g., Do the towns of Columbus andPalomas, located on either side of the border,work together? If so, how do they collaborate? Ifnot, why not?)

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Dennis Armijo, principal (4 minutes)

In this segment, the principal describes the com-munity of teachers and learners at ColumbusElementary School. He also talks about goals ofthe school's bilingual program, parents' expecta-tions, and the home-school connection.

Edited Transcript

Armijo: Most of the people who live in Columbushave relatives in Palomas. At one point or anoth-er, they were all Mexican residents, and they cameover, and they have established a life here. Theystill have ties to Mexico, and a lot of the unclesand aunts and grandfathers and those people stilllive in Palomas. So there is a unique situationwhere they do have this kind of family together-ness. They just go back and forth all of the time.

Most of the children coming over from Mexicoare American citizens who were born in the Unit-ed States. The parents may not be able to crossthe border because of illegal status, but the chil-dren are U.S. citizens. They have been born inU.S. hospitals.

Parental contact is not as good as we would likeit to be. Occasionally we run into problems. Mostof the parents don't have telephones, and theyleave an emergency number we can call. It couldbe the phone number for a neighbor three blocksaway or a relative that is on the other side of Palo-mas, so the parents don't always get to the phoneright away. When making contact with the home,we either go into Mexico and talk to the parents,or we write them a letter so that they can cross theborder to come to school. But cooperation fromthe parents is great. They will do anything to helpout the school.

Our teachers are mostly English speakers; they arenot Spanish speakers. The only reason that parentsfrom across the border would want to send their kidsover here is for them to learn English, period.

There is some misunderstanding, because theparents do not understand what a bilingual pro-gram is. A lot of them come in and say, "I don'twant to put my children in a bilingual program."When we ask them why, they say, "Well, the rea-son is because I want them to speak English. Theyalready know Spanish."

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Normally, a true bilingual program will take chil-dren who are monolingual speakers of anylanguage and combine them. Here, for example, ifyou have a monolingual English speaker and amonolingual Spanish speaker, and they are in atrue bilingual program, you hope that the Spanishspeaker will learn English and the English speakerwill learn Spanish. And if they live here for therest of their lives they will be able to communicatewith anybody. So when students come over theborder, they need to learn the skills or the way oflife, the American way of life, the Americandream, if you will, of an education. I'm almost surethat most of those kids are going to come to theUnited States and live here, so they need to havethis education. If they don't, then r don't knowwhat would happen.


(1) What are some important issues to consider?

The border station is a visual reminder ofthe important international problem ofimmigration and migration. What is the"unique situation" in Columbus, as Armijoexplains it?

Given Armijo's description of a "true bilin-gual program," what questions might youraise about the language program at Colum-bus Elementary School?

Armijo says his teachers are not Spanishspeakers. Does he mean they are monolin-gual English speakers?

(2) What are some relevant perspectives?

From teachers' points of view, what might bethe advantages and disadvantages of havingchildren cross the border each day to attendschool?

How might parents on either side of the bor-der think about this issue? What aboutstudents? Other people in the community?

(3) 'What more might you want to know aboutthis situation?

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Is Columbus Elementary School able to offera "true" (two-way) bilingual program, asArmijo defines it?

How long has the bilingual program been inexistence?

What kind of training for cultural and lan-guage teaching do staff members atColumbus Elementary receive?

Lynda Leyba, second-grade teacher(5 minutes, 10 seconds)

In this segment, students enter the classroom ona Monday morning. Leyba takes attendance andthen introduces vocabulary words for the week.Included in the transcript below are Lynda Leyba'sintroductory comments, her dialogue with studentsduring the vocabulary lesson, and her reflectionson the lesson.

Edited Transcript

Leyba: This is my third year teaching at Colum-bus Elementary. My husband Gary and I live inDeming. He is a deputy sheriff, and he works forLuna County. He has been there about four years.

I like to garden. My husband and I planted onethis year. It is the first one we have had.

I grew up on a ranch nearby in Las Vegas, NewMexico. I was in 4-H and FFA for about nineyears. I showed steers and "rodeod." I was rodeoqueen, and I won a lot of grand champions andreserve champions. I also have a state farmerdegree from FFA.

They wanted me to come to Columbus Elemen-tary because I speak Spanish and because almost95 percent of the students are Spanish speakers.They thought that I would be able to communi-cate with the students.

(Beginning the school day)Leyba: Denise? Denise didn't come?Students: No.Leyba: Oh, she's doing the First Holy Commu-nion? Okay. Go ahead and put your pencils downso we can talk about our spelling words.

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Leyba's Reflections: On Mondays as anintroduction for the spelling vocabulary,we have 10 words written on the board.They are written in both English andSpanish. The intent is for students tolearn the English. The Spanish words helpthem to understand what the Englishwords mean.

Leyba and students read chorally: Star, party ...Leyba: The words that we are going to have thisweek are not very hard words. Okay? Now let'sread them in English and in Spanish. Together.

Leyba and students: Far, lejos, yard, patio, art,arte .

Leyba's Reflections: The lack of books isa problem, because we are supposed to beteaching in Spanish for part of the day.But the only thing that we have in Span-ish are the readers. All the other materialsare in English, so that is a problem.

All of the teachers here at Columbus ingrades K through 3 have an instructionalassistant to help out with different things.My aide this year is really wonderful. Shehelps out a great deal. She teaches theSpanish reading to the students, because Iam not as fluent. I can speak the languageand I can understand it, but I don't knowhow to actually teach it.

Leyba: Okay, now number one, Rolando read itfor us in English and in Spanish.Rolando: Far, lejos.Leyba: Yard. Adrian, what does yard mean?Leyba: Luis, give me a sentence using the wordfar.Luis: I am far of my house?Leyba: Mmm hmm. I am far away from myhouse. Good. Party Party, Adrian? Lusanna, putthose away.Adrian: We have a party at Cinco de Mayo?',eyba: We have a party for Cinco de Mayo.Good. You guys are giving me good sentences.Now let's try a sentence in Spanish.

Leyba's Reflections: Multicultural educa-tion here means that most of the students

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are from a different culture. We have afew Anglos, but most of them are Mexi-cans or Hispanics, and when you areteaching multicultural education, youwant to make sure that the students under-stand that their culture is just as importantas the dominant culture.

Leyba: Let's try a sentence using the same words,but this time in Spanish. Oscar, vamos a decir ora-ciones en espanol.Leyba: Fiesta. Luis?Luis: El Cinco de Mayo hicieramos la fiesta.Leyba: Are the people that are absent today at afiesta?Students: No. Yes.Leyba: No? Yes they are, because they are makingtheir First Holy Communion. It is a fiesta. It is adifferent kind of fiesta from the Cinco de Mayo,but it is a fiesta also. Okay? Those sentences weregood in both English and Spanish. Let's look atthem one more time and read them in English andin Spanish. I need everybody looking and reading.I want to hear everybody saying them.

Leyba's Reflections: As far as the activitywith Spanish sentences, that is just givingthem an opportunity to do something well.They already know the Spanish words, sothey are able to do a good job making thesentences. That is something that makesthem feel good and helps their self-esteem.


(1) What is Lynda Leyba's background? Her inter-ests? What was one of the reasons she was selectedto teach at Columbus School?

(2) What are Leyba's beliefs regarding multicultur-al education?

(3) How does Lynda Leyba use English and Span-ish in the classroom lesson you see? What is herrationale for doing so?

(4) During the vocabulary lesson, Leyba switchesback and forth between English and Spanish. Doyou think this is confusing to students? Why/Whynot?

(5) What do you know about effective ways toinvolve students actively in vocabulary lessons?

(6) Is it possible to teach well without textbooks?If so, when? If not, why not?

(7) In this segment, Leyba notes that a few stu-dents are absent because of their First HolyCommunion. Can you think of instances whenstudents' religious beliefs have clashed with schoolpractices? How have these differences beenresolved?

(8) WI-at more might you want to know about thissituation?

Pedagogically speaking, what is the contextfor the English vocabulary Leyba is teaching?Is the lesson part of a larger reading unit?

Are students confused by any of the vocabu-lary words? Do students ever discuss thewords and their meanings? (In the lesson, aword in English is defined by one word inSpanish, such as "hard/duro", but the mean-ing of "hard" could also be "difficult." Inanother example, "yard/patio," "yard" couldalso be 36 inches.)

Does Lynda Leyba enjoy teaching? Does shelet students in on her passions and interests?

(9) What might you do if you were in thissituation?

Would you select words from one of the con-tent areas, such as science or social studies,that students are studying?

How could you draw on the home experi-ences of non-English speakers to help themdevelop vocabularies in English?

if you were teaching this lesson, would youuse cooperative learning strategies?Why/Why not?

(10) What might be the effects of your actions?

Do you think the lesson might have been

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more meaningful if students were focusingon words related to concepts being taught inother subjects?

What are the pros and cons of trying tobuild on students' shared experiences?

What kinds of learning opportunities wouldcooperative or small-group activities pro-vide?

Mario Vasquez, bilingual resourceteacher (4 minutes, 40 seconds)

In this segment, Mario Vasquez talks about hisbackground and about his job at Columbus Ele-mentary School. The viewer then sees Vasquezteaching a lesson in Lynda Leyba's classroom.Mario begins by talking about the chile pepper andits uses. lien he demonstrates how chile pepperscan be tied together to make a ristra. Finally,Vasquez and the children construct a ristra for theclassroom. At different points in the lesson, avoice-over reveals some of Mario's thoughts aboutthe lesson.

Edited Transcript

Mario Vasquez: My name is Mario Vasquez, and Iam from Hatch, New Mexico. That is about 80miles from here. I drive from Hatch every day,early in the morning.

My parents are from Mexico. The way my dadgot here was through the Bracero program. Thatwas a farm workers' program back in the 1930s and1940s. He came as a farm worker, with permission,of course. That is how we began our family.

I am what they call a bilingual resource teacher.I go into the classrooms, and I present differentlessons all the way from making a chile ristra toteaching shapes. I do science projects, things inmath, reading, or whatever the teacher needs meto work on.

(Vasquez presents a lesson on chiles.)

Vasquez: Los espaiioles le cambiaron el nombre achile. El chile es muy bueno para la dicta. Tienemucha vitamina A y C. Los usaban antes los

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indios para . .. en ingles se dice it is a naturaldigestive, es un digestivo natural. Bueno, ya rads omenos les dije las cosas importantes del chile.Puede ser que el chile empieza verde y luego ya secambia a rojo. First of all the chile starts green onthe plant, and then it becomes red by the fall.Usually chile is available como en late July andAugust. And the chile is the .rate vegetable.

Vasquez's Reflections: In my job asresource teacher, I think students ought tolearn first their own culture. I think thatis really important. They need to knowwho they are and where they come fromand be proud of that.

I think what happens in situationswhere all teaching is done in English, a lotof times they just teach the other culturesbesides the students' culture. So, oftenstudents' culture is left out. A lot of it isthe American way, the American way. Forinstance, teachers don't bring in thingslike the chile, as I did in my lesson today.

(Vasquez models the procedure for tying chilestogether to make a ristra.)

Vasquez: The correct way is ristra Yo diria elnombre correcto es ristra de chile. You take threechiles, wrap them in a rubber band at least 3 or 4times. Ya, muy bien. Ya hicieron uno. Put themtogether. Take your time; there is no hurry. We aregoing to make a ristra.

Vasquez's Reflections: I think everychild's culture should be preserved,because it can easily become lost. A childbecomes Americanized, you could say. I

know a lot of children who act "Ameri-can." They forget where they came from.I think that goes for any culture, whetherit be Japanese, Laotian, or Indian. Cultureis just so important, their identity, whothey are, where they come from, their lan-guage, their food, all of these things.

Vasquez: You are going to tie every other one sothe wind won't shake your ristra all over the place.Van a marrar cada otro bonche de chile. Notodos .

Vasquez's Reflections: We are friends.We are right here on the border. There isa closeness between Columbus, the Dem-ing area, and Mexico. I think it is a greatplace to teach. The kids are really respect-ful. They are willing to learn, and theparents are realii supportive. That is onething you can say about the people inPalomas, Mexico; they are very supportive.


(1) What are some relevant facts?

How does Mario Vasquez describe hisinstructional role at Columbus School?

How do Vasquez's goals for students compareto those discussed by Armijo?

(2) How is Vasquez's ethnic/cultural backgroundimportant to his teaching?

(3) During instruction, Lynda Leyba switches backand forth between English and Spanish, and MarioVasquez uses concurrent translation. How do thetwo practices compare? What might be the disad-vantages of each?

(4) What more might you want to know aboutthis lesson?

Do Mario and Lynda work together to planMario's lessons? Do they co-teach?

How are Vasquez's lessons integrated withclassroom instruction? Are his lessons "add-ons," or are they part of the largercurriculum of social studies, arts, language,science, etc.?

M How does Mario think about teaching?Does he prefer to use realia rather than atextbook?

Is there a curriculum for multicultural educa-tion at Columbus School? If so, what are thedesired outcomes of instruction for eachgrade level?

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(5) What might you do if you were in Mario'sposition?

How could you work collaboratively withteachers at Columbus School to improveclassroom instruction (both your own andothers)?

What resources would you need? Howmight you acquire them?

(6) What might be the consequences of youractions?

If you were a resource teacher, what mightbe the upside and the downside of teamteaching with classroom teachers?

What are the likely effects of asking/not ask-ing the administrator for money to purchasesupplies? What do you think about teachersusing their own money to buy classroommaterials?

Resource Team (4 minutes)

In this segment of the videotape, staff membersdiscuss similarities and differences in the ways par-ents think about work, education, and children'sbehavior. One staff member also talks about theeducational importance of being able to speak astudent's first language.

Edited Transcript

Mario: I think for this area the two main culturesthat we deal with are the people from Mexico andthe Spanish people that live here in Columbus. Itis a farming community. It is mainly those twoculturesthe Spanish people and then the Anglopeople who are ranchers. I think what makes thetwo groups alike is that in each culture both par-ents have to work. That is what we were talkingabout earlier.

Paula: It is not as accepted in Mexico as it is here.Still.

Interviev2r0 For both parents to work?

Paula: Right. I see the parents that come in, andwhen you ask what they do, they are really proudto put down housewife or homemaker. And thereis nothing wrong with it. It is as if they are sayingthis is my status, and I like it. Here, however, youkind of shy away from this. You write that you area homemaker, not a housewife.

Consuela: (Describes parent education programto Lynda Leyba.) Didn't you know that? Our par-ents are coming to visit the computer lab now forESL at night now. I didn't think it was going towork, because some of the parents don't know howto read at all, and this requires some reading. Butthey don't even want to take a break.

Others: Uh huh ... Parents love those computers.

Mario: They don't even take a break. I know thatConsuela tells them, "Okay, time to take a break."She has to tell them a couple of times.

Consuela: In both cultureF education is seen assomething that is a necessity for the future.

Ophelia: Education is a little bit different here.What you were talking about earlier ...

Consuela: I think that Anglo parents' expecta-tion of a student is to excel, excel, excel inanything they do. This is from day one.

Ophelia: The Mexican family, and I do not knowif it is true any more, but their expectation is tojust get enough education so they can go out thereand work. Maybe it is changing a little bit. But inthe United States, it is all college-bound. That isall you think . . . college, college.

Consuela: It is very evident too that the parentsin Mexico take responsibility for the behavior ordiscipline part of the child's education. In theUnited States, a lot of parents say while studentsare in school, you teach them how to behave, youteach them what is right and what is wrong, all ofthat. In Mexico, I feel that is quite a bit different.Parents expect the child to come to school to learnsubject matter. Discipline and behavior patternsare definitely the responsibility of the parent, butmostly of the mother.

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Lynda: I want to add to what Consuela was sayingabout parents assuming responsibility for disci-pline. One of the first things my parents ask is, "Ismy child learning English?" The other questionthey have is, "How well is my child behaving? Ismy child behaving right?"

Consuela: Multicultural education takes advan-tage of a child's language. It is an asset to be ableto speak a child's language, because the teachercan get so much more participation from the stu-dent if she can relate to the language. For instance,a child can come and tell the teacher, "Teacher,teacher, we killed a pig yesterday." Hubo unamatanza. And an Anglo teacher will just say,"Great, the kid has meat in the freezer now." But abicultural person can make a whole hour out ofthat comment and involve the whole class.Because slaughtering a pig is not meat in the freez-er in the Mexican culture. It is a fiesta, whenaunts and uncles and others come together.


(1) According to staff members, how are Mexi-can/Hispanic and Anglo families similar anddifferent?

(2) How does the resource team at Columbusreach out to parents?

(3) What are the advantages of multicultural edu-cation, as Consuela explains it?

(4) What do you know about the research onteachers' expectations? How might teachers'beliefs about students' patterns of behavior posi-tively and negatively influence their actions?

(5) What more might you want to know?

Who is included in the resource team?What is the team's role at Columbus School?

The banner in the cafeteria reads "ColumbusElementary School--Where Two CulturesBlend." Is "Anglo culture" taught in theschool? If so, how is this done?

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Which parents use the computer lab? Whatcomputer programs are they using? What arethe goals of the evening program? (e.g., Isone goal to encourage social interaction? toteach parents to read?)

(6) If you were not bilingual or bicultural, howmight you prepare yourself to teach at ColumbusSchool? (Would you take courses; talk with par-ents; talk with students; confer with the principaland with Mario, Consuela, and other members ofthe resource team?)

(7) What might you learn from each type of activ-ity? What kind of time commitment might eachentail?

Moving Up and Moving On(1 minute, 25 seconds)

In this segment, staff members describe some ofthe challenges students face when they leaveColumbus School. They discuss in particular theisolation students experience at the junior highschool.

Edited Transcript

Consuela: There is a shock, a kind of shock, whenour students go to junior high from here. They feelthat they do not belong, and they feel isolated.

Vasquez: There are more people from other cul-tures, and I think that is hard. That first year atthe junior high school is like a shock to them.

Consuela: But I think that multicultural educa-tion is helping to overcome this. I think that thestudents who leave this place understand theAnglo culture a little bit more. They understandthat they are not going to be greeted and huggedand all this kind of thing, because that is not theAnglo way. 1 think that when they go out into thereal world, they go out with an open mind, saying,"Not everybody is like me, but it is okay."

Ophelia: I also noticed something when I wasworking at the junior high. I would see a lot of thegirls holding hands, and a lot of the other kids

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would really really go after them and call them,you know, lesbians or whatever. And to them, itis perfectly normal to hold hands. I think that weshould respect them because that is the way theybelieve. And that's okay.

All: Touchy-feely type people .. . yeah ... mmhmm . and they dance together. That is true . .

yes . .. even slow dances. It is the culture. It istrue, we had that at the fiesta ... and it is accept-able, even at our Cinco de Mayo ... mm hmm .

we had a lot of ladies dancing .. . older ladies too.it is just part of the culture, and we should respectthat.


(I) What is the teachers' main concern regardingstudents' transition to the junior high school?What are some of the difficulties students facewhen they leave Columbus School?

(2) What do you think are some of the more effec-tive ways to integrate students of different racesand cultures in schools?

(3) What more would you want to know about thissituation if you were teaching at ColumbusSchool?

Teachers talk about helping students under-stand the "Anglo culture." Do they viewAnglo culture as monolithic American (i.e.,non-Hispanic) culture? What are the advan-tages and disadvantages of generalizing about"Anglo" and "Hispanic" cultures?

How do teachers take advantage of the"Anglo" culture and community that sur-round the school in Columbus?

(4) What might you do if you were in this situa-tion?

Would you teach students that some behav-iors are culture-specific? If so, how wouldyou do this? Give an example.

In your study of multicultural education,which cultures would you examine?

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How would you help students understandthat cultures are not monolithic?

Would you involve students at the juniorhigh school in your efforts to ease students'transition from one school to the next? if so,what might you do? (For example, would youorganize a mentoring program? if so, howwould you organize such a program?)


What if anything might be lost and gainedwhen teachers draw attention to culture-spe-cific behaviors?

One risk of examining particular cultures ina multicultural program is that of oversimpli-fying cultures or of excluding other culturesfrom study. How serious a threat might thisbe to the program?

What types of information might you use todemonstrate variability within and betweencultures? (Give some examples.)

What might be some advantages and disad-vantages of creating a student mentorprogram?

Cinco de Mayo (2 minutes, 20 seconds)

In this last portion of the videotape, one staffmember describes ways the curriculum has changedsince she was a student at Columbus School.Another talks about the benefits of the school'sCinco de Mayo celebration.

Paula: I attended Columbus School, and when Iwas a student, we always learned about Americanholidays. I never knew anything about any Mexi-can holiday. I lived in Mexico, but I didn't knowabout the holidays that were celebrated, because Iwas always here. So therefore, believe it or not, Ihave learned about history and other things,because I work here. And I feel that I was cheated,because there arc many things that 1 am proud ofthat I missed out on all those years.

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Consuela: I think it is good for the school and thehome to get together every once in a while, andthe Cinco de Mayo celebration is a very good wayto do it, because both cultures can relate to theevent. The fiesta is great, but preparing for thefiesta is even better. We have parents coming inhere, anxious to help out. They sit in here andthey cut out stuff. They make costumes, they sew,they go and borrow whatever they think we'regoing to need, and it really does make them feel apart of the school. That is what we really are aim-ing forfor the parent to feel at home and part ofthis school.

Students: (singing)Cinco de Mayo, Cinco de Mayo. Cinco deMayo is a day of celebration everyone cansee.Cinco de Mayo, Cinco de Mayo. Cinco deMayo is a symbol of being free.In the village of Puebla, the Mexicansoldiers,Fought against the French who wanted tocontrol Mexico.The Mexican soldiers surprised everybodyAnd won with the French, as historyalways will show.


(1) What do you know about different ways multi-cultural education is taught? [e.g., ChristineSleeter and Carl Grant (1988), describe fiveapproaches: teaching the exceptional and the cul-turally different, human relations, single-groupstudies, multicultural education, and educationthat is multicultural and reconstructionist.] Howwould you characterize multicultural education atColumbus School?

(2) What else might you want to know aboutColumbus School if you were to teach there?

Who (other than staff members, students,and parents) is involved in Cinco de Mayoactivities? For example, are local artists orbusiness people involved in any way? Dostudents from other schools participate inthe fiesta?

What other celebrations are emphasized bythe school?

Are students learning about Hispanic cul-tures other than their own? What do theylearn about other American cultures, such asAsian- or African-American cultures?

(3) What might you do if you were a teacher atColumbus School?

How might you involve the communities ofColumbus and Palomas in the Cinco deMayo celebration?

Would you show this video to other teachersand ask them some of the questions you wereasked to address?


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Why might the Cinco de Mayo celebrationbe an important opportunity for the schoolto involve the larger community of business-es, community organizations, agencies, andartists in Columbus and Palomas?

How might this videocase challenge yourcolleagues to think critically about the cur-riculum as portrayed in this videocase and toconsider its effects on efforts to prepareColumbus students for future life experi-ences?

References

Sleeter, C.E., & Grant, C.A. (1988). Making choic-es for multicultural education: Five approaches torace, class, and gender. Columbus, OH: Merrill.

ICritical Perspective Iof the Case:by Ursula Casanova(Arizona State University)

I approach discussions about multiculturalismfrom a very personal perspective. I have matured asan adult in this country, but my roots are in anisland only some people recognize as part of theUnited States. My understanding and appreciationof the New Mexico case study is filtered first of allthrough that experience. It is also filtered throughmy many years of experience as a teacher andschool principal, and now as a university professor.

I followed my parents, unwillingly, to New YorkCity soon after completing high school in PuertoRico. I did not want to leave the beautiful islandwhere I had lived a very happy childhood, nor didI want to leave my high school friends who wereready to enter the University of Puerto Rico(UPR). The university was to me a friendly, famil-iar place, since I had been a student at the smalland highly academic University High School.Nonetheless, New York suggested excitement and,in spite of my emotional resistance, I was curiousenough to also look towards my new home withsome anticipation.

I was fortunate to arrive in New York fully bilin-gual in English and Spanish, and with an excellentschool record. I was accepted at the then all-female Hunter College of New York City, ParkAvenue Branch. Unlike the UPR, Hunter had nocampus. It was, and continues to be, essentially anoffice building. Its physical appearance was a dis-appointment to me. However, I was also aware ofHunter's reputation and eager for the academicchallenge.

But I was not ready for the great divisions I per-ceived soon after my arrival. In the great pluralisticcauldrons of New York City and Hunter, I noticedthat one of the first questions asked of anyone was:"What are you?" The answers were sometimesobvious, othertimes less so. People who, in myeyes, barely differed from each other in looks orspeech identified themselves as Irish, Italian, Pol-

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ish, Greek, German. I had never thought of theinhabitants of NY as nationals of distant countries;to me they were all "Americanos." I learned torespond to the query by identifying myself as Puer-to Rican. My response, spoken with the strongaccent of a newcomer, immediately branded me asa foreigner.

There were also clubs designated for differentgroups. I began to recognize superficial character-istics associated with different nationalities. Therewere few Puerto Ricans at Hunter then, and noPuerto Rican club to join. Eager to be a part ofsomething familiar to me, I joined the SpanishClub and found there a handful of Puerto Ricanstudents. The club served as a social center, and asa limited but useful network where we could shareinformation about teachers, courses, and other col-legial anxieties. It was neither political nor ethnicin its focus.

During the four years I remained at Hunter mysense of identity experienced a gradual shift.Although I arrived in New York as a Puerto Rican,I had not expected to be reminded of this fact veryoften. In Puerto Rico I had learned that I was acitizen of the U.S., entitled to all the right andresponsibilities implied by that label. I came readyto accept and to be accepted. And yet I felt con-tinually forced to choose between denying mycultural heritage or conspicuously displaying it.Which club would I join? Which parades would Iattend? Was I "foreign," or was I a citizen of theUnited States?

Several times during my four years in New YorkCity, I was forced to remember that I was different.When I wore green on St. Patrick's Day, 1 wasreminded that Puerto Ricans were not entitled todo so by one of my Irish classmates. And, after ayear of friendly relationship with the owners of thebrownstone we rented, we were asked to please notsay we were Puerto Rican when queried by poten-

"U

tial buyers of the building. We could pass for Ital-ians, they said, "... not that they had anythingagainst Puerto Ricans."

There were also the "compliments:" "You can'tbe Puerto Rican!" or "You don't look like a PuertoRican!" Soon I began to understand the subtleimplications of these so-called "compliments."Speakers were giving me an opportunity to denymy heritage and to join the majority, or to confessand remain marginalized. I resisted but wasnonetheless forced into a choice. This forcedchoice was and continues to be, a source of con-stant tension, although I have chosen to be openlyand proudly Puerto Rican.

Native foods, the Spanish language unsullied byEnglish borrowings, and all the other accouter-ments of the culture within which I had grown upbecame increasingly important as I began to iden-tify more and more with my ethnic group. Duringthe Civil Rights movement, I also began to allymyself with the recently created "Hispanic" minor-ity. Gradually I became an ethnic, and assumed myproper place in the American cultural landscape.

Iswajid (1974) defines ethnicity as "an involun-tary group of people who share the same culture oras descendants of such people who identify them-selves and/or are identified by others as belongingto the same involuntary groups" (p. 122). You mayhave no choice in selecting the group into whichyou are born, but you do have a choice in deter-mining your allegiances. And that choice iscontingent, upon your encounters with members ofanother group. I made the choice, but I remainsuspicious about how much control I was reallyable to exercise on the matter. There were a multi-tude of implicit and explicit messages to remindme that I was different, and that the differencesomehow made me inferior. I had to react againstthis threat. I could either accept the majority's ver-dict and come to terms with my own inferiority, orI could affirm my own worthiness and reject theirjudgment. That is, if "they" did not want me,"they" must be no good. I chose to affirm myself.My self-concept was sturdy, and to accept myself asinferior was something I could not, would not do.

There is perhaps no better training for an educa-tor in a diverse society. These experiences havemade me extremely conscious of the ways in whichminority children, and other marginalized popula-tions, can become confused about their identities,

and of the complicity of the schools in this process.As a teacher, school principal, and now universityprofessor, I have encouraged my students to accepttheir own history so they might accept that of oth-ers. I think the ethnic divisiveness we decry in thiscountry is a direct result of a process of forcedassimilation that denies newcomers their historyand culture. I am not the first one to say this. His-torian David Tyack(1974) noted the deleteriouseffects of the turn-of the-century "Americaniza-tion" movement on immigrant families:

In their demands for Anglo-conformity, manyeducators went further: nothing less wouldsatisfy than assaulting all forms of cultural dif-ferences, than creating a sense of shame atbeing "foreign". ... Many observers com-mented that the positions of parents andchildren were becoming reversed, as fathersand mothers depended for guidance on theyoung, who knew English and could interpretthe workings of American society. This led,they felt, to increased disrespect for parents,to delinquency, and to alienation among thesecond generation. (pp. 235, 237)

Only recently have the descendants of those immi-grants begun to reclaim their heritage. I do not seeany conflict between being a citizen of the UnitedStates and speaking more than one language andholding on to important traditional values.

I believe both bilingual and multicultural educa-tion have a role to play in the process ofdeveloping a sense of nationhood. As the adminis-trator of a bilingual school, I was able to see thechanges, in both children and their families, thatfollowed open acceptance of the community's lan-guage and culture. This was true not only of thePuerto Rican community with whom I identified,but also of the small Turkish minority that attend-ed the school. All students were taught theirnative language as well as English. I believed myjob as an administrator was to make sure that allour students felt free to be themselves, but alsowelcomed into the U.S. family.

I think it is terribly important for educators toengage in a deliberate effort to ensure that, at leastin schools, our children are free to be who they areby virtue of temperament, history, or cultural back-ground. While we should be cognizant of thedifferent ways in which the world is understood by

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different groups, we also have a responsibility toensure that every child is judged on his or her mer-its, not on the supposed characteristics of thegroup to which we assign them. Japanese childrenhave a right to do poorly in math, Puerto Ricansdo not have to be good dancers, and African-Americans do not have to join the basketball teamto be accepted.

I have another concern that is relevant to thisexercise. I reject instruction in diversity that ispredicated on which holidays we celebrate andwhat we like to eat. Although these are importantways in which we dt,me ourselves, there are deep-er and more important characteristics that bothunite us as humans and divide us as individuals.While most of us are willing to taste unusual foods,or learn new dances, most of us would rather notdiscuss the differences in values or world viewsthat are bound to arise in this very mixed companythat is the United States. Those must also be apart of our multicultural discourse. A heteroge-neous society must be prepared to deal withconflict. Cultural differences will invariably lead toconflict, and we ignore it at our own peril. Gen-uine acceptance of diversity must include ways todeal with the inevitable conflicts posed by adiverse society.

It is from this personal and professional perspec-tive that I approach the analysis of the case study.

Facts of the Case

The focus of this case is an elementary school inColumbus, New Mexico, located only 3 miles fromthe U.S.-Mexico border. It is a bilingual schoolserving about 340 children in grades kindergartenthrough five, 95 percent of whom are Spanish-speakers. Almost half of the students live inMexico, although most were born in the UnitedStates and are, therefore, U.S. citizens. Studentsare also poor; 97 percent of those in attendance areentitled to free or reduced-price lunches.

The instructional drogram begins with Spanishand continues thus until third grade when thetransition into English begins. The classroom inthe case under study is a second-grade classroom.Two lessons are presented: a spelling lesson con-ducted by the classroom teacher and a lesson onthe characteristics and use of chiles (peppers) pre-

13

sented by the Bilingual Resource Teacher (BRT).Both teachers use concurrent translationthat is,whatever they say in one language is immediatelyrepeated in the other.

The spelling lesson consists of 10 words inEnglish accompanied by their Spanish translations.After a choral reading of the list in both Englishand Spanish, individual children are asked to useeach English word in a sentence. That activity isfollowed by the construction of sentences inSpanish.

The next lesson begins with a description of thechile displayed by the teacher, and a brief discus-sion of its biological development and historicaluse. The teacher alludes to the nutritional valueascribed to chile, and to its selection as the statevegetable. Then the teacher brings out enoughchiles to allow each child to prepare a set of themto string together in a long classroom "chile ristra."

One other school activity shown in this case studyis the fiesta celebrating "El Cinco de Mayo." Itappears to be a community-wide affair. Brightly cos-tumed adults and children participate in thecelebration through parades, music, and dances. Sev-eral of the teachers previously seen in the videotapeare here seen as active participants in the fiesta.

Relevant Perspectives

Several educators are interviewed as part of thiscase study: Armijo, the school principal; Leyba,the second-grade teacher; Vasquez, the BRT; andseveral other women who, together with Leyba,are introduced as the Resource Team but are notindividually identified. Through the conversationwe learn that one of them is called Consuela, buther role in the school (or the roles of the othermembers of the team) is not clear.

All of those interviewed speak highly of the sup-port they get from the students' parents, eventhough so many of them reside in Mexico. Theprincipal notes the difficulty of making contact bytelephone, because many families do not have tele-phones and often receive their calls at locationsdistant from their homes. However, he says "they'lldo anything to help the schools" and so, whennecessary, they send the parents letters that allowthem to come across the border to meet withschool personnel.

Armijo describes his faculty as made up mostly ofEnglish-speakers. He appears to justify the lownumber of Spanish-speaking teachers when he saysthat " ... the only reason children are sent here isso they learn English, period." He adds that theparents don't understand the bilingual programand complain that their children " . alreadyknow Spanish . " and, we infer, should concen-trate on learning English. A "true" bilingualprogram, he explains, should result in bilingualcompetence among all participants. In his school,for example, English monolinguals should leanSpanish while the reverse should be true ofSpanish monolinguals.

The principal's own perspective is that the chil-dren need to learn the skills "for the American wayof life . .. the American dream of an education."He believes that most of the students will spendtheir adult lives in the United States.

Leyba, the second-grade teacher featured in thiscase, grew up in a ranch in Las Vegas, New Mexi-co. She was an active member of 4-H and ofFuture Farmers of America (FFA). This is herthird year at the school. She says she was hired atColumbus because of her fluency in Spanish andthe need to serve the school's Spanish-speakerswho comprise most of the school's population.Leyba confesses to her inability to teach Spanishreading, however, because of her lack of full com-petence in that language. She has assigned thatjob to her "wonderful" aide. Leyba also decries thelack of instructional materials in Spanish. She issupposed to teach in Spanish part of the day, butonly the reading books are in Spanish.

Lynda Leyba believes that, at Columbus, multi-cultural education means that most of the studentsare from a different culture, mostly Mexican orHispanic. She adds that "[Y]ou want the childrento understand their culture is as important as thedominant culture." Leyba says she has the chil-dren make up sentences in Spanish, so they feelthey "can do something well . .. [to] help theirself-esteem."

Vasquez, the BRT, defines his role as doing"whatever the teacher needs me [to do]." He com-mutes 160 miles daily to teach at Columbus Schooland is strongly supportive of his students' culturalidentity: "[E]very child's culture should be pre-served," he says, because it can so easily be lost and"[T]hey forget where they came from."

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Of the school, Vasquez says, "[W]e're all friendshere ... right here on the border .. . a great placeto teach." He also alludes to the parents' supportand to the students' respectfulness and willingnessto learn.

Leyba is a member of the Resource Team andparticipates with at least three other women in thediscussion by this group. Vasquez's voice is heard,but he does not appear among the members. Therole this group plays in the school is not clear, butthe discussion included in this case centers on cul-ture and the school.

Team members appear to be conscious of thespecial situation of Columbus in a bicultural envi-ronment. They teach on similarities across thecommunities, such as the need for both parents inMexican and Anglo households to be employedoutside the home. However, one of the womennotes that outside employment for mothers is notas well accepted in Mexico, where being a house-wife has greater status than in the United States.In the United States, she says, they have evenchanged the name to "homemaker."

Education is seen as a necessity in both cultures,Consuela says, but another member of the teamdescribes her perceptions of differences in expecta-tions on either side of the border. She says thatwhile Anglo parents have their eyes on college,Mexican parents demand only preparation forwork for their children, but adds that this seems tobe changing. Someone also mentions the successof the computer lab. The parents are participatingso enthusiastically they do not even want to takebreaks during their lessons.

Consuela describes a difference she sees in thebehavior of parents vis-a-vis the school. Mexicanparents, she says, take responsibility for theirchild's behavior. They expect the child to come toschool to learn. Discipline is the parents' concern.In the United States, she notes, parents give uptheir responsibility to the school: "They're inschool, you teach them." Leyba agrees, notinghow after parents first ask about their child'sprogress in English, they want to know how theyarc behaving.

As the team moves into a discussion of multicul-tural education, Consuela takes the lead. Sheexplains that multicultural education takes advan-tage of the child's language, viewing it as an asset.A teacher who can relate to the child's language

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can get much more participation from the stu-dents, she says. For example, when a student tellsthe teacher that his family had a "matanza," amonolingual teacher may assume this merelymeans that the family will have meat to put in thefreezer, while a bilingual-bicultural teacher willunderstand the signifi-cance of that activity forthe family. It isn't justthe slaughtering of ananimal, it is a whole fies-ta. A teacher aware ofthis would be able toextend the topic for anhour's discussion.

Further discussionamong the members ofthe Resource Team cen-ters on the transition between the elementary andsenior high schools. They use the word "shock" todescribe the reaction of Columbus students to theschool environment. Consuela says their studentsfeel isolated and out-of-place in the junior highschool setting. However, she adds that "[M]ulti-cultural education helps them to understand theyare not going to be greeted and hugged becausethey understand that is not the 'Anglo way."'Consuela thinks it helps students who leave tounderstand the Anglo culture, to have an openmind. They know that not everybody is like them,but that is OK.

Another member of the team comments that sheused to work at the junior high, and she would seethe girls from Columbus holding hands. Theirclassmates would make fun of them and call themlesbians. They did not understand that hand-hold-ing has no ulterior connotation among Mexicangirls.

Someone else adds her endorsement to multicul-tural education. As so many of her students, shealso attended school in the United States whileliving in Mexico, but she learned nothing aboutMexican culture, only about U.S. history. It wasnot until she began to work at Columbus as anadult that she learned about the holidays and his-tory of Mexico. She feels cheated, she says, ofwhat she missed out all those years.

Further discussion is about the big school fiesta,"El Cinco de Mayo." Consuelo says that, although"la fiesta" is great, the preparations for it are even

better. Parents come in anxious to help out. Sherepeats what others have said before: parents willdo anything for the school. And, she concludes,"[T]hat is what we really want, for the parents tofeel at home and a part of the school."

The videotape does not include interviews withstudents. I can onlyinfer students' feelingsand reactions to theschool and its teachersfrom their interactionwith each other andtheir teachers as theyarrive at school, engagein classroom activities,and participate in thefiesta.

The rush of the chil-dren toward the buses that bring them to theschool, and their rush to the school itself whenthey arrive, suggest their comfort with their teach-ers. Further confirmation is available in the visibleinteractions between adults and children aroundthe school. Students also seem to get along wellwith each other. Much embracing and hand-hold-ing can be seen among the girls, and easycamaraderie among the boys is also noticeable.One gets the feeling of a big, happy family.

Within the classroom, it is another story, howev-er. Children appear bored, distracted, althoughthey are always well- behaved. They seem toaccept the dreariness of school as an unavoidablecomponent of their education. At one moment,during Vasquez's lesson, one boy responds with anassured but silent nod when the teacher asks aquestion he then answers himself. There is so lit-tle talk, even between the children themselves,one is surprised to see their exuberance when theyget to the fiesta.

At the fiesta, they can hardly be contained.Their banners fly high, they dance with abandon,and their voices rise in song. This is clearly a lib-erating experience for the students and perhaps forthe faculty who are also participants.

The difference between the outside and insideworlds children experience at Columbus School isdramatic. I cannot help but wonder why, withsuch well-behaved, eager students, teachers are nottaking more of a chance in the classroom.

I cannot help but wonderwhy, with such well-behaved,eager students, teachers arenot taking more of a chancein the classroom.

151;01..

Professional Knowledge

"Multicultural education" is one of those amor-phous terms in education, like "whole language"and "bilingual education." They mean differentthings to different people but they are often leftunexamined, as though they were clearly under-stood. For Leyba, multicultural education ensuresthat her students understand their culture is asimportant as the dominant culture. She seems tolimit this approach tosituations such as theone at her school and tothe populations repre-sented there. Butmulticultural educationin the United Statesmust encompass a muchbroader view. It shouldbe inclusive educationthat helps students tounderstand and toappreciate the country's diversity and their placein it. It is a national educational need if we are tocontinue to live successfully together in the pursuitnot only of individual but common happiness.And, in more pragmatic terms, multicultural edu-cational environments can better prepare ourchildren for the international competition they aresure to face.

Columbus Elementary does have an unusualproblem. It is operating in a bicultural setting, butthis setting, while geographically distant from oth-ers, is not independent of them. The nation is amosaic, and the children at Columbus need tounderstand the variety represented in that mosaic.It is also true that, while the nearby border sepa-rates two political entities, the cultural border ismuch less noticeable. In fact, without priorknowledge, someone looking at this videotapemight assume that the landscape, and even theschool building, are in Mexico.

The borderlands are really transitional zoneswhere cultures, in this case Mexican, Anglo, andNative American, blend. And the ingredients inthe mix may originate in one or the other side. Itis important to avoid dichotomizing the culturestoo much in such a setting. Differences exist, butsimilarities seem much more prevalent, at least ona surface level. And, unfortunately, it is at the sur-

face level that the instruction appears to remain inthis classroom.

I suspect, for example, that chiles and ristras areequally popular north and south of the Columbusborder. This is the case in Phoenix, where I live.Here you would not be able to discern a family'scultural background from the presence or absenceof ristras by the door. Ristras are now a part of thesouthwestern culture, a culture that ignores bor-ders. Interestingly, the school's emphasis on Cinco

de Mayo as representa-tive of Mexican cultureis also a characteristic ofsouthwestern culture. Intheir own country, Mex-icans pay little attentionto Cinco de Mayo. It isa mystery to me why ithas become so importantalong the borderlands.It is also, apparently, amystery to the Mexicans

who place much more importance on their Inde-pendence Day.

Students at Columbus Elementary also need tounderstand how different histories have given riseto different cultural outlooks in the two countriesthey bridge, and also among the many other cul-tural groups that make up the nation. Theirmulticultural education needs to connect them toother parts of the country so they can understandits cultural vastness.

Multiculturalism is not an add-on; it should beembedded in the everyday life of the classroom andschool. To be effective, multiculturalism must be apart of the school culture communicated bothimplicitly and explicitly in a multitude of ways.For example, bulletin boards, assembly programs,the arts, office decorations, the school menu, andlibrary books are all vehicles of communicationthat silently speak to the students. They tell themwhat is important, and what is not, what is val-ued, and what is not, what is beautiful, and what isnot. From the tape, I cannot determine the degreeof cultural diversity reflected in the classrooms andschool at Columbus Elementary. I can see a trans-lation of the Pledge of Allegiance, but the flagdisplayed with the U.S. flag over the bulletinboard is not Mexico's; perhaps it is New Mexico'sflag.

From the tape, I cannotdetermine the degree ofcultural diversity reflected inthe classrooms and school atColumbus Elementary.

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Another way of demonstrating multiculturalismis through the explicit and implicit curriculum.Leyba tells us that she is not competent enough inSpanish to teach it, as a language, to her students.The aide is the Spanish teacher in this classroom.Whether intended or not, this arrangement sendsa clear message to the children: English is theimportant language, Spanish has a lower status.Children are astute readers of the environment,and they know who is in charge in the classroom,who has the higher status. It does not matterwhether the aide is a talented teacher; her experi-ence or skills are irrelevant because her roleidentifies her for both students and parents as lessthan a teacher.

Leyba also explains that she lacks instructionalmaterials in Spanish. Once again, there is animplicit message for the students. English is whatis important here. That is where we invest ourresources, even when, as in this case, Spanish issupposed to be taught for part of the day. Theseconditions are part of the hidden curriculum atColumbus. They are unspoken messages the chil-dren are receiving and interpreting as they movethrough the school.

The lack of support for Spanish is not surprisingsince Armijo, the principal, speaks of the learningof English as the primary task for the school.Although he speaks of "true" bilingual programs,and their intended consequences, he does notseem to be supporting such a comprehensive pro-gram at. Columbus. In educational jargon, "atransitional bilingual program" is one where thenative language is used as a bridge to the second,in this case Spanish to English. Such programs dif-fer from "developmental bilingual programs,"where the intention is to maintain and developfull competence in the home language, as well asto learn a second language. Armijo's choice of atransitional program and his choices in personnel(that is, teachers who do not speak Spanish and ateacher who speaks Spanish but does not possessthe necessary skills to teach reading in Spanish),suggest that his goal is not for students to achievefull bilingualism. Now that the North AmericanFree Trade Agreement (NAFTA ) has beenapproved, such competence would undoubtedlygive young people an edge in the job market. Isuspect if Armijo chose to make such an argument,it would be quickly understood by the parents,

17

both Mexican and Anglo, of the students atColumbus. We are told parents understand issuesof economic necessity, an understanding that isevident in their enthusiastic participation in theschool's computer laboratory.

The teacher explains her use of Spanish transla-tions for the spelling words as a way to helpstudents understand the English words. However,these words seem extremely basic for secondgraders. I cannot imagine that, at this age, any oneof them would have difficulty understanding"party" or "far," for example. Leyba also justifiesher use of Spanish sentences as an effort at helpingthe students' self-concept. This is a puzzling state-ment because everything we hear about the schooland the parents, and everything we see or hearfrom and about the students, suggests children arehappy with who they are. In fact, it is quite possi-ble that those who are U.S. citizens may feelparticularly fortunate, given their freedom tochoose and their parents' efforts to provide a richeducational experience. Additionally, the childrendo not seem to have any trouble making up sen-tences in English. Although they have somedifficulty with pronunciation, they seem to haveachieved basic competence in English. In anyevent, self-concept is not enhanced by using Span-ish in sentences. We have known for many yearsthat a sturdy self-concept is most likely to bedeveloped through challenging academic work. IfColumbus students suffer from low self-concept, itwould be much more useful to present them witha more challenging curriculum than what we see inthe tape.

The instruction we see in this classroom isdecontextualized and has little to do with the chil-dren's lives, in spite of the supposed multiculturalemphasis. Several of the students showed signs ofboredom which is not surprising, given the monot-one of delivery and the dullness of the spellinglesson. The lesson violates everything we knowabout how children learn. It is totally teacher-directed and the words appear to lack connectionto anything else the students are learning. I can-not tell where those words came from, but theywere certainly not selected by the children. Chil-dren's lack of involvement with the content ofinstruction contributes to a lifeless classroom envi-ronment which contrasts with the enthusiasm ofthe children in the playground and during the

3 i_

Cinco de Mayo fiesta. The students appear docileenough but totally uninvolved. They seem he tol-erating this activity dutifully, but I doubt if anylearning is taking place.

The teacher's effort to connect the words to thechildren through Spanish, if we disregard the self-concept issue, may be seem a reasonable way toincorporate the children's language into the lesson,but the Spanish words are no better connected tothe children. And the concurrent translation usedby the teacher is considered a poor strategy inbilingual education.

The bilingual resource teacher (BRT) also usesconcurrent translation to teach a lesson aboutchiles (peppers). Although 1 assume this is part ofthe "multicultural curriculum," the classroomteacher, while present, does not participate in anymeaningful way in this lesson. She makes noattempt to connect the lesson to other instruction-al content. The BRT was animated and didsomewhat better at capturing the students' interestwith a hands-on activity they seemed to enjoy.However, the lesson was no more connected to thestudents than the spelling lesson.

Chiles are likely to be important in these chil-dren's lives, and yet Vasquez remains completely incontrol of the content throughout. The studentsare not given an opportunity to bring their ownknowledge to bear on the topic or to incorporatetheir own experiences into the lesson whichincludes concepts such as Vitamins A and C, "nat-ural digestive," and "state vegetable." It is notclear how many of these concepts are understoodby the students, but any of them could provideinteresting extensions of the topic; yet none iselaborated upon. There is also at least one oppor-tunity when the students could have relied ontheir own experience to challenge their teacher.He said that chiles start out green and then turnred. While this is true, there are many differentkinds of chiles, some of which are used green.Unfortunately, there was no opportunity to discussthese variations and the reasons behind them.

The lack of elaboration might be related toVasquez's use of concurrent translation. This strat-egy is frowned upon by scholars in bilingualeducation, because it limits the teacher's ability toelaborate student contributions, and it tends toreduce classroom discourse to its most basic level.In addition, it keeps the teacher at the center

while the students remain passive listeners. Thispedagogical arrangement is not conducive to lan-guage development in either Spanish or English.

1 cannot tell from this videotape how the bilin-gual program is structured at Columbus. Isconcurrent translation the preferred strategy?Given the lack of fully competent Spanish-speak-ing teachers, how is instruction in the twolanguages balanced? When and how does transi-tion from Spanish to English occur? Does Spanishinstruction end at that time, or is it modified?How much Spanish instruction do English mono-lingual students receive? Are they also expected tobecome bilingual in Spanish? I would have likedto know the answers to these questions.

Teaching Focus

I get the impression that Leyba's short experi-ence in the classroom calls for more direction fromher supervisors, and yet, I am not sure that Armijois well-suited for the job. There seem to be twoparallel perspectives operating in the school.Armijo seems to have a limited vision of the possi-bilities for educating the students in his school.His emphasis is on English, and on the childrenlearning "American" (isn't Mexico also "Ameri-can"?) skills appears to blind him to the potentialfor developing truly bilingual-bicultural adults whocan compete advantageously in the country'seconomy.

The principal's position is balanced by that ofsome of the other adults, particularly Vasquez andConsuelo. Both of them, and perhaps others, seemto have a clearer perception of the advantagesColumbus children may gain from their uniqueeducational situation. However, neither one ofthem, nor any of the other participants in thiscase, get beyond the immediate benefits of bilin-gual-multicultural education. No one appearsaware of the potential advantages this unique situ-ation may have for their students.

The lack of vision in the leadership of the schoolmay play a part in what I perceive to be ambiva-lence on Leyba's approach. Although she says shewas hired for her Spanish competence, Leybaseems to accept her lack of fluency in Spanish, andthe aide's assumption of Spanish reading responsi-bilities as a given and permanent condition. Yetshe is only three miles away from the border, and

18 3 2

surely there are teachers there who could help herto increase her fluency and also teach her how toteach. She complains about the lack of books and,yet, once again, the border is only three miles awayand books are readily available (1 have boughtmany lovely, and inexpensive, storybooks andaudiotapes at the border myself).

Leyba's attempt at multiculturalism (through theuse of Spanish during the spelling lesson) suggestsgood intentions but weak pedagogical knowledge.She does not seem aware of the much strongermessages her students are receiving from her sur-render of Spanish reading to the aide, the dearth ofSpanish materials, and her lack of participation inthe BRT's lesson.

The sample of instruction we see is limited but,based on that, the curriculum I see reflects lowexpectations for these second graders. Given, asnoted by Vasquez, the students' willingness tolearn, their good behavior, and the strong parentalsupport everyone speaks about, these childrenshould be a joy to teach. But, although the staffseems to recognize this, they also do not seem toexpect those good qualities to translate into acade-mic excellence. I feel, though I cannot quotespecific indicators, a certain paternalism amongthe staff at Columbus. There appears to be a lot oflove and nurturing, but expectations seem to below. I would venture to say that the "shock" ofmoving on to the less nurturing upper-level schoolswould be ameliorated if Columbus students wereable to demonstrate the benefits of superior prepa-ration for those upper-level courses. Theirmulticultural training should enhance, not detractfrom their academic training.

The lesson of the BRT is a case in point.Although the topic is related to the students' lives,I would hope for more depth and for more atten-tion to the truly important influences on Mexicanand U.S. life. Students might study, for example,the indigenous cultures who knew no borders.How have those cultures affected life in each coun-try? We know that long before the Europeanarrival, Native American tribes were trading witheach other up and down the hemisphere. Weknow that those who traded were accomplishedpolyglots. What better way to connect the past tothe present? To connect the long history of tradeacross the border to the NAFTA agreement?What better way for the children to understand

19

how their own potential for full bilingualism is notan aberration but a historical tradition? And thisunderstanding might also help them to aspire toemulating those early traders as cultural brokersacross the borders. In contrast, a lesson on makingristras only prepares Columbus students for cheaptrade business at roadside stands.

I am puzzled by the lack of attention to theindigenous communities of the Americas atColumbus. Everyone speaks in terms of two cul-tures, disregarding the prior Native Americaninfluence on both of those cultures. A big sign onthe cafeteria wall reads: "Where two culturesblend." But neither the Old nor New Mexico canbe easily disentangled from its Native Americanpast. And this past is still present on both sides ofthe border; it influences what people look like,what they eat, and how they medicate themselves.It also influences their art and their worldview.Sadly, this important influence is missing from themulticultural discourse at Columbus.

Suggested Teaching Actions andPossible Consequences

Lacking direction from her supervisor, Leybamight be best served by some of her colleagues atColumbus or, as I indicated before, by experiencedteachers across the border. Her predicament can-not be isolated from the total school environment;however, Columbus Elementary appears to be ahappy, loving environment for children. Unfortu-nately, the school also appears to contribute to thenotion that poor children cannot excel academi-cally, even under the close to ideal circumstancesexisting in this community. Some of the problemmight be related to the inability of teachers to rec-ognize the knowledge and skills children, evenpoor children from across the border, bring to theclassroom. While that knowledge may, on the sur-face, bear little resemblance to school knowledge,it can provide a starting point for grounding theabstractions of school in students' life experiences.

The teachers I have met through his videocaseare surely caring people committed to their stu-dents. They are certainly not out to hurt them butperhaps have fallen prey to the general perceptionthat poor children cannot aspire too much, andthat children are only capable of learning one Ian-

guage or of operating in one culture well. Theseteachers have so much to offer, and they could domore if they were challenged to apply, for example,Henry Levin's notions of "Accelerated Schools" totheir setting.

The concept of acceleration would argue for theapplication of our best knowledge about how chil-dren learn to these classrooms. Cooperativelearning, peer-tutoring, constructivism, familymath (Stenmark, Thompson, & Cossey, 1986) ,

reciprocal learning, "whole language" and so manyother perspectives and strategies have been shownto be effective ways to increase students' activeparticipation in learning. And this is what seemsto be lacking in the lessons I see. The students aremarginal to the lesson. The teacher holds centercourt, and students are passive observers of theactivities. There are two exceptions: To someextent, Vasquez's hands-on ristra activity succeedsin waking up the children (although they are stillrather quiet and continue to be dependent on theteacher), and, of course, the fiesta, as I describedabove. These two exceptions demonstrate that theenthusiasm of the children is there waiting to beawakened.

I am also reminded, as I write, of Shirley Heath's(1983) work in the Piedmont. She documented,in Ways with Words, how differences in communitylanguage, and the extent of similarity betweenmode of discourse in the community and the class-room, contributed or detracted from students'academic success upon entering school. GeoffreySaxe's(1988) work with the street children ofBrazil is also informative. He found that childrenwho were failing elementary school math wereaccomplished mathematicians on the street. Theycould not only compute the cost of merchandise,they could also index the cost to daily changes inthe inflation rate, as well as perform conversions todifferent monetary systems.

Borderland children are also often assistants insmall family businesses. They learn much in thosesituations and that learning can be used to advan-tage in the classroom. The "funds of knowledge"work of Luis Moll, Cathy Amanti, Deborah Neff,and Norma Gonzalez (1992) at the University ofArizona has succeeded in establishing such con-nections. Through collaboration withanthropologists such as Norma Gonsalcz at theUniversity's Bureau of Applied Research in

Anthropology (directed by Carlos Velez-Ibanez),teachers have been trained to conduct extensiveethnographic interviews with their students' par-ents. Through these interviews, they haveinvestigated the knowledge of poor "barrio" par-ents and how this knowledge is communicated tochildren. Teachers then use this information as aframework upon which to build curricular units ofgreat complexity. Thus the traditional parentalvisit to class to give a talk is much expanded byteachers who use community knowledge as aspringboard to abstract school learning.

A most obvious part of this home learning is thelanguage. Borderland children live a bilingualreality. That reality should be continued in school.Columbus should have a truly bilingual program,one where children fully develop their bilingualskills in all language areas. Parents will under-stand, and applaud, a program that will enhancetheir child's opportunity in the workplace. Thehalf-hearted transitional program offered atColumbus is cheating these children of theirbirthright. All over the country monolingualadults are paying thousands of dollars to becomebilingual in Spanish. Ironically, they often go toMexico to accomplish this difficult task. The stu-dents at Columbus certainly need to learn Englishbut they can learn both English and Spanish. Eng-lish classes do not stop at the third grade in U.S.schools. By that time, children have only learnedminimal competencies. To be competent users ofany language, we must continue to read and writeat increasingly sophisticated levels. We must learnto communicate complex ideas, to argue ourpoints, and to elaborate on our thoughts.

For many of us, Spanish-English bilingualismalso means ready access to a great portion of theworld's literature: Cervantes and Shakespeare,Carlos Fuentes, and Toni Morrison. I can read allof their works and, because of my multiculturalism,I can even make some sense of them. This is whatI would like to see at Columbus Elementaryasense of the possibilities for these children. What Isee, instead, is a comfortable womb lined withcomplacency and implicit acceptance oflimitations.

This sense of limitations is best gleaned throughthe concerns expressed about the transitionbetween Columbus and the upper-level schools.As I noted before, academic excellence would do

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much to increase the self-confidence of Columbus'sgraduates upon entering the larger, less nurturingenvironment of the junior high. But the staff atColumbus should also take steps to minimize theshock of that transition. Students from Columbuscould visit the receiving schools, and perhapsteachers from those schools could visit Columbusand prepare the students for the transition. FormerColumbus students, now attending and well adjust-ed at the secondary level, could also facilitate whatappears to be a difficult process. Students at thejunior high could gain a measure of multicultural-ism through joint programs with the youngercrowd. The process should be reciprocal. Uponhearing the Resource Team's discuss this problemof transition, I get a feeling of helplessness, asthough the problem were insurmountable. Andyet there are many possible interventions thatwould likely be effective.

The tape ends with the fiesta, and this certainlyappears to be an all-inclusive event with great sup-port from the students' parents. They areapparently able to bring their talents and skills tobear on this occasion, and this celebratory spiritmust do much for the cohesiveness expressed by somany in the videotape. I do wish, however, thatthe staff would extend themselves to affirm par-ents' abilities not only in this stereotypical activity("Mexicans love fiestas"), but also in the academicwork of the school. Programs such as the Univer-sity of Arizona's funds of knowledge could do muchto expand the sturdy networks already establishedat Columbus. Parents' knowledge can only belegitimized through its incorporation into the realwork of the school. But for this to happen, teach-ers need to understand that such knowledge isthere, waiting to be tapped. They need to believethat they can learn from the parents.

Another program that would enhance the stu-dents', as well as the teachers', sense of place wouldbe the development of students as ethnographers.Stanford's Shirley Brice Heath (1985) has donethis successfully, as has Carmen Mercado (1992) ofHunter College. Although they have usuallyworked with older children, the techniques can beapplied, in some fashion, by younger students. Theborderlands are among the most interesting areasin the United States. And many who are stillamong us contributed to that history. The chil-drer, at Columbus would gain much more than

21

basic skills from engaging in ethnographicactivities.

The Columbus case leaves me with a feeling ofsadness. Many of us who struggle with the difficul-ties of urban education would see Columbus, NewMexico, as an ideal: well-behaved children who arewilling to learn, supportive parents who will do any-thing for the school. There is poverty, butapparently little if any violence. Drugs do notappear to be a problem, at least as far as the studentsare concerned. We also see a magnificent scenerythat seems to have no limits. This is a place whereMexican-American children should excel: Are they?If not, why not? None of the usual excuses will hold,and there is no reason to believe that these childrenare unable to learn. This is where teachers andschools can really make a difference.

ReferencesHeath, S.B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life,

and work in communities and classrooms. New York:Cambridge University Press.

Heath, S.B. (1985). Literacy or literate skills? Consid-erations for ESL/EFL learners. In P. Larson, E.L.Judd, and L.S. Messerschmidt (Eds.), On TESOL '84:Brave new world for TESOL. Washington, D.C.:TESOL.

Iswajid, W.W. (1974). Definitions of ethnicity. Ethnic-ity , 1, 111-124.

Levin, Henry M. (1991). Accelerating the progress of allstudents. New York: Rockefeller Institute.

Mercado, C. I. (1992). Researching research: A stu-dent, teacher, researcher collaborative project. In A.Ambert and M. Alvarez (Eds.), Puerto Rican childrenon the mainland: Interdisciplinary perspectives. NewYork: Garland.

Moll, L. , Amanti, C., Neff, D., and Gonzalez, N. (1992,Spring). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using aqualitative approach to connect homes and class-rooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-141.

Saxe, G.B. (1988, August/September). Candy sellingand math learning. Educational Researcher, 17, 14-21.

Stenmark, J.K, Thompson, V., and Cossey, R. (1986).Family math. Berkeley, CA: Lawrence Hall of Sci-ence, University of California.

Tyack, D.B. (1974). The one best system: A history ofAmerican urban education. Cambridge, Mass: HarvardUniversity Press.

ritical Perspective IIon the Case:by Deidra Dancer Mc Mann(Albuquerque, New Mexico Public Schools)

I am a teacher. There have been many timesover the years when, out of frustration and fatigue,I have tried to shrug "teacherness" off like a cloak,but to no avail. There is something both intellec-tual and affective that keeps pulling me back intothe world of teaching. The life and conversationsin school communities, in university classrooms,at home with my teacher-husband, and at schoolwith the adult writers' group are personally satisfy-ing. The intellectual stimulation and theexhilaration I experience stem from satisfying,challenging work worthy of my time and energy.That does not mean there are not days when I tryto shrug off that cloak; we pay high prices for com-mitment to teaching and learning. But difficulttimes are set in the richness of roles, relationships,and learning that mark life as a teacher.

I have grown up, been educated, and spent myteaching years in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I amaccustomed to living and working in the midst ofdiversity. The sound of multiple languages in con-versation can be heard everywherein schoolsand classrooms, in students' homes and neighbor-hoods, at the mall and museum. Nonetheless, it ispossible to grow up in Albuquerque untouched bythe diverse community in which we live. Interest-ingly enough, it was not until my first year ofteaching that I fully experienced life in two lan-guages and two cultures.

The community in which I was raised was pri-marily a monocultural, monolingual one.Although I was aware Spanish was an essentiallanguage in the larger community, I was not moti-vated to learn the language. Spanish was notspoken publicly in my schools (outside of a lan-guage classroom setting) or in my neighborhood.Indeed, many of my peers probably had Spanish-speaking parents who specifically chose not tospeak Spanish at home, because their language wasnot valued or was perhaps disallowed in the school

settings of their youth. Although we have a longtradition of diversity in New Mexico, we have notalways appreciated that diversity. I believe, how-ever, we are getting better at listening to andlearning from the many voices of our culture.

Fortunately, my first classroom teaching assign-ment, not 20 minutes away from my childhoodhome, thrust me into a world where Spanish wasvalued in the community and was the dominantand/or preferred language of large numbers of stu-dents and staff. Washington Middle School is setin the middle of Albuquerque and includes afflu-ent Anglos, Hispanic families who have lived inthe area for centuries, and families who haverecently arrived from Mexico. I could not haveasked for a better place to begin learning aboutteaching. Although my parents had taught me tobe respectful of others who were different from me,this was to be my first professional experiencedealing with human diversity. At the time, educa-tors were focused on preserving different culturesand languages. It was a perfect intersection of timeand place for me, and the beginning of many yearsspent in teaching and learning with Spanish-speaking children and adults.

I came to these students, their cultures, andtheir languages with respect and a desire to learn. Idid not believe I could establish supportive, pro-ductive relationships with middle schoolers of anylanguage without honoring their diversity and lis-tening to their ideas and opinions. During my firstyear, I taught mathematics. I was asked at the endof the school year to serve as the language artsteacher. Math for me had been a world of "sign-symbols." Between my rudimentary Spanish skillsand the aid of an educational assistant, I thought Ihad communicated reasonably well with mysixth-grade students, a number of whom weremonolingual Spanish speakers. (If the truth wereknown, I could have done a much better job

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teaching mathematics.)The shift in teaching assignment was good for-

tune. I realized immediately that textbook-basedlanguage arts instruction was neither engaging noreffective. I was forced to consider my own practicein terms of my clientele, my beliefs about learning,and my own experiences as a literate human being.Thus began a career of experiencing language withchildren, which has remained my passion eversince. More important, I began to understand howmy beliefs about language and literacy instructionaffected everything in the classroom, from the waywe used time, to daily routines, student-teacherroles, assessment, the physical environment, andeverything in between.

I spent the next several years at WashingtonMiddle School teaching and learning about lan-guage arts and literature. I read everything I couldget my hands on about a student-centered, process-oriented approach to reading and writing. I tookclasses at the university. I collaborated with sympa-thetic colleagues and held "passing-periodconferences" with the teacher across the hall tocompare notes. There were days we would closethe door at the ring of the bell with the childreninside and ourselves still in the hall. But wealways laughed and headed back into our class-rooms, and we always learned. From myinteractions with students, I learned that languageis at the very core of who and what we area les-son that enhanced my respect for humankind. Ialso came to respect classroom practice thatenhances the depth and breadth of language usage.

I worked hard in those years to build a founda-tion of understanding about literacy teaching withdiverse students. I took responsibility for alteringmy own practices based on theoretical learningand on my experiences in the classroom with chil-dren as informants. Many teachers around me triedwhat was widely called "whole language," pro-claimed its failure, and reverted to previousmethods. I believed then, and still do, that muchof that perceived failure was due to a superficialunderstanding and implementation of process-ori-ented language practices in the classroom. I foundmyself, in collaboration with middle schoolers,building an organized and highly structuredenvironment of routines, expectations, and assess-ments. I wanted students to be independent,responsible, decision-making learners and active

24

language users, supported by timely and appropri-ate direct instruction on individual, small-group,and whole-group bases.

By the time I was teaching at Washington, bothof my children were born. For me, as for manyteachers, parenting influenced my relationshipsand interactions with students. Every child wassomeone's valued son or daughter, like my own. Atthe same time, because of my work, I was raisingchildren with an awareness of bilingualism that myown parents did not have. Bilingualism for myown children became a goal. The dual role of par-ent and teacher had its occasional awkwardmoments, but overall, it influenced my teachingpositively, pushing me to consider the implicationsof my teaching on all our sons and daughters.

I left middle school in frustration over the dis-trict-wide decision to consolidate our two-periodlanguage arts/literature block into one period. Thisnew arrangement meant I worked with twice asmany students as before, with half the time toestablish a community of readers and writers. Iron-ically, the change in schedule occurred during"The Year of the Reader." The change seemed indirect conflict with a growing body of knowledgesupporting time, ownership, and response as criti-cal elements for students in language arts classes.Elementary teaching experience followed (again,in a bilingual school); the beliefs I developed atWashington served my young students well.

I completed my master's degree at the Universityof New Mexico and became active in the RioGrande Writing Project, a site for the NationalWriting Project. I also shifted to my current role aswriting resource teacher at an elementary schoolwhose staff members focus on developing biliteratestudents. The school is located in a primarily His-panic community in Albuquerque's South Valley.My teammates, bilingual resource teachers, arenative-Spanish speakerspatient and enthusiasticguides to new worlds of language and culture. I amthrilled to work with people like them who areinterested in the teaching of writing. Day-in andday-out, I work in classrooms with students andteachers, continuing to learn about supportin 7, lan-guage users. I also work to improve my ownSpanish.

For the past two years, our team has been espe-cially excited about our Adobe Acres Authors"publication project," a school-wide effort to

ti

publish the writing of students, parents, and staff.We produce a bilingual publication, but weencourage the use of Spanish. Progress towardbiliteracy, a goal of our "restoration model" bilin-gual program, has been painfully slow. Last year, webegan sharing ownership and responsibility for pro-ducing the publication (which had grownenormously since its inception) with two Fifth-grade classes and one bilingual special servicesclass. The three teachers, another bilingualresource teacher, and I collaborate with approxi-mately 50 students to produce a 100-pagepublication. First, we want to embed literacyinstruction in the context of authentic work andgenuine need in the community. Second, we try toenhance both the prestige and use of Spanish inclassrooms.

Teachers and students experienced much successthe first year. We expect the second year to beeven better. Our student staff includes monolin-gual Spanish speakers, monolingual Englishspeakers, and bilingual speakers. We haveincreased our daily time block for the publicationproject so that now we can incorporate writing,reading, literature studies, and the preparation ofthe publication into the period. We value bothSpanish and English in our publication classroomand in the larger school community. As studentsparticipate, we believe they will maintain theirlanguage and culture and will stretch their views tobe more inclusive. Besides speaking two lan-guages, they will acquire subtleties of languageusage in both Spanish and English.

My students continue to teach me about lan-guage, independence, responsibility, and personalstandards of quality and engagement. In short,they teach me how to teach language with pur-pose. More than ever, I am grateful I beganexamining writing with students early in my teach-ing career. Writing has been my window into theirlives, their use of language, and their capabilities.As a teacher reading and writing with children,their stories force me to learn, to hope, to resist, tocelebrate from their perspectives.

I have always been a reflective practitioner andan avid student of teaching and learning. But as ateacher in bilingual settings and as a citizen of abilingual community, I have also been a second-language learner. That role has taught me aboutstudents' experiences with language. Despite all

my "As" in Spanish classes, my receptive skills areonly fair, and my ability to use Spanish in real situ-ations only limited. I attribute my progress in largepart to my students and my colleagues. Unfortu-nately, my experience with formal Spanish classeswas not unique; high school students frequentlygraduate with little or no ability to read or write inany language. just as I had done as a second-lan-guage learner, they have filled in blanks,regurgitated, or manipulated short chunks of text,responded to questions with one- or two-wordanswers, and generally failed to interact with lan-guage in ways that stimulate new usage andunderstanding. Many students have kept languageat a distance. As an enrollee in Spanish classes, Ihave watched my attitude get worse and my ten-dency to take language risks diminish. As ateacher, I have seen these same attitudes in chil-dren around me.

We professionals are changing our instructionalpractices with regard to literacy, while we changeour teaching of culturally and linguistically diversestudents. We are moving from an emphasis onroles, methods, and materials, to stress relation-ships between students and teachers, betweenstudents and their own language use, and betweenteachers and their professional practice. All teach-ers face the challenge of performing withknowledge, artistry, and respect for human dignity.As 1 watch this video, I am reminded that even agood criticespecially a good criticviews suchchallenges with compassion and respect for thosewho populate our schools.

When watching the videotape of Columbus,New Mexico, I focused on language usage by stu-dents and teachers, and on language practicespromoted in classrooms. Teachers' beliefs aboutlanguage learning lie at the heart of everything ateacher does in the classroom. When teachers acton their beliefs, we can begin to see why theybehave as they do. I love observing bilingual class-rooms to see how children and teachers function.The opportunity to observe colleagues occurs alltoo infrequently. The climate of isolation weexperience as teachers has long limited our confi-dence, our learning, and our ability to reflect onour classroom practices. Teachers' reflections ontheir own practices are shaped by who they are andwhat they do. I wonder how willing we arc toreshape our identities.

25 3CBEST COPY AVAILABLE

Issues

The issues presented in this videotape arenumerous and complex. First, there are issues oflanguage and literacy instruction relative to bilin-gual education. In theory and practice, there areseveral models of bilingual education; all schoolsin bilingual communities must try to determinewhich model is most appropriate for attaining theirparticular goals and objectives. Carol Edelsky(1991) notes that educa-tors must be aware of thepower and politics oflanguage usage in thecommunity beyond theschool. Thus, it isimportant for membersof the community to beinvolved in determiningthe rationale, goals, andstrategies for implement-ing a bilingual educationprogram.

Questions that might be addressed during suchplanning sessions include the following: What arethe goals of language instruction? Is English literacythe end goal, or is biliteracypreservation andextension of students' first language with the addi-tion of literacy in a second languagethe primarygoal? How and when should students' two languagesbe used? Are both languages equally important? Wehear Armijo, the principal, say there is some confu-sion among parents about the definition of abilingual program. According to Armijo, in a truebilingual program, language learning is two-way,with Spanish speakers learning English, Englishspeakers learning Spanish, and literacy skills in bothlanguages being developed. I wonder how this phi-losophy is communicates to families and teachers,and how it is played out in classrooms.

In Leyba's classroom, Spanish as a first languageis considered a bridge to success and to second-lan-guage understanding for students. I wonder ifmaintenance of Spanish is encouraged. Do chil-dren read, write, and converse in Spanish? Canthey complete written assignments in either lan-guage? If literacy is a commodity, then biliteracymust be a doubly valuable commodity. There isincreasing interest in maintaining children's firstlanguage while adding a second, and also in

encouraging the development of bilingual literacy.Although we teachers may find this an exciting

and worthy end, some parents, both English- andSpanish-speaking, may disagree. As Armijo notes,parents may contend that English should be thesole focus of school instruction for social, econom-ic, and political reasons. I believe we need to helpour students become biliterate citizens, but the fineline between what our research or pedagogicalknowledge tells us and the beliefs and goals of par-

ents is a difficult line towalk. It may be one thatColumbus teachers arewalking carefully.

A second issue ofinterest is that of build-ing a bicultural ormulticultural curriculumand perspective. AtColumbus School, chil-dren's cultural heritage isrecognized through cele-

brations of holidays, such as Cinco de Mayo, andthrough such a ..ivities as making chile ristras.How might such events and activities be mademore meaningful? The celebration of Cinco deMayo is more than song and dance; it is about his-tory, geography, and politics, as well. Creatingristras is probably a welcome active moment in theclassroom, but I wonder about intended outcomesof the lesson. Is English-language instruction theprimary goal? If so, what is the students' role inthis process? Are children explaining or writingdirections in their second language? Are theyworking in bilingual pairs to mediate the teacher'suse of two languages? These children may well seeristras being made for their entire lives. The ristrais the entry point for learning; it is not the destina-tion.

Does consideration of culture, history, andtradition go beyond superficial activities in thisclassroom? This is an issue with which we strugglein classrooms in Albuquerque. Multicultural edu-cation through song, dance, food, and celebrationshas been a manageable beginning, and arespectable one. But it is only the first step thatneeds to be followed by explorations of the social,cultural, and political influences on children's livesand by examinations of curricular material frommultiple perspectives.

The ristra is the

for learning; it is

destination.

entry point

not the

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There are also overarching questions about lan-guage instruction in this classroom that are notanswered by the teaching or conversations on thevideo. For instance, how are reading and writingactivities structured throughout the day? From mybrief glimpse of this classroom, it would seem thatlanguage instruction is primarily atomistic, basedon a parts-to-whole approach, largely teacher-directed, with students behaving as passive learnerslooking for a single right answer. On the video-tape, we see spelling instruction, which is often themost difficult area of language development forteachers to deal with in holistic ways. My experi-ence has been that the way we "do spelling" isusually influenced by (1) our overall beliefs aboutlanguage learning and usage and/or (2) parents'and administrators' expectations. There may wellbe contradiction between these two factors.Spelling as rote, decontextualized vocabularymemorization may be the last "artifact" remainingwhen professional practice changes.

Having viewed instructional episodes in Leyba'sclassroom, then, I am left with many questions.What are the purposes for which children read,write, and speak, and what are the contexts inwhich they practice those skills in one or both lan-guages: How are reading and writing assessed?Are students expected to develop proficiency inEnglish and Spanish? Are they given opportuni-ties to demonstrate their thinking skills andproblem-solving strategies? In other words, in thisclassroom, how are reading, writing, and speakingused to help students make connections betweenold and new ways of thinking? These are criticalissues all teachers must consider, whether their stu-dents are monolingual or multilingual, as teacherstry to strike a balance among parental demands,the history of their own schooling, a changing stu-dent population, and the realities of classroom life.

The role of educational assistants or aides in aschool community is also an interesting issue. I

think of the role in terms of possibilities. I noticethat while children in Leyba's classroom are sittingpassively, speaking one at a time, the assistant is ather desk doing paperwork. I wonder how the deliv-ery of instruction might be changed so theinstructional assistant can work directly with stu-dents throughout the day. I also wonder if there areany barriers to such an arrangement. An addition-al adult in the classroom is too precious a

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commodity not to use in the most effective waypossible.

Classroom aides are traditionally undervaluedand underutilized (not to mention underpaid).When the assistant is willing and able, a more pro-fessional and active role seems appropriate. She orhe might be invited into conversations about plan-ning and instruction, encouraged to sharereflections about teaching practices in the class-room, and valued for her or his perspective onstudents' progress. When the bilingual resourceteacher is also in the classroom, students couldwork effectively with one another in adult-sup-ported small groups that are heterogeneous interms of students' language skills. Such anarrangement would allow students to be moreactively engaged than they appear to be on thevideotape. Seeing them during instructionreminds me of years of watching my own childrensit patiently through baseball, soccer, and gymnas-tics practices, having only brief opportunities topractice skills or techniques.

Which brings me to the issue of the students'role in the classroom. There is much debate, par-ticularly among bilingual educators, about theappropriateness of the transmission model ofteaching and learning. Are children to sit quietlywhile new knowledge is directly transmitted tothem by the teacher, or are they to be active par-ticipants in their own learning, constructingmeaning from interactions with people and materi-als? There is growing agreement that learning isenhanced when students are social and active, butthat consideration is not demonstrated in thisvideotape. Are there other times during the daywhen students are active participants in instruc-tion? Do students have opportunities to work withone another? Are there chances for them to bethinkers and problem solvers?

The students' role in learning is linked to yetanother issuethat of parental expectations andgoals. As I have already mentioned, parents fre-quently have preconceived notions about whateffective schooling "looks like." Often effectiveschools are defined in parents' minds by studentbehavior, with talking and movement in the class-room unacceptablea consequence especiallydisconcerting for teachers who promote activelearning. Parents just as frequently have ideasabout appropriate and inappropriate curriculum.

Within any group of children, there will be varia-tion in their parents' expectations for schools.Sometimes parental expectations vary both withinand between cuitures.

Early in the video, the principal mentions thatthere is some "confusion" among parents about thepurpose of a bilingual program. He notes in partic-ular that parents from Palomas are most interestedin their children's ace .3ition of English-languageskills. This confusion about offering early instruc-tion in children's first language needs to beclarified. In addition, disagreement over goals ofinstruction may ultimately require negotiationsbetween faculty and parents. Classroom teachersand school administrators continually face thechallenge of mediating differing expectations.

The Columbus community is similar to otherschool communities in New Mexico in that itincludes Hispanic citizens of the United States,Anglo citizens of the United States, and Mexicancitizens from Palomas (most of whom have chil-dren who are U.S. citizens living in Mexico). Inthe video, we hear little about relationships amongdifferent parent groups in the community. Theprincipal mentions that there is a "kind of familytogetherness," because families frequently have rel-atives living on both sides of the border. I wonderif this situation alleviates tension over the ques-tion of fiscal responsibility for educating ColumbusElementary School students.

Funding is an issue in all communities as the costof educating children increases and as student per-formance seems less in line with the generalpublic's expectations. There is also increasingresistance among senior citizens to property taxincreases earmarked for education, because "theirchildren" are no longer a part of the school system."Whose children are these?" then becomes aninteresting question, as do issues of schools' goalsrelative to cultural and linguistic diversity ininternational and/or multicultural school settings.There is certainly an ironic twist to having aschool community in which parents need a "pass"to come across the border to a parent-teacher con-ference. What will be the social and politicalreality that awaits their children when they gradu-ate? Interestingly, shortly after I viewed this videofor the first time, an article appeared in theAlbuquerque Journal, our daily newspaper, aboutthe possible creation of an international school

district for children living in Columbus and Palo-mas. The school would be jointly funded by theUnited States and Mexico.

Teachers' Perspectives

Lynda Leyba, in her third year at this school,notes that she was invited to teach at Columbusspecifically because of her ability to speak Spanish.Mario Vasquez, the bilingual resource teacher,relates the story of his parents' move from Mexico.Both express personal, cultural, and/or linguisticconnections with the children and the schoolcommunity. Both seem enthusiastic about theirjobs and willing to share their teaching publicly soothers might think critically about education.This is an enormous risk for teachers, and to me,an indication oftheir commitment to their stu-dents and community, their own teachingpractice, and the teaching practices of the profes-sion as a whole. I applaud their courage.

Leyba's understanding and use of Spanish makeher a potential ally of Spanish-speaking students inthe classroom. As she notes in her reflections,Leyba uses Spanish as a bridge to English as a sec-ond language for her students. My sense is that sheuses her Spanish as one modification of classroompractices that are largely mainstream and teacher-centered. I wonder if she has considered othermodifications. It was interesting to note her reluc-tance to work with the Spanish-speaking studentsas readers, despite her fluency with oral Spanish.Her apparent lack of confidence is not uncommonamong teachers who grew up speaking Spanish.Many Spanish-speaking teachers have little expe-rience with written Spanish; others may simplyfeel insecure with their oral Spanish, because itdoes not match formal or textbook Spanish. Ifteachers lack confidence in their language skills, itis in part because we have ignored the realities oflanguage usage and valued one form (even withinlanguages) over another. A better approach wouldbe to help language users practice in different lan-guage situations.

In Leyba's classroom, vocabulary lists studied andpracticed without context may reveal some of herbeliefs about language development. As men-tioned previously, the instruction we view suggestsan atomistic, or parts-to-whole skills approach to

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language, with little (or very controlled) applica-tion until all parts are "mastered." Students arelargely passive, responding only when questioneddirectly, and then with a "right" answer. Instruc-tion and interactions appear teacher-directed andcontrolled. Leyba also seems to rely solely onexisting texts, indicating she is unable to integrateSpanish into the curriculum. Yet Leyba and herstudents have a wealth of personal experiences onwhich they might build a curriculum pertinent tostudents' lives.

I strongly suspect that parental expectationsaffect some or many of Leyba's instructional deci-sions, and rightfully so. 1 keep coming back to thetension between the principal's definition of anideal bilingual program and the parents' decisionto send their children to Columbus "for them tolearn English, period." (This tension is also evi-dent in conversations about bilingual education atmy own school.) I wonder if parents, teachers, andadministrators have reached consensus on goalsand objectives for language instruction at Colum-bus Elementary. Leyba says she was hired becauseshe speaks Spanish, and administrators thoughtshe could help the students. She does not say,however, what it is she is supposed to help studentsdo. Is the primary goal to teach students English?Is Leyba to extend both languages so studentsbecome biliterate? The video provides no clue, and1 wonder if the answers are present in the class-room and the larger school community. What weare learning in our own schools is that the exten-sion of Spanish language literacy requirespromotion and active support to be successful.

I also have questions about Vasquez's role as thebilingual resource teacher at Columbus School.Does he try to maintain students' Spanish, whileintroducing and developing their English skills? Oris his goal simply to teach Spanish to passive bilin-gual and monolingual speakers? He says that hedoes "whatever the teacher needs me to do." He hasan obvious commitment to utilizing the students'cultural heritages, which is an excellent way torelate personally to students and to connect contentto their prior knowledge. I wonder, however, if stu-dents' knowledge is being explored to its fullest.When teachers use familiar experiences or objects,such as the chiles, to make intellectual connections,they typically do so to stretch student understand-ing, not to set limits on what is to be learned.

My hunch is that Leyba and Vasquez (like all ofus to some degree) teach as they were taught. Per-haps they assume techniques that worked for themas Spanish speakers in a predominantly English-speaking school system will work for Columbusstudents. To be sure, their respect for students, andtheir good intentions are evident. Leyba has addedspoken Spanish to the curriculum, a luxury shemay or may not have experienced as a student innorthern New Mexico schools. She also tries tomotivate students with words of encouragement:"These are not hard words, okay?" But withoutreflecting on and modifying old practices, "the wayit has always been" will not work for all of her stu-dents. Some students will succeed because of or inspite of our actions. Others will fail. Words meantto encourage, such as those noted above, suggestthat if students find the vocabulary words difficult,they are in trouble. Sometimes the simplest state-ments carry both intended and unintended meanings.Children learn continually, but they do not neces-sarily learn what we think we are teaching.

Parents' Perspectives

We are told early in the videotape that parentsfrom Palomas are wonderful and supportive, but wedo not know if they have discussed their hopes andeducational goals for their children. (No doubtsome havd done so, because parent participation inplanning bilingual programs is a state requirement.)Leyba says that parents' first two questions are usu-ally about their children's progress in English andabout their behavior. By sending their childrenacross the border, parents express optimism abouteducational opportunities in the United States.We can assume they also believe their children'sfutures will be enhanced by attending U.S. schools.Whether parents hope their children will completetheir education and return to Mexico, or whetherthey assume their children will remain in the Unit-ed States, we do not know. My parental instinctsmake me curious. Parents' comments to Leybaregarding children's English language skills andbehavior most likely influence what happens in herclassroom. If I knew parents of my students hadsuch goals, 1 would work to achieve them. Howev-er, I would also explain to parents the importanceof using Spanish in the classroom to enhance both

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general learning and English language acquisition.I would work to convince parents and students ofthe importance of developing and maintainingbilingualism. To do so, I would need to communi-cate often with parents.

As teachers on thevideo note, culturalevents such as Cinco deMayo offer opportunitiesfor dialogue with par-ents; they also offerparents a natural entreeto the school. Manyparents remember theirown negative education-al experiences whenthey return to school asparents. Those who did not complete school, orwho do not speak the dominant language of theschool, may be particularly uncomfortable. Teach-ers can counter such feelings by engaging parentsas partners in the education of their children,encouraging parents to participate in classroomand whole-school activities. Technology may bean excellent bridge to parent partnerships in thiscommunity. I notice parents who participate inthe evening computer classes do so with intensityand enthusiasmthis is an exciting partnership. Iwonder if these parents are from both sides of theborder. I am also curious about their motivationsfor attending and about the stated purposes ofcomputer sessions. If this kind of commitment isreflected in their support of their children as learn-ers, this is indeed a fortunate community .

Do parents on either side of the border thinkabout education in different ways? Do their goalsand expectations vary? I question commentsmade by one member of the resource team whosuggests U.S. parents (Hispanic and Anglo) pushtheir children to excel and to be college bound,while parents of children from Mexico are satisfiedwith just enough learning to get a job. Such gen-eralizations are quite dangerous, for they canprompt teachers to hold unnecessarily high or lowexpectations for different groups of students.

would be like to be a student in this classroom,day-in and day-out. Are students aware of parents'strong desires for them to learn English? If approx-imately 95 percent of the students speak Spanish,how many are bilingual, and how many are mono-

lingual Spanish speakers?How does the Spanish of

Technology may be anexcellent bridge to parentpartnerships in thiscommunity.

Students' Perspectives

Classroom life, as portrayed in the video, seemsfairly passive and perhaps tedious. I wonder what it

the bilingual Americanstudents differ from theSpanish of the Mexicanstudents, and how aresuch differences exploredin the classroom? I amreminded of the teach-ers in Shirley BriceHeath's Ways WithWords who turned their

second graders into ethnographers of language intheir own communities!

I wonder what differences, if any, the teacherperceives in students from the United States andfrom Mexico, and I wonder how she acts on theseperceptions. Do students understand theirteacher's expectations? Children sit in clusters, butwe do not know if interactions between and amongstudents are encouraged. Peer interaction canstrengthen language learning; sometimes this inter-action happens all day, sometimes only at recess. Iwonder about peer relationships, both in the class-room and on the playground. Do friendships formacross borders of language and community? Forexample, Maria Reyes, Eloise Laliberty, and JudithOrbanosky (1993) studied social relationships in adual language acquisition fourth-grade classroomwith interesting results. They found that languagelearning occurred in both directions (Spanish toEnglish, and vice versa). They also learned thatsocial interactions inside and outside classroomsextended across cultural boundaries. Does thephysical distance of the students from Palomaslimit relationships in ways that carry over into theColumbus classroom? What sorts of peer collabora-tions are encouraged in this classroom?

Do students perceive the classroom and thelearning that occurs there as their own, somethingfor which they share responsibility and reward?How is the literacy developed at home differentfrom literacy experiences at schoolnot just inlanguage spoken, but in usages, traditions, relation-ships? Do students think they should be

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independent thinkers who make choices, or dothey think they should wait and see what theteacher wants? is risk-taking encouraged or dis-couraged? Do students believe there are manyways to view the same problem, or do they thinkthere is only one right way to do so?

Educational Assistant's Perspective

The assistant in theteaching segment isabsorbed with paperwork.1 realize, of course, thatshe may not have wantedto teach while the cam-eras were rolling. I

wonder, however, if she isan active teaching profes-sional in the classroom,collaborating on planningand instruction, and per-haps serving as an additional linguistic and culturalresource for the teacher and students. Lynda Leybanotes that the instructional assistant takes respon-sibility for reading instruction offered in Spanish.This would be a tremendous opportunity to con-nect reading to other curricular themes andconcepts throughout the day, as well as to build oncultural and linguistic perspectives of children.Such sessions could be particularly beneficial tostudents if Leyba and her aide work directly withchildren whenever possible (and perhaps they do).Most educational assistants with whom 1 haveworked prefer active teaching and collaboration toclerical work. Many use the role as a vehicle forfurther education and/or as an avenue into theteaching profession.

I wonder if paraprofessionals at Columbus helpshape their roles within the school, and whetherthey have opportunities for professional develop-ment. Assistants are often bilingual adults (in ourcommunity and perhaps this one, there are morebilingual assistants than teachers), and they arefrequently linguistic resources, role models, andstrong advocates for bilingual or monolingualSpanish- speaking children. These attributes givethem status as experts within the school communi-ty. Unfortunately, that status is often out of syncwith the realities of their jobs.

Does the role of educational assistant need to beelevated? Would English-speaking assistants (andteachers) be interested in on-site Spanish languageclasses? Might Spanish-speaking assistants andteachers be interested in classes to develop theirwritten Spanish? Could Spanish-speaking assis-tants be supported in obtaining university degreesand teaching certificates? Might programs bedeveloped to allow them to do much of theircoursework on the job, so they do not lose income

while working toward adegree? Although all edu-cational assistants mightnot choose this careerpath, some certainly prob-ably would, given theopportunity. This is oneway to recruit more Span-ish-speaking teachers fromthe surrounding commu-nity, individuals whoknow the schools and are

committed to being there.Parenthetically, monolingual English-speaking

teachers at bilingual schools often fear they will bereplaced by Spanish-speaking teachers. Whileschool faculties need diversity, they also need thelanguage resources to support students. Teachers'fears need to be addressed. Teachers must be sup-ported to pursue professional activities that willallow them to revise their teaching in response tochanging demands and diverse student popula-tions. English-speaking teachers and assistants canand do acquire necessary philosophies, strategies,and sensitivities to support diverse language learn-ers, but it takes active professional reflection andlearning to do so.

As classrooms in our state become increasinglymultilingual, rather than bilingual, we must devel-op abilities to teach students with whom we do notshare a common language. A Spanish-Englishbilingual model has been appropriate for many ofour communities, and we have had the luxury ofimmersing communities in two languages. Therehave been students, however, whose languageneeds have not been met or even acknowledged bysuch programs. Native Americans come immedi-ately to mind. Meanwhile, some schools inAlbuquerque grow linguistically diverse, and edu-cators strive to support students who bring 10

Does the ro

educational

need to be

le of

assistant

elevated?

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to 20 different languages to their schoolcommunities.

Educational assistants work under interestingcircumstances. Classroom teachers define much oftheir authority as well as the breadth of their roles.Sometimes the definitions exist as implicit in tradi-tions within the school community and thecommunity at large. Assistants are often underused,undervalued, and like the rest of us, underpaid.

Professional Knowledge

I learn most about students from their writingand reading. Students as language learners demon-strate engagement and success through reading andwriting. Writingand all language useis a tan-gible expression of the diverse views, experiences,strengths, and cultural frameworks students bringto classrooms. Writing both shapes thinking and isshaped by it.

Teachers' language use demonstrates their beliefsand attitudes. As someone whose professional prac-tice is evolving, I also learn about teachers mostclearly from their literacy perspectives. 1 would liketo know what reading, writing, listening, and talk-ing occur during the rest of the day in Leyba'sclassroom. That would help me understand LyndaLeyba's beliefs about literacy and about teacherand student roles. I wonder how she organizestime, instruction, and the physical environment;how she assesses student learning; and how shethinks about and uses language(s) in her own life.

Writing with students has helped me stop trans-mitting knowledge to passive students and insteadhelp students actively construct or produce knowl-edge through writing. I know from my experiencesboth as a teacher and a second-language learner,that being a passive learner is counterproductive.As teachers, we are constantly learning from ourstudents and peers, from our families and commu-nities, from our classroom practice, and from allthe professional resources with which we comeinto contact. In doing so, we actively seek newinformation and experience, reflect, and revise ourunderstandings accordingly.

Learning is social. Vygotsky emphasized thatlearning is always mediated by others, and thatthese interactions are mediated, as well, by lan-guage (Moll, 1989). Learning is stimulated, then,by interactions between peers, between learners

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and teachers, and between learners and the envi-ronment. Peer interactions are critical to children'sfirst- and second-language learning. Simply fillingin blanks or taking spelling tests will not facilitatelanguage acquisition; students need to talk withand listen to others who speak a second language.These verbal exchanges need to occur in theschool yard as well as in the classroom.

As they work with students and observe them inaction, teachers get some sense of children's expe-riences, skills, attitudes, and interests as languagelearners. To me, our role as teachers is to try tounderstand children's levels of development and tobuild on their existing strengths. When teachersinvolve students in reading and writing, teachershave opportunities to become learners themselves.Literature study groups, collaborative group discus-sions, partner activities such as peer response, andresearch groups enhance students' and teachers'language understanding. The energy of such socialinteractions can facilitate learning.

Reading and writing are means to ends, not endsin themselves. Typically educators do not treatthem as such. Students want to learn and main-tain a language so they can use it with others--sothey can communicate. Teachers are most likelyto succeed when they realize students need reasonsfor learning a language. Successful teaching capi-talizes on students' needs and interests.

Students need to be reading and writing everyday in either their first or second language, or inboth. They should be encouraged to select topicsand texts or to negotiate them with the teacher.Students must also be active partners in determin-ing the "ends" of instruction. Reading and writingare means for thinking, for communicating, and forgetting things done in school and in the worldbeyond the classroom. A wealth of authentic pur-poses exists for student-initiated and controlledwriting, in which learners are supported through-out by "a" rather than "the" writing process.Teachers support students' efforts by teaching thewriter, not the writing. They do so by establishingroutines, by creating learning situations rich incontext, and by offering assistance to learners.Teachers also help students learn to interact withothers, to further their own learning, to collabo-rate, to negotiate, to solve problems, and to livetogether.

As Dorothy Strickland (1994) notes, real writing

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and reading with children keep instruction "asclose to the point of use as possible." Directinstruction to an individual, small, or whole groupon a specific task or problem encourages learningthat will be remembered and used. Direct instruc-tion helps make explicit "the how and why" ofparticular activities. The value of direct instructionhas all too often been overlooked in the trendiness(or plain confusion) of writing instruction.

Direct instruction is most effective when used inthe context of a stu-dent's ongoing writingand reading, so thatinstruction is timely,appropriate, individual-ized, and immediatelyapplicablecharacteris-tics which increase thechances of what weteach being learned andapplied. Regie Routman(1991) suggests studentlearning remains a skill until students know howand when to use knowledge appropriately andindependently. Through thoughtful and focusedinstruction, combined with extensive readingand frequent response from varied audiences,students can develop a repertoire of usefullearning strategies.

We teachers must model for students both ourimplicit and explicit problem-solving strategies.When we wrestle with problems or new situationsin reading, writing, and math, we must rememberto make public our "behind the scenes" thinking.Children's chances for becoming critical thinkersincrease when we model problem posing and prob-lem solving. We need to engage students bytalking with them about how we think and speakand write. Talk helps students understand whatthey see and hear.

My professional growth depends on my ability toreflect on my own practice. How do I think aboutmy teaching? Why do 1 do what 1 do? What worksor does not work, and why ? What is my role as aclassroom teacher? How and what do my studentsthink about my teaching? These and other ques-tions, and their answers, force me to think aboutmy teaching. My reflections inform my efforts todevelop a community of engaged and enthusiasticlearners.

Teaching Focus

Teaching at Columbus Elementary would be anexciting challenge. Before going into a classroom,however, I would want more information. In thevideotape, the principal indicates that the goalofthe school is two-way language acquisition, withmonolingual Spanish speakers learning Englishand monolingual English speakers learningSpanish. Another goal might be to encourage

English-dominant speak-ers who are passiveSpanish speakers toemploy their Spanishskills. I would discussthis possibility with theprincipal. I would alsotry to learn more aboutparental expectations.Do parents view Englishliteracy and Spanish lit-eracy as valuable and

compatible goals, or are they primarily concernedwith English-language development ?

This is not an issue unique to Columbus, but onewith which we wrestle in many schools andcommunities. Sometimes we can improveunderstanding simply through discussion and clari-fication of program goals. In doing so, we need toconsider parental concerns. Students' first lan-guage is a cognitive bridge to academic learningand to second-language literacy. At the same time,English language development is a required com-ponent of governmentally funded bilingualprograms and a critical goal for all students. Forsome parents, whether we agree with them or not,attainment of English-language skills is also viewedas the only legitimate end to bilingual education.

Staff members at Columbus Elementary Schoolarticulate beliefs about respect for the languageand cultural characteristics students bring toschool. How do teachers demonstrate those beliefswhen planning for and implementing instruction?If I were at Columbus School, I would want tobecome part of a collaborative teaching networkthat studies the community, the role of bilingual-ism in daily life, students' prior experiences,community members' thoughts about literacy,community resources, and effective teaching set-tings and strategies.

We need to engagestudents by talking withthem about how we thinkand speak and write.

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I would try to think of ways to communicatewith colleagues in my building. I would alsoencourage efforts to collaborate with teachers atother schools in the district. Are there mecha-nisms that would enable us to enhance ourcommunication? Is knowledge gained throughnetworking linked with pedagogical knowledgeand actually applied t- help students of all ages?

In my own classroom, I would collaborate withthe teaching assistant to develop an instructionalrole that fit his or her professional goals and thatprovided greatest benefit to students. Together, wecould plan how she might use the greater part ofthe day as a Spanish speaker to facilitate instruc-tion. A Spanish speaker in the classroom wouldadd value to language instruction in the eyes of thecommunity. A Spanish-speaking assistant whoroutinely demonstrated her skills would encouragestudents, even the passive bilingual and monolin-gual English-speaking ones, to use Spanish.

My teaching assistant and I would hold a lot ofsmall-group conferences and conduct one-on-oneteaching. Our classroom would be a place wherereading and writing are the hub of the curriculum,providing support children could use to explore avariety of content areas, for a multitude of purpos-es. We would encourage students to think aboutreading and writing as means to many endsendsthey might well define for themselves. This wouldcall for an environment shaped by active and inde-pendent usage, full of environmental print in twolanguages, resource materials in two languages,student-prepared texts and work around the room,and a variety of supplies. A reliance on texts (inSpanish or English) would diminish as studentsand teachers worked together to produce printmaterials for learning and teaching in twolanguages.

Actions and Consequences

In creating my own classroom at the Columbusschool, then, my first thoughts would be aboutreading and writing. What purposes might readingand writing serve? How might students share indecisionmaking about those purposes? How mightreading and writing support our learning about awide range of topics? How might we find a diverseaudience (both Spanish and English speakers) to

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lend credibility to our efforts and to help us refineour products?

I would establish writing and reading workshopsto provide the structure, routine, and expectationof daily reading and writing times, peer conferenc-ing, teacher conferencing with individuals andsmall groups, direct literacy instruction to individ-uals and groups, and opportunities to connect withaudiences within and beyond the classroom.Instruction would focus on students' needs andabilities and be supported by interactions withboth peers and adults. Conversations between andamong teachers and students would allow us toexplore connections students are making, motiva-tions that drive their actions, and strategies andknowledge they call up as they work in theclassroom.

These opportunities for interaction with othersare a critical feature of the classroom. Thoughthere are reading, writing, and thinking times inthe day when students work quietly on their own,there are also times when collaborating with othersdrives and extends students' questioning, explo-ration, problem solving, and ability to functionproductively as a group in a diverse and demandingworld. To facilitate interactions, I would place stu-dents in heterogeneous language groups. Printedmaterials in the classroom would be bilingual,purposeful, and reflective of students' needs,accomplishments, thinking, and work in progress.Our room, then, would be rich in resources for stu-dents. And learning how to live in thatenvironment would take time and instruction.

Our reading, both as individuals and as a class,would focus on quality multicultural literature fromaround the world as well as close to home. I thinkthis literature can serve a key role in helping ustransform curriculumholding it up and examin-ing it from others' perspectives. At the same time,students would learn that who we are and wherewe live influence how we perceive events aroundus. Our reading would include informationalbooks, as well, which could support developmentof student-made materials (in Spanish and Eng-lish) across the curriculum.

Assessment of student progress would occur asmy teaching assistant and I interacted with readersand writers. Work in progress, for example, couldinform us about students' strengths and weakness-es. Editing conferences with students would

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provide the perfect opportunity for individualized,direct instruction in language mechanics pertinentto students' needs. These conferences could offerinsight into students' critical thinking that wewould never see reflected in spelling tests andworksheet pages. Documentation of such confer-ences would provide a running narrative of studentprogress that can be shared with students andparents alike. Students would be involved inassessment in the classroom. Students' skills ofanalysis and self-evalua-tion, and of criticalappraisal of writingprocess and product, areessential to their futuresuccess and to our effortsto engage them as par-ticipants in their ownlearning.

Assessment in thisclassroom would takeplace in both of a stu-dent's languages, so strengths and weaknesses ineach could inform the other. Work in a student'ssecond language could only be appropriatelyandfairlyconsidered in the context of work in his orher first language. We would not appreciate ourstudents' capabilities, their risk-taking and theirgrowth, or the way two languages influence eachother, unless we examined work in both languages.

With a shared commitment on the part of fami-lies, administrators, and other teachers in theschool, our classroom would be one which valuedand used Spanish and English equally. Those learn-ing English would still learn English, because usagein the larger school community and in the worldoutside school demands it. Those working to addSpanish to their language repertoire would havemore difficulty, because Spanish is neither so visi-ble nor the demands to learn it so pressing. Thosestudents who would add Spanish can already makedo in the world, and that security inhibits learningof a second language. If they are fortunate, theywould have Spanish-speaking relatives who couldsupport their learning. Even without a sharedschool-community commitment for maintainingand extending Spanish literacy, I would still beobligated to value and respect students' first lan-guage. 1 would try to do so by using it as a bridgeto learning, by recognizing how language shapes

learners and literacy, and by assessing in twolanguages.

I would use resources within the school to helpme consider how culturally relevant material mightbe incorporated into educational themes. Makingristras could be a starting place, but where wouldwe go from there? (There may have been languagespecific goals attached to Vasquez's lesson, but Iwas unsure.) How might a matanza serve as thebasis for cross-curricular study? Obviously the

woman who mentioneda matanza thought a cul-turally sensitive teachershould be able to expandon what the childbrought to school. Howmight a matanza be anintegral part of a unitfocused on community,harvest, or seasonalgrowth cycles? Howmight examining such

an event connect the children as learners to theirfamilies and communities? Could teachers initiatebook making (from many perspectives, in manygenres), interviews or oral histories, comparativestudies of matanzas elsewhere in the Americas?How might students go beyond traditions to usethe community for curricular research and learn-ing?

Seeing the parents in the computer lab remindsme that technology would have to be a critical partof this classroom. Lack of adequate technologicalresources is just one way that our schools areinconsistent with the world for which we claim toprepare our children. Classroom computers wouldserve as a learning tools for students, as well asbridges to parent participation. I wonder if elec-tronic mail might connect these students withinteresting, multilingual people around the state,country, and world.

What an interesting awareness of the worldbeyond computers might bring to this classroom ina small town in New Mexico. And perhaps ulti-mately, with hard work and all the resources ourprofession can bring to bear, this classroom justmight prepare its students for the challengingworld beyond its walls. Students will need all theknowledge and know-how we can offerin morethan one language.

Students will need all theknowledge and know-howwe can offerin morethan one language.

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Conclusion

For me, the bottom line is to imagine what stu-dent-centered, process-oriented teaching andlearning might look like in this particular class-room, school, and community. How will studentslearn what it means to be active, independent, andresponsible problem posers and problem solverspeople who learn how to learn? What will enablethem to work and live within diverse communitiesand to value their unique and shared cultures?How will the teacher be continually informed bystudents, families, peers, and his or her own profes-sional experience? How will the teacher balancework in and toward two languages, learning to beincreasingly sensitive to what each child brings interms of language usage and capabilities? Respons-es to these questions must be framed knowingpeople beyond the classroom walls may value bilin-gualism, but (loudly and clearly) speak English.

There are issues of bilingual education here, butthoughtful instruction will embrace thoselearnfrom themand move beyond to focus on studentsas individuals, knowing that diversity within cul-tures is as great as that between cultures. Ourteaching ultimately must serve one student, onehuman being, at a time. Steven Gelb (1991) callsnot for paradigms, but for "intellectual humilityand social activism," for continuing to learn, tolisten, and to serve. As for my perspective in cri-tiquing this video, I acknowledge that teaching isalways easier standing on the outside looking inand always harder than it looks from that outsideview. The best we can do as educators is to get inthe picture; that is, to teach and learn to the bestof our abilities, thus offering a positive model forour students.

For those of us in New Mexico, as elsewherearound the nation, diversity, multiculturalism, andbilingual education are not just fashionable buzzwords, they are ways of describing reality. Workingwith students and peers from other cultures, back-grounds, life experiences, will present tremendouschallenges, both personally and professionally. Butthe possibilities of what we might accomplishtogether are limitless. As Guadalupe Valdes (1992)says, "Tomorrow's mainstream student group willbe made up of what we consider today to be`diverse' students." We are both challenged andprivileged to work with these students to find

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respectful and productive ways of learning andteaching. We must start now for the sake of all ourstudents.

References

Edelsky, C. (1991). With literacy and justice for all:Rethinking the social in language and education.New York: Falmer Press.

Gelb, S. (1991, summer). Not necessarily the newparadigm: Holism and the future. Holistic Educa-tion Review, 37-42.

Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language,life, and work in communities and classrooms. NewYork: Cambridge University Press.

Moll, Luis C. (1989). Teaching second language stu-dents: A Vygotskian perspective. In D.M. Johnson& D. H. Roen (Eds.) Richness in writing:Empowering ESL students (pp. 55-69).

Reyes, M., Laliberty, E.A., & Orbanosky, J. M.(1993). Emerging biliteracy and cross-culturalsensitivity in a language-arts classroom. LanguageArts, 70, 20.

Routman, R. (1991). Invitations: Changing as teach-ers and learners. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

Strickland, D. S. (1994). Educating AfricanAmerican learners at risk: Finding a better way.Language Arts, 71, 328-336.

Valdes, G. (1992). Bilingual minorities and lan-guage issues in writing: Toward professionwideresponses to a new challenge. Written Communi-cation, 9, 85-136.

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C ritical Perspective IIIon the Case:by Martin Haberman(University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)

My most vivid memory of being born and raisedin Brooklyn, New York was our backyard. Itabutted the subway tracks and every 3 or 4 minutesa train would pass. This taught me the lessons ofbehavioral conditioning early and well. No one inmy family even noticed that every few minutes wecouldn't hear the radio, or each other, or a tele-phone voice, or that everything jiggled.

My father was a carpenter, my mother a seam-stress. I was the youngest of three children. Iattended school prior, during, and after World WarII, graduating from James Madison High Schoolwith 1,200 others in 1949. (The school had 5,500students.) My college career was also in the neigh-borhood. I was graduated from Brooklyn Collegewith a major in sociology at age 20.

I was fortunate to have attended college withthe returning World War II veterans. They want-ed to learn as much as possible and created astimulating atmosphere. All forms of scholarshipwere expected to explain the problems of living.There were no professional schools at that time.We all thought we were in college to learn stuffand that getting a job was a personal matter andnot a reason for academic study. The quality ofstudents and faculty made Brooklyn College myfirst significant educational experience. It firmlyimplanted in me the conception that undergradu-ate study is to learn eternal verities and not to geta better job. This experience explains why I havebeen out of step with public higher education, itsfaculty, and students.

My working career began at age 13 and movedme through delivery boy, stock clerk, usher, storeclerk, and musician. During my college years, Iworked 54 hours per week while carrying an over-load of college courses. I bought into the workethic early and have never been able to shake it.

At 20, I was married and after a few monthsmoved to Greenwich Village in Manhattan where

we lived for the next 4%z years. This moveradically changed my life and was my second sig-nificant educational experience. My neighborsand associates were no longer the parochial, nar-row ethnic groups of Brooklyn but individuals ofall classes, religions, races, sexual preferences, lan-guages, and ethnic groups who had come toManhattan from all over the world.

For the next four years, I was engaged in threerelated activities. First, I was exploring careers.These included working for the Department ofWelfare, selling liquor, and doing statistical analy-ses. Second, I concurrently attended New YorkUniversity part time, completing a master's degreein sociology. Third, I was drafted into the militaryon three separate occasions only to be senthometwice for physical ailments and once forbeing a university student. Each of these call-upsforced me to give up a job and have a going-awayparty. This in turn led me to be embarrassed aboutbeing rejected so that each call-up resulted in mystarting a new career.

These activities kept me occupied until age 25when I entered teaching. I pursued a secondmaster's degree at Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity and taught second, fourth, and sixthgrades. I also taught 4-year-olds for two summersat a day camp. These experiences led me to seek adoctorate in education again at Teachers College,where I was fortunate to work with Florence B.Stratemeyer as my major adviser. For three yearsfull time, I was able to live in Morningside Heightsand supervise student teachers in the Harlem pub-lic schools. It was during this period that mypersonal, work, and educational experiences jelled,and I realized that my life's work would be prepar-ing teachers for urban schools serving children andyouth in poverty.

After completing my doctorate, I came to theUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where I have

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remained for more than 30 years. For 11 years, Ialso served as a dean of urban outreach trying tohelp the university address urban problemsthrough research and service. My current role is asa professor of curriculum and instruction.

It is quite likely that over the years I have devel-oped more teacher education programs thananyone (or any institution) in history. Some havebeen notable failures from which I learned whatnot to do. Most have been highly successful. TheNational Teacher Corps was my model andbrought approximately 100,000 teachers intourban schools. In recent years, I have developedalternative certification programs for Extractingmore minorities into teaching and for resolvingthe continuing shortage for teachers for povertyschools by recruiting new constituencies intoteaching. My interview for selecting successfulurban teachers is used in cities throughout thecountry.

My work has led me to believe that teachingchildren and youth in poverty is significantly dif-ferent from teaching advantaged students inseveral ways. First, it requires the careful selectionof individuals who do not resemble traditional pro-files of undergraduate teacher education students.Second, teaching children in poverty requires on-the-job training with the help of experiencedmentor teachers. Third, this teaching should carrya special form of state license. Most important ofall, successful teachers of children and youth inpoverty share an ideology. This is a set of beliefsand commitments which guide their behaviorsinside and outside of classrooms. While this ideol-ogy is learned, not innate, it is not the result ofcoursework but of integrated life experienceswhich include much more than formal education.For this reason, selection is more important thantraining; given the right people, on-the-job train-ing will occur naturally with the help of mentors,parents, and children.

I am pleased and grateful that I have been ableto devote my career to getting better teachers forlarge numbers of children and youth in poverty. Iam continually amazed that the number of"experts" who understand that getting betterteachers is the heart of the matter remains sosmall. I suppose they don't see it as a major solu-tion, because it is so inexpensive, or, perhaps theysimply don't know how to do it.

38

I feel extremely fortunate to be able to pursue acareer in which my learning and growth continual-ly increase and where my efforts seem to havesome redeeming social significance. I can't explainhow it all happened to me except to guess that myeducational experiences combined with my lifeexperiences in such a way that sparks were set off.

What is the Problem?

Why are present schools in such turmoil?They did a great job of educating hordes ofimmigrants who were penniless and lack-ing in basic English. What's the problemwith minorities today that they can't bene-fit from schools and use education to worktheir way up in the same way all the othergroups did?

Mythology dies hard. It dies especially slowlywhen every extended white family in America cangive examples of immigrant members of their fami-lies who "made it" by doing well in school. Peoplegeneralize from such personal examples and there-by ignore much of the reality of how effectiveschools really were in former times, and the extentto which they actually served various immigrantconstituencies.

Among the various European white ethnics whocame to America some groups were well served,such as those who came from urban areas, fromprofessional backgrounds, Jews, the first wave ofGermans (pre-Civil War), and others. Otherimmigrant groups were ill-served; for example,those from rural backgrounds, southern Europeans,and Catholics. Further, within each of these cul-ture groups, there were also wide variations. Someindividuals in every group used the schools tobecome well-educated professionals, business peo-ple, or scholars, while others of the same ethnicbackground were pushouts, dropouts, or neverattended public schools. Just a few of the general-izations that might be made about the publiceducation offered the 30 million white, Europeanethnics who arrived between 1890 and 1920include the following: there were few programs forchildren with handicapping conditions; trans-portation, health, psychological, social welfare,and food services were not provided; no meaning-

J.

ful parental involvement was sought; class size inmany schools averaged between 60-100and inplaces like Brooklyn class size sometimes reached150; space was minimal with many children (amajority in some districts) sharing seats and desks;there were almost no indoor gymnasiums, sciencelaboratories or libraries; there was little or noaudiovisual equipment since this era precededeven radio and inexpensive photography; and fewif any textbooks. The curriculum was limited tobasic skills; subjects were taught by rote, groupchanting, and copying. There was no real curricu-lum in science, little vocational education (until1916), no music other than choral singing of Eng-lish hymns and folk songs. Foreign languages werenot offered and were, in fact, stamped out. Read-ing was taught by unison chanting and spelling byoral recitation. Bible reading (from the KingJames version) was offered to predominantly non-Protestant youngsters, accompanied by daily psalmsinging. Teachers were mostly high school gradu-ates; some had one or two years of normal schooltraining. Supervision came from principals orsuperintendents who showed up and listened togroup recitations of the brightest children answer-ing low-level questions. The average teacherearned less than $800 per year with no fringe ben-efits or retirement. Few, if any, blacks were inthese schools. Chicago reported a school for "col-ored" children during World War 1, and Atlantaopened its first "colored" high school in 1924. Thecurriculum included little about blacks or NativeAmericans or Hispanics except the most conde-scending trivia. Women were also invisible in thecurriculum. The constitutional amendment grant-ing women suffrage did not pass until the mass ofimmigration was already over. Not only werewomen "protected" from science, math, and everyadvanced study leading to higher education, theywere specifically tracked into summer programsand vocational training devoted to masteringmillinery, sewing, and home economics. Becauseteaching did not require any higher educationwomen were guided into that option as well.

Mainstreaming was not a problem because most"cripples" were not in schools. Also, becausechildhood diseases were not yet prevented bywidespread inoculation or vaccination, many nor-mal children actually contracted fatal or seriousdiseases by attending these schools.

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In sum, the contention that the schools used tobe good before they were spoiled by current immi-grants is simply not true. The contention that theschools helped former immigrants is partially accu-rate for some groups but much less so for others.Finally, "the problem" has always divided analystsinto two groups: those who attribute failure toinadequacies in children and those who attributefailure to the school program and its educators.The former approach leads to maintaining schoolsas they exist and changing the children. It con-tends that these children should not be in ourschools until they are ready to learn; what consti-tutes "ready" is defined in ways which, in effect,reject the children, their families, and their cul-tures. The latter approach leads to changingschools because there are always better ways toorganize curricula and more effective ways toteach.

This analysis is predicated on the latter assump-tion; that the children are to be accepted andenhanced and that what we need to implement isthe most appropriate curriculum and the mosteffective instruction. The criteria we use to define"appropriate" and "effective" are the focus of thispaper.

2

What Are Schools Supposed to Accomplish in a Multicultural Society?

To realize educational health for all our people, we need to conceive of three levels or types ofachievement.

Table 1.Levels of Learning Required for Participation in a Multicultural American Society

Level IIndividual Level

Need IDENTITYBasic Question Who am I?

Content of Learning Talents, interests,individual proclivities

Primary Place ofLearning

The full range ofsocietal institutionsand media includingschools

Criteria of Evaluation Self-fulfillment

Role of Teachers inPublic

Provision ofcontinuingopportunities fordeveloping individualdifferences.Enhancement ofpersonal talents.

Level IICulture GroupLeamingsSECURITY POWERWhere do I come What can I do?from?

Level 111

Societal Leamings

Language, culture,religion, mores ofculture group

Standard English,citizenship, basicAmerican values,ability to function insociety, jobs, andcareers

Family, community, Schools, supported bychurch, subgroup home and otherinstitutions, supported institutions and mediaby schools

Recognition by Success in largersignificant others in societyculture group.

Knowledge and The common core ofacceptance of cultural learning needed by alldiversity. Sensitivity Americansand awareness ofpossible intrusions onlearning. Use ofstrengths of particularculture groups.

Level I

These learnings refer to individual talents, inter-ests, abilities, and predispositions that include allthe opportunities for enhancing individual differ-ences which schools might support. On this level,the school, in effect, makes children and youthmore different and diverse because each studenthas particular, even unique, qualities which can becultivated and enhanced. These learnings refer tothe question of identity. "Who am 1 ?" The wayto deal with this issue of identity is to developeach student's interests, skills, and talents. Hope-fully, more of these personal development-type

40

learnings will be offered in schools.

Level II

These leamings refer to all the things peoplelearn to gain security and connectedness in orderto answer the question, "Where do I come from?"These leamings refer to one's culture group. Thisgroup may be an ethnic, racial, language, religious,or other form of culture group. Children aresocialized to be Greek-Americans, African-Ameri-cans, Hispanics, or members of any particulargroup by their schools and by their families andcommunities. Through multicultural programs,

r

students can be taught the knowledge, skills,behaviors, and values of the group in which theyare rooted, as well as those of other groups whichmake up our society.

Level III

These learnings refer to all the knowledge, skills,behaviors, and values taught to be successful in thegeneral American society. These studies includethe traditional subjects, standard English, and thepatterns of behavior generally described as Ameri-can, including those needed to perform a job andfunction as a citizen.

On the basis of this formulation, students areeducationally healthy when they have been toschools which prepare them to function successful-ly on three levels: as individuals, as members of aparticular culture group, and as productive citizenswho can succeed or at least function in the largersociety. The question of self-efficacy (What can Ido?) is generally answered by Level III leamingsrelated to earning a living, participating in civicaffairs, and living as a law-abiding, contributing,community member. The needs for connectednessand self-esteem are met by Level II learnings whereone learns about his or her culture group and thegroups of other students. The Level I leamingsreflect the wide range of personal achievementsthat distinguish individuals in terms of their pecu-liar talents and particular interests.

How Would We Know an AmericanSchool is Doing a Good Job?

By emphasizing all three levels of learning as arequirement of public education, I am stressing theuniqueness of American society. There is no otherfree country in which the individual, culturaldiversity, and general national goals are allespoused simultaneously. In the rest of the world,ethnicity is made synonymous with nationhood.Even in England and Canada, there are activesecessionist movements. Apparently, there is not auniversal ability to conceive of ways for people tolearn to function simultaneously on all three lev-els. Our nation is engaged in an educationalexperiment that is unique among the nations ofthe world: the commitment to a general commongood, the enhancement of culture groups within

41

that larger society and the personal developmentof individuals who can function both as membersof a particular culture group and as successful con-tributors to the larger American society.

Thc. criteria we use to determine how well aschool is doing are all substitutes for how the grad-uates of that school will live out their lives.Because we cannot suspend judgments about aschool until we can follow up with the childrenand actually see what they will do as grown-ups,we use criteria that can be applied to the childrennow and assume that the behaviors we assess nowwill continue in later life. If children demonstratethey know and can behave in certain ways now,they may or may not choose to implement thoselearnings; if they cannot demonstrate leamings,they have no choice about implementation.

To assess a school on Level I leamings in thelong-term, we would need measures of self-fulfill-ment. In the short term, however, there are severalthings that can be assessed.

School-wide

(1) What choices are provided for individuals inthe school curriculum? Do students participatein the same classes or studies for equal lengthsof time, or, are there school-wide provisions forindividual differences based on the expectationthat groups will always have some individualswho need less (more) time than others?

(2) What choices are provided for different stu-dents to learn different things? Differentiatingfor learning rates is only the first step. Thereshould also be opportunities for individuals togo into greater depth or into related studies.Does the school manage its calendar and dailyschedule in a way which reflects that differen-tial learning rates of differential contents is anormal expectation?

(4) How does the school identify children withparticular talents, abilities, and interests? Arethere any expectations, on the school-widelevel, that identifying and enhancing individ-ual proclivities is a vital part of the school'smission?

These four questions are directed at the opportu-nities the school affords all its children, not onlythose identified as having handicapping condi-tions or being "gifted."

(3)

5 4

In Classrooms

(1) Do teachers' classroom programs reflect differ-ent levels of learning and different time ratesdevoted to the study of various subjects?

(2) Do teachers' classroom programs reflect provi-sions for children to move ahead or intoenrichment activities on their own?Do classrooms have different materials avail-able to children which will enable them topursue a variety of subjects beyond the mini-mum curriculum?How do teachers learn about and follow-up onchildren's interests and talents?is there a teacher expectation that they shouldbe enhancing individual interests and talents?How is this accomplished?

The answers to these questions will present apicture of whether a given school recognizes andplans for individual differences and of that school'scommitment to individual development. At the lowend of the curriculum are schools which organizethemselves to combat individual differences. Theyschedule equal times, for similar activities, usingthe same materials, for all children to learn equalamounts, of the same things, at equal rates. Suchschools operationally define any student who doesnot comply to these norms as some sort of prob-lem. At the high end of the spectrum are schoolswhich recognize that the curriculum and minimumstandards are only a starting point and that chil-dren naturally differ. The essential distinctionbetween such schools is that those on the low endof Level I leamings regard individual differences asthe enemy of their school organization. Educatorsin poor schools assume children go to school tobecome more alike as a result of being treatedalike. They assume that fair and equal treatment isthe same treatment. Schools at the high end ofLevel I learnings accept the challenge of searchingout and developing individual differences. Theeducators who work in such schools seek not onlyto recognize but enhance individual interests andabilities. In effect, good teachers purposely maketheir jobs more difficult by teaching individuals aswell as classes.

Level II learnings are those that refer to knowl-edge, skills, behavior, and values related to culturaldiversity. For our purposes, it is vital that childrenlearn about and accept their own heritage. But it

(3)

(4)

(5)

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cannot be stated with sufficient emphasis that theprimary instruction in this area occurs in the fami-ly, home, religious, and ethnic community. Therole of the school is to become aware, accept, andenhance these learnings which began in infancy.Further, it must be noted that children not onlyneed to learn about their ov .1 backgrounds butabout the backgrounds of other children in theschools across America. In addition, all childrenmust learn something about the cultural heritageof the major groups who have been involuntaryimmigrants and who have needed legislationdirected at their achievement of equity. Thesegroups include African-Americans, Native Ameri-cans, Hispanics, and some Asian groups. Somemulticultural experts would add women and thosewith handicapping conditions to this list.

The point is that cultural diversity means learn-ing about one's own group but much more as well.For example, any single culture group can have itschildren's well-being and education greatly en-hanced by Level II learnings. What the childrenlearn includes how their own culture group con-tributes to and is part of the total society, as well asspecific things about their group. However, this ismerely the starting, not the ending, point. Level IIleamings also include learning about the range ofculture groupsparticularly the largest ones andthose in need of greatest advocacy for equitabletreatment and opportunity. Assessing such learn-ings will involve what is in the books, what istaught, what is learned, and what is tested for.

Level III learnings refer to all the typical areasusually covered in school curricula. Table II sum-marizes these. Level III learnings are, in oursociety, the expected outcomes of a good publicschool system. Unfortunately, too many Ameri-cans confine all their educational expectations toonly this level. Worse yet, they limit their expec-tations to only the first goal (i.e., basic skills) asimportant for all children and youth.

Table II.School Goals Most Commonly Stated by

Local Boards of Education andState Departments of Public Instruction

1. Basic skills and information2. Fundamental principles and concepts of

required knowledge3. Problem-solving abilities4. Skills of group living and principles of citi-

zenship5. Health, personal and environmental6. Aesthetic development7. Personal values and ethics8. Positive self-concept9. Independent judgment and critical think-

ing10. Ability to interact with all individuals and

groups in positive, nonviolent ways.

The unwillingness to accept all three levels oflearning as critical for all Americans is not con-fined to those who become fixated with a portionof Level III leamings. Level II zealots include arange of groups (e.g., orthodox religious sects) whowant no interaction whatever with the larger soci-ety and who seek to live in entirely separatecommunities. Level I in the extreme, is character-ized by individuals who seek "to find themselves"(and only themselves) without respect to othersubgroups or to the larger society. For example, itbecame common in the 1960s for some Level Iextremists to defend anything that any individualchose to do as worthwhile learning. As experi-menting with drugs became commonplace, it wasdefended and even put forward as a personal formof enhancement and in some cases, as the value ofa religious culture group. Cases defending thesmoking of dope as a religious experience went ashigh as the Supreme Court. The "cutriculum ofthe streets" was the euphemism used to glorify anyactivity which supposedly enhanced the particularindividual or subgroup's potential for any form ofactivitylegal or otherwise. This was in contrastto former times when kinship systems, language,religion, and the values of a particular culturegroup were put forward as the most desirable andnecessary forms of Level I and Level II learnings.

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Learning can be assessed by more than thedegree to which the school curriculum includesvarious content. In reality, there are four levels ofcurriculum: 1) what is in the official guides, texts,software, and other printed material; 2) what theteachers actually teach; 3) what the children reallylearn; and 4) what is assessed. The effectiveness ofthe curriculum should be assessed at all four levels.The greater the overlap in the four levels, the morethe curriculum is aligned.

Rationale for the Three Levelsof Learning

Erik Erickson (1964) has described the educa-tional needs of individuals as preparation for a lifeof change, chance, and choice. His focus on thefuture and on individual health led him to postu-late the increasing amounts of disorder whichindividuals should be prepared to cope with in thefuture. In effect, he predicted the decreasing abili-ty of the larger society to provide the order whichafforded greater stability and security to the indi-vidual in former times.

Robert Ardrey (1970) translated psychoanalyticstudies and specified the three basic needs ofgroups and individuals as survival, power, andidentity. These he claimed, follow an order so thatonce survival and some measure of mastery overthe environment has been achieved, the group andthe individual will do almost anything to meetwhat appears to be an inexplicable desire foradventure. In reality, this mysterious search foradventure is not a whim but an inherent need foridentity, so potent, that the group and the individ-ual will risk its very survival and the power it hasalready achieved to satisfy it.

Maslow'3 hierarchy of needs (1970) holds thatphysical safety is basic and that self-actualization isnot realized until there has been sequential growththrough preceding stages of development (i.e.,belongingness, love, and esteem). While Maslow'stheory does not account for the widespread andrecurrent "deviants" both individuals andgroupswhose activities and priorities cannot beaccounted for by any linear explanation of theirsupposed needs, it does explain and predict thesequence of most individual and group behaviorthat is driven by need satisfaction. Self-actualiza-

tion can only occur after basic needs and securityneeds are met.

Regardless of the particular theorist or theoreticorientation, the question of how individual needsinterface with societal demands characterizes everyserious attempt to explain human behavior. I

believe this interface is a result of the fundamentalneed for the three levels of learning just described.My argument also includes a moral orientationregarding what individuals and groups need tolearn to live together peacefully in a culturally plu-ralist American society. Individuals and groups arenaturally predisposed to learn the things that willgive them identity, security, and power. (See TableI presented earlier.)

What Constitutes Educational Health?

A basic understanding derived from anthropolo-gy is the concept that individuals can and naturallydo operate on several levels simultaneously. It isnaive to try to wash out the contradictions amongLevel I, Level II, and Level III leamings on thesupposition that smoothing over conflicting cultur-al demands or making them all congruent ishealthy or necessary. The healthiest goal is quitethe contrary: to recognize that there may be someirreconcilable distinctions among the learni,iggoals on three levels. What is best for individuals,subgroups, or the larger society need not always becongruent values. Indeed, it should be anticipatedthat there will be not only differences but contra-dictions. And this is true within each level as wellas between levels. Within the larger society, welearn to cope with contradictory American valuespatterns (e.g. freedom and order, individuality andthe common good). We also cope on a personallevel: a mother teaches her three-year-old child tokeep her clothes on,. then takes her to the beachand removes them. Between culture groups andthe larger society, there are often conflictingdemandsfor example, the role of women.

Children and parents should be viewed as expertconsumers, not designers of Level III learnings,because they are not experts in the production andoffering of education programs. They are, howev-er, experts in the consumption and effects ofeducation. We all know whether our childrenhave learned well, if not immediately then through

44

their subsequent achievement in higher grades,college, jobs, or life. More affluent subgroups canchoose the schools (Level III systems) that willsuccessfully socialize their children into the largersociety. They can use parochial as well as privateschools and may even move their homes topreferred school districts. The poor, the under-educated, the ghettoized have no choice overschools and other Level III educational systemsand are, in effect, totally dependent on the publicorganizations which service their immediatecommunities.

Obviously, individuals have mutual and simulta-neous relationships with their subgroups and withthe larger society; in return for the order thesegroups provide, the individual serves the special-ized function of enhancing both his or her culturegroup and the larger society. In meeting the fullrange of educational needs, however, there is awide range of individual learning and growth thatdoes not appear to make any direct, clear, or imme-diate contribution to the social order. Suchindividually enhancing learning activities havebeen designated here as Level I learnings and aremost possible in a free society, dedicated to theprotection of individual liberties. But even moreimportant is the converse; a society dedicated tothe protection of individual liberties is most likelyto survive and thrive. It is frequently the "imprac-tical" developments which are the source ofenergy, growth, new ideas, and the adventure drivefrom which the larger society and subgroups derivetheir viability. The best indicator of this conditionis the range and diversity of individual pursuits andleamings in a given subgroup. This can be assessedthrough inventories of activities; studies of howleisure, avocational, and personal interests are pur-sued; or through an examination of products.Setting a norm, or desirable level of learning ismore difficult in this realm than in the others.Ideally, there can never be enough diversity. Prac-tically, there must be some minimal amount. In afree and viable society there must be a range ofactivities which subgroup members are learningand which may not be directly tied to any immedi-ately useful purpose perceived by the subgroup orlarger society. The activities pursued by individu-als should transcend age, gender, and incomewithin the subgroup so that they do not deny free-doms and opportunities guaranteed by the larger

t)

society. For example, a woman has the right andshould have the opportunity to become a pilot,even if her particular culture group doesn't approveof this activity.

While this model seeks to clarify the concept ofeducation in a multicultural society, there arepeculiarities in American society worth noting.The most publicized well-documented educationalfailures are in Level III; that is, the school learn-ings intended to prepare all youth for successfulparticipation and work in American society. Theargument put forward here suggests that failures inthe other two levels, while less frequently noted,are equally as serious. In Level I, there may be sig-nificantly less individual development than isnecessary to sustain a free society. In Level II,there are tens of millions of "melted" Americanswho no longer have identifiable ethnic subgroupconnections. Such individuals create surrogateswhich serve the same purpose of providing themsecurity and connectedness. Americans have beenremarkably inventive at creating causes to whichsome people will devote literally much of theirlives and energies. It has been said that no oneever started a religion or initiated a cause thatfailed in America. In the absence of active ethnicgroups, many "melted" or assimilated Americanshave been quite creative at developing surrogates:the Republican Party, a church group, the women'smovement, the yacht club, the American SoccerLeague, and Weight Watchers are merely a few.While these surrogates may lack the power of ethnic

subgroups to provide security, roots, and connect-edness, they do serve as effective means of meetingthe security needs of many in much the same wayas prosthetic devices substitute for real limbs.

This model outlines three levels of learning asnecessary for fully functioning in American society.As a result, the number of constituencies that themodel defines as educationally disadvantaged isincreased. Individuals who do not fully developtheir distinctive talents (Level I learnings) are notonly personally underdeveloped but are unable tocontribute all they might to the general society.Those who do not learn to participate fully in theirown culture groups and appreciate others (LevelII) are similarly underdeveloped and educationallydisadvantaged. Finally, those who might appear tobe doing well in Level III learning (i.e., those who

45

score average or better on school achievementtests) may actually be unprepared to function inAmerican society. Effectiveness in the larger soci-ety depends on much more than having attainedminimal skill levels in a few basics. It requireslearning what schools claim to teach but do notmeasure: the ability to communicate, cooperate,problem solve, demonstrate moral character, prac-tice sound health habits, and function as an active,law-abiding citizen. It cannot be stated with suffi-cient emphasis that the most critical leamingsrelate to learning how to live with individuals andsubgroups in nonviolent, positive ways. This mustbe the centerpiece of all curriculum to counteractthe epidemic currently ravaging our society. (SeeTable II.)

One implication of this model is that as poor asschools aregiven present forms of evaluationthey would be assessed as significantly moredeficient if we held an adequate view of the totalleamings required for functioning on the three lev-els of living. Another implication is that there aremany more melted (i.e., fully assimilated) Ameri-cans who are disadvantaged in Level II leamingsthan there are school children typically labeleddisadvantaged because they have inadequate LevelIll learnings.

This model sets a very high educational standardfor being judged an adequately educated Ameri-can. By thus broadening the range and depth ofwhat all Americans need to learn to function effec-tively in our multicultural society, we might allbecome more realistic about the challenge of edu-cating a free people.

What Does All This Mean for the Schoolin Columbus, New Mexico?

It is likely that one brief tape will not portray allthe important things that are taught and learned inthis school. The tape does indicate that someaspects of Level II learnings and some aspects oflevel III leamings are agreed upon by the aides,teachers, principal, and parents and are beingtaught.

On Level II, it seems clear that the children'scultural identity as Mexican-Americans is beingcarefully nurtured. The staff and administratorseem to he not only aware but somewhat successful

in helping these children accept themselves andtake pride in their cultural heritage. The securitythe children can gain from this type of programwill help build their self-esteem. In short, I believewhat the staff is reporting. They seem to be ingeneral agreement on making certain that the chil-dren feel secure in answering the question "Wheredo I come from?" and are comfortable with therealization they are Mexican-Americans. From thetape, it seems clear that all levels of staff share inand contribute to thisgoal. For the childrenwho come across theborder, this emphasisshould also providethem with comfort, sup-port, and the securitythat they are worthwhilepeople.

On Level III, therewas very little depictedon the tape. For exam-ple, a brief languagelesson showed 10 wordson the blackboard beinglearned in both English and Spanish. There is lit-tle that can be said of an evaluative natureregarding this activity. We would have to haveother tapes of all the things teachers and aides doin the course of a day to teach basic skills. On thebasis of the tape, we can state that some basic skillsare being taught to the children using directinstruction to the whole class.

In sum, I regard this brief tape as being a verysmall representation of what probably takes placein this school. Based on this snapshot of theschool and the staff's explanations, it seems thereis a strong commitment to some Level II learningsand some Level III learning of basic skills. Theremarks which follow therefore assume there aremany other tapes which might be made about thisschool.

school, it seems to me that it would be useful to layout what we should want these children to learn.These are my advocacies and should not be inter-preted to mean that these things are now beingtaught well, poorly, or at all. Finally, it must benoted that my analysis refers to the children whoare being educated to function in American soci-ety and not to those children who will spend theirlives outside the United States. I don't pretend tobe an expert on what Mexican children and youth

need to learn to functionsuccessfully in Mexico.

It should be the goal of thisschool, as well as the goal ofany American public school,to prepare children for living,working, and functioningsuccessfully anywhere inthe country.

What Should We Want the ChildrenAttending School in Columbus, NewMexico to Learn in School?

Because I can't know from the tape the totalityof what is actually being taught and learned in this

46

It should be the goalof this school, as well asthe goal of any Ameri-can public school, toprepare children for liv-ing, working, andfunctioning successfullyanywhere in the country.Some would argue thatthis goal should beexpanded to includeanywhere in the world. Ican't deal with an inter-

national goal on this level because most of thecountries in the world are either totalitarian statesor do not have our system of justice. Teachingpeople to live and work in Haiti, Iran, China, oreven Malaysia would be a course in how to keepone's mouth shut, not write anything controversial,and be of the right religion, gender, or politicalpersuasion. Admittedly, I have a more limitedgoal: that is, educating a free people to function inAmerican society. As adults, the students maywell decide upon other societies in which to alsolive and work. Fortunately, American society issufficiently heterogeneous that preparing our chil-dren to function effectively at home will, in effect,teach them to interact positively with almost allraces, religions, and ethnic and language groups.

What this goal means in practice is far reaching.It means that a farm child in a small Wisconsintown cannot be educated to learn with and fromonly white Lutherans whose grandparents speakGerman on the assumption that this child willspend his or her entire life in that small communi-ty and interact with the total American societyonly via the 6 o'clock evening news. The fact thatthe parents of these children may reject urban life

?9

as centers of crime, violence, and degeneration andthat they want some sort of fence built aroundtheir children cannot distort or control theschool's mission. In other towns across America,some parents censor library books and others seekto control the science curriculum so that it willsupport their particular religious persuasion. Tocounteract these ever-present trends towardparochialism, education was officially designatedthe function of states, not localities. Theoretically,no local school board and no parent group has theauthority to reject the heterogeneous Americansociety (Level III) and to educate its children onlyin its own narrow image of Level II. This right toparochialism is reserved for private education.Public schools are for the making of all Americans.

The first question then is: Are the children inColumbus being educated to function everywherein American society, or, is it assumed they willwork, live, and function only in Columbus or asimilar community for their entire lives? If theanswer is the latter, then the school will have toexplain how it can guarantee that its graduates willnot someday move to a suburb of Philadelphia, asmall Vermont community, a downtown neighbor-hood of Denver, or Honolulu. If the former, thenwhat is the school doing to teach children aboutthese other culture groups (Level II 'earnings) aswell as how they can earn a living, spend theirtime, and function as citizens (Level III).

The parents of the children in that small Wis-consin town may not want their children to learnabout Mexican culture, other than those are thepeople who come north in summer to pick ourcucumbers and it costs us a lot of extra money fornew toilets and running water in their shacksbecause they made the state of Wisconsin pass allthose dumb health laws. These same parents alsomay not want their children studying too muchabout other culture groups in schoolparticularlyNative Americans who can fish whenever theywant to and ruin it for the rest of us. This list ofparental desires can be extended ad infinitum.What it adds up to is that many parent groupswork continuously at creating local school systemswhich would limit their children to their own lowlevels of education and understanding. The demo-graphic data indicate, however, that mostsmall-town and suburban children actually domove and spend their adult lives in California, in

major metropolitan areas, and in the southeasternpart of the United sates living with other people'schildren. Therefore, to state that we in a particu-lar school do whatever the parents want, and wedo nothing to upset parents may be extremely dan-gerous to the well-being of both the children andto American society. Those Wisconsin parents inthat particular small town want their children toremain on the farm or in nearby rural communi-ties; they want the school to mirror their valuesand religion; they are most comfortable withschools that resemble their own schooling and notprograms that seek to prepare their children for lifein the 21st century. The schools, on the otherhand, have a responsibility to teach the children tolearn things on all three levels.

Perhaps a young girl may not only be interestedbut talented in science (Level I). Will she be pre-cluded from this learning because her parents seeher only as a milk maid, or a baby sister, or a-mother? Should the parents' rejection of non-Christians preclude the school from teaching aboutall the culture groups in our society (Level II)?Should the option and vision that the girl has theright to use her academic ability to become a rock-et scientist (Level III) not be shared with the girlbecause her parents want her to remain in Wiscon-sin rather than "end up" in Texas? While it isimportant, indeed imperative, that schools andparents work cooperatively and well together, it isnaive to assume that every parental wish is theschool's command, or that particular parent groupshave the same agenda as public schools. Schoolsmust have sound educational reasons for their pro-grams which transcend pandering to parents. "Wedo (or do not) offer this program because it makesparents happy" is an insufficient basis for curriculum.There will be numerous occasions when the goalsof the school and those of the parents coincide.There will be other times, however, when the par-ents must be heard but not necessarily obeyed.

What I have said about the visions of those in asmall Wisconsin town is true for the parents andcommunity in Columbus. The fact that the par-ents would like and expect that their children willlive out their lives locally does not mean it willhappen. Indeed, it is possible that some of thechildren educated in Columbus will live amongelderly Jews in Miami, or among Moslem shop-keepers in California, or among Portuguese-

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American fisherman in Providence, Rhode Island.It is also possible that some of the parents of someof the children do not necessarily appreciate theirchildren developing interests which they them-selves do not practice (e.g., philately), orassociating with people they do not interact with(e.g., Hopi Indians), or pursing "strange" careers(e.g., designer of computer software) Indeed, itmay even be possible that many irentswould be extremely happy if the .. en learnedbasic English (at about sixth - grace. level), had asteady job as a busboy at a nearby resort, raised afamily, and lived nearby. Should this be the extentof the school's vision, or, must the school havehigher horizons?

The foregoing remarks refer to the AmericanDream as defined by those who see it as merely get-ting a decent job and having a better life than theparents. But this is a dream that poor people allover the world share. It is not the AmericanDream. The specific and unique American Dreammust include our political and religious freedoms,our system of justice, the liberty to pursue one'sinterests and lifestyle, and the responsibilities ofcitizenship incumbent on those who would governthemselves (e.g., pay taxes, hold office). With thehelp of political candidates who follow rather thanlead and the simplifications of the media, the gloryof the Americar. Dream has been watered down tohaving a good job and owning a single familyhome in a nice neighborhood. Which AmericanDream are.the principal, teachers, aides, and par-ents in Columbus, New Mexico, referring to?

It would be simplest to state what the childrenshould learn in terms of our theoretic construct:

Level I

Girls as well as boys should be taught to explorethe fullest possible range of their interests and tal-ents. Traditionally, schools have limited thissearch to a few physical education, music, and artactivities. A better model to follow is to use thefull range of what adults in our society do in theirfree time. Here we find everything from astrono-my to skating. The wider the range of options theschool program can expose children to the morelikely the school is to hit on some talent or interestof the individual. No child should finish elementaryschool in America without having found at least one

particular skill or interest that she or he feels competentat and excited about doing-independently, withoutsupervision, just for the joy of it.

Level II

Children must learn about their own culturegroup. They must also learn about Native Ameri-cans, African-Americans, and Hispanics becausethese are the largest groups comprising involuntaryimmigrants. This is of great importance since theopportunity and equity which these groups enjoy isa substantial part of our history and the criticalcurrent issues facing all levels of government. Inaddition, children in various localities should havethe benefit of learning about the culture groupsrepresented in the classes and schools they attend.These leamings provide both substantive knowl-edge about culture groups and the generalsensitivities children will need in order to relateto members of any other group.

It is possible, given this scheme, that childrenwill begin with learning about their own groups,then add learning about the major culture groupscomprising the total society and then expand tolearning about the specific backgrounds of theirschoolmates, which may not be part of the othertwo areas of study.

For children to learn that there is only my cul-ture group versus everyone else is dangerous andmisleading. It would be like having the Columbus,new Mexico children graduate believing here areonly Mexican-Americans like me and then every-one else in one lump called "Anglos." Every childby the time he or she finishes elementary schoolshould have a real sense of his or her own culturegroup and the heterogeneity of the total society.

In addition to knowledge and information, LevelII 'earnings should be a source of self-esteembecause children not only learn to feel better aboutthemselves but gain the ability to communicatewith friends from other groups. Where possible,Level II lumings should include language develop-ment. The "language problem" with the childrenin Columbus is not that they speak Spanish butthat they don't speak Spanish well enough. Differ-ent areas of the country should emphasize teachinga range of foreign languages to standard levels.

Level III 'earnings need to be broadened toinclude all the goals in Table II and not merely

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basic skills. Critical thinking, communication,and the ability to work cooperatively are essential,both to future employment and to functioning as acitizen and community member.

A final note is in order. The three levels oflearning may be discreet; for example, a harp-playing Greek-American who works as a lawyer.This individual has learned valuable things abouther/himself, his/her culture and his/her profession.Another individual, however, may be one wholoves music, plays the guitar, is a Mexican-American and is skilled enough to earn a living atit. In this case the learning levels are more inte-grated. In both cases, however, we would alsoexpect all the additional forms of learnings cited inour previous discussion of these levels.

Summary Issues

Do the goals of the schools emphasize minimumstandards and sameness or, is the school programan active proponent for enhancing individual dif-ferences and actualizing the full range of humanpotential, talent, and interest? Does the schoolfocus on one culture group (us) and lump everyoneelse together (them), or, does the school educatethe child to successfully interact with people fromall culture groups in America society? Does theschool program focus on the basic skills needed toget a job and to stay out of jail, or, does the schoolemphasize learning for the world of work,continuous career development, and the range ofresponsibilities performed by citizens in a free soci-ety? Is the goal of the school to prepare childrenwho will be able to succeed in Columbus, NewMexico, to function successfully anywhere inAmerica? Is the "American Dream" getting a bet-ter job and being able to secure the goods andservices needed to make one's family comfortable,or, does the "American Dream" also include theliberty to pursue individual interests and the com-mitment to perform civic responsibilities?

References

Ardy, R. (1970). The social contract. New York:Dell Publishing Company.

Erickson, EH. (1964). Insight and responsibility.New York: W.W. Norton and Co.

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Haberman, M. (1993). Diverse contexts for teach-ing. In M.J. O'Hair & S.J. Odell (Eds.), Diversityand teaching (pp. 1-8, 84-90). Fort Worth: Har-court Brace and Jovanovich.

Haberman, M. (in press). Visions of equal opportu-nity. (The top 10 fantasies of school reformers.)Phi Delta Kappan, 74.

Haberman, M. & Post, L. (1990). Cooperatingteachers' perceptions of the goals of multiculturaleducation. ACTION in Teacher Education,12(3), 49-54.

Haberman, M. & Post, L. (1993). The dominanceof craft: What cooperating teachers believe their stu-dents need to learn. A paper presented at theannual meeting of the Association of TeacherEducators, Los Angeles, California.

Haberman, M. & Post, L. (in press). Multiculturalschooling. Peabody Journal of Education.

Hilliard, A. (1989, January). Teachers and culturalstyles in a pluralistic society. NEA Journal, pp.65-69.

Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality.New York: Harper and Row.

Myrdal, G. (1944). An American dilemma (2 vols.).New York: Harper & Brothers.

Shade, B. (1982). Afro-American cognitive style:A variable in school success. Review of Educa-tional Research, 52, 219-244.

Sleeter, C. (1992). Resisting racial awareness:How teachers understand the social order fromtheir racial, gender, and class locations. Educa-tional Foundations, 27, 7-32.

Zeichner, K. (1993). Educating teachers for culturaldiversity. National Center for Research onTeacher Learning, Office of EducationalResearch and Improvement. Washington, DC:U.S. Office of Education.

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