Edad 5680 Multiculturalism - Global Perspectives and Twenty-First Century Skills

Najat Murillo and Tiffany Biggers

University of North Texas

Dr. Linda Stromberg

EDAD 5680

Curriculum Analysis Project

Part 1: A discussion of what we learned through the two areas of analysis - Multiculturalism/Global Perspectives and Twenty-First Century Skills.

Najat: One of my greatest strengths is that I come from a very multicultural family – we represent more than seven countries!  Growing up with such diversity has been an amazing experience.  For this reason, I have been able to articulate a strong rationale for multicultural education.  I feel that it has also helped me to easily accept people’s differences.  I have also developed the necessary skills for effective interpersonal, interethnic, and intercultural group interactions, which helps in identifying dysfunctional teacher-student interaction patterns.  Some of my weaknesses include not being able to describe recent research supporting multiculturalism, not stating my own biases about diverse groups, and not teaching to multiple goals and incorporating information about a diversity of groups continuously.  Some of the strengths I have in leading a school promoting skills for the 21st century include integrating a wide range of technology resources, promoting global awareness, working collaborating creatively with others.  I am a strong advocate in dedicating a consistent amount of time for students to explore and present information using technological resources.  I would also encourage teachers to teach students how to validate information, synthesize information, communicate information, collaborate with information, and problem solve with information.  One of the areas where I need to grow most in order to lead a school promoting skills for the 21st century is building strong relationships with various community members in order to set an example for teachers and students.  If managed effectively, community members would be an extremely valuable resource for students, as well as educators, of the 21st century.

Tiffany:

One of my greatest in terms of multiculturalism is that I am aware of the need to articulate strong rationale for multicultural education. Coming from an African-American background, I am also aware of stereotypes and certain biases that different ethnic and cultural groups may face. I am also aware of the fact that at present, textbooks continue to be dominated by the art, music, history, literature, perspectives, and images of white Americans providing limited representation of other ethnic and cultural groups. As a result, I have developed a strength in being able to evaluate curriculum materials and supplement them when necessary. I am also able to evaluate dysfunctional teacher-student interaction patterns. My classroom is a unique situation in that my co-teacher is an older woman of German descent while I represent a younger generation and a woman of color. Our kids are traditionally the lowest kids, mostly minority and some having learning disabilities (ex. Autism, written expression, math calculations, etc.). When presenting material in Biology, we are able to add our personal perspectives to different lessons so that they are able to see outside of the traditional “black and white” box. A great example is that when discussing disorders, I always tell my students the story of when I was pregnant and had to be tested to see if I was a carrier for Down syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Cystic Fibrosis, etc. I found that I was a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis which is unique in that the students learn during class most carriers are typically white women. So this me being a carrier, challenged this idea and made for a great discussion. Finding that out also prompted me to do research and find that I do have ancestors of European descent. Its connections like these that assist me in being able to understand the importance of using a variety of instructional techniques and strategies.  My weaknesses in the areas of multiculturalism is that I am unable to describe recent research supporting multiculturalism. I think after taking the Race, Class, and Gender class, I became more aware of multiculturalism approaches but I have not found recent research on new strategies for implementing new ideas in the classroom. On the contrary, I think it’s important for teachers not to “experiment” with a variety of classroom strategies initially but instead initially create a “listening” environment where individuals from different cultural and ethnical backgrounds are able to share their experiences ultimately creating a sense of self.  This will help teachers get a better understanding of what strategies will be most effective based on the information that they learn from listening to students and in some cases the parents. I think teachers should uses a culturally responsive teaching methods to improve academic achievement for ALL students and change practices that marginalize students and reject sorting students into certain “tracks.” Another weakness is that I am not able to state my own biases about diverse groups. I say that’s a weakness because I don’t think that we are really aware of all biases we have because they are sort of “embedded” in us until something “brings them out.” In the end, I think that all schools can benefit from creating a curriculum that addresses multiculturalism and/or implementing campus goals that do. In doing this, it will build a foundation for all students to engage in critical tasks of being empathetic and also equitable engagement with diversity.

My areas of strengths in leading a school promoting skills for the 21st century are:

• Leadership and responsibility/Social and Cross-Cultural Skills: Helping in guiding and leading others and also being responsible to others. Before I was given the Special Education Department chair position, teachers within my department would always come to me to assist them in writing and implementing IEPS, discussing a plan for a student, and/or just be a listening ear. I have always been fair and willing to volunteer to take on extra responsibility for the good of the team.

• -Productivity and Accountability/Initiative and Self-Direction/Being a self-directed learner - Ability to manage projects and produce results. During my internship, I organized, coordinated, and implemented a program called On-Track which is night school for 9th grade students who failed a course for the six weeks and keeps them on track to graduate in 4 years instead of having them double up on courses. My mentor teacher was extremely impressed with how I managed the project and often joked that I “managed to keep him on-track and in line!” Ultimately we were able to see excellent results in that, we didn’t have “repeat-offenders” and about 90% of students were able to retrieve their credit back which proves that we produced great results!
• -Flexible and Adaptable- Adapts to change/Flexible. I think that this is a skill that you have to have as a teacher because things are always changing from the legal perspective to even the teachers that you work with. Although, we moan and groan when something and/or someone new comes along and changes our routine, ultimately, we adapt to change and we move forward. In my first year of teaching, I was the inclusion teacher for three completely different Chemistry teachers and one English teacher all while being pregnant. It was a challenge but I had to be flexible because at the time, they only had 3 inclusion teachers & content mastery to serve a large (200 plus) SPED population. It was a great experience to have had because I learned so much about how to adapt to the teachers different teaching styles and how to best help my students learn.

The areas where I need to learn and grow in order to lead a school promoting skills for the 21st century are:

• Technology- effectively integrating networking tools and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information. Our district adopted a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy a couple of years ago and while it’s a good idea in theory, it’s based on the idea that ALL students have some type of device to use. I also struggle with the idea of integrating social networks. I think that it’s an excellent idea and have seen it done using a flipped classroom, but I would like to incorporate it in the regular classroom. In the coming school year, I plan to attend some training to learn how effectively integrate these tools appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information!

• Communicate clearly- articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts.  I tend to do things myself instead of asking others because I don’t think that they will do it the way that I want or like. This is probably do to the fact that I did not effectively communicate exactly what I wanted to the person. This is something that I do plan to work on and up until taking this course, I never thought about it from this perspective.

• -Thinking Creatively-elaborate, refine, analyze and evaluate ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts. I tend to be a “creature of habit.” I do things the same way all the time (sometimes I will branch out) and experiment but I think I could do a better job at thinking outside the box and taking some creative risks.

Part 2: An analysis of a curriculum area.

a. Qualities of a good curriculum

From evaluating the 2nd grade ELA curriculum, we found the content was age and developmentally appropriate, the knowledge was presented in a way that the students are able to make connections among other disciplines. For example, during week 6, students are given the opportunity to read a weather related book or website and do a little research and gather facts about a type of weather and the elements related to weather. This gives the opportunity for students to connect what they are learning, researching, and writing about to what they are doing in their science class. The curriculum also integrates some aspects of Social Studies as well (ex. Reading of Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan). There are various opportunities (ex. journal, questioning strategies, peer-on-peer learning etc.) given for students to understand the connection between what they are doing and what they are expected to do. The work is linked to a product clearly and the students are provided continuous feedback through the use of the journals, small group administration, one-on-one teaching, etc. The tasks in the curriculum are designed in ways that encourage cooperative action among students. Ultimately, the information is presented in a variety of formats which means that most of the content is rich and culturally relevant.