2. Dr. Myron Anderson
Dr. Vanessa Anderson
Dr. Jan Perry-Evenstad
Dr. Percy A. Morehouse
Dr. Carmen Sanjurjo
Dr. Peter Vigil
Metropolitan State University of Denver
3. What is culture?
What is multicultural education?
Criticisms of multicultural education
Relevance of multicultural education in U.S. ?
Relevance of multicultural education in Puerto Rico?
Connections to Bullying
4. Socially transmitted ways of thinking, believing,
feeling, and acting within a group.
These patterns are transmitted and transformed from
one generation to the next.
The various facets of culture are shared and
interrelated
“…man is an animal suspended in webs of
significance he himself has spun. I take culture to be
those webs and the analysis of it to be therefore not
an experimental science in search of law but an
interpretive one in search of meaning (Geertz, 1973)
8. cultural competency, the idea that teachers acquire the knowledge and
skills to function productively in cross-cultural classrooms and to interact
efficiently with students from cultures that differ from their own (Marquez-
Chisholm, 1994);
culturally responsive teaching, an instructional strategy based on the theory
that when curriculum and skills are situated within the lived experiences and
frames of references of students, they are more personally meaningful and
are learned more easily and thoroughly (Gay, 2000);
reflective practice, the concept that teachers develop the skills of critical
analysis and self-reflection, allowing them to examine their own cultural
perspectives and personal assumptions underlying their expectations,
beliefs and behaviors when interacting with CLD students (Ladson-
Billings,1995).
9. Content Integration
The Knowledge Construction Process
Prejudice Reduction
An Equity Pedagogy
An Empowering School Culture
10.
11.
12.
13. Examples:
Utilize active inquiry-based learning
Cooperative learning techniques
Native –language instruction
Performance-based assessment
Incorporating students’ funds of knowledge into
curriculum (Moll, 1993)
14. Critical Pedagogy: Paulo Freire, Henry Giroux, Donaldo Macedo,
Peter McClaren, Ira Shore, Sonia Nieto, John Dewey
Problem posing, reflective thinking, knowledge gathering and
collaborative decision making
Intentional instructional opportunities to discuss critically and act
on issues that directly affect the society they will form:
Racism, Environmental Pollution, Human Rights, Sexism, Gun Laws
(school shootings), Global Warming, Gay Rights, Ubiquitous
Technology, Immigration, Income disparities, etc.
“Helping students recognize that they are protagonists in the story
of their own lives and adequately preparing them to act upon this
knowledge”
15. Multicultural education is antiracist. It does not gloss over the
presence of racism in society but addresses it
Multicultural education is vital for both majority and minority
students.
Multicultural education is critical pedagogy. Teachers and
students do not view knowledge or educations as being
neutral or apolitical
Multicultural education is ongoing and dynamic and involves
relationships between people as much as content
Multicultural education is education for social justice. It
connects knowledge and understanding with social action
16. What does it have to do with increasing achievement (e.g., test
scores) ?
Contrary to Public school mission of preparing students to
participate in shared national culture
Schools should teach allegiance to shared national values
American education system is undermined by dogmas that have
little to do with quality education
Puts minority sentiments on a pedestal while putting majority values
on trial.
If “the system is so bad”, why are substantial numbers of certain
minority groups able to succeed? Other groups need to get on
board
17. “Achievement Gap”
Heterogeneous – student population
◦ Nearly 50 % students of color
Homogeneous – teacher population
◦ 84 % of teachers are Anglo
Disproportionate numbers of crucial statistics:
◦ Educational achievement
◦ Incarceration rates
◦ Socio-economic status
◦ Life expectancy