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Admission to Teacher Education Admission to Student Teaching Professional Program Exit
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In order to enter the Teacher Education Program at Purdue University Calumet we had to choose 1 of 3 questions and answer it to the best of our ability. This was entered into our college portfolio under the heading of reflection. Question #3: What can you do as a teacher to foster an awareness and appreciation of the cultural differences represented in American society. What are some common strategies employed by schools to deal with diversity? Multicultural education is an important issue as schools become more diversified. In our past, instruction was based mostly on European history and values but is now changing to show the importance of all cultures in American history as well as around the world. Multicultural education focuses on the concept of “we” and no longer the European concept of “I”. This is accomplished through such learning strategies as cooperative learning and mastery learning. In my classroom, I will use cooperative learning and mastery learning so all students can be involved in the learning process. Students who are behind will have the benefit of learning from their peers and through individualized instruction. Each child will be valued and respected for who they are and what they can accomplish. As an educator, I must promote respect, equality, cooperation, and communication. Also, my classroom will reflect the cultural differences in our society. I will have a variety of reading materials written by diverse authors and depicting children of all races and ethnicity. My walls and bulletin boards will show people of all ethnicities interacting with one another. When instructing the students I will choose curriculum that focuses on all cultures and their roles in society and in history. I will make it an everyday process not just on special holidays or celebrations. I will allow students to present and discuss their cultures One strategy schools are using today to foster an awareness and appreciation of the cultural differences in our society are selecting days to celebrate other countries celebrations such as the Chinese New Year or Mexican Independence Day. Many educators feel this is inadequate and more needs to be done. During my EDPS 220 course, I viewed a film in which a teacher discussed the issue of race. She accomplished this by stressing there were no black or white people but people of many different colors. She accomplished this task by taking white and black paint and asking the children if any students in her classroom resembled these two colors. The students answered by saying no. Then she took several other colors such as tan, peach, brown, yellow, and red and began taking the students one by one and mixing the colors until they matched the students skin. Then when all the students had their individual colors, they created self-portraits. When the lesson was completed the students realized they were not black nor white but individuals with many different colors.
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