1999 ASCD Annual Conference March 6-8, 1999 San Francisco, CA

1999 ASCD Annual Conference March 6-8, 1999 San Francisco, CA

Colleen Finegan Ron Helms MULTICULTURAL WWW RESOURCES BY &

Dayton, Ohio

It has been said that educators must prepare the children of today for a different world that will exist 20 years from now. REALITY -- The world changes significantly in as short a period as 5 years.

REALITY -- By the year 2000, one-third of the school population will be composed of students of color. Today, nearly 25% of children in schools are living below the established poverty level.

REALITY -- As the nation increases in diversity, and international commerce becomes an everyday occurrence, citizens of the future will need to grow in their appreciation and understanding of others.

REALITY -- The U.S. macroculture is shared by all of the nation’s citizens. However, individual microcultures are also an invaluable part of the society referred to as American.

National and state education standards mandate the teaching of multicultural education at the post-secondary level. As a result, many colleges and universities require multicultural or diversity courses for all students.

As those who prepare the citizens today for the world of tomorrow, it is of paramount importance that pre-service and in-service teachers receive instruction in multicultural education.

Educators are role models for their students, as parents set an example for their children. If teachers accept students in their classroom who may have some characteristics different from their own, the students in their classrooms will be more likely to accept one another.

This process needs to begin at an early age -- Children begin to notice racial and gender difference between themselves and others at the age of three or four. (Maccoby, 1988; Ramsey and Myers, 1990)

“Conflicting forces related to values, lifestyles, and societal impediments within and between cultural groups are integral to this complexity and the resulting cultural adaptations” These conflicting values and lifestyles often become issues of debate or even open conflict in the schools. (Gollnick and Chinn, 1994)

WHAT IS MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION?

Multicultural education is “an educational reform movement that is concerned with increasing educational equity for a range of cultural and ethnic groups". (Banks, 1981)

Multicultural education is much more than simply knowing and transmitting facts about the various races, cultures, and belief systems that exist in the United States. It is a process that will produce an affective change in its recipients.

Diversity teaching and training require more involvement of self attention to one’s feelings reactions in the present moment the ability to manage deep emotion (Gallos & Ramsey, 1997)

Appreciation for ethnic, racial, and sexual diversity will help the classroom teacher to determine appropriate instructional practices for each individual. This appreciation is not inherent with the completion of a teacher education program.

a knowledge of one's beliefs and biases; a familiarity with cultural values and behavioral codes of the community; a thorough knowledge of multiple learning and teaching styles; a well developed skills in cross-cultural communication and interactional style. (Gay, G., 1993) Pre-requisite skills needed:

One way to provide current,interactive, current, interactive, interesting,informative interesting, informative resources is to use the Internet. Nationally, the trend is to provide internet access in pre-K - 16 classrooms, therefore teachers must become technologically literate.

Websites should be selected to represent various points of view to assist the pre- service and in-service educator in the process of information gathering, introspection, and self-evaluation for real affective change.

Diversity Resources

Disclaimer This diversity resource has been developed by 2 CEHS faculty. This website has been supported by a grant: Application of Multi-Cultural Education Websites. The content of these pages have been developed without censorship by Wright State University or CEHS. Neither the College of Education and Human Services nor Wright State University assume any responsibility for the pages’ content. The Principal Investigators are not promoting or supporting the viewpoints of any of the links that are provided. These pages are intended for student research and not for any other purpose.

Age SES / Class Ethnicity Exceptionality Gender Language Religion / Creed Sexual Orientation CATEGORIES: