Background Philosophy Definition of Multiculturalism Goals Arts’ Standards Students Will Why Teach From the Arts Why Use the Fine Arts in Teaching Multiculturalism Examples of Possible Uses in the Classroom Setting Basic Criticism Videos So What? Examples
Goldberg highlights this distinction by contrasting teaching about the arts (traditional disciplined- based arts instruction) with teaching through the arts (using the arts as a vehicle or teaching strategy to help students understand content other than the arts). The arts have long been known to deeply connect people with ideas and emotions
Multi = many Culture = “Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. “ Sir Edward B. Tyler The values, traditions, norms, customs, arts, history, folklore, and institutions that a group of people, who are unified by race, ethnicity, language, nationality, or religion, share. University of Wyoming
Multicultural education has several goals. It endeavors to ground students with multicultural knowledge, to adopt educational equity and cultural pluralism as philosophies, to empower students and promote student social action, and to teach from a multicultural perspective. Multicultural knowledge Educational equity Working with cultural pluralism Empowerment Social action Teaching with a multicultural perspective
Understanding music in relation to history and culture. Through dance, students of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds can better understand themselves and each other, a critical aspect of social stability and civility at this time in history Multicultural understanding requires respect for the form as an expression of culture, and a willingness to inquire into its contexts
Understand Learn Relate Connect Synthesize Compare Transfer Respond Express
Teaching through the arts requires students to engage in the act of creating art. Teaching through the arts helps students experience concepts rather than simply discussing or reading about them. In particular, the arts have been remarkably effective in multicultural and multilingual settings.
"The arts meet a basic human need: creative personal expression. In addition to their intrinsic value, the arts five insights into other aspects of life, helping people understand themselves and the world in which they live. It is recognized that quality education should include the development of skills, knowledge, concepts, values, and sensitivities with which to understand and engage the culture of a nation. The arts offer significant opportunities for this development." (Boyd) "The arts are a function of life itself, and the process of making art - both creative and recreative - can give insight to all other areas of learning. The arts help people understand themselves in historical, cultural, and aesthetic terms; they provide people with broader choices about their environment and influence the way they do their work and live their lives." (Lee)
The arts can tell stories through music, plays, folk stories, dance, and visual art. Art can give students a visual representation of what life looks like in a culture. Music can do the same aurally. The arts can explain how the cultural aspects all work together, ie. values, norms, institutions, and artifacts. Political, environmental, and cultural differences can be exploited through the arts. The arts can bring a problem to light and unite a group of people for a cause.
Classroom teachers are not qualified and there is already to many requirements for a general education degree. There is not enough time. The end results have not been proven to effect much change. (Smith)
Heads Up stands for Helping Empower And Develop Students — Unleashing Potential — Visual artist and her eighth grade art class at M.S. 571 that culminated into the exhibition Japanese Me: American Students Exploring Japanese Culture Through Visual Arts.
Technology and multicultural education can be important in engaging students around cultural artifacts (music, ethnic portals) to help facilitate and bridge access to language, literacy, math, science, and the arts. Internet and web-based use for on-line courses/programs, diaries, MOO's (multi-object oriented) and MUD's (multi-user dimensions), interactive video systems, video conferencing, virtual reality web and Internet applications, use-nets, e- groups, forums, and online community environments have allowed institutions to enrich traditional methods and break boundaries to serve students who are located throughout the world.
Activities: › Teacher will read the folk tales, or students read independently. › Discuss the values or purposes of the stories, a character's traits, the things in the stories that reflect a distinct culture. › Compare and contrast the stories with the stories that the students are familiar with, e.g. American folk tales, stories from their reading books, etc. › Recreate a story with a different beginning or ending,, or add a new twist to the story. › Dramatize the stories. › Write a letter to the character in the story suggesting some solutions to their problems, or asking about the things that made you think or wonder about their customs, beliefs, etc. › Write a newspaper article of an event in the stories. › Write a diary entry that a character might have written. › As a class, create a Korean story. › Illustrate or create a mural of the stories. › Create a story map of the stories. › Establish pen pals to Korean cities (try using ).
Activities: › Show a video or pictures of Korean musical instruments. › Listen to a recording of Korean music. › Discuss the differences in the instruments that they are familiar with. › Try to recognize the sounds that are made by the musical instruments. › Clap your hands with the rhythm. › Express the mood of the music with your body movements. › Explore different types of Korean music. › Learn a Korean song. › Create a Korean song to a familiar tune. › Create some musical instruments with household objects, e.g. rubber bands, strings, cups, empty coffee can, beans, oatmeal cereal box, etc.
› Collect samples or pictures of Korean paintings, folk arts, artifacts, etc. Examine them, and discuss the details, e.g. designs, objects in the picture. Compare and contrast the animals or birsds in the design or in the picture. › Create a scroll or paper screen with Korean writing, scenery, etc. › Paper mache animals and birds from Korea. › Create origami animals, birds, objects, etc. › Make paper dolls with Korean costumes, "honbok," chogori (jacket), paji (trousers), and turumagi (overcoat). › Make a Korean dragon puppet.