1 The Changing Face of the Classroom

2 Chapter 4 - Overview The rise of multiculturalism Ethnicity and social class Multicultural education programs

3 From melting pot to cultural pluralism Melting pot Diverse ethnic groups assimilating into one mainstream culture Cultural Pluralism (Janzen, 1994) Every culture has its own internal coherence, integrity, and logic No culture is inherently better or worse than another All persons are to some extent culture-bound

4 Immigrants to the United States (p. 134) Source: U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics (2003). 66,089,431Total 9,095, ,795, ,338, ,687, ,493, ,246, ,321, ,812, ,515, ,314, ,035, ,598, , ,713, ,107, , ,735, , NumberYearsNumberYear See Fig. 5.1

5 The effect of ethnicity on learning Five aspects of ethnicity that are potential sources of misunderstanding: 1. Verbal communication patterns (Losey, 1995) 2. Nonverbal communication 3. Time orientation 4. Social values 5. Instructional formats and learning processes (Bennett, 2003)

6 Goals of Multicultural Programs (Fig. 5.2) Promote Respect for Diversity Reduce Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes Improve learning (culturally responsive teaching)

7 Approaches to multicultural education –James Banks Contributions Approach Ethnic historical figures whose values and behaviors are consistent with American mainstream culture are studied while individuals who have challenged the dominant view are ignored Ethnic Additive Approach An instructional unit composed of concepts, themes, points of view, and individual accomplishments is simply added to the curriculum

8 Approaches to multicultural education Transformation Approach There is no one valid way of understanding people, events, concepts, and themes; there are multiple views, each of which has something of value to offer Decision-Making and Social Action Approach Incorporates components of all the other approaches and adds the requirement that students make decisions and take actions concerning a concept, issue, or problem being studied

9 Recommended instructional tactics Peer tutoring Teaching of one student by another Cooperative learning Working in small, heterogeneous groups to help one another master a task Mastery learning Approach that assumes most children can master the curriculum if certain conditions are established

10 Percentage of families Source: U.S. Bureau of Census (2000). Percentage of families within ethnic groups living below poverty level in 1999

11 Discuss What are some adverse factors experienced by low-SES children? How do teachers interact with low SES children? What is the “Teacher Expectancy Effect”?

12 What are some adverse factors experienced by low-SES children? Overcrowded homes/stressful neighborhoods (Levin & Levine, 1996) May have not been exposed to a wide variety of experiences. (Levin & Levine, 1996) Inadequate or poor health care (Stinson, 2003) Single parent families

13 Adverse factors experienced by many low-SES children The interactions that occur between low-SES parents and their children often lack the characteristic of mediation (scaffolding) (Ben-Hur, 1998) Many low-SES children do not place a high value on academic achievement (Cooper & Dorr, 1995) Low-SES children may have no definite career plans after leaving school and may be limited to low- paying, dead-end jobs (Pollard, 1993)

14 How do teachers relate to low SES students? On the basis of such characteristics as race, SES, ethnic background, dress, speech pattern, and test scores, teachers form expectancies about how various students will perform in class Those expectancies are subtly communicated to the students in a variety of ways Students come to behave in a way that is consistent with what the teacher expects (Rosenthal & Jacobsen, 1968)

15 Factors that help create expectancies Middle-class students are expected to receive higher grades than low-SES students, even when their IQ scores and achievement scores are similar African-American students are given less attention and are expected to learn less than white students, even when both groups have the same ability (p. 149)

16 Factors that help create expectancies Teachers tend to perceive children from poor homes as less mature, less capable of following directions, and less capable of working independently than children from more advantaged homes

17 Factors that help create expectancies Attractive children are often perceived by teachers to be brighter, more capable, and more social than unattractive children Teachers tend to approve of girls’ behavior more frequently than they approve of boys’ behavior (p. 149)

18 Factors that help create expectancies Teachers are more influenced by negative information about students than they are by neutral or positive information High-achieving students receive more praise than low-achieving students (p. 149)

19 Thought Question How do I become more culturally sensitive in the classroom? Curriculum Behaviors Knowledge