1. Culture and Community Chapter 5
Overview
Multicultural Classrooms
Social Class Differences
Gender Differences in the Classroom
Language Differences in the Classroom
Creating Culturally Compatible Classrooms

2. DIVERSITY
The Melting Pot vs. Salad Bowl/Stir Fry (Jane Elliott)
Cultural deficit model
The James Banks(2002) Model-
Content Integration-examples and content from a variety of cultures and groups
Equity Pedagogy-Matching teaching styles to learning styles
Knowledge Construction Process-Helping students understand how implicit cultural assumptions within a discipline influence ways that knowledge is constructed
Prejudice Reduction-Identifying racial attitudes and how you as a teacher can modify them
Empowering School Culture and Social Structure-Create a school culture that empowers students from all groups
See Figure 12.1, Woolfolk p.149-Banks’s Dimensions of Multicultural Education

3. Culture and Group membership
What is culture? knowledge, attitudes, rules, traditions, values, customs, behavior patterns that characterize a social group/guide behavior in a certain group
Visible and Invisible signs of culture
Visible: costume, music, food
Invisible: rules for relationships
Cultural Cautions:
Real children are complex beings and belong to and are influenced by MANY groups to which they belong
Membership in a group does not necessarily determine behavior
May belong to more than one group
Influenced by many cultures
Ideas and beliefs of one culture sometimes are incompatible with another group(s)
Groups create cultures such as:
Regional Ethnic Religious Racial
Gender Social class

4. Social Class Differences
Socioeconomic Status (SES)
4 levels: Upper, Middle, Working and Lower
Income is not necessarily an effective measure of SES
Relative standing in society based on income, power, background and prestige.
Social class is a strong characteristic that unites people even beyond ethnic differences
Characteristics of the Poor
1 in 4 Americans under the age of 18 lives in poverty
Poverty level is $18,100 for a family of four
US has the highest rate of poverty for children among industrialized nations
See Table 12.1, Woolfolk p.151-Selected Characteristics of Different Social Classes

5. Ethnic and Racial Differences
SES and Achievement
Poor Health Care
Low Expectations leads to low self-esteem
Learned Helplessness
Peer Influences
Peer Influences and Resistance Cultures
Tracking
Childrearing Styles
Home Environment and Resources
Ethnic and Racial Differences
Ethnicity: A cultural heritage shared by a group of people. This can be based upon common nationality, culture, language, religion or race
Race: A group of people who share common biological traits that are seen as self-
defining by the people of the group
Minority Group: Group of people who have been socially disadvantaged—not always a minority in actual numbers. Sociologists use this term to label a group of people who receives unequal or discriminatory treatment.
Cultural Conflicts are usually the subtle/invisible signs of culture. When cultural differences meet, misunderstandings can occur and members from different cultures may be perceived as rude, ignorant or disrespectful.

6. Development of Prejudice
Prejudice: “Prejudge” Prejudgment or irrational generalization about an entire
category of people such as:
-racial -ethnic -political -religious
-geographic -gender -sexual orientation
Why do prejudices develop?
-combination of personal and social factors
-Children may develop prejudices as a result of familial attitudes, friends, media,
advertising, and the entire environment around them
-Authoritarian Personality that rigidly conforms to the belief that society is naturally competitive, with “better” people reaping its rewards
-Using schemas to structure and make sense of the world through our experiences.
Our experiences help us construct our schemes of knowing about different
groups of people based on the characteristics we have encountered or what others
have told us. These are stereotypes that we develop.
Stereotype Threat- Burden placed on person(s) being stereotyped. Pressure to confirm or combat stereotype.
Short-term effects-Test anxiety-performance
Long-term effects-Disidentification-self defeating-don’t care attitude

7. Culturally Compatible Classrooms To Eliminate, Racism, Sexism and Prejudice
Social organization: the way people interact to accomplish a certain goal. Some groups are more effective with cooperative learning than others
Learning Styles: differ for students from different ethnic backgrounds as all children differ so be careful not to automatically presume to teach a certain way because a child is of a certain background
Sociolinguistics: study of formal and informal rules for how, when, about what, to who, and how long to speak in conversations within cultural groups
Participation structures: formal and informal rules for how to take part in a given activity—school structures tend to be more aligned with communication rules found in middle class homes.
Research supports that when schools are changed to meet the social organization, learning style and sociolinguistic needs of ALL students, experiences and achievement changes.
All classrooms should strive to be Culturally Compatible in which procedures, rules, grouping strategies, attitudes, and teaching methods do not cause conflicts with the students’ culturally influenced ways of learning and interacting.

8. Girls and Boys Differences in the Classroom
Gender-Role Identity-learned very early from parents/guardians
Biological and environmental differences do exist between men and women
Interactions with our parents/guardians help shape our notions of what is to be known as male or female -gender schemas
Androgynous individuals are well adjusted individuals who possess both “masculine” and “feminine” characteristics depending on a situation
Gender Biases in the curriculum, stereotyped views of gender roles
Sexual discrimination in classrooms-teachers create and perpetuate
give boys more praise, comments, criticisms and corrections
ask boys to do physical tasks, be leaders, girls to arrange ‘pretty” stuff, be secretaries
Se GUIDELINES, p. 169-Avoiding Sexism in Teaching

9. Language Differences in the Classroom
Culture affects communication. Children from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds experience many confusions in the classroom—one of the largest can stem from language and dialect differences.
Dialect A variation of a language spoken by a particular ethnic, social or regional group.
Dialects have rules and order
Standard Speech is the most generally accepted and used form of a language
Best Teaching Approaches
Focus on understanding the child
Need to be sensitive to your own possible negative stereotypes about children who speak a different dialect
Ensure comprehension by repeating instructions using different words, asking students to paraphrase and give examples. illustrations should also be used.
Accept the dialect as valid but teach the standard form of English.
See GUIDELINES, page 178-Dialects in the Classroom

10. Ideas for Promoting Learning and Language Acquisition
Bilingualism
Increase in numbers of children for whom English is not their native language
Most recent reports show that almost 25% of students speak a first language other than English, usually Spanish.
Speaking two languages fluently is called Bilingualism.
Those that are not proficient in any language are semilingual
Higher degrees of bilingualism are associates with increased cognitive abilities.
English as a Second Language (ESL): Designation for programs and classes to teach English to students who are not native speakers of English
Limited English Proficiency (LEP): Descriptive term for students who have limited mastery of English
2 formal approaches
Transition
English should be taught as early as possible.
Do not teach in native language
Most bilingual programs follow this
Native-language maintenance instruction
Use the native language to teach new skills while teaching the English language
Will have problems learning “math” in a ‘foreign” language
Sends the message that home language is second class
Any academic concepts learned in native language will still be retained when more proficient in English
In High School/Middle School need to take courses in a second language—mix English and ESL students and teach together—all become bilingual
See page 182, Table 14.3
Ideas for Promoting Learning and Language Acquisition