Articles and Related Web Sites

 

   

 

General Resources on Multicultural Education:
 

*These are anchors

Learning Styles*

Curriculum Considerations*

Teacher Preparation and Educational Resources*

School Environment*

General Information * 

 

 

Learning Styles  

Author

Scope

Dunn, R. (1993). Learning styles of the multiculturally diverse. Emergency Librarian, 20(4), 24-32.

Differences in learning style among students and young adults of differing ethnic groups, between male and female students, between high achievers and underachievers, and between gifted and nongifted are discussed.

Dunn, R., Beasley, M, & Buchanan, K. (1994). What do you believe about how culturally diverse students learn? Emergency Librarian, 22 (1), 8-14.  

Presents a 21-itme questionnaire that teachers can use to discover their personal beliefs and biases about how individuals in different cultural, gender, racial, and religious groups learn best.  

Sandu, D. (1994).  Culturally specific learning styles:  Some suggestions for teachers (Report No. SPO352251). Louisville, KY: Paper examining the importance of culturally –specific learning styles within the context of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 370 910)  

This paper examines the importance of culturally-specific learning styles.  Teachers need to understand the cultural style of students; to use a proactive approach to reach out to those students whose values and needs differ from the mainstream; to exhort the message that “to be different means to be distinct but not inferior; and to accommodate students with differing needs and priorities by changing the system, but not forcing them to change.  

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Curriculum Considerations  

Author

Scope

Gay, G. (1988). Designing relevant curricula for diverse learners. Education and Society, 20(4), 327-340.

Demographic projections indicate that poor, urban, and racial minority students will increasingly dominate public schools in the next decade and well into the 21st century. This “new majority” demands that schools seriously reassess and revise their policies, programs, and procedures to respond more effectively to its unique needs, to improve the quality of this student population’s school experiences, and to enhance its academic achievement. After some preliminary curriculum designs are created, the article lists specific questions that can ensure that ethnic and cultural diversity permeates all their component parts.  

Vasquez, J. (1989). Building instructional strategies from student traits. NABE Journal, 13(2), 145-160.  

The CCM model is presented. It focuses on the content, context, and mode of an instructional strategy. Teachers move from observed student traits to instructional strategies that are based on those traits.  

Zanger, V.V. (1990). Drawing on diversity: A handbook for and by Boston teachers in multicultural, multiracial classrooms. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 323 281)  

This handbook of culturally responsive ways to teach the basic, mandated curriculum to students from diverse backgrounds was developed by a multicultural group of teachers. The techniques draw on the students’ diverse backgrounds to increase student motivation and maximize teacher effectiveness.  

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Teacher Preparation and Educational Resources  

Author

Scope

Hatch, D.A. (1999). Models of multiculturalism: enhancing immediacy and relevance when teaching cultural diversity. Interdisciplinary-Humanities, 16(1,2), 45-64.

Considers today’s students the “postguilt generation.” Proposes that teachers reconsider the way that students are exposed to issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality, creating class activities that allow students to experience the boundaries and definitions of identity. Presents three models of classroom activities.  

Howard-Hamilton, M. (2000). Programming for multicultural competencies. New Directions for Student Services,  (90), 67-78.

Reviews resources for and examples of effective diversity programming and suggests multicultural competencies for program planners and their students. Argues that practitioners must consider multicultural competencies for themselves and their students as well as the issue of free speech.  

Lenox, M.F. (2000). Storytelling for young children in a multicultural world.  Early Childhood Education Journal, 28(2), 97-103.  

Advocates storytelling as a powerful resource to promote an understanding of racial and ethnic diversity. Addresses issues of selection criteria including elements of character development, prejudice reduction, authority and authorship, and language. Includes an annotated bibliography of stories for preschool and primary-age students and reference sources for educators.  

 Mahan, J.M., & Lacefield, W.E. (1982). Employability and multicultural teacher preparation. Educational Research Quarterly, 7(1), 15-20.  

Employment success and job satisfaction were compared for beginning teachers who had successfully completed multi-cultural course and field experiences and for those who had traditional course and field experiences. The findings favored the culturally prepared graduates who had greater success in finding teaching jobs and obtaining their desired employment situation.  

 Picard, A.J., & Young, D.B. (1993). Methods: Teaching and learning principles. The Kamehameha Journal of Education, 4, 23-38.  

Describes features that make the Preservice Education for Teachers of Minorities (PETOM) program unique among Hawaii’s teacher education programs. Designed to prepare educators to teach children of culturally diverse backgrounds, the PETOM program includes a committed staff, modeling of effective teaching strategies (including collaboration), and plenty of field experience. 

Pitton, D., & others. (1993). Multicultural messages: Nonverbal communication in the classroom (Report No. SPO34795). St. Paul, MN: Study of Nonverbal Communication in the Classroom. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 362 519).  

In a drive to facilitate inclusion in the classroom, one often overlooked factor that affects the environment of all classrooms is nonverbal interactions. This study was conducted to identify some specific nonverbal messages that are often culturally bound; to help educators and others involved in education understand nonverbal signals and avoid inadvertently sending negative messages; and to validate the voice of diverse populations in the classroom.  

 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pric/is_/ai_562715603 

An article, “Teaching with a Multicultural Perspective,” by Rey A. Gomez. The article discusses cultural stereotypes, myths, and promoting multicultural perspectives.  

 http://www.goenc.com/records/record_generator.asp?encnum=016650  

A resource for educators concerned about creating equitable conditions in which every child can succeed.  These equity materials can help teachers and administrators acknowledge children’s diverse strengths, identify inequities, and improve the ways they serve students with varied needs.  

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School Environment  

Author

Scope

 Shade, B. (1986). Cultural diversity and the school environment. Journal of Humanistic Education and Development, 25(2), 80-87.  

Examines the manner in which environmental factors can be used to engage the interest, focus the attention, stimulate the involvement, and make learning easier for many urban school children.  

 http://www.nncc.org/Diversity/sac26

_anti-bias.analyz.html  

Five Ways to Analyze Classrooms for an Anti-Bias Approach  

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General Information  

Author

Scope

Gillani, B.B. (2000). Culturally responsive educational web sites. Educational Media International, 37(3), 185-95.

Discusses the shortcomings of multicultural education; presents Vygotsky’s sociocognitive theory as a model for multicultural education for the World Wide Web; and discusses the process of Web design as an appropriate technological tool to apply Vygotsky’s theory to create culturally responsive educational environments.  

Quiroa, R.E. (2001). The use and role of multiethnic children’s literature in family literacy programs: realities and possibilities. New Advocate, 14(1), 34-52.  

Reviews the recent professional literature on family literacy programs, with a focus on the use and role of children’s literature, specifically multiethnic texts, within those programs. Describes children’s literature in family literacy and discusses the role of multiethnic literature in family literature. Presents three examples of family literacy programs for which the literature component has been more fully documented.  

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/

educatrs/leadrshp/le0gay.htm

An article, “North Central Regional Educational Laboratory:  A Synthesis of Scholarship in Multicultural Education,” By Geneva Gay.  The article includes topics such as: definitions of multicultural education, description of social realities, discussion of teaching and learning, goals of multicultural education, developing ethnic and cultural literature, school reform, and key principles of multicultural education.  

 http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/

multicultural/sites/essays.html

This site offers links to multicultural education essays and articles.  

 http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/

go/multicultural/sites1html  *

A large number of links and a wealth of information are on this site.  Links go to sites concerning multicultural education and teaching, learning, equity, history, articles, and organizations.  

  http://www.nameorg.org/  

National Association for Multicultural Education

The site contains current news on issues in multicultural education.