Blog Post #2
Over the past few weeks, we have continued to read and learn about multicultural education and all the components that go into it. Chapters seven, eight, and nine looked at the issues of immigration, colonialism and, the American Dream from the perspectives of Latinos, Asian Americans, and Arab Americans. This week we read chapters ten and eleven, which brought us into the section of the textbook titled, “Reaching All Learners: Perspectives on Culture, Gender, Class, and Exceptionalities. Chapter ten took an in-depth look at culturally competent teaching. Chapter eleven looked at gender at how that affects the classroom.
Part II: Roots of Cultural Diversity in the United States
I believe that immigration is a nuanced topic, one that on a political level I don’t want to delve too much into, however, this chapter of the book starts on a political note. While there may be a heightened sense of fear, and it truly is heartbreaking to see people get deported, there is a system that must be followed. While, personally, I do believe that the immigration system needs reform and to be made more accessible, there also needs to be a system in place so that there are limits on who can come into our country. According to a report from MarketWatch, the state of Michigan has seen an increase of 775% in its illegal immigration population since 2021 (Matthews, 2024). This is a number, nationwide, that is not sustainable for our country. As unfortunate as it is, deportations are a part of our reality now because of the influx of illegal immigrants that have entered this country over the last few years. As teachers, we do need to look at this in a way that provides the most stability for our students. No matter the immigration status of our students, it is important that we are empathetic to them and provide them with the best tools to thrive in the classroom.
How do we provide this stability in the classroom for our students? I really appreciated throughout these chapters how the author went into detail on each group that was highlighted: Latinos, Asian Americans, and Arab Americans. As someone who aspires to become a social studies teacher, learning the histories of each of these groups was very interesting to me. I am a big believer in knowing our history, so we are not doomed to repeat it. I also think that knowing the past helps us with context and understanding why things are the way they are. Knowing the culture that our students come from helps us to deepen our understanding and equips us to become better educators.
Part III: Roots of Cultural Diversity in the United States
Chapter ten takes an in depth look at culturally competent teaching. According to the textbook, culturally competent teachers, “have the dispositions, attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed to ensure high levels of learning and personal development of children and youth whose lived experiences and culturally developed knowledge differ from their teachers and/or their classmates.” (Bennett, 2019). There are three main principles of culturally competent teaching. The first principle focuses on academic success; with culturally competent teaching, students will achieve academic success. The second principle focuses on students developing cultural competence due to the teacher's recognition and affirmation of their culture. The third principle of culturally competent teaching includes students developing a critical consciousness.
Chapter eleven looks at gender and the difference that it makes. Again, I am not trying to be argumentative, but as a woman and a Christian I inherently disagree with a lot of the content of this chapter. However, I did enjoy reading this chapter and seeing things from a different perspective, even if I disagree. This chapter takes a look at the gender gap and how that affects schools and academic success. This chapter also looks at the treatment of LGBTQ youth in our schools. This is a rising topic and controversial topic in our schools today, that I think everyone is still learning to navigate. At the end of the day, I try not to talk to students about this topic as I feel it is not my place, I just try to treat all my students the same regardless of ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation and will not tolerate discrimination against any student for any reason.
References
Bennett, C. I. (2019). Comprehensive multicultural education: Theory and practice. Pearson Education, Inc.
Matthews, C. (2024, August 7). Illegal-immigration surge has cost these swing-state ... Market Watch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/illegal-immigration-surge-has-cost-these-swing-state-taxpayers-billions-study-says-cffadea1
Comments
Post a Comment