Instructions: Your job will be to select a topic or theme from the assigned readings, classroom material, cross-cultural experiences and pursue it in writing for 4 separate 300 word page papers that are crisp, clearly written and well-organized. Please be sure to quote from or reference the readings at least three times. Because these are not research discussions, please do not rely on secondary sources. I am interested in your thoughts and ideas regarding multicultural education and your learning, not someone else’s.
this is a example
Based on the assigned readings this week from the two Rethinking Our Classrooms
textbook, I found myself in the shoes of the authors, especially Howard Zinn. Before deciding to switch my major to English education, I was a History education major, and I found myself having to constantly answer the question of “WHY do you want to teach history?”, and “WHY would students care?”, so I felt extremely connected with this chapter. Howard goes into detail about how we as teachers can make learning history more interesting and engaging for students, including making connections to the past and present and having the students make that connection.
But based on our other text Understanding Multicultural Education, I understand it might be difficult for students to want to engage in the material when the teacher is another white woman, but it is important to understand the multiple perspectives of all points in history and use that to the advantage to educate. “I think students need to be aroused emotionally on the issue of equality” (Pg. 181). By tapping into students emotions, it will allow the child to be open to the different perspectives and understand one another.
Tying into the other reading from volume one of Rethinking Our Classrooms, the chapter on Native American literature related to me because I am having to take a course on Native
Strang 1
literature for my degree! It is extremely important to share the creation stories of the first Americans, it would even be beneficial to use these stories when first introducing American history. Based on the area where one is teaching, you can choose the literature of the closest tribe in that area, much as Minnesota focuses on the Ojibwe and the Dakota. These stories are so important for our kids to learn about when trying to understand the basis of American history, introducing these stories will help students flourish.