(1997). Multiple Voices for Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Learners. 1997. Multiple Voices for Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Learners, v2 n1 Jun. This collection of articles focuses on the paradigms, research, policies, and daily school practices that tend either to reduce or perpetuate inequities in educational opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse individuals with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. Articles in this issue include: (1) \Developing a Multicultural and Student-Centered Educational Environment for Students with Serious Emotional Disturbances\ (Brian Kai Yung Tam and Ralph Gardner), which focuses on the use of a multicultural and student-centered pedagogy and curriculum for students with serious emotional disturbances, including strategies such as cooperative learning, peer tutoring, and \low-tech\ strategies; (2) \Ethnic Minority Scholars Writing for Professional Publication: From Myths to Reality\ (Fred Spooner, Bob Algozzine, Martha Thurlow, Festus E. Obiakor, and Bill Heller), which explores misconceptions about professional writing that detract from productivity, offers suggestions on… [Direct]
(1996). Challenges and Rewards in the Mixed Culture Classroom. College Teaching, v44 n2 p69-73 Spr. Suggestions for teaching in a multicultural college classroom, based on experiences at American International University (England), include acknowledge and respect individual students' uniqueness; encourage and facilitate self-reflection; clarify institutional goals and objectives without implying that they are "right"; choose materials appropriate to maturity and acculturation level; develop social skills within cultural norms; and support first-culture identity development. (MSE)…
(1989). A Componential Theory of Culture and Its Implications for African-American Identity. Equity and Excellence, v24 n2 p24-30 Win. African-American students may experience cultural disequilibrium in American schools due to conflict between components of school culture and student racial identity. The therapeutic instructional process of cultural clarification is proposed to encourage positive self-image among Black students through peer learning, television, memorizing, imagining and pretending, art, and music. (AF)…
(1996). Mexican Immigrants in Middle Schools: Diversity, Organizational Structure and Effectiveness. The Spanish speaking Mexican immigrant population accounts for the fastest growing population in California, where one in six students is an immigrant. This study utilized organizational theory to relate school characteristics such as interdependence, coordination, and information processing to working with immigrant students. The sample consisted of 38 California junior high and middle schools with the unit of analysis being at the school level. Questionnaires administered to school representatives, school records, and interviews with students about their experiences in their new schools were the data sources. The immigrant population in this study was not characterized by problems; they attended school regularly, were well-behaved, and performed reasonably well academically. Schools were dominated by information processes leaving little opportunity for professionals to collaborate. Staff isolation characterized these schools with little teaming, interdependence, collective… [PDF]
(1996). World Saver Center. Conservation is a concern for all cultures, and children are familiar with this concept because of recycling in their homes and home towns. The World Saver Center, an example of the thematic approach to learning, is designed to allow children to experiment with concepts of conservation in a familiar setting. The center, designed to resemble an early childhood classroom, is composed of five thematic areas: (1) art; (2) housekeeping; (3) blocks; (4) craft; and (5) garden (science). The World Saver Center focuses on conservation activities which can be done in a typical classroom, incorporating a multicultural theme into units. For each area, activity plans are given, including purpose, materials needed, teachers' involvement, and reflection statements. (BGC)… [PDF]
(1991). An Evaluation of the MacMagic Program at Davidson Middle School. This report evaluates the second year of the MacMagic program at Davidson Middle School in San Rafael, California. The program uses Macintosh computers, video cameras, tape recorders, and other related technology in a team teaching environment to enhance thinking and learning in an integrated English, history, and multimedia course. Children from different cultural backgrounds, and with differing abilities and perspectives, work together toward shared goals and rely on each other for instructional support as each tries to master new technological hurdles. Observations of an eighth grade class that was taught through this method indicated that the MacMagic program was different from other English and history classes because it was built on: (1) a definite approach to teaching; (2) the use of complementary staff expertise through team teaching; (3) the opportunity to use additional time for instruction and student work; (4) a constant attempt to tailor class assignments and… [PDF]
(1975). Ten Years Later. The past decade has given us an encouraging number of well-written and appealing children's books which give an authentic picture of the black people in the United States in dramatic text and brilliant illustrations. Indeed, in this period, a whole new sense of realism has come into children's literature which portrays urgent social issues and attacks racial and sexual stereotypes. It is impossible, however, to gauge the exact extent of these trends, since no complete study of children's book publishing has been conducted since 1965. Despite the efforts of many groups, it may be that this flow of newly published interracial books is slowing down. This is one problem, but a more serious one is the apathy with which teachers and, in some cases, librarians treat this whole issue. Many seem to feel that interracial books are only for black children, and they often display an almost total lack of critical sense in recognizing gross stereotypes. Even those teachers who wish to use these… [PDF]
(1996). Asian Americans in Hawai'i. OAH Magazine of History, v10 n4 p46-47 Sum. Presents a lesson plan that utilizes the study of Asian Americans in Hawaii to help students to develop the critical faculties needed to detect stereotyping and bias. Students create presentations on popular images of Hawaii. Later, they produce more critical and better researched presentations on the island and its inhabitants. (MJP)…
(1990). Cultural Literacy and the CUNY Student. Community Review, v10 n1-2 p32-34 Fall-Spr 1989-90. Describes a Kingsborough Community College program that pairs an experimental sociology course with a speech and English class to help ethnically diverse students develop needed reading and writing skills, while improving their self-concept by noting parallels between their cultures and the dominant culture. Reviews course content and goals. (DMM)…
(2005). Assessing Intercultural Learning through Introspective Accounts. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, v11 p165-186 Aug. If intercultural awareness is a key area in which sojourners are expected to make progress while abroad, then appropriate methods of assessment should be used to measure the gains they have made. While much attention has focused on the preparation, format, and content of study abroad programs, relatively little has been published about modes of assessment. This is changing, however, as a growing number of sojourns are becoming credit-bearing. A variety of standardized measures and instruments are used to gauge the language learning and intercultural adjustment of student sojourners such as surveys, inventories, proficiency exams and multiple-choice tests. Whereas these traditional forms of assessment try to quantify student learning, many interculturalists recognize that "the experience abroad cannot be fully quantified: the outcome has to be measured in terms of the quality of the experience and of the skills acquired, particularly of transferable skills." Consequently,… [PDF] [Direct]
(2004). The Lord of Discipline. Teacher Magazine, v16 n2 p34-39 Oct. In this article, the author features Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School in Philadelphia, the only Philadelphia's charter high school that meets the adequate yearly progress testing benchmarks in 2003 as established by No Child Left Behind, and describes how the academy's headmaster and founder, Vuong Thuy, confronted criticisms from the district's CEO, Paul Vallas, for enforcing strict rules and discipline in the school. Despite its name, however, Multi-Cultural does not adhere to a painstakingly politically correct curriculum but to the academy's guiding principle, that is, discipline. However, the 51-year-old Vallas, like some of the Multi-Cultural parents, feels that Thuy has gone too far in imposing the school policies at his school and their execution has caused controversy, that ultimately prompts district officials to get involved. Thuy explains that their discipline is not stricter than other schools. The difference is, they enforce the rules strictly, while public schools… [Direct]
(1995). English Leadership Quarterly, 1995. English Leadership Quarterly, v17 n1-4 Feb-Dec. These 4 issues of the English Leadership Quarterly comprise volume 17, published during 1995. Articles in number 1 deal with multicultural and multiethnic literature, and are, as follows: "Guidelines for Selecting European Ethnic Literature for Interdisciplinary Courses" (Sandra Stotsky); "Striving for Kinship within Diverse Communities" (Peter Smagorinsky); "Pitfalls in Using Multicultural/Multiethnic Anthologies" (Susan H. Chin); and "Stereotypes Are Stereotypes" (Pamela B. Farrell-Childers). Articles in number 2 deal with technology and the teaching of English language arts, and are, as follows: "Teachers and Technology: A Story about Changes in Literacy" (Janet Beyersdorfer); "A Network Environment and Curriculum Integration" (Rachel L. Pinson); "Writing Instruction with Computers: Developing Student Writers Who Care and Share" (Tim Courtney); and "A Few Recommended Books for Young Adults Interested in… [PDF]
(1994). Proceedings from Seminar on Teacher Development and Linguistic Diversity. This occasional paper reflects on issues raised during a seminar called "Teachers for the 1990s and Beyond," and deals with teaching and learning in schools where multiple languages are spoken by students. Central to the seminar was the recognition of the growing numbers of language minority English learners (LMELs) in schools where English is the sole language of instruction. The paper underscores the importance of recreating schooling in ways that will benefit these students intellectually, socially, and personally and takes the position that professional educators must be mindful of students' home cultures as a prerequisite to making meaningful changes in schools and classrooms. The paper urges a transformation of teaching toward the ends of English language competence as well as subject matter competence, linking the two through reconsideration of appropriate pedagogy; encourages reconceptualization of teacher education as an important foundation for altering teaching… [PDF]
(1998). Staff Training for Alexandria Head Start in ESL Methodology. The project described here evaluated the extent to which the Alexandria (Virginia) Head Start program addresses the needs of preschool English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and provided teachers with training to enhance their students' language development. While over 40 percent of the children spoke a language other than English as their first language, none of the teachers had any formal training in ESL methodology or second language development. The training involved classroom observation, informal classroom participation of the trainer, consultation with individual staff, demonstration teaching, and classroom videotaping. Site-based training took place during the children's nap periods, and full staff inservice programs were provided. Observation and training focused on four areas: orientation to the sites and classrooms; ESL methodology, instructional practices, and second language development; additional effective classroom strategies, with extension to the home-school connection… [PDF]
(1992). Teaching Models and Language Materials in Spanish for the Education of Health Care Providers. Two programs at the University of California, San Diego, (UCSD) in Spanish and Cultural Sensitivity are reported, one at the UCSD Medical Center and the other at the School of Medicine. These programs illustrate the power of culturally sensitive medical care versus a medical practice with non cross-cultural awareness that could result in patient non-compliance and hopelessness. The two programs, one undergraduate and one graduate level, were founded in 1979 and 1984, respectively. The approaches at each are similar: to bridge the linguistic and cultural differences existing between the predominant culture and the Latino patients. Objectives, concepts, skills, and methodologies are outlined, including the goal for oral proficiency in medical Spanish. Each program includes a cultural immersion component. It is concluded that with the changing American demography, Medical Spanish is one of the Languages for Specific Purposes that is in great need. Contains 13 references. (LB)… [PDF]