(1994). The Fourfold Gap: Preparing Teachers for Educating the Culturally Different. European Journal of Teacher Education, v17 n3 p241-51. Frequently, teachers from dominant cultural groups confront diverse students. Teachers must learn to handle problems caused by the differences. The paper presents a model of a fourfold gap between teachers and students (linguistic, cognitive, cultural, and social), using examples from Israeli schools. Suggestions for counteracting possible negative effects are offered. (SM)…
(1992). Teaching Teachers to Avoid Having Culturally Assaultive Classrooms. Young Children, v47 n5 p4-9 Jul. Children in a class were divided into two groups. Members of one group were called "Indians," and members of the other were called "non-Indians." Members of the so-called Indian group assaulted the cultural values of the "non-Indian" group. Children's reactions are discussed. (BG)…
(1993). Prospective Teachers' Perceptions of Ethnic and Gender Differences in Academic Achievement. Journal of Teacher Education, v44 n1 p27-37 Jan-Feb. Reports on a survey of preservice teachers regarding their perceptions of gender and ethnic disparity in academic achievement. Most of the subjects recognized the ways that society and school contribute to gender disparities, and over half mentioned society and school as factors contributing to ethnic disparities. (SM)…
(1991). Organizing for Effective Paraprofessional Services in Special Education: A Multilingual/Multiethnic Instructional Service Team Model. Remedial and Special Education (RASE), v12 n1 p29-36,47 Jan-Feb. The paper explores elements necessary to develop a stable, well-prepared itinerant instructional team (the Multilingual/Multiethnic Instructional Service team) to serve linguistically diverse exceptional students. Such a team would utilize paraprofessionals under the direct supervision of a certified special education teacher, allowing districts with limited bilingual/bicultural personnel to maximize their resources. (Author/DB)…
(1993). Constructing Difference: Historical Reflections on Schooling and Social Diversity. Teachers College Record, v95 n1 p8-34 Fall. Discusses the long history of social and political constructions of differences in United States society and public schools, including the social constructions of diversity, educators' policies for handling diversity, the influence of white ethnic groups, and racial and sex discrimination. (SM)…
(1992). Social Paradoxes of American Education. Oxford Review of Education, v19 n3 p201-12. Identifies four issues that will shape the future of U.S. elementary and secondary education: (1) decentralized governance of schools; (2) education of all students and level of achievement; (3) opportunity for educational equality; and (4) cultural diversity and ethnicity. (CFR)…
(1998). Cross-Cultural Field Placements: Student Teachers Learning from Schools and Communities. Theory into Practice, v37 n2 p155-62 Spr. Presents two cultural immersion projects where student teaching and community involvement interact synergistically. Also discusses learning outcomes of the projects, examines the importance of service learning, and explains how traditional student teaching assignments can incorporate many of the design principles that characterize cultural learning and preparation for diversity. (SM)…
(1998). Multicultural Theorists and the Social Studies. Social Studies, v89 n2 p57-60 Mar-Apr. Questions the multiculturalists' vision that an ethnic group's self-esteem and subsequent academic achievement can improve through the study of its culture. Cites the paucity of studies supporting the effectiveness of interventions to improve inter-ethnic group attitudes. Maintains that some multiculturalists are more interested in superficial appearances than substantiative multicultural content. (MJP)…
(1995). Diversity and Multiculturalism: Institutional Leadership at the University of Michigan. Journal of Dental Education, v59 n12 p1113-18 Dec. Initiatives taken at University of Michigan to address complex nature of diversity and multiculturalism in higher education are described, including a 1988 administrative strategic plan to link academic excellence and social diversity among faculty and students, a plan to improve women's representation among faculty, a longitudinal study of impact of diversity on the class of 1994, and curriculum reform. (MSE)…
(2000). Personal Experience as a Guide To Teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, v16 n7 p731-47 Oct. Analyzes teacher educators' experiences using storytelling about teaching to prepare second-career teacher candidates to critically reflect on their practice and teach for diversity. Using stories, prospective teachers developed retrospective explanations and justifications for their teaching practices, constructing platforms from which to launch future actions. Stories helped them author identities that reinscribed their personal experiences as guidelines for teaching others. (SM)…
(1995). Multiculturalism and Learning Style. Teaching and Counseling Adolescents. This consideration of learning style and the minority student analyzes and synthesizes the research that reveals the similarities and differences among the learning styles of culturally diverse populations and describes how to teach and counsel adolescents with different learning styles. Research suggests that students whose instruction is not responsive to their learning styles achieve significantly less than children whose instruction is responsive. The implications of the varied individual, rather than the cultural group, and the learning styles of multicultural students are discussed for both teaching and counseling. The efforts of schools that have successfully reversed underachievement among culturally diverse students are described. The research on which these conclusions are based involved the participation of more than 18 professors and 60 doctoral students working collaboratively at St. John's University in New York. The instrumentation designed to identify learning style…
(1995). Perspectives in Teaching: Submerged Voices in the Classroom: A Japanese in America: What Can She Do?. During the past 10 years, a Japanese instructor at an American university has learned to use her cultural background to her advantage. As a graduate student at Bowling Green State University (Ohio), she first perceived her background as an obstacle to her teaching and tried to pretend that she was not different from other faculty. But this mindset did not change students' perceptions of her, nor did it help their learning. Thus, she began to consider her role at a predominantly white university where the majority of students in her weekly group discussion were from small rural towns in Ohio. Moveover, the faculty was also predominantly white. She decided that her role was to increase students' awareness of their own and others' cultures. Additionally, she learned that some students, through their interactions with a Japanese teacher, will begin to lose their fear of the unknown. They will, with time, learn to accept a foreign accent and to understand it. Most importantly, they will… [PDF]
(1995). The Microstructure of Multiculturalism: Experiencing the Great Books. A new approach to teaching "Great Books" in high schools calls for scholars to reconsider the question of whether classics are relevant in a multiculturally conscious age. This classroom approach, referred to as "participant examples," requires students and teachers to act out situations from books they are reading; it strives to make the universal human truths found in these books relevant to modern audiences. A study examined the risks and benefits of this approach. Eight English and history classes were observed at an inner city school over a 3-year period. The student body was ethnically mixed: 50% Black, 25% Hispanic, 15% White, and 10% Asian. Results showed that through participant examples great books have even more relevance and power in the classroom than scholars such as Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler have maintained. The study points out, however, that Great Books' power doesn't necessarily make them ideal curriculum materials; there are risks… [PDF]
(1991). Recognizing Our Students' Cultural Diversity in the Foreign Language Classroom: How and Why. It is argued that while second language teachers generally recognize the value of cultural diversity, they may not be acknowledging and taking full advantage of the diversity within their own classrooms. A variety of classroom techniques to support multiculturalism are offered. One is to examine, with student participation, both positive and negative aspects of ethnocentrism and to develop an early respect among students for their own culture rather than focusing first on the target culture. Then the teacher can begin to help students move from a limited tolerance of differences to an appreciation of diversity. This includes exposure to a variety of manifestations of the target culture and presentation of a role model with enthusiasm and commitment. A sincere effort to integrate the student's own culture into classroom communication can also be useful in bringing students into the target culture, but the effectiveness of this approach depends on the teacher's style. Another is to… [PDF]
(1995). Serving Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students: Strategies for the School Librarian. ERIC Digest. This digest discusses ways that the school librarian in one high school fostered a positive environment in the school library for English-as-a-Second-Language students and broadened the role of the school library in effecting literacy experiences for these students. The digest addresses how one school librarian made the library a welcoming place for ESL students, the establishment of a collection materials for these students, library resources available for both ESL and content teachers, library collaboration with agencies outside of the school, multicultural activities, and a literacy activity for native Spanish speaking students learning English and native-English speaking students learning Spanish. (Contains five references.) (JL)… [PDF]