Diversity in the Classroom

I was fortunate enough not to grow up during the time when schools were segregated. I say fortunate because I have a friend who describes the day when busses pulled in with the new students to begin integration of her Nashville high school. She describes how she felt as she heard the yelling and saw the fighting. I am glad I was not in school during that time. When I began school, there were African American students and white students in all of my classes. I had never known another way. We were just kids together at school.

My experience with diversity in the classroom has been that most kindergarten students do not see color. Every year we begin the year with an “All About Me” theme. We read books about being different in some ways, and being the same in other ways. We talk about having different hair, eye, and skin color. I tell them that even though they are different on the outside, they are the same on the inside with feeling and emotions. One year a little boy turned to his friend and said, “Open your mouth and let me see.”

I am always amazed at how the students see each other. They are just kids who become friends because their names happen to be on the same classroom list. Parents however, sometimes have other ideas. Just as the articles I read for this assignment had very different opinions, so does society in general. The authors of these articles had a very specific purpose they were trying to convey. Each view is based on individual upbringings and family beliefs. Whether you support or denounce racism or multiculturalism, your view is clouded by when and with whom you grew up.

I do not think that multiculturalism is wrong, nor do I believe that racism is right I do think that we as Americans have the responsibility to teach all children what it means to be an American, including our traditions and customs. One of those traditions includes opening our door for those looking for a better life for their families. I also think that it is important for our children to learn the history of this country so they, too, can see why some people have the beliefs that they do.

People of all races and nationalities come to our country hoping for a better life and future. We as educators should embrace the “challenge of multiculturalism” and teach our students what they need to be successful in life. I think it is our job as educators to help our students understand that all people are valuable, no matter their color or background. Whether this is done by teaching history or integrating other cultures into our current events teaching, students need to learn that individuals’ views are shaped by their experiences and their backgrounds.

Teaching Grammar

How do I teach grammar? To me, teaching grammar looks very different depending on the students you are teaching. Many teachers in the elementary school setting use the deductive approach to teach grammar. I feel that this approach is a more traditional way of teaching grammar, and it is the way I was taught when I was in elementary school. I am not so sure that it is the best way to teach, though. I remember sitting in school and my teacher using the “drill and kill” method. We had to memorize the grammar rules and do practice exercises. Although this helped me to “memorize” the way to speak and write, I didn’t actually “learn” the usage of grammar until I put it into practice. In the upper elementary grades, middle schools and high schools, the inductive approach may be more beneficial. Students can use the rules they have been taught and put them into action when writing and speaking.

The article about Principled Eclectisim by Kenneth Beare, refers to the use of various teaching styles based on learner needs. All students learn in different ways. We as teachers must teach all of our students. As a kindergarten teacher I feel that my main grammar teaching comes from just talking to the students. Kindergarten students are still learning language even as they begin school. Many of them come in speaking the “grammar” of their families. It is my job to speak correctly to them and help them speak correctly so grammar is “caught, not taught”. In the article What is Grammar, by Richard Nordquist, he refers to descriptive and prescriptive grammar. In kindergarten, especially ELL kindergarten, descriptive grammar is what I am listening for each day. When a student comes up to me during center time and says, “He no share me.” I know he is telling me that another student won’t share the items with him. As an ELL student, I know that he has grasped the language enough to convey his message, but needs that extra support to phrase it correctly. In order to model the correct grammar, I have him repeat the phrase correctly, “He won’t share with me.” This type of teaching should be ongoing in an ELL classroom.

It is my hope that my ELL kindergarteners are learning grammar every day as we talk, play, read stories, and interact with each other. It is my job, to create activities that foster that learning.

What is Multicultural Education?

As I begin to think about answering this question, I think of the many different activities that I have done in my kindergarten classroom to teach multicultural education. Several years ago, Governor Phil Bredesen, who was then the Mayor of Nashville, decided that we needed a Core Curriculum for the Davidson County Schools. That curriculum included a multicultural education piece. We were to teach about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and different African Americans who had made significant contributions to our country during Black History Month. Also included in our curriculum, was the teaching of Hanukah and Kwanzaa in December along with our winter holidays unit. As a kindergarten teacher, I read stories about famous African Americans, had the students do a couple of projects, did a few cooking activities like latkes and sweet potato pie, and thought I had done my job. While this was a great start, after reading pieces on the multicultural pavilion site, I realize that I was only scratching the surface of multicultural education.

In my opinion, multicultural education should be teaching all students to be respectful and tolerant of each other and their different beliefs. In order to do this, we have to teach students about other cultures. I like the activities described on the multicultural pavilion site under the awareness activities. I especially liked the activity on building respect and community. Each day in kindergarten we have a morning meeting to begin our day. This time is a great opportunity to build respect and community within my classroom. Students can be given the opportunity to share about themselves. One of our school-wide rules is to be respectful. I think students can learn that being respectful of someone is not necessarily always agreeing with that person, but allowing each person to have their own opinion without repercussions. I also liked the activity where students learn about the history of their names and share that information with others. In kindergarten, we focus a lot on learning to spell and write our names. I think learning why we have our names and sharing that information would be a great activity for any classroom.

I liked seeing Nitza Hidalgo’s Levels of Culture explained. Reading these made me realize that I focus more on the concrete level with my teaching of multicultural education. I think that it is important for students to see that different cultures also have different beliefs and behaviors that can be very different from their own. I think this can be a challenge for teachers to teach because of the views of people in their school, parents in their class, and their own background. So many times my kindergarten students will become the best of friends with the person they sit with at their table. Some parents seem shocked when they finally meet this new best friend and see that this child is different from what they expected. I hope as a teacher that I can foster those relationships so my students can grow up without preconceived ideas about other cultures. When my son was five, we had just received our yearly boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. Our favorites are the Tagalongs. He was holding the boxes as we were driving home that day. He asked me what kind of cookies we had. I told him that they were cookies with peanut butter covered in chocolate. He said, “Oh I get it.” Confused, I asked him what he meant. He said, “On the box, one of the boys is covered with peanut butter and the other boy is covered in chocolate.” I was still confused until I brought in the cookies and saw what he meant. On the box of cookies there was an African American boy and a Caucasian boy.
What a great place our world would be if we could just see each other as peanut butter and chocolate!