The Sesame Workshop

I chose to read about the Sesame Workshop. I have worked with kindergarten students for 17 years and Sesame Street and its characters have always been popular with my students. Even as a young child myself, I can remember watching Sesame Street and can even remember some of the songs. In my opinion it is the best children’s show that has ever been made. Not only does it focus on literacy and math, but also social skills, physical and emotional health, and building community. I like the way that the show uses characters from all cultures and ethnic groups. All students can relate to one character or another. There are even children on the show with special needs.

My own children like to watch many of the other shows created through the Sesame Workshop. Dragon Tales and Pinky Dinky Doo are two of their favorites. The theme of both of these shows encourages children to take chances and use their imaginations, two very important skills that children need. As a teacher, I see students who really don’t know how to use their imagination or think for themselves. The shows created by the Sesame Workshop teach children thinking skills while entertaining them. I think these shows have affected generations of children. Students need certain readiness skills when they enter Kindergarten that will enable them to be successful later in school. Sesame Street and the other shows help children attain these skills in a fun and inviting way. Several years ago, children only had a few shows on T.V. that were appropriate for them. They did not have nearly as many choices as they do today. In this age of technology, children are bombarded by video games, computers, dvds, and television shows. Many of the games and shows children watch today have no educational value whatsoever. I am grateful to the creators and producers of the Sesame Workshop shows. When students tune in and watch these shows, they are at least being exposed to skills that will benefit them later.

I also appreciate the global efforts of the Sesame Workshop. Many of their shows are in several different languages. When my ELL Kindergarten students came to school for the first day this year, many of them saw familiar characters in my classroom. I have Big Bird, Elmo, Grover, and Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. Even the children who spoke no English knew who these characters were. There was something familiar they could identify with, even in such a strange setting. These characters helped me to connect with my students and begin a relationship. I realize that by just watching a T. V. show students do not learn all of the necessary skills needed to be successful, but I am glad there are shows like Sesame Street and the other shows of the Sesame Workshop that children can watch and just be kids.

Teaching Multiculturalism


As I read the articles for this blog post, I was reminded of several years ago when my school system, Metro Nashville Schools, adopted a core curriculum that included Core Knowledge from E. D., Hirsch, Jr. There was a Core Knowledge sequence for each grade level, beginning with Kindergarten. It included teaching about Native Americans, Christopher Columbus, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Black History month. At the time, many teachers and parents did not understand why all of this “change” was mandated for our schools. We kept the curriculum for three or four years, then something else came along, as it often does in education. What did not change, however, was the make-up of our classes and the students we were teaching. With so many immigrants and refugees coming into our city, our schools were also being affected.

When I was in school, we were taught what the book said. Textbooks were the law. You read the chapter, answered some review questions, took a test, and that was that. We were told how it was and not given an opportunity to dispute the fact, or give an opinion on what we thought. I can remember having some African-American students in my classes, but no one who spoke a different language, or came from another country. I am glad my children today have more diversity in their classrooms.

I liked reading the different ideas that Adam Waxler used to teach the history curriculum in a multicultural way. Hirsch said that “children need to have basic foundations and share common points of reference that will enable further learning.” I think that Waxler would agree with him. We can teach all children the same lessons, while teaching them how to think for themselves. They need to learn to separate fact from opinion. Waxler used some inventive ways to do that as he taught history. As teachers we do need to be able to teach all children and be able to give them differing views of the events that have happened in our history. As more and more immigrants come to our country and into our schools, we should strive to teach them about our country while at the same time not dismissing their backgrounds and heritages. We cannot change our ethnicity, however we can change our thinking. As more and more cultures come together in the classroom, we as teachers have to come up with more and more ways to teach respect for those cultures. I think Waxler is doing a great job of that by having his students examine various perspectives on events in history.

What is multiculturalism in school curriculum? By Adam Waxler
http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/articles/index.pl?page=2;read=1621 retrieved 10/1/2009

Toward a Centrist Curriculum: Twl Kinds of Multiculturalism in Elementary School by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. http://coreknowledge.org/CK/about/articles/centrist.htm retrieved 10/1/2009