Abigail Pelletier

EDU 371
Herzog
Article Review #2
8/4/14

Article Review for I Want a Multicultural Classroom: Preparing Social Studies
Teachers for Culturally Diverse Classrooms

The article that I chose to review really gave a lot of insight on the importance of
multicultural classrooms, and how elementary preservice teachers can be sure to
implement a true culturally tolerant approach to social studies. For this experiment, 20
preservice teachers were observed and studied. They belonged to two different training
programs from the same university; a traditional elementary cohort and an urban-based
cohort. Teachers were interviewed to help determine if there was a difference in their
approach to multi-cultural education due to their different programs. The assignments
were much the same, but the programs themselves seemed to differ in terms of teacher
approaches to multiculturalism. The students from the urban-based cohort were more
culturally aware, tolerant and accepting. They went beyond just the basics of the topic
citizenship to include and be sensitive to other cultures.
According to this article, citizenship is widely taught, but there is a real divide
between teaching citizenship and teaching multicultural citizenship. Different
components of citizenship include; responsible citizenship, competent citizenship,
cultural citizenship and activist citizenship. Teachers need to be sure about including
materials and using culture as a basis for teaching multicultural citizenship. Also,
teachers should be sure to provide students with the opportunity to see multiple
perspectives on issues and topics so they get a well-rounded approach to learning social
studies.
Also, they need to have a deeper knowledge of cultures and there needs to be a
remedy for the lack of complexity in social studies as well so that teachers can be sure to
teach unity, tolerance and acceptance for all learners in the classroom. This supports
going beyond teaching about food and major holidays of different cultures and digger
deeper into these areas in instruction.
I strongly agree with the authors that preservice teachers should be exposed to the
different ways to implement multiculturalism into the classroom, and be shown ways to
incorporate this into their learning. I have taken multiple education classes thus far
including; Foundations of Education, Teaching Students with Exceptional Needs in the
Classroom, Educational Psychology and I am currently taking Teaching Mathematics in
the classroom as well and these all have provided a great basis for the reasoning behind
and the methods for ensuring that the classroom is culturally sensitive, aware and
tolerant.
According to this article, our classrooms are increasingly becoming more
economically, culturally and linguistically diverse. It is very important that we are aware
of this shift, and respond appropriately. I believe that more preservice teacher programs
should aim to help these future teachers to understand ways to incorporate this more and
approach it in the right way, so topics are not just being brushed over lightly. I was very
surprised that even math instruction can be utilized to teach and support multiculturalism
in the classroom. Literature is another way to incorporate diversity as well in an
Abigail Pelletier
EDU 371
Herzog
Article Review #2
8/4/14

approachable and fun way for students to be aware of the expectations for acceptance in
the classroom.

One of the former discussion posts of mine helps to identify my personal feelings
on the issue at hand when I said that because Maine is considered to be one of the most
homogeneous US states, we should try extra hard to ensure that elementary schools
promote cultural diversity. I think that it is extremely important to create an inclusive
and tolerant classroom, where all students and cultures are accepted equally. As teachers,
we should aim to always be sensitive to other cultures and include pictures of students
from different backgrounds in displays, instruction, etc. We can also help to promote
diversity by teaching our students about different cultures.
Also, I personally think that there are a lot of teachers who are unaware of how
they should include this piece into instruction. I say this because after taking an
education course this spring and doing observations and interviews, I found that teachers
in the lower grades especially did not really know or recognize how they could include
multiculturalism in the classroom. I think that books can be a great tool to teach about
other cultures and people around the world. Students should know that the expectation is
for them to be respectful of each other's differences and you can do this by creating an
environment that supports all students and learns about others.
I also know that the CCSS (particularly for third grade) includes teaching about
folktales, folklore and fables and this can be a great way to incorporate this into the
classroom. Also, students can learn more about different cultures through history
units. One teacher I work with did a "Christmas around the World" unit with her third
grade class that taught about how people around the world celebrate Christmas. She had
her students do a musical play on this and they reached out to the community by inviting
everyone to come watch the performance.
This article really helped me to understand that if we approach multiculturalism in
a more complex and deliberate way, we will help to teach this topic correctly. Also,
teacher preparation programs need to address these issues so students can start out there
careers aware of the need for teaching multiculturalism appropriately and becoming more
culturally aware. Including more culturally responsive instruction for all subjects,
including social studies should be at the forefront of teacher preparation programs and
courses. I personally believe that there should be more of an emphasis on creating
cultural diversity and awareness in the classroom throughout the curriculum and
instructional process. Through careful planning, as a future teacher, I will aim to
incorporate multiculturalism in a variety of ways in order to create unity in the classroom.


References
Castro, A. J., Field, S. L., Bauml, M., & Morowski, D. (2012). I Want a Multicultural
Classroom: Preparing Social Studies Teachers for Culturally Diverse Classrooms. Social
Studies, 103(3), 97-106. doi:10.1080/00377996.2011.575419