Multicultural Curriculum - Blog #4

I do think that there are common educational needs of all students: reading, writing, math, science and history. The difference in creating a curriculum that is multicultural is that it should provide information, images, and connections for a variety of ethnicities, not just European white.

The Core Knowledge curriculum developed by E. D. Hirsch,Jr. proposes that it is a common curriculum for our whole country. However, upon reviewing the article by E.D. Hirsch, Toward a Centrist Curriculum: Two Kinds of Multiculturalism in Elementary School, I am not sure that the “Centrist” curriculum is a multicultural curriculum. I was concerned when I read in his description of his curriculum that it “encourages knowledge of and sympathy towards the diverse cultures of the world.” The word sympathy raises the idea that he thinks they need sympathy for being different. I would have to see his curriculum to decide if it offers positive cultural and ethnic reflections and information for all the students in my classroom.

You can review the E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Core Knowledge web site at http://coreknowledge.org/CK/about/index.htm . And read his “Centrist” article at http://coreknowledge.org/CK/about/articles/centrst.htm .

I appreciated the article, Multiculturaism in School Curriculum, by Adam Waxler (http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/articles/index.pl?page=2;read=1621 ). He believes that “different cultures and perspectives can and should be incorporated throughout the various units within the traditional curriculum.” He believes that by separating out special months for studying culture, we are creating “intellectual segregation.” He furthers that “all cultures should be taught throughout all the units in order to be a truly multicultural education.”

I do believe that all cultures should be taught throughout all units; however, I also think that these special celebrations help to provide a special focus on the groups that typically have been left out of our curriculum. I guess if there was any social control from the school/curriculum, it would have been that these groups have not previously been included in our curriculum. Maybe by creating these months, we have allowed their cultures to be seen and they will no longer be the invisible cultures of our society.

Here are a few links to help celebrate these special groups at all times of the year and incorporate ideas into our lesson plans.

• National Women’s History Project: http://www.nwhp.org/whm/history.php

• Hispanic Heritage Month: http://hispanicheritagemonth.gov/

• Black History Month: http://www.biography.com/blackhistory/# or http://www.history.com/content/blackhistory

• Asian/Pacific American Heritge Month: http://www3.kumc.edu/diversity/ethnic_relig/apahm.html

Just to finish off this blog, I found a wonderful resource for teachers: The American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) web site. The AILF was established in 1987 as a tax-exempt, not-for-profit educational, charitable organization. The Foundation is dedicated to increasing public understanding of immigration law and policy and the value of immigration to American society, and to advancing fundamental fairness and due process under the law for immigrants.

They have lesson plans organized by grade levels, primary to high school, for teaching about immigration: http://www.ailf.org/teach/lessonplans/lessonplans.shtml

They also have a teacher’s guide you can download, Appreciating Americas Heritage 2009/2010 Edition : http://www.ailf.org/teach/teacherguide2009.pdf

This guide is a teacher’s immigration curriculum guide, primary to high school level. This guide also provides a history of immigration into the U.S. It also has a section of reviews for books and films that cover this issue.

References

Hirsch, Jr.,E.D. (1992). Toward a Centrist Curriculum: Two Kinds of Multiculturalism in Elementary School. Retrieved on October 3, 2009 from http://coreknowledge.org/CK/about/articles/centrst.htm .

Waxler, Adam. (2006-2008). Multiculturaism in School Curriculum, Retrieved on October 3, 2009 from http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/articles/index.pl?page=2;read=1621.