Challenge 7

Challenge 7:


How can we transform cultural diversity into valuable resources at home?


During this session of the course, we focused on cultural diversity and teachers' attitudes towards multicultural issues in the clasroom. The teacher is the dominant figure in the classroom and subsequently has the responsibility and opportunity to be the role model for the students. The teacher's personality sets the tone and standard for classroom participation and interaction. In order to teach effectively in a multicultural environment, the teacher must be self-aware of her background assumptions, biases and prejudices.


After the movie which was about a black boy's arriving into the classroom consisting of white pupils we talked about teacher's roles in a multicultural classroom.

The Role of the Teacher in a multicultural classroom:


In my opinion, education about cultural differences begins with the teacher. So, each teacher must go on  journey to uncover how cultures influence families, government, language and where people live.

• Encourage students to interact and participate in classroom discussion and dialogue but recognize that the cultural background of some students may make them hesitant to be vocal in the classroom.
• Avoid singling out individual students as representative of their ethnic or cultural group. Stereotyping students fails to respect their individuality and makes broad general assumptions about their background and experiences.
• Form small groups  which allow students to work together and share ideas and problem-solving solutions in a more intimate setting.
• The teacher who makes himself aware of the general traits that students bring to the classroom as part of their cultural heritage is in a better position to understand the classroom dynamics and interaction.
• Include books, toys and materials in your classroom about physical, racial and ethnic differences.
• Give tasks students for finding pictures that represent how cultures live in their native country ( housing, clothing, food because they are symbolic.)
• Bring in guest speakers to foster diversity in your class.

''Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.

Jimmy Carter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-qnuqCZ7hg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2PgFn01mEk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNAfHG6FDxI&feature=related


How can I appreciate diversity for children?


Help children embrace differences by exposing them to diversity as early as possible.  This can be a natural part of everyday living as children develop relationships outside their family. Answer children’s questions about differences openly and honestly as they come up, and if answers are not known, seek out the answers. Another way to ensure diversity in children’s lives is to choose toys, books and media that reflect all types of people (e.g., include images of people with a variety of backgrounds, ages, abilities, characters that break stereotypes about men and women, art supplies in a wide range of skin, eye and hair colors).  As children get older, support their curiosity about the diversity in the world by providing them with accurate, age-appropriate information when they ask questions and/or point out differences.


Here is my poster for the children on how to appreciate diversity:






Reflection:


In this challenge Lilian included us in many different kinds of activities. Firstly, we were given cartoon with a blank bubble on it and we filled in the blank as a group, then we changed the groups and discussed the different ideas over bubble, later on we talked about diversity in the classroom all the students went out and stood in the hall next to each other. Lilian asked a few yes/no questions about languages, interests, countries, religion...We stepped forward/backward according to our agreement/disagreement. After only a few questions we realized the difference. Thirdly, we watched an interesting movie about a black boy who was coming from different country. We observed the teacher's reactions while introducing him to the class. Finally, we made an amazing activity. Lilian divided the class into two groups and handed out 18 pictures for eache group. We had to put them in the right order. Then we had to make up a story about it. After that we all stood in a line with everybody one picture in his hands. Everyone told his part of the story in his own language, German, Danish, Dutch,Turkish, Spanish, Finnish..  It was AWESOME!!!

I am sure this activity stimulates all the students' attention regardless of how old they are. It is a practical way of exploring diversity in the classroom. Because, " They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel.''