The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday is a great example of multicultural text. Through each chapter he tells stories that allows the reader to gain insight into the Kiowa culture. Reading the collection of stories and legends is so fitting as the Kiowa people share a tradition of passing down stories orally to share about both their past, life lessons, and culture. While recounting many of their traditional stories Momaday also shares vital parts of their history and the reader is immersed into the Kiowa culture.
The article “From Borders to Bridges” explores the connections between multicultural literature and the classroom and ways that they should be incorporated into education for teachers. The article talks about the critical thinking skills that are necessary to teach diverse text to students. The article discusses that the success of the students in understanding these texts lie also on the beliefs of the teachers. It is important for teachers to reflect on their own bias that they bring with them to the classroom and think about how this could impact their teaching choices and instruction. Reading is a way to put yourself in the shoes of other cultures and even other time periods. Learning about history through facts is less powerful than the connection and impact that stories can have for students. The article also speaks to the powerful dialogue and tough conversations that can evolve through experiencing multicultural literature. It helps students gain awareness of other cultures while also giving students a space to ask questions.
The article shares some eye opening statistics regarding the increase in diversity within our student population while the demographics of the people teaching them remains rather white, female, and middle to upper class. There are many pieces that go in to utilizing multicultural text within the classroom. First, it is important to locate text that gives accurate depictions of other cultures which is best when written by those same people allowing them to share their stories. From there, teachers should find ways to help students ask questions and engage in discussions with their peers to help deepen their understanding. In order to effectively facilitate discussions, teachers should be informed on their topics and remind students about the importance of open mindedness and inquiry thinking within the classroom.
Unfortunately, our district has chosen our curriculum for us. They have also stated that we are required to use the text that is given by the designated curriculum. Fortunately, these texts are very well chosen and have a large focus on diversity. A big takeaway from the article is the importance of celebrating differences within the classroom. This is absolutely something that I can work to do a better job of through giving students the voice, space, and time to share their own stories within the four walls of our classroom.
Some options to utilize in the middle school might include:
1. Book discussions over multicultural text
2.Flipgrid videos sharing about their own cultures
3.Socratic Seminars where students practice respectfully disagreeing over high interest, low stakes topics such as the importance of homework.
Kiley,
ReplyDeleteYou've shared some great ideas about how you might help students to connect with diverse texts. I know it can feel frustrating when the school administration and school board choose the texts that you are required to teach from, but we can also embrace these decisions with positivity. One positive result is that you don't have to spend endless amounts of time searching for texts to use. Having required texts also provides transparency to all stakeholders, and in the long run can protect teachers from upsetting members of the community. Assuming that there was a committee that recommended the texts, and that they had to be approved by the school board helps to ensure that many minds are coming together to make the selections; alleviating some pressure from the individual teachers that might otherwise be making these decisions on their own. Even if you don't have the freedom to use this specific text, the structures you employ in the classroom can have similar outcomes for your students.
Hi Kiley!
ReplyDeleteI love the paragraph where you shared some of the takeaways from the article, specifically. The diversity statistics within the student body and the teaching staff were things I have never looked into, nor knew much about. When I read the stats for teachers and ethnicity, it surprised me; but then when I thought about the school I work for and surrounding schools here in northern Iowa it aligns well.
I also work for a school that has set curriculum K-6, and a curriculum provided for grades 7-12 with a little more teacher choice. I think our curriculum does a wonderful job incorporating diversity with multicultural literature, however, I think as a whole we could be even better when it comes to presenting the information and diving into different cultures.
Your ideas for options to use in the classroom are very helpful. While I do not teach, I will pass some of these ideas on to our educators as ideas to help integrate more conversations about the multicultural literature being taught.
Thank you for sharing!
Sam
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ReplyDeleteI like the idea of sharing about their cultures using Flipgrid! I was talking with another teacher at my school and we talked about using the New York Times "What's Going On In the Picture?" during advisory on Monday's and Friday's - and talking about the different cultures with that if the opportunity was presented. I think a lot of us are in the same boat of already having a curriculum picked where we can't necessarily add our own texts that are multicultural.
ReplyDeleteKiley,
DeleteWhen I hear "teachers need to reflect on their own bias", I get antsy. I am curious about what this statement means to you. In your post, you discuss "how this could impact their teaching choices and instruction," but you do not define what a bias looks like. For example, when watching the news, people rarely see the facts. Journalists are no longer sourcing their information and are sensationalizing it to get the largest ratings for their company or to enrage an ignorant populace. Is this the type of bias we are talking about with teachers? Or, are their constructs of bias more aggressive in nature? I struggle to believe that people in education are inherently biased and trying to sway students to accept what ‘we’ as educators want them to think as the only reality. (I for one would be ecstatic if they would just get off TIKTOK) I hope you understand that I am not trying to be inflammatory, but I genuinely, want everyone to consider the buzzwords thrown around in today’s social climate.
I looked up the What's Going On in This Picture, and I am so glad you brought it up! What a good way to get students thinking. Great idea.
DeleteFor those whose districts make curricular choices, maybe move from thinking about which texts to use to thinking about how you might use our discussions here in your work with students. Or how you might bring something--like the NYT activity you brought in--in a math class, or a science class, or some other class.