After reading the article and novel, I found myself questioning the way that I thought I was introducing new cultures. I had the wrong impression that just because I incorporated many readings about other cultures, I had a multicultural classroom, but that is not the case. Lowrey and Sabis-Burns say in the article, “ Individual students’ success or failure weighs heavily on the teacher’s beliefs, intentions, and personalities rather than the curriculum, materials, and class size (Fine, 1991; Irvine, 1990). Teachers’ unintentional biases may undermine the potentially positive process of teaching and learning within different cultures (Delpit, 1995, Valli, 1995).” This was a large wake up call to me that just because I am putting Multicultural readings in front of them, does not mean that they are analyzing and interpreting the writing in a way that allows them to grow and become more familiar with the new culture. I would have some class discussion, but it not often focused on the the topic, but more the “skill” or “standard” that we are assessing. I have the understanding that multicultural literature is necessary and important, but trying to balance the skills with the content is an area that I struggle with at times.
If I were to use “The Way to Rainy Mountain” in my classroom, now, after reading the article, I would want students to make jot-dots as they are reading whenever they learn something about the Kiowa culture. This would be an exit ticket and like in the article I would also include some reflections tying what they learned, to something in their own culture to allow students to not only learn about the Kiowa culture, but their own as well.
Lowrey, R. M., & Sabis-Burns, D. (n.d.). From borders to bridges: Making cross-cultural connections through multicultural literature. In Multicultural Education.
Momady, N. S. (2019). The way to Rainy Mountain (50th ed.). University of New Mexico Press.
Kennedy,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a great point! I think educators can accidentally impose bias if we are not careful enough, especially if we are not as knowledgable on the topic being discussed. I like what you said about how your classroom is not considered multicultural just because you have multicultural books. I think the jot-dot activity would be interesting and an easy exit ticket to examine. I have never heard of the phrase "jot-dot" before, so this is new to me!
I felt the same way after reading this and how I was introducing new cultures into my classroom. I thought that just because I read different books about different cultures and had different books posted around the room, that I was doing a good job at introducing them to new cultures. I found out after reading that I need to take it way beyond just the text when it comes to them relating, understanding, and forming connections to other cultures. I know that next time I read a novel of a new culture, I will include several other activities that allow them to form connections or even how their culture is different.
ReplyDeleteHi Kennedy!
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail right on the head with talking about how just putting the text in front of the students does not mean your classroom is diving into other cultures. I like how you talked about bias and how sometimes they are unintentional, we need to be aware of our own when teaching about different cultures. This was something I had not thought about prior to taking a Culture and Ethics course last summer. We really dove into implicit bias and how everyone has it based on how/where they grew up and what our exposure to other cultures was.
I also like how you thought about teaching "The Way to Rainy Mountain", within your own classroom. I think having a plan in place prior to teaching and coming up with discussion prompts is a wonderful way to start the process of intentionally teaching about many different cultures. I have never heard the term, jot-dots, but I'm assuming it's important facts or notes in a note book?
Thank you for sharing!
Sam
Jot-dots are just what we call bullet points. We like to use jot dots because students tend to have more endurance when they are not worried about having to write complete sentences. The focus is on the main piece of content.
DeleteBack to the mirror-window idea. Good!
ReplyDelete