Here is a blog post I created not too long ago that I thought
would be very knowledgeable for us as we are entering the mathematics
classroom. Please let me know your input on it. When I started my University
degree under the Concurrent Education program, I never actually thought about
the importance of and need for integrating multicultural learning into all
subjects (i.e. Math, Physical Education) as opposed to only subjects like the
Social Studies and English's. I knew the importance of understanding the
diverse cultures of the students within your classroom in order to gain a
positive relationship with them but never considered the importance of teaching
about and to these cultures in specific. Banks and Tucker discusses how a
math teacher said to banks after his Multicultural Education presentation that
"What you said is fine for social studies, but it has nothing to do with
me." He then discusses how teachers within the subjects of the maths and
sciences must think that multicultural education was simply content integration
and therefore he developed the
5
DIMENSIONS OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
Retrieved from https://luutru360.com/diendan/156/
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According
to Banks and Tucker the First Dimension is where it all started. By putting
African Americans in the curriculum, then Mexican Americans in the curriculum,
and then Asian Americans in the curriculum we began with the content
integration. Content integration is important for multicultural education
however Banks states "with content integration, language arts and social
studies teachers can do more than the physics teacher" and that a physics
teacher may be able to create a poster with famous female physicists or a
minority physicists however this is not what we are trying to teach through
Multicultural Education. Therefore the first dimension of content integration
is important however you will notice that as I discuss the other 4 dimensions
discussed by Banks and Tucker they allow for more teachers like the math and
science teachers to get involved and be a part of multicultural
education.
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Retrieved
from http://constructingmodernknowledge.com/?page_id=2177
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The Second dimension focuses on Knowledge construction. Within
this dimension Banks and Tucker discusses that the teacher should guide the
students learning in order to help them "understand, investigate and
determine the implicit cultural assumptions and frames of reference and
perspectives of the discipline they're teaching" and therefore help kids
with the learning process. It is knowledge construction that helps students
become critical thinkers and readers and therefore causes students to think about
the content that they are reading about and writing about in order to better
understand the content.
Teachers are to change their teaching methods in order to
provide students from diverse racial groups and of any gender with a positive
learning environment to achieve. Changing these methods for the diverse racial
groups and different genders is known as equity pedagogy and is the third
dimension discussed by Banks and Tucker. As Discussed above Content integration
is when a physics teachers creates a poster of famous female or minority
physicists and therefore equity pedagogy would be a physics teacher changing
his or her way of teaching in order to provide an environment for the female
student and the African American student to learn physics more effectively.
Therefore equity pedagogy focuses on providing different teaching methods
within the classroom to meet the needs of the diverse students and allowing
them to succeed.
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Retrieved from http://www.scc.losrios.edu/src/2016/02/29/professional-development-activities-spring-2016-february-29-march-6/
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According to Banks and Tucker the fourth dimension of their
multicultural education is prejudice reduction. The third and fourth dimension is
where all the teachers no matter the subject are able to be involved. Within
this dimension teachers are to work within their classroom in order to reduce
prejudice in the classroom. "All educators should use methods to help kids
develop more positive racial attitudes (Banks and Tucker).
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Retrieved from http://prejudicereduction.co.uk/about-us/
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Retrieved
from http://www.reachedsolutions.com/inschoolservice
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The fifth dimension goes outside of individual classrooms within
the school and focuses on school wide culture and social structure. The goal
within this dimension is to make the entire school culture more equitable and
knowledgeable. It is about take the four other dimensions and growing them
school wide. Within this dimension Banks and Tucker look at student groupings,
teacher groupings, participation on sports teams and many other aspects of the
school structure. Therefore the fifth dimension is about empowering school
culture and social structure in order to allow every student and staff member
to feel included and welcomed.
As I discussed at the beginning of this post, I always
considered learning about the students cultures within my classroom in order to
gain a better relationship within them and ultimately promoting a more
comfortable and inviting learning environment. However, after reading this
article and learning about multicultural education into more detail I have
learnt that it is more than this, it involved meeting all 5 dimensions that
will ultimately provide each and every student with the opportunity to
succeed.
References
Banks, James A. and Michelle Tucker. “Multiculturalism’s Five
Dimensions.” NEA Today Online. Retrieved from: https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/group/EDUC8P02D01FW2016LEC001/Week%201/Multiculturalism%205%20dimentions%20_Banks_.pdf
Cheers,
Vince
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