Multicultural Perspective
Today's classrooms are diverse and you will be expected to meet the needs of all of your students. Many of our students come from different cultures, which affects how they learn. We must take this into consideration when developing our lesson plans, making our role as an educator even more complex. As a result, we must be informed of our students' cultural backgrounds as this includes another element of cognitive understanding that will guide our instructional practices. By understanding student culture, we can gain insight into learning preferences, interests, motivation, and prior knowledge.
Based on the important features of multicultural education found in Figure 4.6 of our text and selecting a specific content standard from the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSS), develop a learning activity that includes these key features of multicultural education:
a. Integration of content - How does your learning activity incorporate content from different cultures?
b. Reducing Prejudice - How does the learning activity attempt to minimize any of your own prejudices as well as your students?
c. Making Teaching Equitable - How does the instructional approach to your learning activity meet the needs of all your students by recognizing learning styles, interests, and motivation to help achieve academic potential?
d. Empowering Learners - How does the learning activity empower all students to work toward their academic potential?
e. Construction of Knowledge - How does your learning activity promote different perspectives that validate how culture influences knowledge and beliefs?
Be sure to first provide your content standard from the CCSS followed by your learning activity. Then explain how your learning activity meets each element of multicultural education by providing evidence to justify and support your assertions. Then reflect on your K-12 school experience. Was a multicultural education part of your schooling? What factors may have contributed to the inclusion or exclusion of a multicultural education in your own early schooling? Make sure to incorporate the five key features of multicultural education in your reflection.
Click to view an example of this week's assignment.
You have several options in completing this task:
a. Write a three-four page paper (does not include a title page or reference page).
b. Develop a PPT presentation that is 8-10 slides long (does not include title page slide or reference page slide).
c. Use Voicethread or Prezi that is 8-10 slides long (does not include a title page slide or reference page slide).
d. Use a combination of the above.
Be sure to reference the course text and at least one other scholarly source. Your assignment should follow APA formatting guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center, and be sure to include a title page or slide as well as reference page or slide.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.