LLED 360307 Fall 2017 Dr Lorna Ramsay
Reading Analysis reflection template for presenter
Date: Oct 12 2017
Facilitator name: Rania Ismail
Group members: Dan Hanoomansingh,Justine martins,Jessica Pellegrino, Katie Harries,Laura Qin
Text Chapters : Chapter 6 – An inclusive learning environment
Main themes : Inclusion and integrating multiculturalism into the classroom
An inclusive learning environment
This chapter is about social and cultural inclusion in a multicultural classroom & how to help peers respond to L2Ls in a supportive manner.
Cultural diversity is an asset and it should be an advantage.
In this chapter there will be ideas for cross cultural projects, which will help enrich the cultural knowledge of the students and how to incorporate cultural diversity into the curriculum
Also how to reach the different learning styles of the students.
It is always hard to move provinces, or schools, let alone move countries. The older the students the harder it gets. The teacher should be involved in helping newcomers feel welcome into the classroom and easing their social transition which can be awkward for some of them.
Here are some examples:
Introduce newcomers in a positive way
Do not refer to newcomers as someone who does not speak good English on the other hand you can talk about where they came from? What language they speak? Their name and write all this information on the board. We can all help her/him work on his English and ask the child to teach the class a couple of words in their native tongue
You can get them to tell the class a little bit about themselves if they are not too timid.
Don’t be intimidated by the long names
Write the name down and ask to pronounce it. If it is too long break into shorter syllables
Names need to be correct on any administration forms
If you are not sure always check with the parents which is the family name and which is the given name
Also you can ask the child about cultural practices. For example is it ok to shake hands with the parents and what are the preferred alternatives.
Encourage peer support
To alleviate the stress on the child by enlisting the help of others and when they are still settling into the routine. The whole class needs to feel that this is like a shared responsibility, as these students have a double load not only to learn a new curriculum but on top of that to master a new language.
Demonstrate a few ways to the students in the class such as repeating, rephrasing, using gestures, drawing and using visuals.
Create a positive learning environment and ask suggestions form students in the class on how to facilitate the process of learning English to L2.
Seat the L2 with someone who speaks their native tongue if possible just for a few weeks. Even if there is no one who speaks the same language you can seat them with a sympathetic and a helpful child.
Try to involve L2 in group tasks even if their contribution is limited and soon they will start to recognize repeated words and understand the class routine.
Structured group interview
As a teacher you can model to the class how to conduct the interview and L2 can be involved in this with the help of a bilingual peer. Post interview on classroom bulletin board and as time goes students can add more information to it
Intercultural projects
It will help students gain a better understanding of other cultures and appreciate diversity but also appreciate their own culture see definition p.161
What’s your name interview
All about Sasha
The world in our classroom
Students can then interview each other and find out when, why, where their distant ancestors immigrated to the province
Class exchanges
Heritage box
Diversity in the curriculum
Cultural diversity has to be presented in a positive and reflective way not just for the sake of it.
Traditional curriculum taught in western countries focuses on the achievement of western ancestries and in our culturally diverse communities a more inclusive curriculum is more required in order to prepare students to work and live effectively in these culturally diverse communities.
Homogenous student populations benefit from a curriculum that encourages or enables them to:
- Value linguistic and cultural diversity
- Enrich cultural knowledge
- Expand world view
- Recognize and challenge situations involving bias and discrimination
Students need to recognize prejudice and be able to speak up against it
Remember as a teacher you need to maintain a balance against viewpoints and avoid blaming descendants of previous generations for past injustice
Avoid guilt and blame and focus on the present and how can we make our own world a just world
Explain that inclusive curriculum does not eliminate European content but places it alongside content from other cultures
The content should draw on students’ previous knowledge or experiences
Examples on how curriculum content can be adjusted to make it more inclusive:
Reading and literature study:
Use the same themes such as friendship, loyalty in the books but use stories from other cultures that have been set into a different cultural or geographic contexts
Literature circles
Same idea of a book club
Students read and respond to a book
Students can read different books and then share their thoughts about the books in a written or oral presentation
Multicultural literary circles
Books represent various cultural perspectives
Watch out for books that promote typical stereotypes
Provide books in students own language and ask them to talk about it
Model the process and encourage students to generate questions about the book
Organise the process and match students reading levels to the books
Provide structure by giving each student a role
Provide questions and websites
Go around and check and ask students to relate the book to their own experiences
Think about how you would present the book to the class
Discuss the similarities and differences among books
Key messages and themes of books
The idea behind these literature circles is to encourage students to read, talk, think and reflect on the books
Redo the whole thing again but make sure you shuffle the groups around
Create book collections of multicultural books
Collaborate with other teachers, librarians and parents to find culturally diverse books that can be used in these literary circles
Social studies :
There will always be a bias in the language like in how the stories of the first settlers is told.
Young people need to recognize these perspectives in order to have a balanced view of the world
How can we add diverse perspective to social studies:
Explore diversity in local communities
Teach about ancient civilization and reduce the European content and substitute civilizations of other people
Use parallel themes
Teach about human interdependence
Ex: deforestation shared responsibility, hunger in some countries is related to over consumption
Encourage students to think about how to resolve conflicts in a peaceful and more civilized manner
Democracy human rights
Celebrate lives of human rights activists around the world
Familiarize students with human rights legislations
How to initiate a complaint about sexual or racial harassment outside or in the school
Mathematics
Thought to be cultural free but it offers opportunities for cultural inclusion
History of mathematics
Geometric concepts can be used to explore cultural artefacts
Examples of calendars and number games can also be used
Immigration statistics
Demographic surveys gathering data on languages and cultures and this can be represented in the form of a graph, as an expression of ratio, as a percentage or as a fraction.
Equity which can be expressed as proportion, ratio or percentage
Students can investigate the distribution of world’s resources
Maths curriculum may be sequenced differently in other countries
Science:
How science is used in society
Acknowledge the achievements of scientists ancient and modern in many parts of the world
Look for resources that counteract the image of a scientist as a white male
Invite people of many different cultural backgrounds to come and to talk to students
Emphasize interdependence in science
Value intuition and imagination
Expand the concept of science and technology to include important but undocumented innovations
Develop social awareness in science
Art
Teach about artists from other parts of the world
Include a variety of artistic forms
Display a wide variety of students art work
Students to design posters and notices for cultural events or to promote an antiracism message
Using a variety of languages and literary styles
Use & explore arts form other cultures
Provide choices especially for students who are prohibited from participating in some activities
Music
Expose students to different kinds of music
Music is universal and include songs from other cultural traditions
Give choices to students whose values maybe in conflict with some aspects of the program
Drama
Prepare work based on multicultural literature
Link drama to themes in specific subjects in the curriculum
PE
Students to share sports, games and dance forms from their own or their parents’ countries of origin
Provide a balance of competitive and cooperative activities
Respect cultural value
In nutrition explore supplements for protein instead of meat
Learning styles
Use a variety of instructional techniques so that everyone can expand their ability to learn in different ways sometimes within their comfort zone and sometimes being stretched beyond it.
Equal amount of classroom time on whole class learning, collaborative small group learning and independent work.
Support groups and provide models,scaffold for writing activities
Write instructions and check before students start on the work
Modify the use of language
Use visual organisers such as venn diagrams,classification trees
Encourage students to reflect
Alternate between tasks that require concentration and drama or PE so that students are nitsat down for long periods of time
Use songs,chants and choral repetition
Encourage creativity
Communicate with all members of the class
Pay attention to the physical layout
Differentiated tasks give feedback