Diversity and Differentiation
in the Classroom Chapter 2
Multicultural Education
Multicultural Education
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The educational strategy in which
students’ cultural backgrounds are used
to develop effective classroom
instruction and school environments. It
is designed to support and extend the
concepts of culture, diversity, equality,
social justice, and democracy in the
formal school setting.
Gollnick and Chinn
Culturally responsive teachers develop
effective strategies to use with widely
diverse groups of students--
Exceptional students
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Children with disabilities
Gifted children
Culturally and ethnically diverse
students
Gender
Social class
Language diversity
All of us belong to many different
“microcultural” groups
Gender
Social Class
Ethnic Group
The Individual
Race
Region
Religion
Giftedness
Disability
Why is Multicultural
Awareness Important?
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By the year 2020 about half of the
United States population will come from
groups traditionally labeled minority:
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African American
Asian American
Native American
Latino or Hispanic
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While the proportion of diverse students
is increasing, the teaching force is
becoming more homogeneous. (Harper,
et al.)
By 2010, an estimated 95% of K-12
teachers will be white middle class
females.(Haberman)
Most teachers have limited experiences
working with cultures unlike their own.
(Haberman.)
Cultural and Ethnic diversity
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Theories of cultural blending
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“Melting Pot”
“Cultural Pluralism” or “Salad Bowl”
Cultural and Ethnic Diversity
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Teaching in culturally diverse settings
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“Culturally assaultive” approaches perpetuate
biases and stereotypes
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Discussion of cultures only as they existed in the past
Incorrect or stereotypical versions of how people live
Emphasis on differences rather than similarities
Token representation of the group in the classroom
“Holiday” units on minority groups
Cultural and Ethnic Diversity
Culturally responsive teaching
 Acknowledges the legitimacy of the cultural heritages
of different ethnic groups
 Builds bridges of meaningfulness between home and
school experiences
 Uses a wide variety of instructional strategies
connected to different learning styles
 Teaches students to know and praise their own and
each others’ cultural heritages
 Incorporates multicultural information, resources,
materials into all subjects
Cultural and Ethnic diversity
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Teaching in culturally diverse settings
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“Cultural connectiveness” method (infusing
multicultural education into daily learning
experiences)—suggested steps:
Know your community
Seek family support
Give equal attention to all groups
Fill your room with curriculum materials
from many cultures
Invite visitors to speak
Draw from the arts
Language Diversity
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Over 200 languages now in US
Ongoing controversy between “English only” and
bilingualism
Three main terms:
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ELL (English Language Learners) students who come to
school speaking a main language other than English
LEP (Limited English Proficient) students who are not yet
fluent enough in English to perform school tasks successfully
Bilingual – students who speak fluently in English at school
and a native language at home
Language Diversity
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Guidelines for bilingual instruction
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Environmental print
Culturally conscious literature
Literacy instruction through natural use of
reading and writing throughout the
curriculum
Language buddies
Work with the ESL teacher
Exceptionalities
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Children with disabilities
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Many similarities with non-disabled
students
Inclusion and “least restrictive
environment”
Federal Legislation PL 94-142 (Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act –IDEA)
Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
Where are we today with Students with
Disabilities? (Data from New Hanover Co.
Schools 1997)
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25% of SWD were exempt from state tests
50% of students tested for SpEd did not
qualify
10% of students had IEPs
60% of students on special route busses
missed a day of instruction per week
40 children identified with autism
50%+ of SWD were served in sub-standard
classrooms
Where are we today with Students with
Disabilities? (Data from New Hanover Co.
Schools 2006)
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100% SWD participate in state tests
90% students tested for SE qualify
14% students have IEPs
95% students on special route busses receive
full day of school
100% students receive instruction is
classrooms comparable to peers
234 children identified with autism (3rd in
state)
Some Special Education Program
Names
----New Hanover County
Intensive Academic Support
 Intensive Behavior Support
 Intensive Social/Communication Support
 Specially Designed Academics-Daily Living
 Specially Designed Academics—Functional
Academics
www.nhcs.k12.nc.us/sped/
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Exceptionalities --
Teaching children with disabilities—Guidelines
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Learn something about specific disabilities
Maximize interactions between children with
disabilities and nondisabled children
Individualize your program
Assess classroom environment
Choose books that help children learn about and
appreciate diversity
Seek assistance from EC teachers!
Exceptionalities --
Gifted Children
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Characteristics
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verbal skills
abstractions
power of concentration
intellect
behavior
Exceptionalities --
Gifted Children- suggestions
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Faster paced instruction for skills and
content based learning
More use of inquiry and independent
research
More advanced materials (higher level
reading)
Reorganization of content to explore issues
across curricular areas
Use the Multiple Intelligences approach to
reach the tremendous variety of learners!
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Verbal linguistic
Logical mathematical
Visual spatial
Naturalist
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Bodily kinesthetic
Musical
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Word Smart
Math Smart
Art Smart
Nature Smart
People Smart
Self Smart
Body Smart
Music Smart
Howard Gardner’s Theory of
Multiple Intelligences
Verbal Linguistic
Bodily Kinesthetic
Intrapersonal
Logical Mathematical
Intelligences
Interpersonal
Visual Spatial
Musical
Naturalist
Verbal Linguistic
Logical Mathematical
Musical
Naturalist
Bodily Kinesthetic
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Visual Spatial
Gardner’s model suggests that
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Every child has capacities in each of the
intelligences
Most people can develop each of the
intelligences to an adequate level of
proficiency
The eight intelligences work together in
highly complex ways
There are many ways to be intelligent in
each category
Instruction should help children develop all
eight intelligences
Gender
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General guidelines
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Avoid stereotyping masculine and feminine
roles
Use gender free language when possible
Use classroom materials which present an
honest view of males and females
Balance the contributions of men
and women in social studies
instruction
Social Class
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Strong relationship between socioeconomic status
(SES) and school performance
Some explanations for lower achievement of lower
SES groups
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Health, resources, family stress, discrimination
Low expectations/low self-esteem
Learned helplessness
Resistance cultures
Tracking
Groups to think about: Homeless, migrants, children
in poverty
The majority of children in the
South’s schools (54%) are POOR!
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49% of children in NC are low income
This is a great challenge because low
income students as a group begin
school less ready, are the most likely to
drop out, perform at the lowest levels
on tests, and have the least access to
college.
Social Class
What can be done? One suggestion:
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Eliminate tracking/ability grouping
(Students should be grouped according to
the specific skills they need, and when
instruction is completed, the group should
be disbanded.)
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Group children in various way, and
change the groups often.
Social Class – Key Points from
A Framework for Understanding
Poverty by Ruby Payne
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Schools and businesses operate from middle class
norms and use the hidden rules of the middle
class.
For students to be successful, we must
understand their hidden rules and teach them the
rules that will make them successful at school
and at work.
We can neither excuse students nor scold them
for not knowing; as educators we must teach
them and provide support, insistence, and
expectations.
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An interview with Ruby Payne-What are some common misperceptions educators may
have about children who come from a low-income
background, especially if they are not accustomed to
teaching low-income children?
Payne: That the students from poverty are not intelligent
and that students engage in behaviors that make no
sense. To survive in poverty, you must be very nonverbal, reactive, and sensory-based. To survive in school
and work, you must be very verbal, very abstract, and
very proactive (you must plan.) Abstract means that you
can live in a representational world. For example, when a
check is written, the understanding is that it represents
money that is in the bank as opposed to cash, which is
actual money.
Interview with Ruby Payne--
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What are some strategies teachers can employ to help make
lessons more relevant and understandable for children of all
social classes?
Payne: We recommend these interventions:
Build relationships of mutual respect with students.
Use direct teach processes. This means that you are very
specific in the steps and procedures needed to do something.
For example, a recipe has amounts of ingredients but will also
tell the steps or order that must be followed to make the item.
And in school, often the processes are not identified or written
down so they can be consistently followed.
Use mental models. Mental models help translate between the
sensory and the abstract worlds. Just as a blueprint translates
between the conversation about a house and the actual
finished house in the three dimensions, so a mental model
translates between abstract constructs and the sensory world.
Teach that there are two sets of rules -- one for school and
work, one for outside of school and work.
Eight home-based factors correlated with
student achievement and eight that don’t
matter
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(data from late 1990s US Dept of Education Early
Childhood Longitudinal Study to measure the
academic progress of more than 20000 children from
grades K-5—subjects chosen from across the country
to represent an accurate cross section of American
school children.)
The child has highly educated parents.
The child’s family is intact.
The child’s parents have high socioeconomic
status.
The child’s parents recently moved into a
better neighborhood.
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The child’s mother was thirty or older at the time
of her first child’s birth.
The child’s mother didn’t work between birth and
kindergarten.
The child had low birth weight.
The child attended Head Start.
The child’s parents speak English in the home.
The child’s parents regularly take him to
museums.
The child is adopted.
The child is regularly spanked.
The child’s parents are involved in the PTA.
The child frequently watches television.
The child has many books in his home.
The child’s parents read to him nearly every day.
Importance of “connectedness”
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“Good teachers possess a capacity for
connectedness. They are able to weave a
complex web of connectedness among
themselves, their subjects, and their students
so that students can learn to weave a world
for themselves. The methods used by these
weavers vary widely: lectures, Socratic
dialogues, laboratory experiments,
collaborative problem solving, creative chaos.
The connections made by good teachers are
held not in their methods but in their hearts—
meaning heart in its ancient sense, as the
place where intellect and emotion and spirit
and will converge in the human self.”
From The Courage To Teach by
Parker J. Palmer