Curricular Map (current, March 08, 2014)
Open Curriculum: Curricular map for EDUC258.14S-80 “Cultural Diversity, Schooling
and Teaching”
Started: January 31, 2014; Last edited: March 08, 2014
Note: crossed -- accomplished topics, purple -- current topic.
1. Orientation to the class curriculum: Motivational diversity
Why are you taking this class? Would you take if it were not required? Do the two groups of
willing vs. unwilling students create two different cultures for teaching? Do these two groups
require different teaching or not and why? As a future teacher, given a choice which group
would you teach and why? What are issues of cultural diversity for education and why are they
important for educators? Do we have cultural diversity in our class and if so, what consequences
may it have for our education and my teaching? Why do we have teaching practicum and what it
will take?
2. Orientation to the class web and class regime
What is our pedagogical design of the class and why is it like that? What is a professional
community of learners, why may it important for education? What a safe learning environment,
and why may it important for education? What is Dialogic Pedagogy, and why may it important
for education? What Open Curriculum is, and why may it important for education? What is the
purpose of education, how do we see it for our class?
3. Cultural mismatch
What is a cultural mismatch between the teacher’s and students’ cultural expectations and
behavior? Have you experienced ones? What can educational problems result from a cultural
mismatch? Is it possible to prevent cultural mismatches or not and why? How can a teacher
recognize a cultural mismatch (and not intentional violation of cultural norms and expectations)?
Facing a cultural mismatch, what should the teacher do: a) make the student learn and use only
the cultural pattern of expectation and behavior dominant in the mainstream culture that the
teacher belongs to, b) learn the student’s cultural pattern of expectations and behavior for
providing better guidance and comfort to the student, or c) something else (what is it and why)?
What would you do, as a teacher, when face a cultural mismatch?
4. Comfort-vs-diversity: Culturally appropriate software games (Oregon Trail)
Does sameness and familiarity provide comfort to the students? Does diversity and unfamiliarity
provide challenge? Should teachers provide comfort to their students or challenge them? Is
diversity blessing or curse? What are culturally sensitive and educationally valuable computer
games?
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5. "White History of America" pioneers and Native Americans
Oregon Trail game: educational masterpiece or culturally biased game? What was role of
women, Native Americans, children, Black slaves, and poor White men in the US history if at
all? Is it “Political Correctness”, distorting the historical unpleasant truth/fact of mostly White
men making history, or a real issue? What is "White History of America" (WH)? What can
negative consequences of WH be and why? What does it come from? How to avoid WH in
teaching?
6. Hidden curriculum of media and education
Do they see cultural biases in Disney? Do they think cultural biases in media should be a concern
of Educators? If so, what do they think educators should teach about this issue? And how do they
think educators should teach about this issue? What alternate interpretations do they have of
lessons learned from Disney movies? Do students think the imaging in the movies shape the way
children make sense of the world around them? Do they see that different people may make
different meanings out of the same thing (movie, music, reading, event, etc.)? What do they think
about this in terms of education? How does it affect what they think about teaching and
learning?
7. Educational inequalities in achievement gaps;
What ed inequalities do you expect to find in Delaware Ed Statistics? What are possible reasons
of educational inequalities? What are consequences of each reason? How can these reasons be
addressed in our teaching? Is it useful or not to reveal and learn about achievement gaps? Can
they promote negative stereotypes about some social groups? How can we address that? What is
"educational equality"? What are different ways of defining it? How would educational equality
look like? Is No child left behind an example of good educational equality goal? When the No
Child Left Behind promise is really achieved how would test scores look like?
8. Test cultural biases
How do you feel about Standardized Achievement Tests (SAT) as a student and a future teacher?
What are your personal experiences with the SAT? What do you see as the purpose of the SAT?
What are PROs and CONs of SATs? What do you think the difference between standardized
aptitude tests and standardized achievement tests? Do you think that the SATs are or can be
culturally fair? Do you see cultural biases? If so, what kind? Do you see how one may be
coached to "crack the code" of the test? Can tests be culturally neutral? Are SATs necessary?
What are cultural values behind using SATs? Can learning be measured or not? What are diverse
approaches to preparing students to SAT? What would you do as a future teacher facing with
SAT requirements?
9. Deficit model and strength model in education
When do you learn better as a student: when your teacher focuses on your mistakes (i.e., “the
deficit model”) or when the teacher focuses on expanding your strengths (i.e., “the strength
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model”) and why? Is diagnosing students’ deficits of their skills and knowledge helpful or not
for teaching and why? Is revealing students’ strengths helpful or not for teaching and why? Do
you think some social groups have cultural deficiencies? If so, what are they and why do you
think so? If not, why not? What would be your teaching model and why?
10. Students’ funds of knowledge
Should students’ interests, strengths, inquiries, life needs, and aspirations be invited in school
and lessons? Why? Why not? If so, how? Should teaching be organized around the students’
interests, strengths, inquiries, life needs, and aspirations? Why? Why not? What are PROs and
CONs of that? How can a teacher learn about the students’ local communities and students’
interests, strengths, inquiries, life needs, and aspirations? Is it important or not and if so, for
what? Would you organize your future lessons around your students’ interests, strengths,
inquiries, life needs, and aspirations? Why? Why not? If so, how would you do that?
11. Discrimination, stereotypes, and prejudices
When are discrimination, stereotypes, and prejudices appropriate? Are they always bad? Can
they be good and useful sometimes, why? When are they bad and why? Social profiling. Public
versus private discrimination. Do institutional racism and sexism exist right now?
12. Girls in science (Brickhouse’s article)
What kinds of girls like science? Are you interested in science? Why? Why not? Four minority
girls good in science: Which ones would go to college? Which ones would become scientists?
Does school help or hinders? What can we do to help (minority) girls in science? What would
your ideal student be in your future teaching and why: a) one who is mostly obedient and
compliant with all your demands, b) one who is really and seriously interested in the subject
matter and who may challenge you with questions that you do not know the answers, c) one who
knows how to play “school game” well, d) one who is really interested in subject learning and
demand good teaching from you, or e) something else (what is it and why)? How would you
support learning in these diverse students?
13. Gender sensitive instruction for boys
What are differences in behaviors of boys vs. girls in stressful situations? Do boys and girls have
distinguished ways of behaving and relating? Is it stereotyping? What are problems for boys in
the modern society? Should teachers treat boys like girls? How can female teachers treat boys in
gender sensitive ways?
14. Sex education
Do you feel it necessary to teach sex ed in public schools and why or why not? What do they
think we should and should not teach about (i.e., sex ed curriculum) and why? How is it possible
to teach it (i.e., sex ed instruction)? How do they plan to address sex ed it? How do they plan to
deal with people (parents, administrators, students) who disagree with your sex ed approach?
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What is most effective sex education (effective for what and for whom?)? What issues of sex ed
do you see?
15. Anti-homophobia education
Should gay issues be taught in public school? Why? Why not? Is struggle for gay rights different
or similar to struggle for African-American or women’s rights? Do teachers have responsibilities
for preventing and curving homophobia violence or not and why? If so, what should and should
not public schools teach about gay issues (i.e. curriculum) and why? How can teachers teach
about gay issues in public schools? How should we, teachers, handle societal disagreements? Is
education about instilling good values in our students or about promoting students’ critical
thinking so they can make their own (good or bad) educated decisions on their own? Should we,
teachers, be tolerant to intolerance? Why? Why not?
16. Standard English controversy: Students’ success in the mainstream society vs. loyalty to a
home local community
What is the Standard English? What makes some way of speaking standard? Do all national
language have standards? Was it always like that in the history? Why and how a national
language standardized? What are consequences of having or not having standard language for
students and their education? What should a teaching goal be with regard the Standard English
and why: a) to teach the Standard English only and correct our minority students, b) to teach the
Standard English only but not correct our minority students, c) to teach diverse ways of English
speaking, d) something else (what is it?) What are PROs and CONs of each teaching approach?
What would you do in your future classroom and why?
17. Foul language I: What are functions of FL
Should we, teachers, suppress children's cursing or educate them about foul language? What can
short-term vs. long-term teaching goals with regard to children’s foul language? What is a
diversity of possible curricula on cursing? What do people curse: Diverse values, community
attitudes, and social functions of cursing? Are women and middle-class people biased against
FL? If so, why?
18. Foul language II: Simulated activity
What are diverse roles of the teacher? How can we, teachers, prioritize them? When should we,
teachers, be a police(wo)man? When should we be educators? When students curse, should we
be a police(wo)man or an educator? What are PROs and CONs of these roles? What are diverse
possible instructions of cursing?
19. Foul language III: Diverse curricular approaches to FL
What is a variety of possible educational approaches to FL? What is possible to teach about FL?
What is your educational approach to FL and why? How are you going to teach it?
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20. Bilingualism versus English only controversy in education
What do you think should be a goal of language education for non-native English speaking
students in the US: learning English only or supporting both their native language and English?
Why? What is the most effective? Effective for what? If you go to Russia for 3-year study
abroad, would you prefer to be taught in Russian only (the language of the land), English only
(your own language), or both? Why? How is this imaginary situation similar or different from
immigrant students in the US? What are different available language instructions for non-native
English speaking students? What are main goals of each other them? What are PROs and CONs
each of them? Which is better? Better for what?
21. Undocumented immigrants and immigration
What is your position on this political controversy: should illegal/undocumented immigrants in
the US get amnesty and citizenship with time OR should they be caught and send back to their
native country? Why? What would you, as a teacher, if you learn that one of your student is an
illegal/undocumented immigrant and if a State/Federal law requires the teacher reporting to the
authority about that? Why? What are our professional teaching versus citizenship obligations,
when they are in conflict? Why?
22. Cultural ways of talking and writing
Do people from different cultures using the same language organize their oral speech and writing
differently or not? Is what people using the same language view as “good oral speech” and “good
writing” the same in different cultures or not? Is “good” universal or cultural when we talk about
quality of speaking and writing? Why may people in different cultures value differently what
good speech and writing is? Should we, teachers, value and support only the socially dominant
way of talking and writing or culturally diverse ways of talking and writing? Why? Can we harm
by any of these approaches? What is your approach and why? If you choose the latter, how can
you, as a teacher, recognize and support culturally diverse ways of speaking and writing in your
students that may be unknown and alien to you?
23. Psychology of poverty and education
Should we teach about poverty in the US or not? Why? Why not? What if we have students from
poor family – should we discuss that in our class or not? Why? Why not? What are issues and
concerns here for us, teachers? Do people under chronic stress of scarcity make decisions
differently or similarly to people who do not have that stress? If so, how and why? Is such thing
as “culture of poverty”? If so, what does it mean? Is poverty only a curse or can it be also a
blessing? When and why? How can we understand and teach well students living in poverty?
24. Working class, middle class, and upper class in US and education
Do people of different socio-economic classes: working class, middle class, and upper class have
different life and educational values or not? If so, what are examples of that and why do you
think it may happen? What are cultural values of working class, middle class, and upper class in
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life and education? Are they stereotypes? Can these patterns be valid and useful or dangerous for
us, teachers? How and why? How can teachers make a culturally sensitive guidance for students
with diverse class values and aspirations? What would you do facing students from diverse
socio-economic classes and why?
25. Personal and social privileges and disadvantages in life and education
Are your personal and social privileges and disadvantages in life and education? How can you
and B&GC kids may benefit or disadvantaged because of your and their race, socio-economic
class, gender, age, ethnicity, ability-disability, citizenship-immigrant status, network of relatives
and friends? What are consequences of these privileges and disadvantages in education? Should
ideally all people be the same without advantages and disadvantages? Is it fair? Is it good? Is it
possible? What should we, teachers, do with our own and our future students’ privileges and
disadvantages, if anything, and why and how?
26. Religious diversity in education
What are issues of religious diversity in public education? Have you ever experienced or
observed any issues of religious diversity in public education? If so, what were they and how
were they addressed by the teachers? Do you like or dislike these approaches and why? What are
teaching approaches to religious diversity? What are challenges and resources for that? Can a
teacher in a public school teach about religions? Why? How? What would you do? How may
your religiosity (or its absence) affect your teaching with religiously diverse students? What,
where, and whom should we, teachers, look for guidance?
27. School diversity in education – unequal funding, magnet schools, charter schools, secular
private schools, religious private schools, rural schools, urban schools, suburban schools,
homeschooling, all-girls/boys schools, school choice vouchers; educational philosophy diversity
What are sources of funding for public schools? Should all schools’ funding be equal? Why, why
not? What are PROs and CONs? Should all schools be the same in the US? Why, why not? What
are PROs and CONs? Is it feasible? Should private schools be supported by public money? Why,
why not? What are PROs and CONs? What diverse schools have you experienced and what is
your judgment of them and why? What are diverse types of diverse schooling do you know, what
is your judgment of them and why? What type of school is difficult for you to visualize? Which
type of schools would you like to attend as a student and why? In which type of schools would
you like to work as a teacher and why? Which type of schools would you like your own children
attend and why?
28. Race issues in education I (problems): Doll experiment
Have we transcended the race in the society and education? Do you think we already live in postrace society according to Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream? Is race a biological concept or a
culturally-historical phenomenon or both or neither? Do you see currently serious issues of race
relations in education or not and if so, why, if not, why not? What current issues of race
relations in education do you see? What consequences of these issues do see for the students? Do
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you think that the “Doll experiment” made in the 1950s – very young Black kids preferring
White dolls because White dolls were nice and more beautiful than Black dolls behind us? Why?
Why not? If not, what why is that and what should we, teachers do about that?
29. Race issues in education II (problems): Acting White
Are you familiar with “Acting White” phenomenon among Black or Native American students?
What is it about? Why is that? What consequences does it have for education? In what ways it is
similar or different to “Acting Black” or “Acting Nerdy” phenomena? What are current
explanations for the “Acting White” phenomenon? How are you going to address it in your
classroom as a teacher?
30. Race issues in education III: Possible solutions
What are possible approaches to current most serious race issues in education? When we teach
culturally other people’s children, should we: a) treat all students the same and avoid noticing
and mentioning any difference (i.e., being colorblind), b) promote and celebrate diversity by
focusing on strengths and interesting features of each culture, and c) promote comfort for each
cultural group by allowing them voluntary segregate from the rest (e.g., all-girls schools,
vocational schools)? What are PROs and CONs of each approach? Any other approaches? Do
you like Jean Eliot’s “Class divided” approach (i.e., “blue eyes vs. brown eyes” simulated
discrimination reflective learning activity) confronting race issues? Why? Why not? What will
your teaching approach be and why?
31. Discussion of the Main Learning Project I
What are the purposes of a Main Learning Project? Who may need it and why? A problem of
useless and meaningless Main Learning Project: how can we address it? What is formative
assessment and its goal? What is summative assessment and its goal? When are they good and
when they aren’t and why? Which of them good and/or bad for education and why? How can we
make the EDUC258 Main Learning Project the most meaningful and useful for your education
and professional development? What options of this can be? What kind of Main Learning
Projects previous EDUC258 students did? Are they good or bad in your views and why?
32. Discussion of the Main Learning Project II workshop
What are your ideas and themes for your EDUC258 Main Learning Project? Why is good? What
help do you need? Are you gotten stuck with selecting your topic? Can we help you?
33. Social activism Environmental education (Enviromapper)
Should teachers engage their students in social activism and social justice for making society
better or not? Is betterment of the society a legitimate and necessary goal of education or should
it be a private business of our students? Why? Why not? Should we promote good values in our
students or should we inform them about issues and PROs and CONs to let them decide by
themselves? What will your teaching approach be and why? Why do you think many poor
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people live in environmentally polluted places? Should we inform our students from poor
families (and the Center’s kids in our practicum) about that or not? Why?
34. “Preschool in three cultures” video in the 1980s: Japan, China, and US
Do you see teaching as: a cultural practice, which depends on diverse cultural values, vs. a
universal “normal” practice, which is effective or ineffective, regardless cultural values? What
have you noticed interesting aspects of teaching in Japan, China and US in the mid-1980s? What
do like and dislike in each cultures and why? What questions do you have about these teaching?
What would you like to borrow from Japanese, Chines, and US teaching circa mid-1980s in your
own teaching, if anything, and why? Do you think cultural practices can be borrowed or not,
why, why not? Does such thing as “Asian culture” exist, in your view, or not? Why? Why not?
35. Unpacking P3C: US use of knives, Chinese toilet, Japanese discipline
How young can children be to be allowed safely using real sharp knives? Is it cultural or
universal issue? When were you allowed using sharp knives? Your parents? Your grandparents?
When would you allow your future children using safely real sharp knives and why? Is a Chinese
toilet practice safe, private, hygienic or not in your view and why? What are PROs and CONs in
it? Does it based on cultural values and if so, which ones, or is it a universal issue? Do you like
or dislike a Japanese way of dealing with the discipline? Why? Why not? What are educational
and non-educational goals of the discipline in school? Is school discipline a cultural or universal
issue? If cultural, what kind of values can be behind a Japanese approach to discipline vs.
Chinese vs. US? Which values do you like or dislike more and why? Have you changed you
mind about US use of knives in preschool in the 1980s, a Chinese toilet practice, and Japanese
discipline or not? Why? Why not?
36. “Revisiting preschool in three cultures” video in the 2000s: Japan, China, and US
Have you noticed any differences in teaching practices in these countries between the mid-1980s
and mid-2000s? If so, what are they? What do you like and dislike in these teaching practices
and why? Why do you think teaching changes with time? Is it a cultural or universal process of
the change? Why do you think so? Do you think teaching practice in past in the US that your
parents and grandparents experienced was different or similar to its now as you have been
experiencing it? Why is it different? What changes in teaching practice in the US do you expect
in the future? Why? Do you expect any changes in the teaching values or not? Why? Why not?
37. Schooling around the world: Asian teachers' polished lessons (“Polished stones” video)
What do you like and dislike about teaching math in Taiwan and Japan and why? What would
you like to “steal” from them for your teaching and why? What would you “stay away” of their
teaching practices and why? Why do you think many Taiwanese and Japanese educators promote
in their students a diversity of solving problems while many US teachers focus primarily on
correct answers? What do you think different cultural values may be behind of these preferences
and why? Why do you think many Japanese teachers value students’ mistake making while many
US teachers disvalue students’ mistakes making? What do you think different cultural values
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may be behind of these preferences and why? What would you prefer in future teaching and
why?
38. Culture and teaching (Case 1, the teacher visiting minority students' home)
Should teacher visit minority students’ homes? What for? Would you? Why? Why not? What are
issues? Should a teacher communicate to a minority student’s parents about the future
educational possibilities for a minority student that the parents may not see? Why? Why not?
What are possible problematic issues there? What should a teacher do, if anything, when the
teacher disagrees with a student’s parents’ vision of the future for the student? What do you think
and do? Why? What about the student’s will? Should it be respected (especially for young
students)? What should a teacher do when the teacher and a student’s parents have different
cultural values? Why can some cultures value teenage pregnancy and childbirth while others
don’t?
39. Culturally Relevant Pedagogies
Should school learning be meaningful, relevant, and useful for the students? Why? Why not? Is
it realistic for each student and each lesson? How can teacher make their teaching culturally
relevant? Do we have examples? What it takes? How can teachers achieve it? Is it good or not to
change the curriculum to make teaching culturally relevant for the students? Why? Why not?
What issues do you see here? What would you do in your future teaching and why?
40. Theories of multiculturalism in education
What are diverse teaching approaches to multicultural education? What is a “conservative” (C)
approach? What is “radical” (R) approach? What is “progressive” (P) approach? What does each
of them value and disvalue and why? Who of famous people/educators represent of them? How
would each of them teach math, for example? What would each of them focus in their teaching
and why? What are PROs and CONs of each approach? What is your formula (i.e., aC+bR+cR)
of multicultural teaching approach as a student and why? What is your formula of multicultural
teaching approach as a future teacher and why? Are these formulas different and if so, why?
What do you think the EDUC258 instructor’s formula of multicultural teaching approach and
why? What do you think our EDUC258 class’ formula of multicultural teaching approach and
why? Why do you think your classmates may disagree about Eugene’s and our EDUC258 class’
formula with you and each other?
41. Students' diverse interests
How can a teacher address diversity of students’ interests (choice of clothes, music, hobbies)” in
his/her teaching?
42. Teacher-students diverse possible relations (e.g., like, dislike, disagreement with students'
interests
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What to do if a teacher cannot relate at all to or even disagrees with a student’s interests? Or
does this not matter because teachers should not get too involved with students’ personal/ social
lives?
43. What should teachers do with cliques
What are possible positive and negative consequences of cliques in school? How can teachers
response to cliques? What are different approaches? What approach do you like? What should a
teacher-educator teach about cliques, how, and why?
44. Diversity of educational philosophies in the US
What are "adult-run", "children-run", "constructivist", "transmission of knowledge", and
"collaborative" educational philosophies? What are the best educational practices – best for what
educational values best for whom? What is your educational philosophy as a future teacher?
How do you define learning? What kind of learning do you value and what you don’t and why?
What are major educational philosophies available in the US? What is educational philosophy of
our class?
45. "How do teachers deal with making sure everything they say is not offensive to every
student?" By Sam A.
46. "Where does being politically correct become a problem?" By Jess
47. "What steps can teachers make to help immigrant children adjust to an American classroom
while feeling included and valued? How can teachers meet the need of their students when
schools don’t have the recourses they need?" By Annie
48. "Discuss which countries like America or don’t like America. Why?" By Laura
49. "Language barriers in classroom" By Morgan
50. Discuss the pedagogical regime such as grading policy, class commitments, class policy
(What would happen if you violate class commitments?) By Rebecca, Lisa, Morgan, and Jessica
51. Bullying By Annie
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