WESTERN NEW MEXICO UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
Spring 2012
BLED 414/514
Multicultural Education
EDL 525
Education in a Pluralistic Society
Online
Professor of Record: Alexandra Neves, PhD
Office Hours: Mondays 1:00-3:30 and Tuesdays 9:30-12:00
Communication: : ext 6332
Office: SOE 208
: nevesa@wnnmu.edu
Vision Statement
Ignite and Nurture a spirit of learning for both educator and student.
Philosophy Statements
1.
Educators recognize, accept, value, and promote diverse ideas, languages, and cultures.
o Students will have the opportunity to explore other cultures via
readings and research topics.
2.
Educators stress quality programs aligned with professional and state standards that
produce exemplary results.
3.
Educators integrate theoretical knowledge into the world of practice through fieldbased experiences and reflection.
o All activities have practical value and can be used immediately with
students in school. Reflection pieces allow students to think about
practical applications within academic and professional settings.
4.
Educators possess the skills and knowledge to effectively collaborate with parents,
professionals—both within and across schools and agencies—and other community
stakeholders.
o Please see number 3
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5.
Educators advocate for equitable access and model thoughtful, effective, integrated
use of technology resources.
o Please see number 1.
WNMU School of Education Conceptual Framework:
The knowledge base for all professional education programs at Western New Mexico
University is organized around two categories. All School of Education programs:
maximize opportunities for student thinking and achievement and facilitate active,
participatory decision-making. These programs prepare educators to meet the needs of
diverse learners by requiring candidates to effectively demonstrate the application of
pedagogical knowledge, the use of appropriate assessment strategies, and the ability to
reflect on practice in order to improve their professional performance.
[We] are not simply bearers of cultures, languages, and histories, with a duty to
reproduce them. We are the products of linguistic-cultural circumstances, actors with a
capacity to resynthesize what we have been socialized into and to solve new and
emerging problems of existence. We are not duty-bound to conserve ancestral
characteristics which are not structurally useful. We are both socially determined and
creators of human futures.
-- Mary Kalantzis, Bill Cope, and Diana Slade, Minority Languages
Important Note: This syllabus is a proposal open to changes in order to make the
course content and experiences relevant to participants’ interests, talents and needs.
It will be adapted and changed as needed to respond to the dynamics of interaction
generated in the group. Changes may be negotiated as they arise.
New Mexico Competencies and Indicators Addressed:
EDL 525 - Education in a Pluralistic Society:
The multicultural leader promotes the success of all students by addressing the needs of
multicultural, multilingual diverse populations.
(1) Ensures that programs for linguistically and culturally diverse students are
implemented and fully integrated into all district curricula and programs.
(2) Disaggregates and analyzes student achievement data by home languages,
race/ethnicity, gender and disability in order to ensure all students are learning.
(3) Understands and facilitates that the cultural and community needs and concerns are
adequately identified and integrated into the educational process.
(4) Reviews the assessment process through collaborative efforts between school and
community to ensure sensitivity to local cultural values and norms.
(5) Facilitates the development of curriculum that values and uses the experiences that
students from diverse backgrounds bring to the classroom.
(6) Understands the need for administrators, teachers and all support staff to become
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familiar with the cultural and socio- linguistic background as well as the learning and
behavior needs of their students.
BLED 414/514 Multicultural Education:
7. The teacher recognizes student diversity and creates an atmosphere conducive to
the promotion of positive student involvement and self-concept.
A. Demonstrates sensitivity and responsiveness to the personal ideas, learning needs, interests, and feelings of students
with disabilities and/or from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (e.g., Native Americans, Hispanic Americans,
African Americans, Asian Americans, as well as other recent immigrant groups).
B. Acknowledges student performance and achievement.
C. Acknowledges that every student can learn.
D. Provides opportunities for each student to succeed and understands how students differ in their approaches to learning
based on diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds and exceptionalities.
E. Demonstrates an awareness and respect for each student's background
8. The teacher demonstrates a willingness to examine and implement change, as
appropriate.
A. Seeks out information on methodology, research and current trends in education to enhance and improve the quality of
learning.
B. Recognizes that change entails risk and modifications may be needed.
Texts:
Nieto, S. & Bode, P. (2008). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of
multicultural education (5th Ed.). New York: Longman
Freire, P (2005). Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare Teach.
Bolder, CO: Westview Press.
Description of course:
This is an education foundations course for Teacher Education, Bilingual Education and
English as a Second Language Education students. Students will participate in
multicultural classroom practices that are; grounded in the lives of students, critical, antiracist, pro-justice, participatory, experiential, visionary, academically rigorous, and
culturally sensitive.
Course Goals
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Multicultural education aims to eliminate prejudice, racism and all forms of oppression.
To do this, "it is imperative that multicultural educators give voice and substance to
struggles against oppression and develop the vision and the power of our future citizens
to forge a more just society" (Sleeter, 1991, p. 22).
This course will create a space for each of you to grow and develop as a teacher by
participating in the discourse of multicultural education. You will be asked to locate
yourselves within this context and dis/uncover your beliefs with respect to culture and
education along with implications for equity and social justice in our classrooms. The
assigned readings, community experience and class activities are thus intended to
facilitate the identification of these beliefs that ultimately impact your perspective
regarding teaching and learning in diverse settings. As you come to know more about
who you are and what beliefs and assumptions guide your decisions, you may work to
know and understand yourself and your students.
General class information
Course Expectations and WNMU Policies for Students:
A tentative list of topics to be discussed is attached. The professor reserves the right to
adjust schedules and change topics in order to meet students’ needs.
Assignments must be completed on time. The professor reserves the right to deduct
points for late assignments.
Attendance:
Attendance in an online class is evaluated by your attendance to the material. You will
get out of the course what you put into the course. You will need to be a “self-starter”,
and control your own calendar in order to meet the deadlines for the course.
Informed Consent:
Some individuals may choose to disclose personal information during class. Therefore, it
is important that all classmates agree not to discuss or write about what others have
discussed in class.
Professionalism:
Students are learning professional skills and are expected to engage in classroom
discussions, complete reading assignments and turn in assignments in a timely fashion as
befitting professional behavior. Maintain a professional and collegial demeanor in all
interactions with field personnel, classmates and professor. (Even when readings and/or
discussions involve controversial or sensitive issues.)
Scholarly Writing:
Use clear college level writing with correct spelling and grammar for all assignments. If
you need help in writing, check with the WNMU Online Writing Center.
Special Needs:
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Students with disabilities in need of accommodation should register with the Special
Needs Office (JUANCB 210, Ext. 6498) at the beginning of the semester. With student
permission, that office will notify instructors of any special equipment or services a
student requires. WNMU is committed to making every reasonable modification to assist
any student with a disability that is documented through the WNMU Special Needs
Office to meet the requirements expected of all students enrolled in this course. If you
require modifications, please inform the instructor of this course by the second week.
Integrated Use of Technology:
Because this is an online course, I am making the assumption that you are comfortable
utilizing a computer, and navigating various software programs like Blackboard,
Microsoft Word, Powerpoint. If you have any questions about computer requirements see
the “Student Resoures” course in Blackboard
Need Help?
1. Post a question to the Discussion Board. There is no such thing as a dumb question.
2. Post a question as a Blackboard email to your instructor.
3. If the Blackboard system goes down or you have other technical questions, contact the
WNMU Help Desk: helpdesk@wnmu.edu or (505) 574-4357.
Communication Policy Statement regarding official email:
WNMU’s policy requires that all official communication be sent via Mustang Express.
As a result, all emails related to your enrollment at WNMU and class communication –
including changes in assignments and grades – will be sent to your wnmu.edu email
address. It is very important that you access your Mustang Express e-mail periodically to
check for correspondence from the University. If you receive most of your email at a
different address you can forward your messages from Mustang Express to your other
address.
Example: Martin Classmember was assigned a WNMU email address of
classmemberm12@wnmu.edu but Martin would rather receive his emails at his home
email address of martinclass@yahoo.com.
Martin would follow the direction provided at:
http://www.wnmu.edu/campusdocs/direction%20for%20forwarding%20email.htm
WNMU Policy on Email Passwords:
WNMU requires that passwords for access to all of the protected software, programs, and
applications will be robust, including complexity in the number of characters required,
the combination of characters required, and the frequency in which passwords are
required to be changed. Minimum complexity shall include:
• Passwords shall contain at least six (6) characters.
• Passwords shall contain at least one capital (upper case) letter, and at least one symbol
(numbers and characters such as @ # $ % & *).
• Passwords shall be changed at least every 90 days. (8/6/08)
Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures:
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Each student shall observe standards of honesty and integrity in academic work as
defined in the WNMU catalog. Violations of academic integrity include “any behavior
that misrepresents or falsifies a student’s knowledge, skills or ability with the goal of
unjustified or illegitimate evaluation or gain” (WNMU Faculty Handbook, 2008).
Generally violations of the academic integrity include cheating and plagiarism. Cheating
includes, but is not limited to, using or attempting to use unauthorized materials such as
notes, texts, images, electronic devices, and unauthorized copies of test materials.
Cheating is also understood to mean unauthorized collaboration with others to
misrepresent the student’s knowledge, skills or ability. Plagiarism includes, but is not
limited to, the intentional or unintentional representation of another’s work as one’s own
without proper acknowledgement of the original author or creator of the work, failure to
quote and/or cite sources, providing or receiving unauthorized assistance in the
preparation of any academic work, the fabrication of sources or information, or
submitting the same work for more than one course/instructor without the permission of
the current course instructor. Infractions will result in a hearing conducted by the
Academic Integrity Panel at which both the student and the faculty member will present
their respective cases. (See WNMU 2008 catalog p.370).
Caveats:
The schedule and procedures in this course are subject to change in the event of
extenuating circumstances.
Description of assignments:
Online Team Discussions/Readings – 30 Points-for BLED 414, 25 points for BLED
514 and EDL 525 Please review the discussions schedule so that you may begin
participating in a timely manner to allow classmates to interact. Before you start on your
team discussion, answer the Problem Posing Questions from each chapter and send me
your score by e-mail. You will find a link to the companion website in each of
the UNITS.
Do not wait until near the closing date as this will prevent meaningful dialogue. The
discussions are spread out so that you may do the readings and still have time to
participate. You must stay in tune with the student threaded discussions by ensuring that
you have read the material so that you may have meaningful dialogue, input and critique.
Respect must be shown at all times. It is possible to disagree with someone, but there is a
way that this can be done without attacking the person. Keep in mind that using “I” rather
than “you” can be helpful in maintaining a professional and scholarly dialogue. Keep
your commentary close to the issues you are reading about and stay away from
pontificating or moving into very general arenas. Focus on specific issues and ideas that
are presented and support your online discussions with author references. You will be
scored according to the following: 1. Addressing the question posted. 2. Providing
textbook citation (reference with page number). 3. Interaction with two other students on
the topic at least once.
I will respond to the unit the day after the deadline.
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Presentation/Facilitation on a Letter from Freire’s Book – 10 Points You will be
assigned one letter from the text Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who
Dare Teach and will need to prepare a presentation. Feel free to plan a presentation that
will help us engage and share our growing knowledge around issues related to
multicultural education. You can work on this project in pairs. I will assign pairs later.
You will prepare a powerpoint presentation and post it under discussion. Each student
will have to respond to the question posed for that week.
Your presentations should focus on the following:
• Present a brief summary of the letter
• Describe what you find interesting or compelling about the letter
• Tell us what you find disturbing or what to question about the letter
• Share with the class if you would like to incorporate the idea discussed in the letter in
your classroom and why
• Pose a question to class related to the main message of the letter on the last slide.
Community Service Learning – 10 Points: This course component includes 10 hours of
community service in an assigned community location. During the first weeks of class,
identify a community agency where you can spend 15 hours doing volunteer work. You
must submit a “proposal” with the information below to get approval prior to beginning
your community service. It must be a place that provides support for underserved people
of your community (e.g., food kitchen, disaster relief services, battered women center,
prison family services, community health center, Women’s Intercultural Center…). I can
provide agencies in the Silver City area as well as help you find one in your community,
but do not wait to let me know if you cannot find a location. Identify yourself and ask
what requirements (e.g., fingerprinting) you must meet in order to visit the location on a
regular basis. Identify an official “supervisor” who can vouch for your attendance and
submit his/her name along with phone and email contact information. Be sure to describe
the agency and the supervisor and submit your “proposal” as a Word document
containing information on exactly what you will be doing at the place you chose, who
will be supervising and signing your logs and what services the place provides. (You may
send me inquiries about your selection via email prior to the proposal if you need my
feedback).
Keep a log (template provided in the assignment box) of the days and times of your visits
as well as notes that will assist you with your final paper. Begin documentation with your
first visit. In your notebook, create a thick description of the physical location where you
will do your community participation. After each visit, reflect on and describe the
underlying multicultural issues that were present (e.g., age, sexual orientation, gender,
race, ethnicity, class etc.). Describe what you see as well as what you do during each
visit. You must visit the location no less than 5 times and must begin early in the
semester.
The grade for this category will be determined by the 15 hours of service, the service
learning proposal (Word document- 6 Points) and the log sheet submission (4 points).
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Reflective Activities – 20 Points (10 each): The Multicultural Self and Prevailing
Privileges activities. Guidelines are provided for these activities as well as the rubrics in
the assignment box. Please check both files so you know what is expected of the
activities. For the Prevailing Privileges assignment, WNMU and Morehead State
University (MSU) have paired up to provide students from both schools with an
opportunity to discuss this assignment. WNMU and MSU students will be using a
collaborative Blackboard site developed by MSU. A link is provided on your class
schedule. This assignment will have 3 parts to it: Prevailing Privilege paper, discussion
on the assignment and a final reflection on the process of participating in this project.
The schedule for the MSU/WNMU project will be:
February 1: Students go in and change name from euser to their own name (The euser
will be provided by email. Please check your blackboard email for that information)
February 21: Post Prevailing Privileges paper on our class assignment box and MSU
Blackboard. Briefly introduce yourself and comment on the paper of each person that
post her/his paper during that week.
February 28- March 9: participate in the online discussions with MSU. Answer any
and all questions posted to you, and post final responses to all threads in your group.
March 9: Post reflection
Cultural Portrait – 10 Points: The Cultural Portrait no less than 2 pages. Guidelines
and rubric are also provided in the assignment box.
Final – 20 Points for BLED 414 and 25 for BLED 514 and EDL 525: This will be a 3
or more page paper (for undergraduate students) and 5 or more page paper (for graduate
students) that will begin with an introduction, where you present your evolving
definition/perspective of multicultural education based on what you have come to
understand during this course. The body of the paper should capture the salient issues
along the journey through this course that impacted you. It shall be based on your
reflection activities and the community service learning experiences. Use authors from
our course as references and include how they impacted what you believe. Each writing
point should clearly identify a specific issue, topic or concept that you encountered
during this course. It is important that you take notes and document your readings and
community experience so that you can recall and cite your references using APA style.
Each topic can be something that emerged which you had never considered before or
something you had thought about before, but were challenged and are now thinking about
in new ways. Conclude with a commentary about how you might modify your teaching
toward praxis based on what you wrote in the paper. Use bold headings to structure
your paper. A matrix/rubric will be provided.
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Assessment/Evaluation:
Student Requirement
Points BLED 414 Points BLED 514
and EDL 525
1. Participation (including participation 30
25
on the WNMU/MSU project)
2. Class Presentation on a Letter from
Freire’s Book
10
10
3. Community Service Learning
4. Reflective Activities
5. Cultural Portrait
10
20 (10 each)
10
10
20(10 each)
10
6. Final
20
25
Total Points Possible
100
100
Grading Scale:
A - 91 to 100
C - 71 to 80
B - 81 to 90
D - 61 to 70
F - 60
BLED 414/514 Spring 2012 SCHEDULE
Unit
Assignment due Due Date
Syllabus form
Unit 1:
Syllabus and introductions
Unit 2:
Introductions
Multicultural
self reflection
Discussions
1/13/12
1/17/12
1/24/12
1/31/12
Chapter 1: Understanding the Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural
Education
Chapter 2: About Terminology
Freire’s letter 1
01/27/12
and 2
Project with Morehead State University and Western New Mexico
University.
Community
Service Proposal
Please follow this link to change your euser number for your
01/31/12
name and take the survey:
http://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp Registration and
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survey on
Morehead State
University
02/01/12
Blackboard
Discussions
02/14/12
Freire’s letters 3
02/09/12
and 4
Unit 3:
Chapter 3: Multicultural Education and School Reform
Chapter 4: Racism, Discrimination, and
Achievement
Prevailing
Expectations of Students’ Privileges(Don’t
forget to post
your paper on
the MSU
Blackboard as
2/21/12
well)
Unit 4:
Freire’s letters 5 02/23/12
and 6
Project with Morehead State University and Western New Mexico
University
Read: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy
McIntosh at:
Discussion with
MSU
02/28/12
to 3/09/12
WNMU/MSU
Reflection paper 3/09/12
http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf
Unit 5:
Discussions
3/13/12
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Chapter7: Linguistic Diversity in U.S. Classrooms
Chapter 8: Toward an Understanding of School Achievement
Freire’s letters 7 3/09/12
and 8
3/21/12
Cultural Portrait
Discussions
Unit 6:
Chapter 9: Learning From Students
3/27/12
Freire’s letters 9
3/23/12
and 10
Chapter 10: Adapting the Curriculum for Multicultural Classrooms
Discussions
04/10/12
Unit 7:
Chapter 11: Affirming Diversity: Implications for Teachers,
Schools, and Families
Log Sheet
4/20/12
Unit 8:
Final paper 4/25/12
1. Course evaluation
2. Other business
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