“The DreamKeepers”
Multicultural teachers will find
this book a useful addition to the
literature on curricular and
instructional issues.
Connections
Chapters 1-3
Chapter 1
• A Dream Deferred
Current climate:
“African American Students continue to lag significantly
behind their white counterparts on all standard ,measures
of achievement” Billings (p. 1)
African American teachers make up less than 5 % of the total
public school teaching
White Students who come to school benefit from special
programs while African American students remain in the
low-level classes
Is this true?
• From 1990 to 2009, the percentage of White,
Black, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander
graduates completing at least a standard
curriculum increased. The increase was
greater for White and Asian/Pacific Islander
graduates than for Black and Hispanic
graduates.
• http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ctes/tables/h119.
asp
• http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass07
08_2009324_t1s_02.asp
• http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009324/tables
/sass0708_2009324_t12n_02.asp
connection
• Diller & Moule (2005) write about the impact
of cultural relevance, they relay, “…how racism
or stereotyping played a role in how teachers
relate to students. They go further to explain if
educators don’t implement culturally relevant
curriculum, they will “miss the needs of many
culturally diverse students” (p. 149).
• Why???
connection
• Moreover, Diller &Moule (2005) also give us an
idea at what is considered the norm in the
classroom. They say, “…scripts lay out what is
supposed to happen and how others’ actions are
to be interpreted” (p.152). In summation,
although many teachers take a cultural stance
with curriculum, we must be aware of instances
where we expect students to write, answer, or
recite the way we want them to. Many teachers
say, “…not up to my standards” (Diller &Moule,
2005, p.151)
Freedom Writers
• http://youtu.be/MT0L1U-Rdj4
Community
• http://www.community4me.com/cbinclassroo
m.html
Chapters 4-6
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nies/nie
s_2005/L0141.asp?subtab_id=Tab_2&tab_id=t
ab1&printver=#chart
Does Culture Matter?
•
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Topical:
Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such as social organization, religion,
or economy
Historical:
Culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to future generations
Behavioral:
Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life
Normative:
Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living
Functional:
Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to the environment or living together
Mental:
Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses and distinguish people from
animals
Structural:
Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, or behaviors
Symbolic:
Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by a society
Chapter 7
Hope
“ A Dream Deferred” Langston Hughes
http://poetryoutloud.org/poems/audiocd.html
Effective teaching for African
Americans
What can you do?
• http://web.uconn.edu/asp/Accelerated_Schoo
ls_Plus/files/Urban%20Ed%20%20%20Framin
g%20Student%20Success%20.pdf
• Be Aware
In Closing
• Paulo Freire, quoted in Nieto and Bode (2008)
has poignantly said of cultural importance,
• Educators need to know what happens in the
world of children with whom they work. They
need to know the universe of their dreams,
the language with which they skillfully defend
themselves from the aggressiveness of their
world, what they know independently of
school, and how they know it (p.263).