WESTERN NEW MEXICO UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
Fall 2010
BLED 414/514
Multicultural Education
EDL 525
Education in a Pluralistic Society
Meeting room: MARTNB 213
Class hours: Mondays 4:00-6:45
Professor of Record: Alexandra Neves, PhD
Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30-12:00 a.m. and by appointment
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.
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o
5.
Please see number 3
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.
BLED 414/514 Multicultural Education Competencies addressed:
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
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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
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

Full attendance and participation is required. More than one absence, habitual
tardiness (more than two), and/or leaving early will lower your final grade at
least one letter grade. It is a requirement that if you must miss a class session
that you make arrangements to talk with me before our regular class sessions
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or email me about your reason for the absence and your plans for keeping up
with the work for the course.

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. (to be discussed in class)

The professor reserves the right to lower a grade based on attendance,
participation, and promptness with assignments.

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.)

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.

Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures; 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).

Inclement Weather: the decision on whether to close the University will be
based on the condition of the campus streets and parking lots and the surrounding
main arteries. Weather closing/delay information will be made available via the
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WNMU webpage, WNMU Mustang Express, radio stations, and TV stations.
Students will be informed of weather-related classroom decisions using the
following procedures:
1. Weather closing or delay of classes – students will be informed of such
decisions via email, phone, or posting on Mustang Express; a phone tree may be
used; in case of class cancelations, professor will cover missed material in
subsequent classes;
2. Weather is bad but remains open – class will be held for those students that are
able to get to class; alternative arrangements will be made to catch up students on
work missed;
3. Professor is unable to make it to campus due to weather - students will be
informed via email, phone, or posting on Mustang Express; a phone tree may be
used; professor will cover missed materials in subsequent classes;
Delays or closures during final exam week – students whose exams are
canceled will be contacted to schedule make-up exams or alternative
arrangements
Description of assignments:
Participation and reading reactions - 15% Learning and teaching only occur
successfully when we are actively involved and care about our learning and the learning
of others. Students enrolled in this course are expected to come prepared to engage in the
topic(s) and discussion(s) of the class sessions. This prerequisite requires that you read
each chapter, article, handout, and other assigned readings. In addition, you will bring to
class weekly reading reactions to be turned in.
Each reading reaction must have:
 A summary of the reading – two sentences maximum
 Some general impressions in a concise paragraph
 A question you had
Directions:
1. Summarize in a couple of sentences (no more!) the main overall point you took
away from the reading. The brevity is to help you think hard about what the
chapter was about.
2. Then write a paragraph (five or so sentences) of general impressions. Among the
many possibilities here are to write about:





what you learned,
how it changed your thinking,
what surprised you,
what inspired you,
what angered you,
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 what it applies to (from your life or other courses),
 what it reminded you of (from your life or previous courses), OR
 something else
4. Finally, write a question you had about each reading – something you didn’t
understand or would like to know more about.
Class Presentation on a Letter from Freire’s Book - 10% You will be assigned one
letter from the text Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare to Teach
and will need to prepare a ten to fifteen minute presentation. Feel free to plan short
activities (whole group, small group, artistic expressions, musical expressions, etc) that
will help us engage and share our growing knowledge around issues related to
multicultural education. You can work on this project as a team.
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.
Community Service Learning (Proposal + 2 journals + log) – 20%: This course
component includes 15 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 by 9/13. (You may send me inquiries about your
selection via email prior to the proposal if you need my feedback).
Keep a log 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 will turn in a
compilation of these reflections on You must visit the location no less than 5 times and
must begin early in the semester (no later than 9/20) and must be completed before 11/15.
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The grade for this category will be determined by 1) 15 hours of service+ logs, 2)
service learning proposal (Word document), and 3) two journals.
Reflective Activities – 25%: The Multicultural Self- 10% (8/23) and Prevailing
Privileges – 15% (10/11) activities (no less than 2 pages each) will be posted online but
you are also required to bring a hard copy to class on due dates. Guidelines will be
provided for these activities. The Multicultural Self assignment will be discussed in class.
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. The WNMU/MSU partnership project provides teachers and teacher
candidates with the opportunity to become part of a shared “community of practice”.
Please follow this link to sing in and take the survey:
http://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp
Cultural Portrait – 10%: The Cultural Portrait (1/11) activity will be no less than 3
pages and you are also required to bring a hard copy to class on the due date. We will
meet with Professor Ann Marie Elder to tell our stories.
Final – 20%: This will be a 5 or more page paper (for undergraduate students) and 8 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. The final paper is due on
November, 29th.
Assessment/Evaluation:
Student Requirement
1. Participation + reading reactions
Points
15
2. Class Presentation on a Letter from
Freire’s Book
10
3. Community Service Learning
4. Reflective Activities
20
25
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5. Cultural Portrait
10
6. Final
Total Points Possible
20
100
Grading Scale:
A - 91 to 100
B - 81 to 90
C - 71 to 80
D - 61 to 70
F - 60
Schedule:
August 16th
Introduction to the course
Expectations/ Syllabus discussion
August 23rd
Due: Multicultural self activity (Don’t forget to bring a hard copy to class)
Freire: foreword and introduction
Freire: Letter 1
MSU Sign up and Survey
August 30th
Understanding the Sociopolitical
Context of Multicultural Education
Nieto and Bode: chapter 1
Freire: letter 2
September 6th
Labor Day Holiday- no class
September 13th
About Terminology
Nieto and Bode chapter 2
Due: Community Service Learning Proposal
Freire: letter 3
September 20th
Multicultural Education and School
Reform
Nieto and Bode chapter 3
Freire: letter 4
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September 27th
Racism, Discrimination, and
Expectations of Students’ Achievement
Nieto and Bode chapter 4
Freire: letter 5
October 4th
The Structural and Organizational
Issues in Schools
Nieto and Bode chapter 5
Due: 1st Community service journal
Freire: letter 6
October 11th
Due: Prevailing privileges activity
Project with Morehead State University and New Mexico State University discussions
Read: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh at:
http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf
Class will finalize participation on MSU/WNMU project- No class meeting
October 18th
Linguistic Diversity in U.S. Classrooms
Nieto and Bode chapter 7
Video
Freire: letter 7
October 25th
Toward an Understanding of School
Achievement
Nieto and Bode chapter 8
Freire: letter 8
November 1st
Due: Cultural portrait activity (Don’t forget to bring a hard copy to class)
Meet at the Web
November 8th
Learning from Students
Nieto and Bode chapter 9
Freire: letter 9
November 15th
Adapting the Curriculum for
Multicultural Classrooms
Nieto and Bode chapter 10
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Freire: letter 10
Due: 2nd Community service journal
Due: Community Service Learning log
November 22nd
Thanksgiving- no class
November 29th
Due: Final paper
Presentations
Conclusion
December 6th
Finals week
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