Unit Enhancement Project
David Szymanski
EDUC/549: Race, Class and Power in School
Unit Enhancement to Address Diversity
I picked one of the many unit lesson plans that I have been working on,
through out my time with Southwestern, that I would desire to use in my JROTC
and history classes in the future, “The United States of America Citizenship and
Multiculturalism”. The lesson I chose was one that I felt already started to
address diversity and I would like to improve it because one of the main
objectives of this unit was to inform my students that America is a diverse place
that has worked hard to come together for many years. The four objectives listed
in the unit are:
1. Students will learn how to talk about the United States as a diverse
and not homogeneous culture.
2. Students will learn about immigration laws in the United States.
3. Students will analyze and evaluate conditions, actions, and
motivations that contribute to immigration.
4. Students will develop an understanding of the role of civility in
dealing with individual and group differences.
I wanted to ensure I address this issue of immigration because my wife
had gone through this process, there were issues that I felt our young people did
not know, and this lesson would allow them to discuss the problem in a controlled
safe environment. The strength of this lesson is that it has the students look at
what are the reasons and motivations of people who immigrate to the United
States. This allows the students who were born here, as well as else where, to
see what others think of this country. This will allow all the students to see how
diverse the motivations can be. Learner diversity is addressed in ways that allow
for different methods of evaluation on learning and understanding. This as I said
before allows for students from different back grounds to address why they think
people immigrate to the United states as well as the cultural and
socioeconomically views of what freedom means to them.
I felt that the lesson needed to be steered towards the reason why the
United States is so diverse in the first place. The lesson is designed to talk about
the diversity but not really the dynamic behind the diversity. Many of the
cultures, including or founding fathers, came hear to get away from some kind of
mistreatment or another and the United States was seen as a place for new
beginnings. I wanted to change the instructions, of this lesson, to better focus on
immigration reasons that were more due to mistreatment because of perceived
differences between individuals. This would open the door to discussion of why
this is wrong and that many people from all around the world recognize this as
wrong, regardless of the culture they are coming from. The second part to this
equation is I want to guide the students to a discussion to reflect inward to see
what prejudices we all bring to the table. My purpose here is as the text said
“Students should acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to function
effectively in each cultural setting. They should also be competent to function
within and across other microcultures in their society, within the national
macroculture, and within the world community (Banks, 2004).” (Banks & Banks,
2012, p. 6)
One idea that I never really thought of for this class is the concept of
English as a Second Language. This is sad for me because I did a few of my
observations at Fort Leavenworth: Patton Middle School and they had students
from multiple countries and the language skills were as diverse as the school. A
great idea I saw them use at Leavenworth and that this class made me think of
again was the use of translation of instruction and materials. As Banks said
“Teachers need to become culturally competent if they are to deliver culturally
responsive, evidence-based, high-quality teaching for students” and one of those
thing teacher should provide is “providing English language and bilingual support
services.” (Banks & Banks, 2012, p. 278) I will add this to the instructions to
provide a translation of the immigration test question for those who may need a
little more assistance with translation. Providing a translation for writing exercise
rubric would also be a good idea for considering ESL students to ensure the they
have all the tools need to succeed.
I believe the purpose of teachers is to act as guides, not just transmitters
of information. Teachers are facilitators in a journey to obtaining a fulfilling life in
this world. In today’s society, we as teachers are often the only adult mentors
and guides those students have. It is our duty to not only teach them the
information they need for school but give them the skills and encouragement they
may need to survive in life and be productive citizens in our society. This is
where we as teachers can influence the behavior of our students by modeling
good behavior and show everyone respect. “ Our students are the future and
unless we can understand what respect means to them and show them that
respect, we diminish our ability as an effective teacher who supports all students
to achieve high levels.” (Anderson & Davis, 2012, p. 109) We as teachers need
to develop and construct a safe environment that our students can learn in and
where they feel and believe they have worth. I strongly believe that is the first
step to improving your place or lot in life and that is to believe that you have
worth, which starts with respect. This concept is so simple but at the same time
so hard to incorporate and implement in our society. That is the idea and
believes that there should be “Respect for all!”
Works Cited
Anderson, K. L., & Davis, B. M. (2012). Creating Culturally Considerate Schools.
Thousand Oaks, Ca: Corwin.
Banks, J., & Banks, C. (2012). Multicultural Education: Issues and perspectives.
Danvers, MA: Wiley.