 Teaching for Change Last year I put together a series called "Race,
Gender and Student Achievement"
that brought together multicultural resources to support
diversity in the classroom. It seems like an important
topic to revisit from time to time since
misunderstandings and stereotypes often rear their ugly
heads even in communities that are dedicated to change.
And when that change involves children, the need to
tackle these issues head on becomes even that much more
pressing.
One national program, called the SEED Project on Inclusive
Curriculum (SEED=Seeking
Educational Equity and Diversity), is part of a project
based at Wellesley College Center
for Research on Women in
Massachusetts. Philadelphia has a local SEED chapter in
which several local teachers and administrators
facilitate seminars and summer institutes for schools and
administrative offices. Emily Style, the co-director,
writes:
Education needs to enable the
student both to look through windows into the
realities of others, and into mirrors to see her/his
own realities reflected back.
The Pathways for School
Improvement website
contextualizes the work of SEED and other national groups
on their webpage Critical Issues: Educating
Teachers for Diversity. They
write:
As the student population in
American schools becomes increasingly diverse,
educators must respond with school reform efforts
that meet the needs of all students. They must
develop culturally sensitive curricula that integrate
multicultural viewpoints and histories, apply
instructional strategies that encourage all students
to achieve, and review school and district policies
related to educational equity. Teacher education
programs in particular are responsible for preparing
future teachers to promote meaningful, engaged
learning for all students, regardless of their race,
gender, ethnic heritage, or cultural background.
(BTW-->The Pathways website is a product of the North Central
Regional Educational Laboratory and is a good resource
for many critical issues facing schools from assessment
to technology.)
Additionally, a colleague named Jim
Culbertson, sent me a listing of links which were all
connected to the NECA website. NECA
began in 1986 as the Network of Educators' Committees on
Central America (NECCA), a coalition of teacher
committees formed in eleven major U.S. and Canadian
cities during the 1980s. The committees, comprised of
teachers from kindergarten through high school, organized
to address concerns about the U.S. role in Central
America and the education of Central American refugees.
The U.S. was heavily involved in El Salvador and
Nicaragua at the time, yet there were few resources about
Central America for the classroom. The influx of
immigrants and refugees from Central America gave further
impetus to the demand for materials that reflected
students' history and experiences. (for more history
click here)
The NECA website includes a long list
of sites with resources for socially
relevant curriculum and overall school reform. These include organizations and publishers
from the Children's Defense Fund
to Kid's Can Make a
Difference and a large
publication resource center called WorldViews. There are
some great resources here! Additionally NECA works with
some local D.C. organizations including Teaching for Equity, D.C. Area Writing Project and Tellin' Stories.
One resource that seems particularly
interesting is a list of sites from a book titled, "Beyond Heroes and Holidays:
A Practical Guide to K-12 Multicultural, Anti-Racist
Education and Staff Development."
In addition to these on-line resources, they have the table of contents on-line with excerpts from the book. The book includes teachers and
student stories, articles, activities and content
specific resources for students with a variety of needs.
I notice that Philadelphia's Debbie Wei (Office of
Curriculum Support) is an author here and that it
includes voices from the Roberto Clemente School.
Another resource I found on the "socially relevant
curriculum" list is the Facing History website.
Within this site is a student created webpage called People Against Xenophobia "for other students and for anyone else
interested in learning to appreciate differences."
Click on their museum to see their art and read their writing.
This reminded me of several other
student action sites that are worth repeating, such as
the I*EARN Youth Action projects, |