Response to James A. Banks Multicultural Education Lecture
Response to Dr. James Bank’s Lecture Democracy, Diversity and Social Justice: Education in a Global Age.
Rachelle Petross
MAT 614
National University
Presented to
Dr. Jeffery Carr
March 10, 2012
ABSRACT
Dr. Bank’s lecture on Democracy, Diversity and Social Justice made me reflect upon the way I teach and the experiences that I have encountered in regards to multicultural education. I will share some of these experiences and teaching strategies and how they relate to three of the five dimensions of multicultural education: Content Integration, Knowledge Construction, Equity Pedagogy, Prejudice Reduction and Empowering School Culture. (Banks, 2006)
Democracy, Diversity and Social Justice: Education in a Global Age.
The question that came to mind as I was watching the lecture given by Dr. James Banks was how can I give these small town, farm children the knowledge, skills, and understanding of cultural diversity to go out into the world and be productive, compassionate citizens? Dr. Bank stated that 40 percent of children entering school are students of color. Over the last ten years I have been witness to growing diversity in our small town. While listening to Dr. Banks and reflecting on my own teaching practices three of the five dimensions of multicultural education stood out to me.
The first dimension, content integration, made me start thinking about the content in my classroom. Being aware that it takes more than just academics to create a well-rounded citizen, our school has a character traits program in place. We are trying to instill important life skills in our children. Each month we focus on one particular characteristic, such as manners, and as a whole school we set aside time each week to incorporate a direct instruction lesson in our classroom. We are finding more and more that these skills are not taught in the homes. It seems to me that we are focusing on only one part and for multicultural education to be effective
Rachelle Petross
MAT 614
National University
Presented to
Dr. Jeffery Carr
March 10, 2012
ABSRACT
Dr. Bank’s lecture on Democracy, Diversity and Social Justice made me reflect upon the way I teach and the experiences that I have encountered in regards to multicultural education. I will share some of these experiences and teaching strategies and how they relate to three of the five dimensions of multicultural education: Content Integration, Knowledge Construction, Equity Pedagogy, Prejudice Reduction and Empowering School Culture. (Banks, 2006)
Democracy, Diversity and Social Justice: Education in a Global Age.
The question that came to mind as I was watching the lecture given by Dr. James Banks was how can I give these small town, farm children the knowledge, skills, and understanding of cultural diversity to go out into the world and be productive, compassionate citizens? Dr. Bank stated that 40 percent of children entering school are students of color. Over the last ten years I have been witness to growing diversity in our small town. While listening to Dr. Banks and reflecting on my own teaching practices three of the five dimensions of multicultural education stood out to me.
The first dimension, content integration, made me start thinking about the content in my classroom. Being aware that it takes more than just academics to create a well-rounded citizen, our school has a character traits program in place. We are trying to instill important life skills in our children. Each month we focus on one particular characteristic, such as manners, and as a whole school we set aside time each week to incorporate a direct instruction lesson in our classroom. We are finding more and more that these skills are not taught in the homes. It seems to me that we are focusing on only one part and for multicultural education to be effective
References: Bank, J. A. (2006). Democracy, Diversity, and Social Justice: Education in a Global Age. 29th Annual Faculty Lecture. University of Washington. Banks, J. A. (2010). Multicultural Education Issues and Perspectives. Hoboken, N. J.: John Wiley & Sons. Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with Poverty in Mind, 15. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.