Running head: MULTICULTUAL TEACHING 1

Multicultural Education

Shameka Hatcher

Fresno Pacific University

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Multicultural education by definition is creating an educational environment that is

inclusive and represents all cultural, gender, socio-economic and family structures of the

community. Multicultural education is not simply about exposing the children to small segments

of racial education, as it is often reduced down to. Black History Month and Cinco de Mayo are

not the only times a child should be exposed to African American and Mexican culture. There

needs to be a set of strategies aimed to address all diverse challenges and realities of the children

in your classroom and the world around them. In my future classroom I plan to implement three

things that will create a diverse representation in the curriculum. I am planning to have a wide

range of resources, encourage community involvement and include alternative historic findings.

In my opinion the materials in the classroom should represent current culture and social

realities. In the past, I have walked into classrooms with pictures, books and puppets that were

stereotypes of certain cultural realities. Although I do not think it is done on purpose, it is

important to remember that in America we have so many different realities represented. My plan

is to have a vast reading list. There are so many choices of author, genre and cultural relevance in

the book world that this is a fast way to expose the children easily through literature. In a past

college course, we were given suggestions about how to represent each student in the classroom

and one teacher said that she had her students bring a family photo. I would like to take it step

further and have a party with the children in the beginning of the year with the parents and take

photos there and hang them up. That way I get to know the parents, they get to know the

classroom and I also get my photos.

I am a strong believer that children should learn how to critically think as early as

possible. One way that I will help them to be exposed to all the differences around them is to get

them excited about being volunteers in their community. Taking field trips to places in which
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they can be of service and learn different jobs. World views are important as well, so teaching

them how to ask questions about what’s going on in the locally and in world events as its

appropriate for their age range is important to me as well. So much learning can be done by

controlled exposure. For instance: if I took them to a Veterans hospital they can be exposed to all

different ages of veterans and all different disabilities, with also gaining understanding of

hospitals, mental health and the men and woman that serve our country.

History books rarely tell the whole story. It isn’t until college that they allow you to know

different viewpoints and whole realities of historical facts. One way that the children can get

great information is taking the history books and expanding them with other good sourced

information. For instance: the civil rights movement was not just about African Americans

fighting for their freedom, it was also about all American’s that came together to ensure that a

marginalized and hated group of people gained their freedoms. In the wars, there were Hispanic,

Caucasians, Native American and black men that fought bravely for our freedoms. My desire is

to give them a whole picture of different backgrounds working together to make a common goal.

As I have done research, I have realized that there is not one correct way to have a

multiculturally inclusive classroom. There are a multitude of ideas that are waiting to be found.

The most important part about the classroom environment is that all children feel safe and

accepted. The children learn how to have relationships with people that do not look like them,

sound like them, live like them or pray like them. As a teacher, my main focus is to create a

connection with the children and to model best practices and moral character so they know what

is expected of them. Students that are represented and feel safe are more likely to have a better

learning experience.