RUNNING HEAD: MULTICULTURAL TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Multicultural Teaching Philosophy

Brandy Mathewson

Purdue University
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My teaching philosophy comes from a deep desire to make change one day at a time in

the life of a student and help them realize their potential. As a marginalized student myself, I

want to ensure that, although students walk into my classroom from all walks of life they get the

education they deserve. In order to do this I believe the role of an educator is to ensure,

regardless of race, gender, ability, or social economic status, students enter a safe place where

they can be themselves, every students is valued, everyone is held to high expectations, and we

work as a community to help each other learn and grow.

As I mentioned above, I was a marginalized student myself. I dealt first hand with the

consequences of actions from people that were not my own, and completely out of my control.

These actions included such things as; divorce, a stepparent, fighting, alcoholism, anger, stepdad

in prison, lying, fear on many levels, moving from house to house and across states lines, illegal

paraphernalia in the house, visits by Department of Children and Families both at school and at

home, and so on. Throughout most of my schooling I was the ‘new kid,’ teachers didn’t know

my ability, honestly I didn’t either, so I just ‘got by’ often wondering if they just passed me to

the next grade because it was what they were supposed to do, not because I earned it. This

understanding of marginalization, enacted on the part of the teachers, was formed in part from

discrimination. It has shaped who I am as a person and a teacher. It also helps to make me aware

of other discriminatory circumstances that may arise and gives me the determination to correct

the wrong. As an educator I make every effort to provide an environment that breaks through the

boundaries of discrimination, judgment and marginalization that may be enacted from other

students, teacher, and even myself. This is a continued learning process and one that I have

learned happens in cases where even the best of intentions lay and often blindly. As an educator I
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need to make sure that I am aware of potential bias in myself and my colleagues, as well as how

to challenge and change it as it is recognized.

As a result of what I learned from my own education and upbringing, my pedagogical

style has evolved to include building teacher-student and student-student relationships among all

students, engaging students in challenging activities that promote critical thinking, providing

multiple modalities within the learning environment as well as assessments, and a collaborative

work environment. By incorporating each of these aspects into my teaching I am able to reach

the whole child. To build on their strengths while strengthening their weaknesses. Thus in turn

will teach them the essential skills they need to be successful learners and productive members

of our diverse society. Through this approach I am also aiming to promote social justice within

the classroom. My young, early elementary students are inherently curious and conscious of

differences in each other. They are often not afraid to voice their thoughts on things such as hair

color or texture, skin color, physical differences, and behavior differences. By using these

‘noticings’ as teachable moments our classroom environment becomes more inclusive and less

judgmental. The students are developing a mutual respect for differences and a sense of

community where we learn from and with each other.

When I consider my philosophy on assessment, I want to be a teacher that puts more

emphasis on assessing students for learning more than assessing their learning. Critical Race

Theorists caution that, “most of the tests children of color, poor children, immigrant children,

limited-English-speaking children experience inevitably legitimize their deficiencies,” and that

the “assessment game is merely a validation of the dominant culture’s superiority.” (Ladson-

Billings, p. 60) This unfortunate reality has been my experience as both a teacher and student.

Because of this I use a backwards planning method that incorporates assessing students for
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learning and planning lessons that will begin with the end in mind. This allows me to

differentiate to meet individual learning needs, use multimodal strategies for teaching and end

products or ‘assessments,’ reevaluate by continuously progress monitoring, then, modifying and

reteaching as necessary. By assessing my students for learning, I am able to meet them at their

current ability while taking into account their life experiences and background knowledge,

leading to a fuller understand of the expected learning objectives. Thus in turn eventually raises

overall achievement scores on mandated standardized tests.

Within the classroom I believe it ought to function as a community. Multiculturalism, a

way of teaching that is inclusive of all students, is at the forethought of my organization and

planning. I understand that my students have different cultural backgrounds, interests,

motivations (or lack of) for learning, supports, beliefs, and so on. It is my goal to help them

understand that they, through grit, perseverance, and determination can make and reach goals

that they set for themselves and that their differences should be embraced and learned from.

When considering the structure of the learning environment within my classroom I use a

combination of the Constructivist Learning Theory and Cooperative Learning Theory. The

constructivist theory believes that learning is constructed and is an active process that includes

building on a person’s prior knowledge (Narayan, et. el., 2013). This theory also believes that

students learn through encounters, relationships, and interactions with others. Because

classrooms are so diverse working in cooperative groups provides students opportunities to learn

from and with each other. One advantage of also using the cooperative theory in my classroom is

that the students who are afraid to ask or answers questions in class are more likely to discuss

these same issues with their peers in cooperative groups. This is a way to provide a less

threatening environment that will help students build their social skills while being active
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participants in their learning. (Fredrickson, et. el., 2013). However, not all learning is done

through cooperative groups. Students still have opportunities for whole group instruction and

interactions, independent work time, and small teacher guided groups. To ensure a classroom

that is mindful of multiculturalism and social justice issues I provide learning opportunities

embedded within our curriculum and classroom in addition to the teachable moments referred to

earlier. For example, within our classroom community this past school year we had 11 English

only speaking students and 12 Spanish speaking students who are learning English as a second

language. The literature that was available to my students in our library reflected that. Now, first

grade students are just beginning to read, but exposure to various cultures, especially the

represented ones, was there. We used the literature as learning opportunities throughout the year.

Some of the books are written in both languages. Students learn to read the English and Spanish

parts, then are able to read the book out loud as a team and discuss it with the class. That always

brought about excitement and encouragement from peers.

Within the classroom environment the learning that takes place need to be meaningful. In

order for this to happen I believe I need to provide a student-centered approach to learning. This

is partly done by the learning environment and cooperative groups. In addition, I try to make the

content as relevant to my student’s lives as possible. At a first grade level, as I mentioned before,

I do this partly through multicultural literature. In addition, we may use relevant news stories,

internet sources, interviews, guest speakers, etc., to build on and expand a student’s

understanding of a concept or idea. They are constantly asking ‘why,’ if I can provide instruction

and provoke critical thinking that leads them to conclusions, I believe the learning will be

meaningful.
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As important as learning content in school is, equally important is ensuring that students

are treated fairly and equally regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or disability,

and that they learn to respect differences in an inclusive way. I think the first step to accomplish

this is to look inward and ensure, as a teacher, I don’t have any inherent bias that would prevent

me from providing such an environment. In my classroom I use a variety of teaching and

assessment methods to help meet the needs of my students, plan lessons that include diversity

and multiculturalism, and fairly include all of my students throughout the school day. I also

believe that setting the tone in the classroom or school should be done from day one, and can be

done by establishing rules and procedures on how teachers and other students should be treated.

If this is modeled, discussed, taught through minilessons explicitly indicating ‘why’ it is

important, and retaught when appropriate, it will become the culture of the school.

As a teacher I want to make sure that, although students walk into the classroom from all

walks of life, they enter a safe place where they can be themselves, every student is valued,

everyone is held to high expectations, and we work as a community to help each other learn and

grow. Using a lens of multiculturalism woven into my pedagogical approach to teaching, and

through my own continued reflection and learning, I am able to make this happen. Working with

young students I am always amazed and humbled by the compassion they have for one another,

and how in the right environment, they embrace differences whether visible or invisible to

encourage and learn from each other.

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References

Fredrickson, R., Dunlap, K., & McMahan, S. (2013). Cooperative Learning Theory. In B. J. Irby
(Author), The handbook of educational theories (pp. 199-210). Charlotte, NC: Information
Age Pub.

Ladson-Billings, G & Tate, W,F. (1995) Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers
College Record, 97(1), 47-68

Narayan, R., Rodriguez, C., Araujo, J., Shaqlaih, A., & Moss, G. (2013). Constructivism-
Constructivist Learning Theory. In B. J. Irby (Author), The handbook of educational
theories (pp. 169-183). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub.