It’s time to celebrate semester’s end. Open this page and you will begin. Pieces of you and pieces of me, a co-creation and that makes three!
You are invited to enter the world of authentic assessment.
Presented by Freddie Bowles
CIED 5963
FALL 2004
December 2004
To live is to learn.
Our next course whets our appetites with a taste of Hmong life 3-5
We toss a salad of two cultures: Native American and Nigerian 6-8
The main course takes us from central Arkansas to campus life to the city of jazz, barbecue, and Brown vs. Topeka 9-11
A layered tort of richness and crème served with a stout shot of expresso: reflection and reaction 12-13
Payment is accepted by standard methods of evaluation.
Dear Dr. Lincoln,
Creating a portfolio presents an opportunity to create a work of art in written and visual media that reflects a time of change in a student’s perception of the topic. It ‘s a representation of the class, the community of learners built over a brief semester’s time, with the emphasis on a single learner’s construction of new information.
I chose a whimsical format to present my growth in Teaching People of Other Cultures because the class has been enjoyable, diverse, a celebration of difference, a smorgasbord of different “menus,” and because we’ve had such a common bond in discussing food. I have savored this class like an epicurean's dream. It has been delightful and encouraging to find classmates so dedicated, curious, and committed to teaching people of other cultures.
I organized the contents in menu form and alphabetically, though the order has no bearing on the importance or chronological order. Each dish contains a special ingredient, and all dishes contribute to a feast of information.
I begin with the article review Preventing School Failure: The Native American Child by Johanna Nel. Our literature circle was reading Ceremony by Leslie Marmo Silke and we had also read an excerpt from Bloodlines by Janet Campbell Hale so the article was timely.
For the soup course, I continue with the Hmong cultural exploration. I became intrigued about this group because of your news regarding their relocation to Arkansas by the US government and because “novice teacher,” (by husband) had several Hmong in his secondary classes.
The salad course is a brief taste of the two books that our circle read: Ceremony, by Leslie Marmo Silke, and Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Acebe. Both of these books have been on my ‘to-read” list for years, so I was please when two members suggested them.
The main course consists of three servings: a visit to Western Yell County high school, Spring International, and the NAME conference in Kansas City. I added this last one because it was an observation in human relations and interactions in a different venue.
Finally, I close with a taste of the reflection and reaction. I will use this course to add a bit about some of my “out of course” readings that pertain to multicultural education and the hidden curriculum.
Thanks for a wonderful class!
Freddie Bowles
I chose Johanna Nel’s article, Preventing School Failure: The Native American Child, to present because I had read Bloodlines by Janet Campbell Hale during the summer and became intrigued with her tale of discrimination, frequent relocations, and her ability to persevere and graduate from high school despite a traumatic childhood. Another reason was due to our literary group’s reading of Ceremony by Leslie Marmo Silke. My last reason arose out of a desire to learn more about the traces of Native American blood in my own family.
I have instructed students from many diverse cultures, but I do not recall having had a Native American student in a class. I became further interested in exploring this culture after reading in García’s (2002) Student Cultural Diversity about the disconnection between the home culture of Native American students and public school culture. From Nel’s article I made some surprising and disheartening discoveries. Native American teenagers have the highest suicide and dropout rate of any minority population (1994, ¶ 1). With these alarming statistics in mind, I decided to begin my presentation with an activity to see how our class compared dominant cultural values to Native American cultural values. When we completed the group activity, I went through the answers for everyone. We then looked at some demographics about Native Americans before looking at some factors that related to underachievement. Outstanding among these differences were the concept of time, unwillingness to compete, aversion to public praise, and the idea of independence.
Native Americans move through life in an unhurried progression, so they are often late for class. Their unwillingness to compete originates from the concept of group cooperation and sharing, which may be viewed by mainstream teachers as unmotivated. Personal praise is regarded as drawing too much attention to oneself, so students may be embarrassed if a teacher praises them in front of the class. Because Native American children are considered independent and capable of making their own choices, they may not inform teachers about the reasons for absences or other personal choices.
To sum up the presentation, I mentioned some of Nel’s suggestions to accommodate these differences in the classroom. She emphasized the fact that minority students must be informed about mainstream culture and that they should try to gain an understanding of it. She also pointed out that this does not mean they should reject their home culture but that they should be able to negotiate mainstream culture in order to avoid feelings of isolation and confusion. She suggested that schools offer cultural orientations at the beginning of the school year for parents and students to teach them ways to cope with cultural discomfort and puzzling situations that arise in the school environment.
This presentation also tied in with Grant’s (1995) chapter The American Indians, a brief history of the major tribes, their languages, and cultures. I did not realize until this semester that they were not granted citizenship until 1924! In Ceremony, a story about a “half-breed” (Native American / White) who served in WWII, the reader experiences the racism and abject life that the protagonist, Tayo, endures after he returns home from the Pacific front. Our guest speaker, Bill Brescia, also offered a similar tale growing up in Chicago. I can imagine that the same story is repeated in this early part of a new century.
To sum up the presentation, I mentioned some of Nel’s suggestions to accommodate these differences in the classroom. She emphasized the fact that minority students must be informed about mainstream culture and that they should try to gain an understanding of it. She also pointed out that this does not mean they should reject their home culture but that they should be able to negotiate mainstream culture in order to avoid feelings of isolation and confusion. She suggested that schools offer cultural orientations at the beginning of the school year for parents and students to teach them ways to cope with cultural discomfort and puzzling situations that arise in the school environment.
This presentation also tied in with Grant’s (1995) chapter The American Indians, a brief history of the major tribes, their languages, and cultures. I did not realize until this semester that they were not granted citizenship until 1924! In Ceremony, a story about a “half-breed” (Native American / White) who served in WWII, the reader experiences the racism and abject life that the protagonist, Tayo, endures after he returns home from the Pacific front. Our guest speaker, Bill Brescia, also offered a similar tale growing up in Chicago. I can imagine that the same story is repeated in this early part of a new century.
My initial choice of culture to explore was Hungary, but as the semester progressed, I began to change my mind. Although I felt we-versed in sharing aspects of Hungarian culture and learners, I realized that the profile of diversity in Arkansas included very few Hungarians. I had also considered Native Americans much for the same reasons as discussed in the article review, but then I recalled Dr. Lincoln’s discussion of a rumor that the U.S. government had offered to resettle a group of Hmong from Minnesota in Northwest Arkansas, and the impact such a relocation would have on the public schools. This decision was confirmed by the fact that my husband teaches several Hmong students in Western Yell County Public School and I had a chance to observe these students during the semester.
Interestingly enough, I discovered a few similarities between Native American cultures and Hmong cultures—strong family ties, respect for elders, and a strong spiritual grounding. Another similarity that occurred to me is the fact that both cultures have had traumatic upheavals in their histories. The Hmong originated in China, but were unwelcome there because of their unwillingness to conform to authority. They were forced to immigrate and over the centuries eventually made their way to settle in Laos. Their ties to the U.S. forces during the Vietnam War gave them “persona non gratis” status and they were hunted down, killed, and forced to flee the country. Since the 70s, they have been refugees in Thailand. Almost 200,000 have been resettled in the U.S., mostly in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California.
My husband and I both have been learning about the Hmong culture. His interest is immediate and necessary. The Asian students at Western Yell have organized a club and tomorrow, December 8, will present an assembly for the high school. It has become a most controversial event. Racist remarks and attitudes reminiscent of the 50s have emerged. Novice teacher (my husband) informed me that one of the participants, a White student, had declined at the last minute because her fiancé did not want her to associate with “those Asians.” Several queries have arisen from the Whites about not having a “White” Week. Novice teacher has even noticed a slight chill from some of his peers.
Because of these remarks and attitudes, novice teacher has directly addressed the concerns of all students. He discussed the possibility of laughter during the assembly with the presenters and reassured them that it was from fear of the unknown and not at them personally. He has encouraged all his students to set the bar and be leaders for social acceptance and respect for all students. His lessons this week have centered on justice. He has reminded the White students that every day is White day because it is the dominant culture. We have enjoyed a mutual exchange this semester bout Multicultural Education and teaching people of other cultures. As I mentioned in one of my reflections, my background in ESL has supported his efforts in addressing diversity and language learning in his first semester of teaching.
He reported this evening that today’s rehearsal was flawless and that six mothers had shown up. He has been impressed with the students’ organizational skills and group cohesion and cooperation. This reinforces what I have read about the Hmong culture, too. It is a very resilient culture with clearly defined roles for gender and age. Their enthusiasm for the event supports what we have discussed in class about viewing cultural differences as additive. We know that when students are able to share their knowledge, they have an investment in the school. One teacher told my husband that nothing like this had ever happened at Western Yell!
Another aspect of personal development resulting from this project was a Power Point presentation, the first time I had created one myself. More impressive for me was the relief that it worked! I have an underlying uneasiness with machinery of all sorts, so creating it was almost secondary to have it function at the appropriate time.
The use of technology as a tool in the multicultural classroom is another recurring theme from this semester. Technology can serve as a bridge to gaining trust, building self-esteem, and enhancing instruction if used to supplement and not supplant the personal. Classmates and instructor have modeled this medium effectively this semester, which brings me to the conclusion of this segment of the portfolio. For you “dining” pleasure, a pastiche of savory sites:
http://www.jefflindsay.com/Hmong_tragedy.html#back
http://www.hmongcenter.org/index.html
http://migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/experiences/ftth_stories/bytitle_index.html
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/index.html
http://geocities.com/whiteyebrow/hmongtiger.html
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hmong.htm
This semester was my first time to participate in a literature circle “mano a mano.” Our group was the secondary / adult readers cohort consisting of two females and two males. One female was a native Chinese speaker; the other was a non-traditional doctoral candidate. Both males were in the MAT program, so we a diverse group. We chose to read Leslie Marmo Silke’s Ceremony and Chinua Acebe’s Things Fall Apart Our rationale included representation of culture, a writer from outside the United States, and novels that appear on high school and college reading lists. Fortunately for me, both these books have been on my reading list for several years.
Silke’s book has been a topic of discussion in another arena of my life. As a Tai Chi practitioner, I was exposed to aspects of Native American culture that relate to the Tao because our Sifu’s (teacher’s) grandmother was Native American, and he had been raised with her traditions. He often pointed out spiritual traditions of Native American culture that paralleled the underlying philosophy of Tai Chi such as respect for nature and its influence on our whole being, high regard for ancestors and traditions, and the idea of being present in the moment.
Several of my former African students had recommended Achebe’s book, and I had often seen in the bookstore as required reading for a gamut of classes. It begged to be read, and I now appreciate why. Acebe compellingly describes tribal life in Nigeria from the point of view of a successful leader who falls out of favor and has to leave the tribe, then returns to find irrevocable changes in his village. This was my first read of a truly African way of life and its demise with the influx of Europeans and Christianity.
Both novels were emotionally disturbing as they documented the difficulties of an individual’s coping with traumatic events that arise from the imposition of a dominant or invading culture. The struggles of these individuals bring to mind Sleeter’s (1992) article on how we teach multiculturalism in our classrooms and how important it is for instructors to educate themselves about diversity. When I consider the testimonies of new immigrants from our classmates’ cultural explorations, I stand in awe of the fortitude and perseverance of those individuals, many of whom are students in Arkansas public schools and how little their peers and classmates know of their efforts to survive and adapt to a challenging and “foreign” environment. This knowledge strengthens my own conviction to become more aware and ethnically developed (Young, 1995).
Another aspect of the literature circles that I enjoyed were the handouts to help us organize literature circles in our classes. I had the opportunity to suggest using this technique in novice teacher’s ACTAP class. He agreed, so I take this opportunity to include part of the reflection regarding the implementation of this technique as evidence of theory into practice.
Drawing on my experience for beginning English learners in an IEP, I suggested that the instructor use Sandra Cisneros’ book, House on Mango Street. My rationale was the relation to her culture, use of Spanish in the book, and I had the materials!
What actually transpired when the instructor prepared the first lesson was astounding and rewarding. The student was so motivated that several other students wanted to read the book as well. Suddenly a piece of literature had crossed cultures and abilities and a literature circle arose! The instructor uses a workbook for the five students involved in the circle and purchased the readers for each student in the group. They are learning vocabulary and response writing as well as using reading strategies, discussion techniques, and expanding their social awareness. Not only does this relate to literary circles, it also ties in with the goals of cooperative learning: 1) improve communication among students, 2) produce quality learning, and 3) increase academic achievement (Kellough, 2003, p. 300). In addition, the students have constructed their learning goal for the class.
The most rewarding aspect of this anecdote for me is that the students showed desire and passion for learning and the topic was about another culture. This group of students is isolated in a small west-central Arkansas town, where diversity is also prevalent and resources are extremely limited. It also shows that teachers have to be willing, open, and attuned to their students’ needs.
This part of the class has been the most challenging only because the semester has been “spotty.” By this I mean that as a first semester returning student, the real world has reared its ugly head and spit forth a plethora of obstacles. I refuse to delve into a litany of woes, so I will simply state that I have had to be flexible and create several “work arounds” to participate in this aspect of the class.
My first observation occurred at Western Yell County High School. I sat in on a civics class of 16 students. My interest focused on the Asian and Hispanic students: one Hmong male, one Laotian female, and two Hispanic males. All of these students had adequate English skills and participated fully in the class assignment. The instructor had divided the students into four groups, and each group had created their own political party with symbol, platform, and name. Each Hispanic student was in a different group, but the Hmong and Laotian were in a group together. I was especially impressed by the Hmong student’s role as leader of the group. He was passionate and articulate. The only errors I heard were the omission of the final “s” in third person singular and noun plurals. His syntax was fine and his vocabulary extensive. The other students took more passive roles in the groups.
The next observation was at Spring International on campus. I observed three classes of upper level fluency: reading, writing, and listening/speaking. These were fairly small classes of eight students each in the reading and writing class, but the L/S class was larger with 12 students. I enjoyed the reading class the most because the instructor was more innovative in his approach and had prepared his own exercises to match the text. He also made sure that every student had an opportunity to participate.
He was patient and allowed extended wait-time before prompting answers. The writing class was in revision mode, so the instruction was more conference based as the students were in and out of the writing lab and working individually on their drafts. However, the instructor went through the syllabus with me and discussed his methodology. The last class was more laissez faire. The students were supposed to watch a lecture about the three branches of US government, but the equipment was faulty, so they had to listen to it on a CD. Even though the students asked questions and offered answers after it was over, it still seemed to be a pretty passive lesson. I found it fairly dry, but that could have been because L/S was my least favorite class to teach and because I am not so interested in political science. I also found the speaker to be rather monotone and hard to understand myself, so I can imagine how the students comprehended the lecture. Fortunately, they had been well prepared by previous readings and worksheets on the topic, so most were able to answer the main ideas.
To conclude this part of the observation component, I have offered tutorial help to classmates via WebCT on their classroom observations based on my fourteen years of teaching ESL. In addition, I have assisted a fellow doctoral candidate with the writing process. We began with writing a summary. The challenge for this classmate was the comprehending the objective of the assignment. Once we established the goal, my contribution was to make sure the summary addressed each point. I did not offer to edit anything due to my own time constraints. Once this project was turned in, we worked on a larger paper. The student began again completely off the topic, so we had to return to the first strategy and analyze the objectives of the assignment. For the next draft, I asked leading questions related to organization to help with clarity and cohesion. The final step was editing, and again, I had no time to help with this, so I suggested that the student visit the writing center for help with this final step.
The observation reports on WebCT have given me more insight into how the public schools in this area address English Language Learners in the classroom. Some of my classmates have been in inclusion classes, others have been in pullout situations, and some have simply taken on a one-to-one tutoring session. I especially enjoyed reading Wen-Hsin's reports about how she is teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Several of my own students in Classroom Learning Theory have also reported on ELLs in the classroom. Unfortunately, I have heard some appalling tales of how the needs of these students are not being met. One middle school teacher even used the rationale of English Only in Arkansas as his excuse for ignoring the language challenges of his Hispanic students.
Sometimes the odds of meeting the needs of people of other cultures in our classrooms seem overwhelming. Our class is such a small group of students who are passionate about diversity and our state is rapidly growing more diverse. Christine Sleeter's article concludes with a shade of optimism as she states that the attitudes of our public school administrators seem to be "softening" (Sleeter, 1993, p. 58). In the same article, she warns that failure to address the needs of a growing diverse population will be detrimental to all of us and that failure to do so is in itself divisive. I agree with her definition of Multicultural Education as "… listening to and taking seriously what diverse Americans are saying about themselves and the conditions of their lives, and then acting on what we learn, to build a better system for us all" (p. 58).
I saved this part of the portfolio for last because it serves as a summary, a dessert, and is alphabetically in order! This class has been the “icing on the cake.” It covers the multi-layers of teaching EFL, ESL, English, and German with a rich dressing of theory, effective teaching, practical application, and classroom interaction. I had not even heard of Multicultural Education before this program, nor had I realized there was an organization to promote the practice, the National Association of Multicultural Education, to which I now belong!
The course has introduced me to several experts in the field besides our authors, and in supplementary research, I have been led to read other authors including Paolo Freire, bell hooks, and Donaldo Macedo among others, who are proponents of critical pedagogy, another area of interest to me. I have been able to vicariously share in the public school experience through the observations of my classmates. The practical knowledge I have gained throughout my teaching career has been supplemented with detailed explorations of history, language, and culture of several groups over the semester in article presentations along with the cultural explorations.
The literature circles were a welcome addition to practice a method that we can implement in our own classrooms. “Theory into practice” is becoming my new mantra.
The literature excerpts were also a delight. I could read my life away if given the basic needs to survive. The bonus for these excerpts was the description of other cultures, which helps us develop our own ethnic awareness (Sleeter, 1993).
Mostly I appreciated the overall class structure, one that I plan to adopt with some modifications due to level of instruction next semester for CIED 3263. You created an atmosphere of trust and respect, which freed us students to fully participate with enthusiasm, passion, and courage. I liked writing a reflection about what I had read because it gave me a chance to pen what connections I found to my prior knowledge and experience as well as to ponder new ideas and theories. I am still not sure how I relate to MCE. I tried to be a dispassionate observer at the NAME conference as a first-year participant. What I have realized this semester, through conversations with novice teacher, my own students during their field experiences, and through reading about the observations of my classmates is that racism still exists and that there is overt and covert resistance to difference.
My experience as an ESL teacher in a university has been very sheltered, and although I recognized that my students encountered prejudice outside the IEP program, it was subtle and occasional. Having more exposure to the compulsory, public K-12 system, I find resistance at every level of instruction and administration. It worries me, frankly, at a societal level. I fear that if public education does not accept diversity and difference as a positive aspect in a pluralistic society and take the lead in responding in an equitable and democratic approach, our nation will suffer. I concur with Sleeter that avoiding this would be divisive (1993).
I would recommend this class to any student who aspires to teach at any level of instruction in our education system, public and private, K-12 through post-secondary. It supports Young’s reasons for teaching multiculturalism. We learn as much about ourselves as we do about others.
García, E. (2002). Student cultural diversity: Understanding and meeting the challenge
(3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Grant, C. A. (1995). Educating for diversity: An anthology of multicultural voices.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Kellough, R. D. (2003). A resource guide for teaching: K-12 (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Nel, J. (1994). Preventing school failure: The Native American child. Clearing House,
67(3). Retrieved September 28, 2004, from Ebsco Host database.
Sleeter, C. (1993). Multicultural education: Five views. Education Digest, 58(7), 53-58.
Young, R. L. (1995). Multicultural education in the United States from a historical and
social perspective. Multicultural Education Journal, 13(1), 12–20.