Multicultural Curriculum

Multicultural Curriculum

American schools have usually shared the same ways of teaching our culture, history, and traditions, but lately according to Ryan Cooper author of Those Who Can, Teach there has been “Questions raised about whether schools today provide a shared understanding of our culture, history and traditions.” (Cooper) This can either be a good thing or a bad thing. If schools keep the same understanding of our culture, history, and traditions then all the schools have the same standards no matter where the student decides to go to school. On the other hand this might be a main problem of why students of minorities are not succeeding in school because they feel that the curricula does not apply to them because there background is not talked about so it must not be important therefore they are less interested to learn.

In the article “Developing a Multicultural Curriculum” by Carolyn Brush and Judie Haynes found at the web address http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/multicultural_curr.php talks about a certain program called “Around the World” that is a multicultural curriculum. (Brush, Haynes) This program helped expand the 2nd grade subject social studies and the curriculum of communities and continents that involved world communities and people. (Brush, Haynes) This program is also being brought into other subject such as math, science and language arts. This program is a start to not only teach the standard curriculum but help the kids of other cultures and minorities be more interested because its involving the teaching of their background also. The teachers of this program change the curriculum each year, such as one year they will do the different music all cultures listen to and the next year they will do holidays. (Brush, Haynes) It seems only good can come out of this program, simply because parents can get involved and show the other students in the class their culture and their other classmates culture and this helps them respect and understand their classmates better. This also helps the students like the article mentions develop pride in their culture because they realize that it is just as important as the main culture.

The Roles Of An Elementary School Teacher

The Roles Of An Elementary School Teacher

An elementary school teacher is not just an individual that gets up and bosses kids around all day and has them take test of what he or she has taught. There is much more to an elementary school teacher that meets the eye. Elementary school teachers have many roles that they play while being with the students in the classroom. Ryan Cooper states some of these roles in the book, Those Who Can, Teach, such as the elementary school teacher being a gatekeeper, dispenser of supplies, grants of special privileges, and timekeeper. (Cooper) With all these roles or functions there is a lot of work and responsibility for an elementary school teacher to do.

In the article “Teacher - Responsibilities of Elementary and Secondary School” written by Kimberly B. Waid and Robert F. McNergney found at the web address http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2477/Teacher.html they talk about how the responsibility of a elementary and secondary school teacher has increased greatly “since the first publication of the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Education.” (Waid, McNergney) Teacher had a certain meaning in the past and historically meant a provider of academic skill and the content of knowledge. (Waid, McNergney) Now there are so many more meanings and functions of what a teacher does in his of her career. Teacher don’t just wake up in the morning thinking ok the lesson plan will be this today, teachers spend hours planning what they lessons plans are going to be for each day of the school year, and sometimes start planning for the next school months are even a year before it arrives.

Some of the responsibilities of an elementary and secondary school teacher consist of assisting students for the certain objectives that are from the curricula, planning lesson plans, and being able to communicate with their students’ parents. (Waid, McNergney) Those are only some of the common responsibilities of a teacher, in today’s world there is a lot more pressure to making sure all your students succeed. In the year 2002 the president George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act this act is accountability on the teachers and the schools for the students performance academically. So each school has to show evidence that the academic state standards are being met. (Waid, McNergney) This put a lot of pressure on teachers because if the students in his or her class is not meeting the standards then this will effect his or her job. Teachers also have to maintain classroom management and discipline, and with violence getting worse and teachers being a possible victim, this makes his or her job as a teacher more important and aware of what precautions he or she needs to take to make the classroom a safe place to learn.

Chapter 4 Sex Education

Sex education in schools has a few major topics that cause controversy, such as whether or not the subject should be taught within the school’s curriculum, what should be taught, and how the subject should be taught. The reason these topics cause such major controversy is the individual’s beliefs. Every person in the world has their own ideas, thoughts and beliefs about sex education in schools. With all the different types of people in the world how do they all come together to make the decision on whether or not to have sex education in their schools, what should be taught, and how the subject should be taught? In the article Facts on Sex Education in the United States found at the web address provides http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_sexEd2006.html key facts on why sex education should be taught in schools, what should be taught about sex education, and how sex education should be taught.
One key fact that is made at the beginning of this article is that “Of the approximately 750,000 teen pregnancies that occur each year, 82% are unintended. More than one-quarter end in abortion.” (Guttmacher Institute) Provided that sex education was available to these teens they possible would have been more informed of the consequences of their actions and thought out their actions more clearly. Another key fact that this article provides “by 2002, one-third of teens had not received any formal instruction about contraception.”(Lindberg LD) This means that the teens’ parents did not provide any information about how to stop pregnancy and the available options that the teens’ can look into if they decide to be sexually active. This fact might also be a reason for deciding weather or not sex education should be taught within a school’s curriculum.
Once a school has decided to have sex education in their curriculum, the next step is what should be taught. Some schools only teach abstinence and others teach both abstinence and conception. In the article “Only one-third of adults surveyed support abstinence-only education, while half oppose the abstinence-only approach"(Ibid.) Even though adults are a major factor on what should and shouldn’t be taught about sex education teachers are important in that decision too. “One in five teachers believe that restrictions on sex education are preventing them from meeting their students’ needs.”(Ibid) The article also says that teachers don’t always meet the standard of what they believe should be taught compared to what they really teach.
How sex education should be taught is up to the school district itself and the teacher. More states are becoming involved with having sex education taught within their school. Up to 35 states are requiring sex education or an education about STDS and AIDS. (Guttmacher Institute) With more states involved in sex education the government also has its own input on the subject. There is a federal law that provides a strict definition of “abstinence-only education” this makes it mandatory for programs to teach that any sexual activity before marriage is wrong for any age group, talk of conception besides showing the failures of conception. (Dailard C) All together the article shows that there are many different views on sex education, and what should be taught and the results of teens not having the information of the knowledge of sex and its consequences, use of conception and the health risk.

Chapter 3 Multiple Intelligences

Chapter 3 Multiple Intelligences
Not all children or even adults learn the same way. An example would be some children and adults might learn a subject or material by having it read to them, and others might learn the subject and material by reading it themselves. In chapter three of Those Who Can, Teach by Ryan Cooper a man by the name of Howard Garner believes that these different ways children and adults learn are “Strengths and weakness and unique combinations of cognitive abilities.” (Cooper) Basically children and adults all approach certain problem and create products differently. (Cooper) In the article Multiple Intelligences found at the web address http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm Howard Garner’s multiple intelligences theory is explained in further detail.
Dr. Howard Garner worked at the University of Harvard as a professor. Around the year 1983 Dr. Howard Garner developed the Multiple Intelligences theory. In his theory there are eight different intelligences that are described. Number one is Linguistic Intelligences, which means word smart. This means a child or adult can easily learn a concept by reading it about it. Second is Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, which means word smart. This means that a child or adult learns a concept by seeing formulas involving math. Third is Spatial Intelligence, which is picture smart. Children and adults with this intelligence learn a concept best by seeing a graph or pictures. Fourth is Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence, which is body smart. That means children and adults learn concepts better by using their own body for example of how the concept works. Fifth is Musical Intelligence, which is music smart. This means that children and adults learn a concept best by singing about it or writing a song. Sixth is Interpersonal Intelligence, which means people smart. A child or an adult learn a concept by interacting with other people. Seventh is Intrapersonal Intelligence, which is self-smart. That means the child or adult understands a concept better if they work alone. The last intelligence is Naturalist Intelligence, which means nature smart. This means children and adults learn a concept by using nature.
With all the sources of the different intelligences and how people learn that Dr. Howard Garner has provided with his theory, teachers can find many different ways to reach out to students. Not every child is the same, and no teacher should give up on a child because the child just doesn’t understand the concept that you are teaching. If a teacher just cannot connect to a child then knowing Dr. Howard’s Intelligences theory could be a big help in your ideas and activities you do to teach your students.

Social Distance Between Teachers and Students

Chapter 14. Maintaining a Social Distance
Chapter two talks about what a first year teacher can expect in their first year of teaching. One topic that is discussed is what kind of social distance a teacher should have with their students and when they should establish this social distance. Social distance is being a strict teacher or being a non-strict teacher. Some teachers according to chapter 14 either come off as one or the other on the first day of school. In an article by Diana Trusca called “A Good Teacher is a Strict Teacher” found out the web address http://articles.famouswhy.com/a_good_teacher_is_a_strict_teacher/ she explains her opinion that there should be a balance between a strict teacher and a non-strict teacher.
Diana Trusca says that in the past of education the way to teach and make students successful people was to be a stern teacher and have strict rules in the classroom. Now in today’s life style teachers are becoming less strict and more caring of the students thoughts and feelings. People have their thoughts and ideas that being strict and having a teacher be feared by his or her students is the right way to teach. Other people say that a student and teacher should have a balance between each other to have the best result of success within a student. Over all Diana Trusca believes that a teacher should have an open mind and a good attitude to other people opinions. But a teacher should not be strict at all, that their should be an overall balance of caring about your student and reaching out to them and also setting that line of sternness that the student knows not to cross and still as respect for the teacher.(Diana Trusca)

Why Teachers Teach. Ch1

Chapter 1 Why Teachers Teach

Why do teachers teach? The reading from chapter one states that there are extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to why teachers teach. An extrinsic reward is an external attraction to do the job such as money or to have power. Considering that teachers don’t get paid very much that is the least likely reason for becoming a teacher. An intrinsic reward is the person’s accomplishment or enjoyment out of the job itself. Some teachers might teach because of both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards or just for one or the other. Chapter one also states that teaching has more extrinsic rewards, but teachers talk more and say they teach for the intrinsic rewards.

In an article by Time magazine at the web address http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,793660,00.html a women in Wisconsin who is a teacher named Dorothy McCuskey explains her reasons for teaching. The article starts off with implying that the pay for a teacher is not that great so why would a teacher teach. Dorothy McCuskey says that when you help a student discover that something such as math that seems so hard to them discover that it’s really easy and are able to get a class to come together as a whole that is the true beauty behind teaching. So Mrs. Dorothy McCuskey teaches for the intrinsic rewards, by helping a student discovery how to solve something that use to be so hard and being able to have a classroom full of students come together and work on an activity is her true reason for teaching. (McCuskey)