Effective Multicultural Education

Robles de Melendez, Wilma, and Vanessa Ostertag. Teaching Young Children In Multicultural Classrooms: Issues, Concepts, and Strategies. Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers, 1997.

This book is separated into three distinct parts. The first section lays the foundation of the United States’ diversity and describes he nature of our people in society and in the classroom. The second section explores the roots of multicultural education with the issues and directions it has taken in the past and continues to take. The last section puts the ideas into practice by detailing what can be done in the classroom through multicultural curriculum programs, lessons and activities, and how this practice can and will ultimately change society.

This book is organized like a sociology textbook in many ways. It contains photographs of people from diverse cultures, tables and figures that explain concepts within the chapter, a “focus on classroom practices” section dedicated to the ideas, activities and practices for the classroom, and a glossary of terms. Each chapter ends by giving the reader tasks and/or learning activities to try out, and a list of children’s literature that ties in with the chapter’s theme.

This is another invaluable book for teachers to use as a tremendous resource, not only for the information given by the authors, but also the outside references important for teachers, parents and the community interested in multicultural education.

"50 Multicultural Books Every Child Should Know"
complied by Ginny Moore Kruse & Kathleen T. Horning

This is a great resource site for teachers and/or parents that appreciate quality children’s literature from different cultural perspectives. This particular site is an offshoot of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) for the School of Education, University of Wisconsin - Madison. The compilers, Ginny Moore Kruse and Kathleen T. Horning have listed fifty multicultural books geared for children from preschool through 12 years old. They have separated the sections for age and developmental appropriateness, there is a section for preschool aged children, 5-7 years, 7-9 years, and 9-12 years. A special feature of the site is the ability to view the front jacket of each book. I would recommend this site to other teachers and parents looking for multicultural literature for their classrooms and homes.

De Gaetano, Yvonne, Leslie R. Williams and Dinah Volk. Kaleidoscope: A Multicultural Approach For The Primary School Classroom. Upper Saddle River, NJ; Merrill Prentice Hall, 1998.

The Kaleidoscope project grew out of a Title VII grant, the Cross Cultural Demonstration Project. It was a three year long collaboration between teachers, parents and administrators whose goals were to “prepare children to be knowledgeable citizens of the world by having them learn through their own cultures and those of others to be critical, reflective thinkers and doers”(vii). The book is essentially providing a look at multicultural education in practice. The authors organized the book into ten chapters dedicated to informing the reader about educational issues, child developmental issues and how it relates and differs specifically through culture. Classroom environments are examined for cultural and developmental appropriateness, and the curriculum is looked at in various dimensions of multiculturism in teaching and learning styles. Two chapters are set aside to guide teachers in their curriculum practices, procedures, and assessment of lessons. One chapter focuses on the role of schools in developing partnerships with parents to create a true multicultural education, where another addresses assessing children and evaluating multicultural programs. The last chapter ties the project together by presenting the notion that those choosing a multicultural approach are essentially advocates for children and society.

I would certainly recommend this book for teachers as a guide and resource for implementing multicultural education practices into their curriculum.

Hillard, Lara L. "Defining The 'Multi' in Multicultural Through Children's Literature." Reading Teacher 48.8 (1995): 728-730.

The article begins by defining what multicultural education is as it pertains to literature. The author provides several definitions but prefers a more encompassing one by Elizabeth Martinez who views multicultural literature as that which “emphasizes respect for the different historical perspectives and cultures in human society”(728).

The author then proceeds to explain why teachers should include multicultural literature in the curriculum. She posits humans learn more from familiar situations, for example, including native American literature to those students who share an ancestry with the native American’s can relate better and retain more of what is being conveyed. Children should be taught the similarities as well as the differences between people and their cultures in order to appreciate and accept other people.

What constitutes good children’s multicultural literature? Books should meet the criteria for good children’s literature regardless of content — and authenticity is vital to literature selections. The books should be evaluated to make sure they are free from stereotyping and that they reflect the values and beliefs of the culture. The author also cautions against being too “politically correct” and hypersensitive to the works so that a sense of perspective is not lost. She concludes by reiterating what an excellent opportunity multicultural literature is to provide children positive experiences and to better prepare them for the diversity found in our world.

McCarthy, Tara. Multicultural Fables And Fairy Tales:
Stories And Activities To Promote Literacy And Cultural Awareness. New York, NY; Scholastic Inc., 1993.

This book helps the teacher interested in using multicultural folk literature for grades 1st-4th. The author describes why using folktales is an activity that promotes literacy and cultural awareness. She also give across the curriculum lessons for each of the stories in the collection. She further divides the folktales by sorting them into their official groups: fables, trickster stories, pourquoi (why) stories, and legends. And describes the meaning and importance of these tales. The author gives general teaching tips on how to best implement folktales into the classroom, and lists class projects and cooperative learning ideas.


~Annotated Bibliography~ Page 3 Multicultural education in the classroom: strategies, approaches and activities to implement. Every disciplines can be taught with a multicultural perspective.

Home Term Project Home Page Annotated Bib Page 1 Annotated Bib Page 2 Annotated Bib Page 3	Robles de Melendez, Wilma, and Vanessa Ostertag. Teaching Young Children In Multicultural Classrooms: Issues, Concepts, and Strategies. Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers, 1997. This book is separated into three distinct parts. The first section lays the foundation of the United States’ diversity and describes he nature of our people in society and in the classroom. The second section explores the roots of multicultural education with the issues and directions it has taken in the past and continues to take. The last section puts the ideas into practice by detailing what can be done in the classroom through multicultural curriculum programs, lessons and activities, and how this practice can and will ultimately change society. This book is organized like a sociology textbook in many ways. It contains photographs of people from diverse cultures, tables and figures that explain concepts within the chapter, a “focus on classroom practices” section dedicated to the ideas, activities and practices for the classroom, and a glossary of terms. Each chapter ends by giving the reader tasks and/or learning activities to try out, and a list of children’s literature that ties in with the chapter’s theme. This is another invaluable book for teachers to use as a tremendous resource, not only for the information given by the authors, but also the outside references important for teachers, parents and the community interested in multicultural education. "50 Multicultural Books Every Child Should Know" complied by Ginny Moore Kruse & Kathleen T. Horning http://www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ccbc/50mult.htm This is a great resource site for teachers and/or parents that appreciate quality children’s literature from different cultural perspectives. This particular site is an offshoot of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) for the School of Education, University of Wisconsin - Madison. The compilers, Ginny Moore Kruse and Kathleen T. Horning have listed fifty multicultural books geared for children from preschool through 12 years old. They have separated the sections for age and developmental appropriateness, there is a section for preschool aged children, 5-7 years, 7-9 years, and 9-12 years. A special feature of the site is the ability to view the front jacket of each book. I would recommend this site to other teachers and parents looking for multicultural literature for their classrooms and homes. De Gaetano, Yvonne, Leslie R. Williams and Dinah Volk. Kaleidoscope: A Multicultural Approach For The Primary School Classroom. Upper Saddle River, NJ; Merrill Prentice Hall, 1998. The Kaleidoscope project grew out of a Title VII grant, the Cross Cultural Demonstration Project. It was a three year long collaboration between teachers, parents and administrators whose goals were to “prepare children to be knowledgeable citizens of the world by having them learn through their own cultures and those of others to be critical, reflective thinkers and doers”(vii). The book is essentially providing a look at multicultural education in practice. The authors organized the book into ten chapters dedicated to informing the reader about educational issues, child developmental issues and how it relates and differs specifically through culture. Classroom environments are examined for cultural and developmental appropriateness, and the curriculum is looked at in various dimensions of multiculturism in teaching and learning styles. Two chapters are set aside to guide teachers in their curriculum practices, procedures, and assessment of lessons. One chapter focuses on the role of schools in developing partnerships with parents to create a true multicultural education, where another addresses assessing children and evaluating multicultural programs. The last chapter ties the project together by presenting the notion that those choosing a multicultural approach are essentially advocates for children and society. I would certainly recommend this book for teachers as a guide and resource for implementing multicultural education practices into their curriculum. Hillard, Lara L. "Defining The 'Multi' in Multicultural Through Children's Literature." Reading Teacher 48.8 (1995): 728-730. The article begins by defining what multicultural education is as it pertains to literature. The author provides several definitions but prefers a more encompassing one by Elizabeth Martinez who views multicultural literature as that which “emphasizes respect for the different historical perspectives and cultures in human society”(728). The author then proceeds to explain why teachers should include multicultural literature in the curriculum. She posits humans learn more from familiar situations, for example, including native American literature to those students who share an ancestry with the native American’s can relate better and retain more of what is being conveyed. Children should be taught the similarities as well as the differences between people and their cultures in order to appreciate and accept other people. What constitutes good children’s multicultural literature? Books should meet the criteria for good children’s literature regardless of content — and authenticity is vital to literature selections. The books should be evaluated to make sure they are free from stereotyping and that they reflect the values and beliefs of the culture. The author also cautions against being too “politically correct” and hypersensitive to the works so that a sense of perspective is not lost. She concludes by reiterating what an excellent opportunity multicultural literature is to provide children positive experiences and to better prepare them for the diversity found in our world. McCarthy, Tara. Multicultural Fables And Fairy Tales: Stories And Activities To Promote Literacy And Cultural Awareness. New York, NY; Scholastic Inc., 1993. This book helps the teacher interested in using multicultural folk literature for grades 1st-4th. The author describes why using folktales is an activity that promotes literacy and cultural awareness. She also give across the curriculum lessons for each of the stories in the collection. She further divides the folktales by sorting them into their official groups: fables, trickster stories, pourquoi (why) stories, and legends. And describes the meaning and importance of these tales. The author gives general teaching tips on how to best implement folktales into the classroom, and lists class projects and cooperative learning ideas. 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Annotated Bibliography, page 3 ~ Effective Multicultural Curriculum © Tammia Madden, 2002 URL of this webpage: http://www.cocc.edu/tammiam/TermProject/annobiblio3.htm Last Updated: 04 June 2002