Week 8

Multicultural education is incredibly important as we continue to become a global community.  Already students are reaching across continents through the internet, engaging in social situations, whether they are playing a multi-player game or commenting on a project created by another student.  However, not all students have these opportunities.  Even though many homes and schools are technology rich there are still places that are not plugged in.  The teacher needs to be aware of these needs and address them.

 The school where I teach is a homogeneous setting so I need to make sure that I include information about other cultural traditions in my lessons.  The curriculum used at our school includes several lessons about different cultures whether it is learning about holidays in different countries or a lesson on the Native American’s way of life.  Younger elementary students are especially interested in learning how students their age study, sports they play and what they do in their free time.

I liked the idea of using the calendar as a lesson to understand different cultures and finding out why different people use different calendars.  I actually did not realize that there were four different ones, so I would have to build my background knowledge first.