Reflection #3

My elementary schools multicultural education was very limited. Although there were a many children in my school from a different culture we did not learn about them. What we learned in school was the contributions approach where we learned about the most famous heroes, holidays, and traditions of certain cultures. During holidays like St. Patrick’s Day children were encouraged to wear green. I personality began to associate green with the Irish. I had no idea why green and people from Ireland went together but that was what I had learned. However, in middle school there were instances where we were exposed to different cultures in detail. The first memory of being exposed to multicultural education in middle school was in a food festival in sixth grade. This memory was also a part of contributions approach, where everyone brought in a dish from their culture. As students tasted a small sample of the dish the presenter would discuss different aspects of their culture. This festival was a huge deal as it was the first time we ate anything from a different culture. We also learned a lot about women’s culture including various current writers of the time. This is defiantly the addictive approach as it was during black history month when we learned about Maya Angelou. I’m glad that there was a month that focused in on black history because without it I may not have exposed to her writing. I can vividly remember a play that was put on during this time. The students put on a play based on Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman” it spoke to me on so many levels. It was the first time I directly related a poem to my life. If one poem could do this for me, image what including other cultural influences could do for other children. If I could go back I would want teachers to take the transformation approach. I would have like to discuss different global issues with my peers. By discussing major events that happen on a global scale we can then go deeper into that culture. By discussing how and why people of different cultures fell in their own perspectives during a current event is a great way to learn about that culture. I would have also liked it if teachers used the social actions approach. During my middle school education there were several social events going on globally that I would have liked to help with. One person cannot make that much of a difference but an entire school can. It teaches young children how to solve problems and to use political means to solve these problems.