Chapter 5 Notes: 1) A multicultural Social Studies Curriculum i.

The curricular dimension: Students learn about many cultural groups, both those comprising the pluralistic society in the United States and those comprising the pluralistic society in the United States and those who live in other countries. ii. The equity dimension: Multicultural education is the reform process that creates classrooms where all students have equal educational opportunity. b. A multicultural Curriculum: Four Approaches i. The Contributions Approach 1. The holidays and heroes approach 2. Key element missing is a lack of depth: no comprehensive study of other cultural groups is undertaken, nor is any attempt made to look at topics from a full range of perspectives. ii. The Additive Approach 1. The units of study change only in that content is added to include multicultural perspectives. 2. The problem is experiences and perspective of minority groups in the United States and people in foreign countries appear as an afterthought. iii. The transformation Approach 1. Reconsider the scope of the social studies curriculum 2. Expand the geographic boundaries of your unites of study 3. Introduce your students to a mosaic of people. iv. The Social Action Approach 1. Includes all the elements of the transformation approach but goes further and ask students to make decisions and take action. c. The Transformation Process i. Reconsider the scope of the social studies curriculum. 1. Should be undertaken by a committee of teachers 2. Units of study should be analyzed for their content.

3. Units need not be based on historical periods. Instead, issues and themes should be used as the focus. ii. Expand the geographic boundaries of your units of study. 1. Take a global prospective and look for cross-cultural comparisons. iii. Introduce your students to a mosaic of people. 1. Whatever the topic, consider the contribution of , and the impact on, African Americans, Asian Americas, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, and children. 2. Inclusion, not exclusion 3. Should continue to present information that has traditionally been a part of social studies. d. In their Own Words: Childrens Books i. Children must hear the voices of a wide range of people. ii. Frist-hand accounts of what a person has wrote. iii. Try to find stories that include a childs experiences, they might be easier to relate to. e. In their Own Words: Oral History i. Oral history is a method of gathering spoken, first-person accounts of past events. ii. The benefits 1. Allows students to become historians. 2. Transforms the curriculum in that it inevitably increases the sources of information available to our students. 3. An excellent language arts activity. 4. Projects are relevant to their experiences, they teach social science inquiry processes, and allow English learners to use both their languages. 5. Makes any subject more interesting. iii. The guidelines of Oral History Projects 1. Determine the focus so the oral history project 2. Identify the projects outcomes for students. 3. Engage students in doing some background work. 4. Direct students to plan their interviews. 5. Create a list of questions to be asked during the interview.

6. Help students understand how to go beyond previously determined questions. 7. Hold the interviews in controlled setting. 8. Help your students be good interviewers. 9. Request that interviewees sign a release form. 10. Support interviews with documents and artifacts. 11. Analyze interviews. f. Incorporating the Personal Experiences of your Students. i. Cultural Universals 1. All people share basic needs, such as food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. 2. Linking the lives of your students to people from other places and times. 3. Questions like a. When do we eat lunch at school b. Does your family have lunch at home on the weekends? c. What types of foods to we eat for lunch at school? How are they different from breakfast and dinner? d. With whom do you eat lunch at school? e. How does lunch begin at home? f. What drinks to we have at lunch in school? What do you drink with meals at home? ii. The experiences of Childhood. 1. Focus on the experiences that other children share. iii. A childs life history 1. Students might have participated in events you are studying 2. Students can learn how historians work by writing documented histories of themselves and their families. 3. Students should learn about their communities, and as they do, they can combine their personal experiences with field tips, oral history, and the examination of documents, like old newspapers. iv. Current Events 1. The events of the day can also be used to provide a link between personal experiences and social studies.

v. Consumer Goods 1. Articles of clothing, toys, cans of food, and other consumer good can be the starting point for lessons in geography and economics. g. A multicultural Curriculum: How to Adapt a traditional Unit of Study i. Expand the Resources Found in Traditional Units ii. Provide More Than One Perspective on Historical Events iii. Include a Wider Spectrum of Biographies iv. Reveal a Wider Range of Events v. Encourage the reading of Juvenile Novels. vi. Expand the study of prominent people and events vii. Summary This chapter started by talking the four approaches for incorporation multicultural perspectives into the social studies curriculum. Next, the author took the time to discuss about the three considerations for transforming social studies units of study. After this, they talked about Childrens books, Oral history projects, how to incorporate the personal experiences of your students into the social studies curriculum. The author ends by talking about the performing arts.

Question: What if as a teacher you do not have the money to create fun activities, how could you still create engaging lessons?

Assumptions: I didnt have any that I am aware of.