One of the first steps to creating a successful multicultural classroom is fostering a safe and inclusive learning environment.  A safe classroom is one where the students and teacher have respect for one another.  Respect for each others differences and respect for each others learning.  Not only do students and teachers need to respect the diversity of the classroom, but everyone must respect that all learners are unique in their abilities and that learning, especially when mistakes are made, is a process free from ridicule.  Students who feel safe in the classroom are more likely to be academic risk takers, which will encourage a greater understanding for the curriculum.  Along with creating a safe environment, a classroom must also be inclusive.  It is not enough that all students participate in the class assignments. Educational materials should be inclusive of diverse voices and perspectives.  Including a multitude of perspectives shows the students that all voices are heard in the class, not just the dominate, mainstream culture. Students who are able to think critically about a wide range of resources and feel safe in doing so will be successful in a multicultural setting.

In addition to creating a safe, inclusive classroom, a multicultural classroom must focus on the democratic ideologies on which United States was founded.  Schools should not promote the ideologies and political goals of any specific group, but should promote democratic ideologies to facilitate societal change that enhances human dignity.  As suggested by the National Council for the Social Studies, “students should be encouraged to examine the democratic values that emerged in the United States, why they emerged, how they were defined in various periods, and to whom they referred in various eras.  It is also important to look at how those values have not been fulfilled and the conflicts that ensued surrounding competing values and interests.  Students who recognize that all Americans had to fight for their freedoms at various points through our nation’s history will understand why it is vital that all cultures work together in support of our democratic society.

In addition to the classroom climate, or the hidden curricula, students in a multicultural setting thrive under a student-centered pedagogy where learners work collaboratively to meet learning goals.  According to Harry and Rosemary Wong in their book The First Days of School, research shows that collaborative learning is the most successful means for fostering student achievement.  In an ideal multicultural setting, student’s voices and experiences are brought to the forefront of the classroom  Students who work together bring a host of experiences and ideas to the table.  Working in a safe and inclusive environment gives students the opportunity while working in groups to hypothesize, test, and implement solutions to problems posed in the classroom.  Collaborative work is also important in a multicultural classroom because after graduation students will enter an increasingly multicultural workforce.  A successful multicultural setting must provide an opportunity for students to showcase their strengths while working to solve a common problem just as many Americans do in the workplace.

In conclusion, a safe and inclusive classroom that focuses on democratic ideologies while incorporating student-centered, collaborative, and project-based curriculum will successfully foster a multicultural learning environment.  The foundation of any successful classroom, especially a multicultural one, is a safe and inclusive learning environment.  Teachers and students in a safe and inclusive multicultural setting are then able to honestly and openly analyze society through the lens of our nation’s democratic ideologies, giving students a common sense of ideals such as liberty and equality.  Finally, much of the research on student learning, in or out of a multicultural setting, indicates that students are most successful when they work collaboratively to meet common goals.  This is important because according to the late president John F. Kennedy, “in America there must be only citizens, not divided by grade, first and second, but citizens, east, west, north, and south.”  It is up to educators to facilitate this type of learning environment to effect positive social change in the years to come.

Further Readings:

Larri Fish. “Building Blocks: The First Steps of Creating a Multicultural Classroom.” http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/buildingblocks.html

David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson “Making Diversity a Strength” http://www.co-operation.org/pages/CLandD.html#strength

Lee Knefelkamp. “Effective Teaching for the Multicultural Classroom” http://www.diversityweb.org/digest/f97/curriculum.html

“Creating a Multicultural Classroom Environment” Teacher Enrichment Training Solutions Newsletter, vol. 3, issue 12. http://www.cceionline.com/newsletters/December_08.html

Roles and Responsibilities for Multicultural Education.

Ethnic pluralism in the United States is growing at an astounding rate.  According to the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), “students of color will make up nearly half (46%) of the nation’s school-age youth by 2020.”  Furthermore, 27% of that group will be victims of poverty.  Although this is a national trend, it is especially important in Connecticut where the achievement gap between whites, mainly living in the suburbs, and their urban counterparts is the widest compared to any state in the Union. (Hartford Courant 07/16/2010)  Of course, the factors contributing to the achievement gap are many and varied, but the burden of educating students for the future still falls to school districts, administrators, and teachers.  Educators at all levels must help students develop knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to participate in the work force and society.  Unfortunately, many, like NCSS, believe that, “as currently conceptualized and organized, schools today are unable to help most low-income students and students of color attain these goals.”

Before one can discuss the goals of multicultural school reform, it is important to look at the three major factors that make multicultural education a necessity.  First, as discussed above, ethnic pluralism is a growing societal reality that influences the lives of young people.  More and more, students are interacting in microcosms of plurality such as schools, sports teams, and in multicultural communities.  Multicultural education is also a necessity because in one way or another, individuals acquire knowledge or beliefs, sometimes invalid, about ethnic or cultural groups.  A multicultural education, where classes take an unbiased approach to studying cultures in America and the world will work to fend off discrimination.  Finally, beliefs and knowledge about ethnic and cultural groups limit the perspectives of many and make a difference, often a negative difference, in the opportunities and options available to members of ethnic and cultural groups.  Overall, it is important to provide a multicultural education in a democratic society to protect and provide opportunities for ethnic and cultural diversity, while at the same time supporting the overarching values of equality, justice, and human dignity for all groups.

Although it may be obvious that there is a need for multicultural education in our society, how would one know what an effective multicultural program looks like?  The National Council for the Social Studies suggests four principles for ethnic and cultural diversity.  For many individuals, group identity can provide a foundation for self-definition.  Ethnic and cultural group membership can provide a sense of belonging, shared traditions, and interdependence of fate.  As the first principle states, ethnic and cultural diversity should be recognized and respected so individuals who define themselves ethnically can do so without shame or conflict.  Similarly, when students’ cultures are respected and students feel secure, cultural diversity provides a basis for societal enrichment, cohesiveness, and survival.  This second principle seeks not only to recognize and respect ethnic and cultural diversity but establish across racial, ethnic, and cultural lines intercultural bonds that will contribute to the strength and vitality of society.  Next, equality of opportunity must be afforded to all members of ethnic and cultural groups.  Finally, Ethnic and cultural identification should be optional in a democracy.  For instance, just because a student is Asian and they or their parents immigrated from China or India, does not necessarily mean that the student identifies with their culture of origin.

Taking these principles into serious consideration will guide educators in developing the role of the school in a multicultural setting.  Primarily, a school’s socialization practices should incorporate the ethnic diversity that is an integral part of the democratic commitment to human dignity.  This goes beyond celebrating heroes and holidays of particular cultures and demonstrates a commitment to recognizing and respecting ethnic and cultural diversity; promoting societal cohesiveness based on shared participation of ethnically and culturally diverse people; maximizing equality of opportunity for all individuals and groups; and facilitating constructive societal change that enhances human dignity and democratic ideals.  Overall, the study of ethnic heritage should not consist of a narrow promotion of ethnocentrism or nationalism.  This is both counterproductive and detrimental to creating a cohesive learning environment.

In its comprehensive report on multiculturalism in the classroom, the NCSS also points out two goals for schools incorporating multicultural educational program.  First, “schools should create total school environments that are consistent with democratic ideals and cultural diversity.”  In this instance, multiculturalism would be evident not only in curricula and materials, but in policies, hiring practices, governance procedures, and climate or the “hidden curricula.”  This is important because students often learn more about society from non-formal areas of schooling.  Education for multiculturalism requires systemwide changes that permeate all aspects of school life.

The second goal suggested by NCSS is that “schools should define and implement curricular policies that are consistent with democratic ideals and cultural diversity.”  In short, schools should not promote the ideologies and political goals of any specific group, but, rather, promote the democratic ideologies on which the United States was founded.  Students trained to examine bias, prejudice, equality, justice, and human rights through the lens of democratic ideologies will be better equipped to make connections between a multicultural curriculum and their everyday lives.  It is these connections that will effect positive change in our schools, communities, and society.

If the purpose of education is to ready students to participate in the workforce, then multiculturalism must be incorporated into the curriculum.  The United States is already diverse and will continue to become more so in the future.  Gone are the days where it is acceptable to view subjects such as History from the Eurocentric point of view.  This practice negates the debt that Western civilization owes to Africa, Asia, and indigenous America.  In reality, the world is becoming smaller and more interconnected and the students of today must be educated to succeed in the work place of tomorrow.

A safe, accepting and productive classroom community is established through team building or community building activities.  Team building activities are stimulating problem-solving tasks designed to help group members develop their capacity to work effectively together.  Many times they seem like kids games and often they are.  The key to effective team building activities is the interaction between the students and the reflection after the activity is concluded.  Some community building activities are of a get to know you nature.  Others, however, encourage students to work together and discover that they share many of the same qualities and experiences that will help them solve a problem.  Many times in these types of activities a leader will emerge from the group and others will act as facilitators.

In the past, I have worked with team or community building activities in both a getting to know you sense as well as problem solving activity.  Once, I worked with students on various community building activities, each of the activities became increasingly more difficult until they reached a ropes course where the students had to work together to pass the obstacle course safely.  These activities were both fun and challenging.  The students really made connections with their classmates.

Although going to a ropes course for community building sounds great, it is not a viable option for everyone.  A great way to begin the year is with an icebreaker that sets a tone of respect for other cultures and ethnicity.  As for team and community building, the class could create a Big Welcome Book.  In this activity the students share their personal views of the school and themselves.  First, have the students brainstorm about three topics.  For instance, what they think about their new school; what are some things you could say to another student to make them feel at ease; and what are important classroom rules for a new school year?  After the students brainstorm about these topics, list their ideas on the board.  Next, break the students into groups and give each group a large sheet of paper and drawing materials.  The students then create a book that can be kept in the classroom that expresses a little about who they are individually and also as a learning community.  After creating the book the students should reflect on the book making process and share with the class.

All in all, establishing a safe, accepting, productive classroom community is vital to student success.  When the students feel accepted and safe they are motivated to excel in and out of the classroom.  Although a teacher may not have access to a sophisticated ropes course, there are thousands of options for community building activities.   No matter which option you choose, the facilitator (in this case the teacher) is a critical element in the activity.  The students need to see that the teacher is enthusiastic about their responses and believes that they can be successful.  So, in actuality, it is the educators responsibility to create a learning environment that is safe, accepting, and productive.  A good way to meet that goal is to incorporate community building activities where the students work collaboratively to meet a task or solve a problem.

Of course, just zooming over the river is not the only connection I have to what native Americans called ”the long tidal river.”  On one occasion, my father and I canoed from Enfield, CT to Middletown.  This trip opened my eyes to many things that I did not realize about the river and its uses.  First, in Northern CT the river is more shallow and has some rapids.  To make passage easier, Hartford citizens constructed the Enfield canal for ferries and ships.  Once you make down to the Windsor area, and especially Hartford, the river is very deep and slow moving.  For years, Hartford was a port city and the river, in many areas, was dredged out for easier travel of steam powered vessels.  South of Hartford, the canoe trip turned from a meandering sightseeing tour of low, flat farmlands to an all out struggle to row ourselves to Middletown before sunset.  As mentioned earlier, the river was very deep and slow moving and we had to use mostly our own strength to push the canoe to our destination.

While growing up on the banks of the Connecticut river, my family and I rode our bikes on what is now Windsor Locks Canal State Park.  This canal was originally built in the 19th century to aid ships and ferries traveling to points North of Windsor.  This canal, which was built following the Erie Canal, but has long since been abandoned with the advent of rail and highways.  In fact, the river itself is not the shipping lane that it once was.  Instead people have turned to the the highways and interstates that in many areas travel adjacent to the Connecticut River due to the low, flat lands created by a glacier that carved the valley many millenia ago.

I now know that the Connecticut River has an important role in the history of CT.  Beginning with geological foundations of the region, to settlement, industrialization, urban flight, and now, the reawakening of interest in living in the Capital city.  What many may not realize is that Connecticut, especially Hartford, history is directly tied to the river.  One cannot fully understand the essence of local history without recognizing the importance of the Connecticut River.  Although the people, landscape, land use, and even the river itself has changed over time, one things stands true, the Connecticut River has always and possibly will always have a profound effect on the residents of the region.  But, do Connecticut citizens realize its importance?  Hopefully, we can educate our youth to understand and respect the river so future generations can have as deep of a connection to the Connecticut River as I do.

There were, however, many bright spots in this experience.  The units, lessons, and assessments that I created for my classes were some of the best I have done.  The class that I put the most time into was a Honors US History course for sophomores.  When I took over the course, we were just finishing up WWII. While I was their teacher, we looked at the Cold War through the lens of our essential question, “Did the United States actions, between 1945 and 1991, at home and abroad, compromise our nation’s democratic principles?”  It is obvious that this question covers many if not most topics for the Cold War.  The only problem is where to begin.

In order for the students to get a firm background for this Unit, we had to define democratic principles.  I used a concept development model to list all the items, words, ideas associated with democratic principles and guided the students as they created their definition.  Although both classes developed a different definition for democratic principles, they both developed a deep understanding for democratic principles.

Over the next couple of weeks we looked at the early Cold War, at home and abroad, up to and including the Korean War.  The focus of this portion of the unit was to identify and evaluate democratic principles as shown in history and understand why democratic principles are important to study in the Cold War.  Next, we turned to the Vietnam War and several Cold War landmarks that happened in the same time period.  Finally, as a capstone for the course, I invited a historian to speak on the differences between authoritarian government and democratic government, the significance of the Berlin Wall, it’s fall, and the collapse of the USSR.  With all of our study of the Cold War the students were able to engage and ask questions of the guest speaker, which created a dynamic experience for the students.

In preparation for the final exam, students formulated an essay evaluating whether or not the Cold War was a great victory for the United States.  Essentially, the students read two essays of opposing viewpoints and use this information along with their background knowledge for the topic to create their own essay which was graded according to a department rubric.  Overall, I was very pleased with the progress and higher order thinking skill displayed by the students.  This unit was successful.

Although I did use Understanding by Design strategies for this unit, I did not create the final assessment and teach to the test.  Instead, I determined 5 or 6 skills that I wanted to stress in this unit and taught and retaught until most (if not all) students had made significant progress.  Some of the skills I focused on were analyzing primary sources such as speeches, news articles, and political cartoons; writing paragraph responses; creating news articles; writing essays; note taking; and reading for information.

All in all, even though this was a tough semester, it was fruitful.  I brought my craft as a teacher to the next level.

Along with skills, I have been referencing course guidelines to ensure that content is introduced in a meaningful way.  I am trying to avoid a top-down march through dates, names and events, however I did give my US History class a PowerPoint presentation on the timeline of the Cold War from 1954-1970.  In this class activity, the students took notes on key events of the time period, some of which we had already discussed in the Vietnam Unit (e.g. My Lai Massacre, Tet Offensive).  Other material presented was important for students to know, but was not essential to their understanding of the course material.

Just this past weekend, I put together an outline for each final exam; three exams total.  This is my second time administering final exams.  For the most part, I think that the process of preparing for exams and administering exams are relatively easy.  The true challenge comes when it is time to grade.  Of course, there are those people out there that will say, “don’t make the test so hard to grade and you will be fine.”  Well, quite frankly, I don’t agree with that statement.  Finals are an important capstone to the semester.  The process is tedious not because of the length of time it takes to grade one paper, but all of the exams combined.

Overall, this is a time-honored tradition, but maybe it is time for a change.  The issue that I have with the typical final exam is the emphasis on memorization of facts.  Many of the finals that I have seen are a large portion multiple choice answers, identifying, matching, or true false.  I don’t see enough skills being tested/evaluated on these types of assessments.  One example of a different type of assessment would be an encompassing project looking at the themes covered in one year.  For instance, my US History class recently completed a project on the Vietnam War.  In this assignment the students had to analyze songs, political cartoons, or images and determine how they showcase a specific theme we have been studying, US democratic principles.  I haven’t graded the assignments yet, but I am already impressed by the amount of effort and creativity the students put into their work.  This assignment focused on higher order thinking, the crown jewel in education theory.  Wouldn’t you agree that would be nice to see some more evidence of higher order thinking on end of the year finals?

One tool that I picked up this semester was the online website manager and social tagging site, delicious.  I use this program on a daily basis and I love it.  Since signing up for an account this past January, I have bookmarked over 100 sites on various social studies topics.  In fact, I got rid of internet explorer and substituted Firefox as my browser because delicious is an add on for Firefox.  Every time I utilize a website for teaching or research and I think that it may be relevant to use in the future, I bookmark the site and set as many tags to the site as possible.  Overall, this site has made organizing important web resources in one efficient place, instead of writing down each url and hopefully remembering where that damned slip of paper disappeared to.

Another benefit of the digital history course is the utilization of a blog.  I have always been a person who valued reflection as an important means for internalizing learned material.  I often incorporate reflections into the classroom because it is a higher order thinking skill.  Through this blog I have been able to pose questions and formulate opinions on topics in class.  Utilizing a blog on a regular basis also gave me the confidence needed to build and manage a website on Google.  This site is a place where students can check homework assignments and announcement related to my class.

Overall, I intend to maintain this blog, although maybe not as frequently as I have over the past several weeks.  I believe that utilizing a blog as a learning, growth, and development tool is important to my progression as a professional.

The difference, in essence, is derived not from the teacher’s contribution to the field, but from the audience.  Teachers most certainly do contribute to the field.  Each day, they present a wide range of primary resources, provide tools for analyzing them, and ultimately contributing to the memory of past events.  Just the act of creating memory and a narrative for an audience is an act of public history.  But the difference lies in the audience.  Typically, public historians either work for an agency or are hired as a freelance.  Regardless of where or when they work, the public historian is working for their audience.  They have to market either their skills or interpretations to attract clients.  For the social studies teacher, it is much different.  Aside from having to apply for the job and interview, the clientele is compulsory.  I bet there are many, if not all, directors of museums or historic houses who would love a compulsory crowd.

This does not mean that a social studies teacher does not use the same tools as a public historian.  Really, if you think about it a public historian and a social studies teacher are very similar.  They both are professionals whom wear many hats.  As a teacher, one has to be a researcher, administrator, editor, archivist, web designer, and much more.  Both positions also require and encourage team work and collaboration.  From my experience, the training of both focus on many similar concepts such as being inclusive, inventive, democratic, interdisciplinary, scholarly, informed, forward-thinking, and civic minded.  This is only a sample of the similarities.  Also, both professions are involved with educating, creating discussion, and promoting analysis.  So now the question becomes, what is public history?  And, who are public historians?

Defining public history is no easy task.  In fact, there is little consensus even among public historians themselves.  J. D. Bowers, of Northern Illinois University describes public historians as a “historian in the middle,” acting as a sort of mediator between academic historians and the public.  Denise Meringolo likens a public historian to a community organizer with the training of a historian.  Jane Becke, however, indicates that the profession is a “part of a broad range of humanities, scholarship and practice.”  The most difficult, and frustrating, part of selecting an appropriate definition for the field is that each of the three mentioned above are all right in their own way.  In my estimation, public history is a progressive field where historians utilize research to make insightful and accessible contributions to a public audience.

This was not my first definition of Public History.  My original definition was too narrow, focusing on employment and the human experience rather than accessibility to a public audience.  After developing my original definition, I searched for other definitions and came across the National Council of Public History (NCPH) website, which had a page describing the ongoing discussion surrounding the definition of Public History.  NCPH defines public history as “a movement, methodology, and approach that promotes the collaborative study and practice of history; its practitioners embrace a mission to make their special insights accessible and useful to the public.”  Along with this definition there are two responses expressing the ideas presented above.  Essentially, I was pleased to find that my description of public history was not that far off from what other professionals in the field have been discussing.

Another time, I will have to describe my reasoning  for my definition of public history, but now it is time to end this post.  Just remember, when you think about public history, it is a broad and developing field.  The evidence of such is in the many different definitions that exist.

In the future, if this exhibit turns into something more than a class project, the introductory essay may be what people (in my case teachers) use to determine if the archive is worth while.  Essentially, it may determine if my archive is relevant and credible.  Of course, I am probably putting too much emphasis on the importance of this piece…that is typically my shortcoming.  I am always striving to change the world or make some sort of break through.  I think my wife puts it best when she tells me to “Keep it Simple Stupid.”  Honestly, this is great advice, but it hurts every time.

When it comes right down to it in this essay I have to determine why people should care about this archive.  Why is the archive relevant?  To answer this question, my archive is relevant because Hartford is like a microcosm of what might have happened if the South did not secede from the Union.  Essentially, in Hartford, there was a large number of Democrats and Republicans.  The climate of Civil War Hartford was very explosive.  There were Democrats who supported the war, known as War Democrats.  There were anti-War Democrats who, in many cases, supported the Confederacy.  As for Republicans, there were basically two types.  There were what would be considered today fiscal Republicans, whom supported the war effort because they were at the forefront of business innovation and wanted protection from a strong central government for their business adventures.  Finally, there were radical Republicans that pushed to end slavery.

Although I think that this information is all extremely interesting it is not the material that would be typically covered in a Middle or High School setting.  For my essay, I have to focus on how local history reflects the trends that were occurring nationally.  That is the focus of my collection and exhibit.  Now I just need to put the thoughts to paper in a way that entices people to utilize my materials.

Although the site editor for Google is pretty straight forward, learning how to use it was like learning another language.  It was full of trial, error (mostly error) and frustration.  The first major headache after I chose which template I wanted was figuring out how to organize information on the site.  I knew that I wanted an area where announcements for each class could be viewed quickly and easily, but I definitely didn’t know how to do that.  Luckily, I was able to contact another teacher who instructed me on how to tweak the site so the information fit together nicely.

The next major problem, which I have yet to conquer, is figuring out what I want to put on the site for text.  I don’t want all text in your face because that is boring.  Essentially, I want to explain each of the classes on their own subpage.  But really, who is this explanation for?  I am willing to bet that most students who visit the site are not interested in my definition of Sociology or Civics or US History.  In actuality, this information is for the parents.  I have some parents ask me when and if I was going to post a website.  I bet that any parent actually interested enough to visit the site will probably read this information.

Overall, this has been a great learning experience.  I am now at least semi-proficient in creating a website on Google.  The great thing about this site is that if I go to another school, the site comes with me.  I am also able to put the address for this site on my resume, which I am sure many administrators will find impressive for job interviews.  So far, my work in Hist 511: Digital History has transformed me from a digital idiot to a Digital Champion.