I chose to create this particular logo design based upon my concept of culture and of multicultural education. My first idea was to create a chain of continents to represent the weaving of culture throughout the nations. As I saved the file in a photo format, though, the pictures merged and overlapped and suddenly the logo took on a greater meaning. Culture is not unique to every continent, nation, or region. Culture, although it appears in a variety of forms in these different areas, is shared by the world.

As an educator, it is my job to communicate these ideas about culture to my students. They may recognize the value of their own culture, and perhaps are able to appreciate one or two other cultures, but I need to teach them to appreciate culture in a global way because therein lies the connecting thread to the rest of the world.

In relating this to Banks’ Essential Principles for Teaching and Learning in a Multicultural Society, I see similar ideas to those presented above. For example, Banks’ Principle 1 states that teachers should understand the complex characteristics of ethnic groups and the ways in which these characteristics interact to influence student behavior. The key word here is “interact,” which echoes the idea portrayed in my logo.

Another application that I see is in Principle 3, in which Banks writes of the need for curriculum to help students understand the structure and context of knowledge in its relationship to their own lives at home, school, and work. This interweaving of knowledge throughout culture is not unique to certain groups, but is experienced by the entire world in the unique cultures of every nation.

Banks also writes of intergroup relations in Principles 6, 7, and 8. Teachers must help students to value, accept, and interact with other cultures. Again, we see this word “interact” as the relationship that nations should have with each other in their sharing of culture.

January 26, 2009

A is for Américaine (american).
           Born one hour and 16 minutes before the date of this nation’s annual celebration of independence, I know that patriotism runs in my blood. There are not many moments that compare to hearing the national anthem sounding in the air as my eyes drift to a flag waving proudly in the wind.

B is for Babiller (to chatter).
            Chatter is all I hear every day right before the bell rings in class, and yet I am not capable of understanding any of what the students are saying. More than two-thirds of my students are heritage Spanish speakers, and oftentimes I am left wondering if their chatter is in fact about me.

C is for Cochon (hog).
            I was born a Razorback, live as a Razorback, and will die a Razorback. In my home, being a sports fan is part of our daily life. It is also a large part of my culture, and yet it does not seem to be as crucial in the culture of other parts of the world, where children are taken from their homes and raised to be athletes.

D is for Drame (drama).
            I despise hearing about drama. I hate seeing it take place in my classroom. I seem to love to cause drama, though, in my personal life. I wonder why that is true.

E is for Énergumène (rowdy character).
            When I am in a situation in which I feel comfortable, I become a rowdy character. When I am put into an unfamiliar place, though, such as in a multicultural setting, I find that this rowdy character, hoping to hide discomfort, disappears behind a wall.

F is for Famille (family).
            My family is something I value most highly in my life, and there are not many things that would be able to come before them. I was raised to treat the family unit with great importance, and that aspect of who I am would be difficult to change.

G is for Guetter (to watch intently).
            When I am in a public setting, I find myself watching people intently. It does not matter if I know these people intimately or if they are complete strangers. I am a people watcher, and I enjoy imagining what the lives of these people are like once they vanish from the public eye.

H is for Harmonie (harmony).
            Music is the passion in my heart. I love listening to and creating harmonies for others to hear. I also enjoy establishing harmony within my own life in my relationships with others. I wish all people could live in that kind of harmony, but for some reason our differences seem to hold us back.

I is for Indemne (unharmed).
            When I began teaching students of cultures unlike my own, I feared the harm that might come to me because of it. I looked differently than they did, I talked differently than they did, and my values were different from their own values. As I look back now upon those experiences, I see that I am completely unharmed. Instead, I am a much greater individual because of the revelation of those differences.

J is for Journaliste (journalist).
            I am a writer. I have been writing the ponderings of my heart since a very young age and at this point in my life, it is something I do on a daily basis. I struggle when I see students who do not share my love of writing, but who instead try to find their way out of any writing assignment, especially when it includes any touch of personality.

K is for Kaléidoscope (kaleidoscope).
            When I look into my classroom, I see a kaleidoscope of students: cultures, backgrounds, families, interests, etc. Almost anywhere else I go, I do not have the opportunity to see these differences as I do in my classroom.

L is for Logarithme (logarithm).
            Math is like a complete foreign language to me. I am a language learner, but when it comes to using numbers and equations, I am completely lost. Perhaps this is how my students feel when I speak to them in French.

M is for Mari (husband).
            In our culture today, it is perfectly acceptable for a woman to be unmarried and have a career-driven life. In my own personal home culture, though, I am expected to find a husband and spend my life taking care of my home with him and with my children. At times, I feel like an outcast in my own family because I am not yet fitting into the expected mold.

N is for Niguade (simple, silly).
            My attitude towards life is often simple and silly. I find it easier to face challenges with that sort of attitude, rather than looking at complicated situations for what they really are.

O is for Opiniâtre (stubborn).
            Although I am often simple and silly, I remain stubborn all of the time. I think stubborness comes from my being the oldest in a large family of children. To be noticed in such a large group, it is often necessary to have a strong opinion and to make it known.

P is for Passionnée (passionate).
            When asked to describe myself in one word, passionate comes to my mind first. I have been raised to hold to the idea “wherever you are, be all there.” In my faith, my education, with my family, etc, I feel the need to treat my responsibilities with an intense passion.

Q is for Quadragénaire (40-year old woman).
            One of my greatest fears is that I will be a 40-year old woman who still does not know where she wants to be in life. I am just over halfway to this point right now, and it has taken me all of the almost 22 years of my life to determine that I still do not know where I am going. At times, I almost long to be part of a culture where my future is planned out for me with no opportunity for digression.

R is for Reconnaissance (gratitude).
            Gratitude is the attitude with which I look at the way my parents raised me. The beliefs and values they instilled in me because of those that were instilled in them by their parents are things I cherish. I recognize that without that upbringing, I would be a completely different person, who might not even understand the value of gratitude.

S is for Solitaire (lonely).
            Surrounded by many people all day and every day, I should not feel lonely at all, and yet that is often the exact sentiment I experience. I cannot explain it — it is just how I feel. I sense that many of my students feel the same way, especially those who have recently come from an opposite cultural experience. Even in a classroom surrounded by others, these students experience extreme loneliness.

T is for Témoigner (to give evidence, to testify).
            I am constantly hearing people say to me, “You are a testament to home schooling.” I am not sure why people think that, other than because of the fact that I was home schooled all of my life until college and then was successful at the university. For me, my success is not a testament to home schooling itself, but to the practice of simply being a good student.

U is for Unique (only).
            During my last rotation, I had nine students in my first period French I class. Eight were Hispanic, and only one was white. I expected there to be tension in the room towards this single student, and I assumed that she would become alienated among the others, but instead she embraced her status and used the opportunity to get to know another culture. The way she responded to the situation inspired me.

V is for Vérité (truth).
            My friends used to jokingly call me a compulsive liar because I was so obsessed with telling the truth all of the time. The worst thing a person can do is lie to me, and I apply that to my own dealings with others by striving to be completely honest with them all of the time. This value was instilled in me by my parents and is an important part of my life.

W is for Week-end (weekend).
            The weekend is my favorite part of the week because it is then that I actually have time to complete all of the tasks assigned to me. More important, though, is that the weekends are when I spend the majority of my time at my church. My faith is an important part of my life, and it has been part of my home culture since birth to attend church every Sunday.

X is for X (x - unknown).
            This letter represents the unknown in many languages, including my languages of French and English. I have never liked the letter 'x' for this reason. The unknown is extremely frightening to me, and facing situations every day that are unknown to me in the classroom is a concept that causes me great fear.

Y is for Yeux (eyes).
            A person’s eyes are always the first thing I notice when meeting someone new. This has been the case in meeting each one of my students as well. In a situation where there may be a cultural barrier, a language barrier, or some other sort of barrier in our understanding each other, I am able to look into my student’s eyes and find a way to understand what is going on in their life.

Z is for Zizanie (ill-feeling, discord).
            During my first rotation, I was working in a school filled with gang problems. I did not think anything of it until one of my own students showed up at school and used a taser gun he had made using a 9-volt battery. That incident brought me to realize that there are dangers facing teachers when dealing with students in these types of settings. This might easily create a sort of ill-feeling environment, but it is my belief that if we avoid these feelings with our students, we will more easily avoid dangerous situations.

February 14, 2009

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