Teacher’s self assessment about his level of consciousness and awareness of other races, religion and cultures helps him a lot in planning the class room activity effectively. Talking about the crucial role of teachers in creating a multicultural class room, Betty Wilson highlights the importance of teachers learning of new cultures. She says: I think it’s very important for teachers to know their own cultures very well and study their own cultures, because then they begin to become more reflective listeners.
They look at other people’s cultures in a different light, and they begin to see the similarities and differences in their cultures. It becomes a journey in a classroom of learning, because by the teacher sharing their own culture, then the students are more open to that. (Wilson, 2000) As Betty Wilson, the director of multicultural education at Oak Park School, rightly points out learning other cultures will be an enriching experience This demands not only learning new things and cultivating new habits but also unlearning old habits and beliefs.
A resource center rich in solutions for the teachers solves many of the dilemmas of the teacher of multi-cultural class room. Sharing the experiences of other faculty members across the university or other institutions will be immensely useful for solving many of the issues in the day to day activities in the class room. Creating opportunities for knowing other cultures about their history and present situation and problems should be made a part of academic curricula.
Planning on campus or off campus events teachers and their assistant will have a better understanding of the needs of young people who are members of different cultures.
A multi-cultural celebration day is a wonderful idea for all the students who come from different cultures to express themselves freely and to recognize and understand the importance of other cultures. Setting up a bulletin board that gives equal importance to all the five different cultures without hurting the feelings of others is major step in announcing the multi-cultural festival.
The board provides ample space for exhibiting the important or representative symbols all the cultures that are present in the class room. Assigning the work to the students to create their own poster expressing their cultural values and symbols encourages all the students and involves every student in the work. Monitoring their work without any interference in their creative expression is a delicate task and it should be dealt with very sensitively. Giving clear instructions in advance will solve many delicate issues.
For example, informing the students clearly the place of their poster on the bulletin board following an objective method like the alphabetical order avoids scope for conflict. In fact, to create multicultural class room is a continuous process. It does not end with a multicultural festival. It requires careful planning and meticulous execution over a period of time to establish strongly a base for multicultural class room environment. It will not happen in a day or a semester. It is a demanding work for life long involving learning and unlearning.
Creating a healthy multicultural class room is not just the work of the class teacher only. It needs active participation of every teaching and non teaching staff member of the institution. The support and leadership of the authorities who run the institution and the participation of all the departments are the foundation on which the edifice of a multicultural class room can be built. Of course, the process is bound to have certain occasional failures and setbacks but the process should be an ongoing one.
It requires a lot of determination, time, effort and money and the investment of all these are worth building a multicultural world for a happy and healthy coexistence. It calls for a long-term investment, an investment in our own growth and change as well as in our students and in the university and society of which they and we will continue to be a part. (Mark Chesler, 2003)
References
Chesler Mark (2003) Teaching Well in the Diverse/Multicultural Classroom
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