Classroom Confidential: The 12 Secrets of Great Teachers

Chapter 4 - Great Teachers are Curiosity Seekers: Fostering Success in Multicultural Classrooms

How has my understanding of culture enhanced or changed by my reading of Schmidt?

I'd like to begin by mentioning an astonishing statistic that Schmidt presents to readers: "An African American boy who was born in California in 1988 is three times as likely to be murdered than to be admitted to the University of California" (77). In this chapter, Schmidt also mentions one teacher named Rafe Esquith who puts the name of his students who complete college on the walls of his classroom. Some of these students, many of which who normally wouldn't attend any college at all, have graduated from schools including Harvard, Columbia, Penn, etc. One student even graduated from Yale Law School. It is a great accomplishment to graduate from any one of these schools. Schmidt's statistic mentions the University of California. While this is not a bad school, it is not one of the top-rated schools in the country. It shocks, hurts, and confuses me that an African America student - one who is the same exact age as me - is three times more likely to be murdered than simply accepted to a college. Being a student in the twenty-first century, I strongly believe that young people are more than capable of accomplishing anything they put their minds to. In today's world, we are given the rights to do what we want. I am close to obtaining my Bachelor's degree, but I intend continue my education for quite a long time. Now if I can do this, why can't an African American from California do the same? It is terrible to think that someone living in my own time is not given the same opportunities I am given because of his ethnicity and/or location.

Schmidt includes ten ways that educators can promote cultural awareness in the classroom:

1. Read aloud
2. Family interviews
3. Graphing Multicultural Overlapping
4. Venn diagrams
5. Home-grown literacy materials
6. Holistic reading vs. comprehension checks
7. News from...
8. Roots
9. Rewriting history
10. Cultural awareness through music

As a student at Trinity, I chose ESL to be one of my two minors. When I first sat down with the head of the Education Department, I had never really heard of ESL studies before. I was told that it would make me seem more marketable if I became qualified to teach ESL students, so I enrolled in the necessary classes. But since my first semester at Trinity, I learned that having the privilege to work with diverse students has nothing to do with money no matter the amount. Over the past three and a half years, I have had many experiences that showed me the importance of diversity. I traveled to Eisenhower high school to work with native Spanish-speaking adults who were taking night classes to learn English. I took a tour of the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago to enjoy the city's culture and love of art. I also worked with a number of ESL classes during a couple different field placements. Currently, I am teaching in a school where over 40% of the students receive free or reduced lunches, come from single parent homes, and consist of many different cultures. And each time I find myself in multicultural learning environments, I encourage my students to celebrate diversity. It is one thing to view all people as equals, but it is something completely different (and wonderful!) to acknowledge one another for our differences and then do what we can to learn from and continuously respect each other for the gifts that we have all been given. What would the world be like if we all looked the same? Where would we be if we didn't revel in our uniqueness?

A wonderful group of students I had the pleasure of teaching in 2011. 

After reading this chapter, I feel that I have been informed of some valuable information that I will carry into my teaching with me. We all have different attitudes toward diversity, and I am grateful to have been able to see how Schmidt approaches it in her classroom. I've been able to take what I already know about multiculturalism and reflect upon it using her insights and classroom strategies.