THE ABCs OF DIVERSITY: Multicultural Resources for Grades K12

1
THE ABCs OF DIVERSITYMulticultural Resources
for Grades K-12

• VEMA Conference
• November 12, 2005
• Karen Gavigan
• karen_gavigan_at_uncg.edu

2

• By 2020, demographers predict minorities will
  account for almost ½ of school age children.
• Multicultural Education and Human Relations
  Valuing Diversity.
• David and Roger Johnson.
• Allyn Bacon.
• Boston, MA. 2002.

3

• Through multicultural literature, students gain a
  better understanding of the cultures and beliefs
  of people around the world.
• They develop respect for the differences that
  make each of us unique.

4
Quality Multicultural Literature Shares Five
Characteristics

• Accuracy
• Expertise
• Respect
• Purpose
• Quality

5
Web Quests

• Dispelling the Myth A Study of Cultures
• http//coe.west.asu.edu/students/stennille/ST3/web
  quest.html
• Celebrating Cultures With Tomi dePaola
• http//7-bar.aps.edu/library/cultures.html
• Native American Myth and Legend
• http//si.unm.edu/czwilliamson/webquest/Native20A
  merican
• Walk A Mile In My Sandals
• http//www.netpath.net/bss/WebQuest/MiddleEast/pro
  ject_a.htm

6
Dispelling the Myth A Study of CulturesA
WebQuest on Cultural DiversityFor Fourth, Fifth
and Sixth Grade Students

•  
• Created by Heather Lynch and Stephanie Tennille
• Phoenix, Arizona
•  
• Introduction
• Scenario One day during lunch, two students got
  into a fight. The fight started when one of the
  students made fun of the other student's lunch.
  The lunch was a traditional Mexican meal. When
  the students got back to the classroom, a class
  meeting was held to discuss the incident. During
  the class discussion, the point was made that
  students need to respect each other's culture and
  heritage. One student said, " How can we respect
  a culture we don't really understand?" This
  question prompted the class to decide to go on a
  cultural fact finding mission. One student
  thought it would be fun to call themselves
  Cultural Investigators. To start off, the class
  decided to study Hispanic and Native American
  culture because they are two prominent cultures
  in Arizona.

7
WebQuest With Tomie dePaola
--Celebrating Cultures-- Introduction Have
you ever been to Ireland? How about Italy? Where
in the world is the Nile River? If you had the
chance to re-write a book ending how would you do
it? In this webquest you have the chance to do
it all -- of course with assistance from books
written by Tomie dePaola. The Task After
listening to three Tomie dePaola books, you will
choose your favorite. Based on the book you
choose, you will be put into a group along with
other students who chose that book as their
favorite. Your group will then research the
country for which the Tomie dePaola book
represented and prepare a PowerPoint
presentation as well as a portfolio to show the
class the different things you have learned
about that country.
8
Native American Myth and Legend Web Quest by
Claudia Z. Williamson

•  
• The Task  
• You will be using the computer to learn about
  Native American stories.  By traveling the
  internet you will discover many tribes, their
  history, and culture as passed from generation to
  generation. Each of you will choose a Native
  American tribe and find out where they live. You
  can use the map in class which lists all of the
  tribes and shows where they live.  You will find
  a story from the tribe of your choice and print
  it.  Each student will create a booklet which
  contains the following items

9
Walk A Mile In My Sandals A Web Quest for 7th
Grade on the Middle East

• Introduction
• Imagine you're a middle school student born in
  the U.S., but you now live in the Middle East. 
  How are they the same?  How are they different? 
  If you are a girl, your name is Atyia. If you are
  a boy, your name is Ibraheem.  
• The Task
• Your job is to make a journal of your everyday
  life in the Middle East.  You will keep it for
  one week.  Make sure to include entries about
  food, school, religion, clothing, and recreation.
  

10
Additional Resources

• Teaching Tolerance (List of free resources)
• Reading Corettas Books -
• CSK Participation Packet
• Contact
• DorothyGuthrie_at_Gaston.K12.nc.us
• NC Council on the Holocaust
• http//www.ncpublicschools.org/holocaust_council

11

• Multicultural education should be a process to
  work together celebrate differences, not to be
  separated by them.
• J. Lynn McBrien Ronald S. Brandt
• The Language of Learning. 1997.

12
No Difference

• Red, black, or orange,
• Yellow or white,
• We all look the same
• When we turn out the light.
• From No Difference
• by Shel Silverstein