Prompt 6-- Carlson

To be a truly multicultural teacher, one must be able to speak to a variety of different social and ethnic groups. The teacher must be able to get their point across in order for their students to be able to learn what they need to know to be successful. They must be able to do this across a wide spectrum of different groups. This could be challenging to teachers because of these differences.

In my classroom, I have been able to communicate to each group successfully. After reading Lisa Delpit, I realized that I couldn’t use the language I was used to hearing my teachers use in the classroom. I then decided I was going to use direct language instead of veiled commands. By doing this, I was able to make sure that all my students understood exactly what I was saying. This was being sensitive to all the different social groups by allowing all of them to understand what they need to do.

This prompt can also relate to Dennis Carlson’s article “Gayness, Multicultural Education and Community.” In this article Carlson not only talks about gays and lesbians, but including every group as their own and incorporating them into the curriculum. He states that only people and groups that are considered “normal” are included in the curriculum.

When I am a teacher, I will have to be able to do what Carlson says about including different groups into my curriculum. I cannot just include white middle class history, but the histories of Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and even gay Americans. I will have to be able to speak to each different group by including them in the studies. By including different groups, I will be able to speak to different groups successfully. This will help each student broaden their views of the world, and will hopefully lead to a more accepting future for every different ethnic group.