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For me, the challenge with teaching multiculturalism to college-aged students is that many are not willing to make the connection that gaining an understanding of different cultures means acknowledging and exploring difficult histories. It's easy to say we are comfortable with the expression of culture from a pop culture or media standpoint, but we are often lacking in our knowledge of the story behind the heroes and icons we tend to celebrate or emulate. I'll give you two examples. To more deeply understand and appreciate the cast of the Jersey Shore and the tight-knit connection between them is to also appreciate that Italian- Americans share a particularly strong bond that happened as a result of immigration and discrimination in the early 20th century. To more deeply understand and appreciate the marriage of Cardi B and Offset as part of hip-hop, street, and trap culture is also to appreciate the history of Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican music as it developed over generations of colonization and survivance. Beats and music are key to the storytelling culture of African Americans and Islanders.

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It is my opinion that lessons about national history of this sort are important for students to hear. When students learn about impactful events and can connect it back to their own current experiences, I believe that they become more invested in what happens with their education because it is no longer about their individual education. Instead, education becomes a group endeavor where the goal is to help everyone have equality in opportunities, resources, and access to knowledge. When you can get people to understand the importance of compassion and working together, we realize the true power of advocating for others and standing up for what is right. It is very hard to change the world on your own. However, when you have friends, family, and supporters by your side, real change is possible. I do not think that parents would disagree with this notion, however there is a caveat. The caveat is that I think this type of education needs to be done responsibly so that it does not foster resentment and mistrust of the system. Instead, I think the emphasis needs to be on what can be done and is currently taking place to remedy and fix the issues of the past. When the emphasis sways towards this end of the spectrum, I think students will be more inspired to make change rather than live in victimhood full of anger and disdain.

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I believe that an education system which fairly and justly represents the injustices of human history and tries to make amends for mistakes of the past (e.g. discrimination in school systems) should exist, but needs to be introduced in a tactful and non-condescending manner. While it is undoubtedly true that certain behaviors should not be tolerated, going in swinging with accusatory statements or changes may be met with further backlash and isolation within the system of the people attempting to be changed. Such an issue may be especially troublesome for parents, who may or may not take large issue with the misguided ideals they've been raised upon being challenged and rejected with scorn and unwavering denial. Even if I would agree with the fact that a very, very large amount of the system and what it's built upon is founded in very discriminatory and unjust history, I also believe there has to be a fair discussion to not close in the ones who would be less willing to change. In terms of personal disliking, I feel very repulsed by older history of teaching scenarios and how race was tackled as a subject, even though I was not around to see segregation within the systems.

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The topic we are focusing on is the Cherokee Removal Act. There are some very obvious issues with roleplaying the Cherokee Removal. Having children role-play racist business-owners and legislators is ethically wrong. Making the children act that out too would be very difficult because they most likely will not comprehend what they're doing. A benefit of it however is that it will teach children the cruelty of some of these events in the American past. They will understand better the severity of our history, learning the whole truth.

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The biggest challenge is that some of the intended questions are leading. The role model feels insensitive and probably problematic. Asking students to put them into those roles can be an issue. There are also limited resources on the subject. Parents would also have an issue with their child saying they acted out an internment camp.

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Cherokee/Seminole Removal Play - Addie, Ashley S., Nicole

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Cherokee/Seminole Removal Play - Addie, Ashley S., Nicole

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The topic is the Cherokee removal, also known as the Trail of Tears. The assignment is supposed to encourage critical thinking between students of alternatives to what took place and for them to acknowledge the racial biases of the time period. The students were given descriptions of the different point of views of the involved individuals and told to interact and then the students are told to present their final thoughts and considerations at a "Congressional Hearing". Then, the students were told to research what actually occurred and compare and contrast the accuracy of what happened with what they did. We feel like this assignment is okay, however, it could be made better as there is an issue with giving students point of views that are essentially ignorant. From a teacher's point of view, we worry this learning plan would cause students to say or do incorrect things. We would say this is appropriate for the high school classroom that it's meant for as at that age, racial indifferences have been recognized and there's less of a chance of tone deaf interactions.

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We believe that 9th grade+ would be an appropriate age as students need full maturity to grasp the objectives of the lesson. We disagree that this lesson should be in a Play format where students need to act out their roles. We believe it is important to learn history and it's a unique activity to immerse students. Although if not careful there could be risk of making students and parents uncomfortable.

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The piece we read was about the obstacles faced by sharecropper/tenant farmer unions during the Great Depression, in addition to the dynamics between white tenant farmers and black tenant farmers. The last piece of it depicts how hatred and racism can spawn from people feeling downtrodden by their current situation and being met with an authority figure who offers a scapegoat. We believe that students would learn about the intersectionality of race, gender, and class, in addition to how to recognize dogwhistles and common signs of othering. They will learn this through the discussion questions that prompt them to consider why certain people learn and unlearn biases. We believe that this topic is appropriate for students in late middle school/early high school. It might be a bit too simple for late high school, which is why we recommended early high school.

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Overall, this was a good article highlighting the issue surrounding the problems of not touching upon the Latin American history. One promise is being able to talk about the differing histories of the experiences of many Latinas/os in the US. Another promise would be allowing for the opportunity those of Latin descent to embrace their history while in an educational environment. Although a challenge would be how the lesson plan doesn't include specific ways of teaching the children about the history, it is more of a reflection. In the lesson plan it says that the teacher used poetry by women of color who critiqued the sexism of the 60's movements and the racism of 70's women's movement, but it doesn't state how they would teach specifically the history of the Latin Americans. We feel as though we don't have the required knowledge of the Latin history and that it should be taught more in the education system.

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Overall, the topic of this article is about the incarceration of Japanese Latin Americans during WWII. The students will learn about the JLAs and how they were mistreated and targeted during WWII because the U.S. saw them as security threats. Fourteen hundred JLAs were held in US internment camps until the end of WWII. The article talked about how students would learn about this through role-play, where they would represent the JLAs that interned in the United States. We found that role-play was not the most effective way to teach this part of history because the students would not be able to relate to the JLAs. They could not relate because they had very specific roles, for example, they would have to be 70-year-old farmers, which is difficult for a student to relate to. Since these students are in 8th grade, we thought it was good that they were learning this at that grade level, however we did not agree with how it was taught.

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There is great pride in the latinae experience, a pride that is obscured when we fail to acknowledge the important milestones our community has had. I can imagine many of the people in this classroom share the same experience as those in Ochoa's class room. This material is not merely important, it is foundational to creating a multicultural classroom. The Civil Right's Movement was not reserved to MLK Jr's speech, nor was it reserved to the march on Washington: it was a movement with many moving parts, diverse in creed and thought. Pump Up the Blow Outs shows us the ripple effects that the Civil Rights Movement had on not only the rights of marginalized groups, but also how it inspired others to fight for their rights. I believe that this material should be taught around 5th grade, alongside the Civil Rights Movement. Teaching this material requires emphasis on the inspirational work of the activists and the ability to make change, ensuring that this educational process is thoroughly empowering and does not make marginalized students feel victimized. I also believe that due to the influence that the Civil Rights Movement had on these protests, teaching this should thus coincide with a unit on the Civil Rights Movement.