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Multicultural education is defined as a way of thinking and a way of reality according to Banks (2015), akin to Nieto’s (2008) interpretation of multicultural education as a set of beliefs and philosophy. This definition resonates with me as I consider how diverse the student population is at my campus. Even though the majority of the students are African American, each student has his or her own reality based on past and present experiences. I appreciate the dimensions within multicultural education as it provides me the opportunity to evaluate how it manifests or is latent in my professional practice. Multicultural education has breadth and depth that challenges the educator to cultivate an inclusive learning environment that employs (1) a wide spectrum of cultural  and ethnic content, (2) activities, methods, and questions that spur critical analysis how knowledge is influenced and constructed by various individuals and groups; a democratic curriculum that that seeks to intervene where negative racial and ethnic attitudes perpetuate, (3) high-quality instruction that acknowledges and integrates students’ language, culture, values, and learning styles, and (4) an examination of the culture and organization by leadership and staff to identify how it hinders or fosters educational equity (Banks, 2010). When schools are conceptualized as a cultural system with its own set of accepted norms, values, and shared meanings (Banks, 201) multicultural education can bring awareness of mainstream or dominant structures while providing opportunity for educators and students to examine and develop new frames of reference accordingly. There is much work to be done to cultivate culturally responsive teaching at my campus. We do host student activities that appeal to our student population that is primarily African-American. Examples include honoring the legacy of MLK through a community service project and student orientation with a DJ known in the community and a food truck that offered foods appealing to them.

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My understanding about multicultural education is that it is a pedagogical practice that is a way of viewing reality and a way of thinking, and not just content about various ethnic, racial, and cultural groups (Banks, 2015). According to Banks' (2015) article, multicultural education has five dimensions: content integration, the knowledge construction process, prejudice reduction, an equity pedagogy, and empowering school culture and social structure. Furthermore, multicultural education is manifested in four levels: tolerance, acceptance, respect, and, finally, affirmation, solidarity, and critique (Nieto, 2008).

Within my professional practice, I currently teach acupuncture and Chinese medicine in an acupuncture college. Demographically, the student population is diverse that includes White, Black, Latino Americans, Asian, et al. The teacher population is diverse too that includes American, Chinese, and Indian. The students have their unique culture belief in medicine before they come to study acupuncture. In school, the students learn not only acupuncture and Chinese medicine but also western medicine. The cultural difference between Chinese medicine and Western medicine requires the teachers on fully embracing and celebrating the unique cultures and characters within two medicine system rather than allowing the differences to separate the two medicine. The best way to teach acupuncture in school is to integrate Chinese medicine and western medicine and demonstrate their advantages of two medicine to the students.

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I define multicultural education as celebrating and learning from and about all cultures and backgrounds of students equally, rather than supplementally. As Banks (2015) emphasized, multicultural education includes all students, not just students of color. Additionally, multicultural education should encompass all of the contributions to the different fields studied in school. If a school does not embrace multicultural education, is that considered a silent form of discrimination?

Because my job does not involve educating students, multicultural education specific to the content in this week's readings pertaining to the education of students is not something that directly applies to me in that sense. However, I direct a program that interfaces with school staff, so I am in and out of schools all over the state. We work with all 500 public and 2,000 nonpublic/private schools in Pennsylvania I am always surprised (shocked) at what I see and do not see happening in certain schools around multicultural education. Back in my undergrad in 1995 I remember taking a multicultural education course. I assumed all preservice teachers did that before our reading.

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Multicultural education is the process of attaining the knowledge, skills and disposition to support a range of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) human beings in a shared space, and the world at large. It is not a luxury, add-on, or option in this global climate and reaches far beyond tolerance and cultural competency. It supports the practice, expertise, necessary to operate within individual’s and collective CLD world whether it’s teaching a classroom or leading an organization. As Nieto (1994) argues, tolerance and highly defined frameworks don’t move us closer to the need to accept and understand the importance of inclusive education and spaces. Being critically self-reflective (e.g. questioning our belief systems, institutional privileges, etc.), honoring the diversity of perspectives and interpretations from other with whom we engage is critically important to how we show up in the world and continue to redefine what multicultural education is and how it operates. It is a pathway to evolving our current educational understandings, practices, systems and the ways in which power and privilege are leveraged. I’ve been in far too many staff meetings where multicultural perspectives are "commodified" as if you can only read a book with a Chinese main character for Chinese heritage month and not for the literacy lesson, or that students who speak Arabic must be taught how to read phonetically before engaging in classroom conversations. Nieto (1994) and Gay (2001) task educators and leaders within educational systems to be proactive with their pursuit of multicultural, inclusive spaces. Both offer methodologies and perspectives that move beyond the sit and get, arbitrary and idle nature of past attempts at embracing CLD, e.g. cultural celebrations, or respecting one’s ethnic background.

Multicultural education is a non-negotiable as it influences the way we engage with others and whether we use our power and privilege to help, uplift, silence, or harm others—consciously or subconsciously.

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Multicultural education practices diversity, inclusion, and the pursuit of understanding different cultures through individuals. The goal of multicultural education is to teach in an inclusive way to reach all students according to their beliefs and culture.

In my context of a domestic violence agency, we are not doing well with multicultural education. We consider the backgrounds of vulnerable populations, but our prevention curriculum teaches to the mainstream with little modifications for those who don't fit the "normal profile.  As a counselor, I individually seek to learn more about culture, race, and student experiences to reach them therapeutically in an effective way.

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Multicultural education is the practice of using teaching practices that may not align with the dominate culture (Neito, 2008) to reach all students in your classroom. Bank’s (2015) discusses how multicultural education is more than adding days or celebrations to your calendar.  It focuses on truly integrating different perspectives and cultural practices into your teaching practices. This supports all students’ learning because the culturally responsive teaching practices are activating their prior knowledge and relating the material in meaningful ways to the students.

These readings were eye opening to me, as my school and my classroom do not use multicultural teaching practices daily. I taught mathematics and science this year. I had similar beliefs as the teachers in Gay (2002) of how to integrate multicultural education into those subjects within the classroom. Reflecting on this year, most of the individuals I highlighted in science were of European descent. If I were to teach these subjects again, I would make sure to incorporate leaders from other cultures into the subject matter.

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Multicultural education involves understanding what cultures are represented in the room and working to intentionally include, respect, and learn about them. A big part of multicultural education is taking intentional steps to make every person in the class feel accepted, respected, and like they belong. The middle school I work in uses SIOP classes to help mainstream students for whom English is a second language, and many teachers make the effort to understand who is in the room and the cultures represented in their classes. We encourage students to use their native language and to learn a second language – we are an International Baccalaureate school, so the second language is required.  Having said that, we have a long way to go to reach multicultural education.

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Multicultural education involves understanding what cultures are represented in the room and working to intentionally include, respect, and learn about them. A big part of multicultural education is taking intentional steps to make every person in the class feel accepted, respected, and like they belong. The middle school I work in uses SIOP classes to help mainstream students for whom English is a second language, and many teachers make the effort to understand who is in the room and the cultures represented in their classes. We encourage students to use their native language and to learn a second language – we are an International Baccalaureate school, so the second language is required.  Having said that, we have a long way to go to reach multicultural education.

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Multicultural Education is the term applied to underlying classroom processes in a teaching and learning environment that takes into consideration students’ linguistic, socio-economic, ethnic or racial background, gender, gender identity and other features of an individual’s identity.  Multicultural education is a pedagogical approach that appeals to a diverse audience by providing opportunities for students to approach learning through the lens of their cultural make-up.  In undertaking this approach, students are immersed in learning beyond their cultural habitats.  This allows them to dismantle prejudicial or stereotypical beliefs as students interact and collaborate in ways that support knowledge construction (Banks, 2016).   Multicultural education facilitates provides ease of responsiveness to the learning styles of distinctive racial or ethnic groups.  One case in point is the view of African Americans as having a highly “vervistic” presence.  That is, in the teaching and learning context for example, teachers may plan for opportunities that are accommodating to the high intensity movements that are produced by African Americans (Carter, Novella, Hawkins, 2008).  As a conduit for social justice multicultural education, affords the empowerment of the vulnerable through equitably distributed learning opportunities (Banks, 2016).

Although the task requires me to share the ways in which multicultural education manifests in my context, recent activities have contributed to the question of whether this approach to teaching and learning is practiced.   Each year students enact theatre productions, under the auspices of the drama club.   At the start of the year, the drama club facilitator shared her intentions to have Alice in Wonderland as this year’s production.  As a teacher in a community that is predominantly of Caribbean heritage, my initial reaction was informed by a range of questions – would our students interests be sustained?   Is this something with which they can identify or relate?  Throughout the course of the year, the facilitator struggled to maintain participation from the boys who decided to focus on the school band, from the girls who were inconsistent with attending meetings?  Last week’s presentation of the play demonstrated one major concern to which Banks (2016) responds.  The concern is the degree to which the play drew on the cultural strengths of participants (Banks, 2016, p. 15).

Nadger

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After finishing the reading I have a slightly different view of multicultural education.  My perspective of multicultural education is "everyone" having equal opportunity to learn regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, etc.  It's about equality for everyone.  Banks' (2013) five dimensions clearly articulate areas that need attention to incorporate multicultural education but I specifically liked the equity pedagogy which allows teachers to modify their teaching styles and approach to accommodate diversity in the classroom so that all students have opportunity to get the most out of the classroom experience.

From a professional context perspective regarding multicultural education, I work in the corporate world.  However, we have much education within our company and diversity is widely celebrated but I do not see the incorporation of multicultural education embedded in the curriculum.  My company has over 500,000 employees globally but education is regionalized to meet the needs of the local employees.  That would not accommodate locations, which would include the US, where there is quite a bit of diversity among employees.  Maybe this is something that I can influence going forward.

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Multicultural education is the application of a worldview.  This worldview understands cultural representation and celebration within our institutions as an essential component to individual and civic development.  Using Banks's (2015) dimensions in combination with Nieto's (2008) continuum we see the impact that educator understanding of the cultural identity can have on learning.

Within my professional context, we are grappling with the application piece.  In delivering humane education programs (programs which integrate animal, environmental and social justice protection themes) globally, our educators work with diverse communities and students.  While our organization embraces cultural differences, we no doubt, approach such issues from a western and in some cases anthropocentric point of view.  Part of our current effort is to critically examine our approaches to instruction and recommendations for best practice to reflect a true multicultural (and therefore more socially just) pedagogy.  I see the readings this week as a great starting point for our internal discussions around this topic.

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How do I define multicultural education? I am not certain. This week's readings point toward an expansive definition. At the very least, it is a pedagogy that explicitly recognizes that schools contain multiple cultures (including a typically unmarked ingroup culture that drives norms and expectations). At the most, multicultural education might be a pedagogy for social change--developing a generation of young people that can transform existing racial and cultural power structures.

I remember the advent of food and flags multicultural fairs at schools from when I was a child in the 80s. Today, working in a legitimately multicultural school, I observe that students have a much more nuanced and tricksterish relationship with their cultural identities than those multicultural fairs would have suggested. Culture is not monolithic; it something to revere but not reify. Therefore, multicultural education itself has to be nuanced and tricksterish.

How, if at all, does it manifest in my professional practice? One third of students in my school have recent immigrant backgrounds, and there are over 20 languages spoken by their families. In that basic sense, we are a multicultural school. Do we practice multicultural education, though? Using Banks' (2016) dimensions of multicultural education as a guide, I believe my school does a decent job of content integration in the humanities. However, while the mere fact of our racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity drives us to be more culturally fluent and affirming than we might otherwise be, I would argue that we don't have much to show for Banks' other four dimensions. There are pieces and people in place, but they will require administrative leadership to coalesce. In my own practice as an assistant principal, I am trying to shift from humbly listening and learning to a position of critical ally for change.

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Aligned with the thoughts of Nieto (2008), my definition of multicultural education encompasses thoughts, philosophies, and actions that guide educational opportunities for a variety of diverse learners.  I embrace Banks (2015) stance on multicultural education in that is multidimensional.  Effectively incorporating a multicultural approach to teaching and learning requires a focus on a variety of factors, across a variety of educational domains, that can impact a variety of individuals.

In my professional context, multicultural education is uniquely woven into the curriculum. Working with students with significant cognitive disabilities, content integration is usually the most beneficial way to provide direct exposure to multicultural opportunities and experiences.  Additionally, the teachers make a great effort to provide an equitable pedagogy that embraces the diversity within the building, including social class, race, and academic achievement of the individual students and their families.

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My proposed definition of multicultural education is the inclusive practices of teachers in every discipline to interpret curriculum in substantive ways to increase students level of understanding by implementing multiple bridges to connect lives with content. I teach Coding, Robotics, and 1:1 devices for the NASA Endeavor program. My students are teachers located in the United States and South America, and are primarily female with the most recent class having a 17:7 female to male ratio. Since my POP is the underrepresentation of women in STEM, I am particularly interested how my female students respond to programming that is typically a male-dominated field of learning.
References
@archpics. (2018). Cane bridge - congo Retrieved from https://twitter.com/archpics

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It is being able to understand and empathize with someone else's experiences, perspectives, and interpretations of the world. It is not a surface level understanding, but it is genuine interest in another person.

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Multicultural education is fire in the bones...it's the love, loss and provocation of a "for all" mentality.

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Currently, the NYC mayor is pushing to make our top high schools (traditionally attended only by students who place into them by taking a test, and for the most part white and Asian) more diverse. The shift is to allow students who have scored below the threshold on the test, but are a top student in their middle school, and are of a diverse background admittance to the schools. The push is to create an empowered social structure described by Banks that would allow for total reform.

Is this move enough to allow all middle schoolers feel accepted and empowered in their education? Will the curriculum change or be updated to reflect a more diverse population? I think a true multicultural education starts within the classroom, not from grand political gestures.

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Multicultural education is not only respecting individual differences in others, but elevating the conversation to be inclusive of all cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. It also involves explicitly facing internal biases and external barriers that may be preventing a truly equitable learning environment.

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Multicultural education embraces the diversity of student and staff populations. Differences in race, gender, ethnicity, traditions, learning needs, languages are all recognized, welcomed, embraced, and appreciated. Multicultural education is infused into curriculum, lesson planning, study trips, dialogue, instruction, interventions, and décor.

Within my professional practice, I currently teach in an American school located in the Middle East. Demographically, the student population is 58% White, 19% Asian, 17% Black, and 6% other. In contrast, teacher demographics include 69% White, 10% Asian, and 11% Black, and 10% other. At time, this disproportionate relationship between the race of teachers and students results in friction due to the perceived fairness of grades and discipline. We need to focus on fully embracing and celebrating the unique cultures within our school rather than allowing the differences to separate us.