Teacher Toolkit by Skye Breeden

Multiculture in History

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-13 01:22:19 UTC

Multi culture stems back to the American educational philosopher John Dewey. This was popular during the 1970s and 1980s. Its purpose was to bring subjects together that were linked to a relational idea. This provided real world motivation for students to learn and interpret more than one subject (Howley-Rouse, 2020).

Howley-Rouse, A. (2020, September 10). An introduction to curriculum integration. THE EDUCATION HUB. https://theeducationhub.org.nz/an-introduction-to-curriculum-integration/

Multicultural Literature

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-13 01:51:17 UTC

Multicultural literature materials can be used in the classroom to showcase a range of cultures, histories, and experiences that help students to gain the diverse perspectives of others. Educators can use authors who come from different ethnic backgrounds to help students broaden their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. They will also be able to share their own cultural backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences to help create empathy and respect for the diversity within the classroom.

Integrate Multiculturalism Across All Subjects

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-13 02:14:30 UTC

History can be taught through the perspectives of each party. For example, when teaching the Civil War students can discuss both the Union and Confederacy side to learn and understand both viewpoints. Literature can be explored through the diverse themes and perspectives of the authors. Social studies can promote critical thinking and understanding of the diverse social issues from different cultural perspectives. Math and science can be found throughout the various cultures. Art and music can be explored through the diversity found around the world.

Bring in Diverse Speakers

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-13 02:36:41 UTC

Educators can ask speakers with diverse backgrounds to come to the class to share their perspectives, traditions, and experiences. This shows students that there are real life contexts integrated in different subjects. Also, it can promote awareness in diverse cultures that the students can relate too.

Create an Inclusive Classroom Environment

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-13 16:20:23 UTC

Culturally responsive teaching acknowledges and respects the diverse cultural backgrounds of the students which helps to provide students with an optimal learning environment. Creating an inclusive classroom will help students to feel valued and safe. This will encourage students to share their own cultural backgrounds. experiences, and perspectives within the classroom. Educators can create an inclusive classroom through posters, presentations, discussions, and decor that showcase the diversity of the students in the classroom.

Learn All About Your Students

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-14 14:36:17 UTC

Getting to know your students is vital for both educators and students. This helps build bonds that encourage students to share their experiences whether it's good or bad and their perspectives across different subjects. "Demonstrating a desire to adapt your teaching style to students can help them feel valued" (Guido, 2021). Open communication and active listening reveals the learning needs and styles of the students, and can be accomplished through open discussions, questionnaires, and surveys that help educators gather information about the students.

Guido, M. (2021, October 5). Culturally responsive teaching: Definition, strategies & examples. prodigygame.com. https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/culturally-responsive-teaching

Diversify the Classroom Library

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-14 15:20:27 UTC

Having a classroom library that reflects the different cultural backgrounds is important because it helps students share their culture within the classroom. Educators should allow students to bring in their own personal books that are about their cultures to place in the library. This encourages students to be proud of their culture. Diversifying the library brings opportunities for students to connect what they are learning to their culture or others cultures within the classroom.

Make Learning Contextual

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-14 15:40:25 UTC

Educators can take lessons found in the curriculum and make it more relevant for the students. This can be done through their interests, hobbies, social backgrounds, and experiences. Contextual learning gives students more opportunities to explore their cultural backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives through lessons and real world scenarios. This helps students to actively engage in their learning.

Foster a Positive Learning Environment

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-14 17:14:54 UTC

Promoting a positive learning environment should have students feeling engaged, included, and respectful towards the diverse cultural backgrounds within the classroom. Setting open expectations for the classroom environment and incorporating the students feedback can help create an inclusive classroom that shows respect to diversity. This will allow students to feel seen, heard and included within the classroom.

Inclusive Classroom Setup

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-14 17:32:05 UTC

In order to have a multicultural classroom environment a classroom needs to be setup to represent the diversity among the students. This can include posters that showcase other cultures and their traditions, artwork the students have done, and learning materials that reflect the diverse cultures of the students. Student seating should be arranged in a way that enhances collaboration, interaction, and inclusivity among the diversity of the students.

Cultural Sensitivity

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-14 18:03:54 UTC

Educators should know the importance of being sensitive to students cultures, beliefs, and language styles. "Take the time to understand each student's cultural nuances-from learning styles to the language they use-and use these insights to design your lesson plans" (The Importance of Multicultural Education). This will help students learn the material in their own way while being able to connect it back to cultural backgrounds and traditions.

The importance of multicultural education. Drexel University School of Education. (n.d.). https://drexel.edu/soe/resources/student-teaching/advice/importance-of-cultural-diversity-in-classroom/

Communication is Key

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-14 18:33:01 UTC

Open communication among educators and students should stay ongoing throughout the school year. "Scheduling 1-on-1 meetings with students to "check in" every so often will allow you to consistently improve how accessible the classroom is to everyone" (The Importance of Multicultural Education). By consistently checking in with students you are simply creating an inclusive classroom where students feel safe enough to talk about their differences.

The importance of multicultural education. Drexel University School of Education. (n.d.). https://drexel.edu/soe/resources/student-teaching/advice/importance-of-cultural-diversity-in-classroom/

Families Involved within the School

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-14 21:29:54 UTC

Families can get involved in the educational process in many ways. Educators can invite families to join them in the classroom to get them involved in the student's learning. This could look like weekly read aloud, helping with big projects, or just having them sit in as guests. This helps families to get involved within the school community. Also, they will be able to share their cultural traditions, backgrounds, and perspectives with the students.

Support Learning at Home

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-14 23:11:22 UTC

Families can support learning at home by creating a positive environment where the students can work without any distractions. Also, families can actively engage in their students learning by reading together on a daily basis. They can help practice the skills being taught through engaging in math and literacy work that is assigned for after school help. This will assist families in developing their understanding of how the school runs and what is needed to be successful.

Community Based Learning

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-14 23:42:24 UTC

Community based learning is an approach that brings the community into the learning process. They use academic concepts to bring real world experiences to the families and their students. This allows families to be engaged in the community while being able to apply what they know. This could look like families volunteering with local organizations, exploring issues, interning in a community setting that is relevant to their culture, and guest speaking in classrooms where they share their experiences.

Parenting Workshops that Support Families and Communities

skyebreeden1 — 2025-08-15 00:00:03 UTC

Parenting workshops were created for families and communities that wanted to provide resources, information, and strategies to support students in their learning. These workshops can be in-person, online, and multilingual. They also range over a wide variety of topics such as academic, social-emotional, special education and many more. This helps to create a strong foundation for families and communities.