Multicultural Materials Curation for Grade 4 by Weiqing Song https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj Weiqing Song en-us 2021-04-10 15:42:34 UTC 2026-02-01 08:32:28 UTC hello@padlet.com Introduction ws2625 https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1402728647 According to Banks (2019), there are five dimensions of multicultural education: content integration, knowledge construction, prejudice reduction, an empowering school culture, and an equity pedagogy. This multicultural curation for fourth-grade bilingual students mainly focuses on knowledge construction and prejudice reduction. With the assistance of picture books and videos, teachers can integrate students' funds of knowledge into class, enable students to be aware of the mainstream and minoritized culture and help them explore their own identity and culture while reducing prejudice of other cultural groups.

Each colored column contains the introduction of the material and the activity column includes the design of activities, what and how the multicultural education's dimensions are reflected, and what students are expected to learn from the materials.

Reference
Banks, J. A. (2019). Multicultural Education: Characteristics and Goals. In J. A. Banks & C. A. 
McGee Banks (eds). Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives. (10th ed), pp.3-24. Indianapolis, IN: John Wiley & Sons. 
]]> 2021-04-10 15:44:40 UTC https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1402728647 Never Have I Ever-Episode 4 ws2625 https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1402729011 The Netflix TV series centers on a young Indian girl Devi from Los Angles. She struggled with the grief of her father's death, her desire to fit into school life, and her American and Indian identities. This episode describes a traditional Indian festival, Ganesh Puja, a Hindu holiday celebrating Lord Ganesh. It displays the traditions of Ganesh Puja and Devi's resistance to the traditional festival. Devi considers herself not to be an Indian and does not want to celebrate Ganesh Puja. 


The whole episode: https://mobile.rr.tv/mission/#/share/season?type=season&id=17582&share=31250678
]]> 2021-04-10 15:44:52 UTC https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1402729011 The Name Jar ws2625 https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1402729592 The story was about a girl called Unhei whose family just moved from Korea to the United States. On her first day at school, her Korean name was teased by other kids who could not speak her name correctly on the school bus, which made her feel embarrassed about her unique name, so she decided to have an American name. Unhei’s kind classmates put many American names in a jar for her to choose from, but she finally decided to keep her Korean name and took pride in it.


]]> 2021-04-10 15:45:15 UTC https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1402729592 It's Okay to Be Different ws2625 https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1402730802 This book uses repeated sentences to tell readers that  it's okay to be different. It's okay to be a different color. It's okay to dance by yourself. It's okay to wear glasses. It's okay to have a pet worm....


]]> 2021-04-10 15:46:02 UTC https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1402730802 Activity ws2625 https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1409982922  Prejudice Reduction

After reading this story, I would have a role-play in class. Students will think and discuss in a three-people group that if they are the children on the school bus who cannot speak Unhei’s name correctly or if they are Unhei whose name is laughed at by other children, what will they do? Each group will have one student to be Unhei and two students to be the ones who cannot speak Unhei's name correctly. Half the class will focus on the reaction of Unhei who is laughed at by others and the rest of the class will focus on the behavior of the students who cannot speak Unhei's name correctly. 

By providing a real context for students, this activity tries to cultivate students’ empathy and develop positive attitudes toward different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups, which is aligned with the goal of prejudice reduction. In the story, Unhei’s mom said that “You are different. That’s a good thing”. Students are expected to be proud of their differences and respect other’s differences in real life.]]> 2021-04-13 01:24:51 UTC https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1409982922 Acitivity ws2625 https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1409987073 Prejudice Reduction

Because this book includes simple and repeated sentences, I would like the whole class to read this book together. After reading aloud this book, students will write a picture book together. Each student will write a sentence about "It's okay to ..." and attach a picture. The teacher will collect their works and exhibit them on the classroom wall. Students can learn to respect others' differences regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, behavior, etc. Meanwhile, students' literacy skills can be trained through this activity.]]> 2021-04-13 01:26:25 UTC https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1409987073 Acitivities ws2625 https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1409998781 Knowledge Construction

After watching a video clip from the episode, students are required to create visual art (painting, comics, handcraft, etc.) to show a traditional festival of their families or communities, including the time, traditions, food, activities about this festival, and students' feelings about this festival. They will present their work to the whole class.

When it comes to festivals, we may think about Christmas, Halloween, Chinese New Year, etc. Compared with mainstream culture, the heritage of minority groups tends to be ignored. Bilingual educators, especially white educators, "need to see how the lives of our students have been scripted by their membership in groups differing in degrees of social dominance and marginality" (Howard, 2016, p.37). In this task, students can share a unique festival in their culture and get the opportunity to take advantage of their funds of knowledge and strengthen their identities. Other students can learn about diverse cultural traditions. Meanwhile, it is a great chance for teachers to know their students better and check whether students have the same identity issue as Devi.

Reference 
Howard, G. R. (2016). We can't teach what we don't know: White teachers, multiracial schools (3rd Edition). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. 
]]> 2021-04-13 01:30:40 UTC https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1409998781 Acitivity ws2625 https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1410031586 Knowledge Construction

I would also have students share their stories about names in the class (How to pronounce their name? Who gives the name to them? What does their name mean?). They can interview their family members after class and prepare an artifact to illustrate the story of their names. 

This activity provides space for students' funds of knowledge in the classroom. While exploring the origin of their name, students can gain a deeper understanding of their culture or family, and their funds of knowledge can be a resource to enrich the class. By sharing stories, both students and teachers construct knowledge of not only mainstream culture but also minority groups.

]]> 2021-04-13 01:42:52 UTC https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1410031586 Activity ws2625 https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1410393278 Prejudice Reduction

After watching the video, I would conduct an activity just like the video does. I would cooperate with another teacher or finish this activity in the two classroom I am in to make sure the participants are not quite familiar with each other. At first, students will record audio to describe themselves just like the video (favorite colour, favortie subjects, pets, favorite activities, dream job etc.). Each student will post their audio anonymously on the discussion board on Canvas or on a padlet board. Students can guess the speakers' skin color, age, grade, residence, hair color, clothes, etc. in the comments. After guessing, each student will record a video to introduce themselves and students can check whether they make the right assumption. In the class, I would have some students share their assumptions including why they make such assumptions and whether the assumption is correct. 

In this activity, students can find the differences between subjective assumptions and facts. Meanwhile, they will have a further understanding of the students surrounding them. I hope this activity can reduce students' stereotypes or prejudice towards other students. Students are expected to realize that sometimes the assumption based on the superficial features cannot generalize an individual. ]]> 2021-04-13 04:42:10 UTC https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1410393278 An experiment ws2625 https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1410468168 The video invites several primary school kids to sit back to back. They cannot see each other but can ask  questions. Based on their conversation, they will guess each other's race, hair color, skin color, clothes, age, etc. It turned out that some guessed right and some guessed wrong.
 
]]> 2021-04-13 05:21:52 UTC https://padlet.com/ws2625/k4syjc5l02xkm7sj/wish/1410468168