Multiculturalism and Differentiated Instructions

 

Multiculturalism and Differentiated Instructions

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

Multiculturalism in the Classroom

 

Multiculturalism in the 21st-century classroom is one of the essential components that is required during the learning process. According to the Canadian International School (2020), the world is changing rampantly, and it demands that students be exposed to the citizens of the future and be global citizens through diversity and socio-cultural awareness. It is a cross-cultural phenomenon (Eric & Lynley, 2009) where students should be allowed to get international experience by sharing their space with a diverse group of students from around the world. Similarly, in a classroom there will be students from the diverse group with different kinds of cultural backgrounds, the teacher should embrace such diversity in the classroom positively and make all the students understand each other through the incorporation of values and beliefs, histories, and different perspectives of people who are from different cultural backgrounds (Gallegos, 2010). Thus, the teacher should emphasize ‘teaching for change’ not simply with one lone model but to suit the classroom with students with diverse cultural backgrounds.

 

Multiculturalism - Cultural Costume Show and Declamation Activity

 

In my school, we have students coming from different cultural backgrounds because students are usually from different parts of the country. We have around 19 different languages and dialects used by people with different cultural backgrounds in my country (Little Bhutan, 2021). The students coming from the south have different cultures in comparison to other parts of the country. Mostly, we have different costumes and languages that we use during different regional activities. So, one activity that I could use in my classroom that embraces the concept of multiculturalism is the “Cultural Costume Show and Declamation” activity while having a speaking lesson during the English class. Through this activity, students would be engaged in a declamation activity whereby they would be asked to prepare a speech about their culture based on what their elders already spoke about during one of the festivals they celebrated. During the activity, they would appear in front of the class with their real costume/cloth based on their culture and speak about why that particular costume is worn, how their culture or tradition of wearing such clothes originated, and talk about their bias and assumptions about human behavior.

 

The reason for selecting this activity is to embrace multiculturalism 

 

The reason for selecting this activity to embrace multiculturalism in my classroom is that this activity would enable students to realize that we all are cultural beings who possess our own beliefs, and assumptions about human behavior (Eric & Lynley, 2009). They become aware of other’s cultures and learn to acknowledge their culture, race, ethnic, and class differences that exist in their communities which would ultimately create an understanding of the way they should reflect and perpetuate discriminatory practices that they experience the society at large (Eric & Lynley, 2009). Thus, students become more caring, cooperative, and respectful in the classroom, making the classroom environment positive. Some advantages of incorporating multiculturalism in the classroom are that students will be exposed to different cultures and will become familiar with them, students learn to be tolerant and promote acceptance during the learning process, get acquainted with multiple perspectives providing an opportunity to get an enormous range of knowledge, experience, and insights from the classroom, and promote critical and creative thinking in the classroom (CIS, 2020).

 

Differentiated Instructions in the Classroom

 

On the other hand, differentiated instructions according to Tomlinson (2014) are designed instruction to cater to the needs, strengths, and interests of individual students with different abilities to learn through differentiated content, processes, and products. The teacher uses the flexible grouping system and the ongoing assessment to respond to variance in the classroom with students with different learning abilities. Here, students get a choice based on how they learn, and the teacher can personalize the learning process in the classroom (Lazel, 2021). In my classroom, I know that there are students who possess different abilities and interests of their choice. Some learn better through visual, some through auditory, etc., and sometimes I design a lesson that meets their expectations to make better learning.

 

Differentiated Instructions- Group Project Activity

 

So, one activity that I could use in my classroom that utilizes differentiation is the ‘Group Project’ activity which would promote collaborative learning through mixed-ability groups. It would allow the vocal and high-achiever students to share their ideas with low-achievers in the group so that they collaborate and learn (Promethean, 2018). For instance, if I am to teach multiculturalism in the classroom, I would bring the pre-prepared learning materials in the classroom for the group project based on the different interests of the learners such as a video clip on different cultures that explains each culture, the real costumes and other materials with the short explanations written on the charts, prepared handouts on different cultures, and artwork with captions on a different culture. I would first tell the class the very objective for the lesson, and they have the flexible option to meet the objective. I will then introduce the things that I have brought into the classroom. Furthermore, I will then ask students to divide themselves into four groups based on their interest areas because the prepared things will be kept in the four tables. After studying in groups from the materials provided, they are to come up with a report writing on what they learned. Once the activity is over, the report that they have written will be exchanged among the group for further verification through peer-group checking and for the feedback session.

 

The reason for selecting this activity for differentiation

 

The reason for selecting this activity is that the nature of the activity itself is differentiated instruction. It not only promotes student-centered learning but also meets the interest areas of the learners and also provides the teacher to meet the individual needs of the students through a variety of materials (Miller, 2016). Moreover, students learn based on their choices, and also provide the forum for the teacher to connect with various learning styles because some learn by reading, some by watching videos, and some through artwork (Lazel, 2021). Most importantly, providing choice enables the teacher to meet the set learning objectives.

 

 

Reference

Anderman, E. M., & Anderman, L. H. (2009). Culturally relevant pedagogy. In Psychology of Classroom Learning: An Encyclopedia. Macmillan Reference USA, vol. 1, 302-307. http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3027800087/GVRL?u=lirn17237&sid=GVRL&xid=c34926f4

CIS. (2020). The advantages of a multicultural classroom. Retrieved October 22, 2021 from https://www.canadianinternationalschool.com/the-advantages-of-a-multicultural-classroom/

Gallegos, G. (2010). What is a Multicultural Classroom? Retrieved October 22, 2021 from https://www.yeseep.org/blog/what-is-a-multicultural-classroom

Lazel. (2021). Differentiated Instruction. Retrieved October 23, 2021 from https://www.learninga-z.com/site/what-we-do/differentiated-instruction

Little Bhutan. (2021). Culture, Language, and People. Retrieved October 22, 2021 from https://www.littlebhutan.com/bhutan/culture-language-and-people

Miller. (2016). 6 Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in Project-Based Learning. Retrieved October 23, 2021 from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-strategies-pbl-andrew-miller

Promethean. (2018). 7 methods of classroom differentiation. Retrieved October 23, 2021, from https://resourced.prometheanworld.com/differentiation-classroom-7-methods-differentiation/