#27 Four Approaches for the Integration of Multicultural Content by Kimberley K. Cuero

Essential Questlons:

• What is mainstream-centric curriculum?
• What are the assumptions, goals, and problems with mainstream-centric curriculum?
• How does it influence mainstream students and students of color?
• What are the factors that have slowed the development of a multicultural curriculum in the schools? What is the best way to overcome these factors?
• What are the major characteristics of the following approaches: the contributions approach, the additive approach, the transformation approach, and the social action approach?
• Why is the contributions approach the most popular within schools?
• In what fundamental ways do the transformation and social action approaches differ from the other two?
• What are the strengths and problems of each approach?
• What problems might you encounter when trying to implement the transformation and social action approaches? How might these problems be overcome?

Topics to be presented:

For this seminar, students are to have read James Bank's chapter titled "Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform" in Race, Ethnicity, and Language. We will discuss the aforementioned essential questions.

I will set up centers that will contain examples of each of the four approaches and the students will rotate among the centers for investigation and smallgroup discussion.

We will come back as a class and students will share their reflections about Multicultural Curriculum Reform. We will specifically discuss these two questions: What problems might you encounter when trying to implement the transformation and social action approaches? How might these problems be overcome?

Assessment Procedures:

Students may chose to answer one of the following 2 essay-type questions:

1. Assume that you are teaching a social studies lesson about the Westward movement in U.S. History and a student makes a racist, stereotypic, or misleading statement about American Indians, such as, "The Indians were hostile to the White settlers." How would you handle this situation? Give reasons to explain why you would handle it in a particular way.
2. Illustrate how you would teach a unit incorporating elements of the transformation and social action approaches to curriculum reform.