Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Amanda N. Giauque
Bridgewater College
Abstract
vocabulary words from Education 215 that fall under this area of research.
This paper also includes why I chose this topic of research, and how it will
minority students feel in rural school settings, ways that youth identify
themselves and how a teacher can help to make this easier, the feelings
include the rural culture when teaching multicultural education. This paper
also looks at how this research will help me be the best teacher than I can
be, trying to meet the needs of all my students; in other words, having an
equitable classroom.
themes and topics that relate to this subject and are important to examine
while conducting research for it. The topics that I have chosen to examine
race, ethnicity, class, and gender in students lives (Gollnick & Chinn, 2013,
uniform, with very little diversity. It is extremely crucial that these children
are still taught in a multicultural classroom so that they still are multicultural,
worldly students.
that may be considered fair, but not necessarily equal (Equity, 2015). It is
equitable classroom. Since there is not typically very much diversity in rural
but rather equitable; this will ensure that all students are included, even
minority groups.
culture(s) at the school, it is important to ensure that these students feel that
both themselves and their culture is equally important to the other students
heterosexual Christian culture with its historical roots in Europe (Gollnick &
Chinn, 2013, p. 8). Thinking about the dominant culture when researching
most of the students in rural schools are from the dominant culture. It is
important not to let this majority of students seem superior to any students
grew up in, so I would like to know more about ensuring that I maintain a
multicultural classroom. Because I may only have a few different races and
learn about the impact that going to a rural school with little diversity has on
teacher because if I teach in a rural area, I will now understand more about
rural elementary schools. First of all, I will understand more about how it
school with little diversity. This is important because if I can understand how
MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN RURAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 6
this feels, I will be able, to the best of my ability, to eliminate any bad
feelings that these students have when I am a teacher. For example, if they
prevent this by doing a lesson on their culture, and maybe even letting them
help me teach parts of it. Another way that researching this topic will help
education, Sonia Nieto found that for students to become concerned about
other cultures they first had to understand their own (Yahn, 2011). After
reading this quote, I realized that this is absolutely true. Especially for
elementary school children, who may not know enough about their culture, it
is important for them to learn about their own cultures traditions and
multicultural education.
for the teachers to fill out. (Irwin, 1999). They were questions regarding
multicultural education, and its importance and role; they had a rating scale
as follows: 1 for strongly agree, 2 for agree, 3 for disagree, and 4 for
strongly disagree (Irwin, 1999). This study found that overall the responses
were fairly similar; however there were some differences that seemed
noteworthy. First of all, in general, it was noted that urban teachers had a
the responses that rural teachers selected just agree or disagree (Irwin,
1999). Irwin (1999) points out that this may be because urban teachers may
populations. Also, the study concluded that both rural and urban teachers
school level (Irwin, 1999). This was surprising to me because I feel that it is
young children are generally more open to this idea and have not developed
author, gives details of her visit to a rural school in Kentucky. She says here
I was in a school in which perhaps all teachers and students were Euro-
Americans, and the young faces welcomed me with affection and interest
(Mora, 1994). Mora (1994) recounts that the children were all very excited to
meet her, and even eager for her to teach them a few phrases/sayings in
This issue was the fact that one theory that researchers have as to why
the time when one thinks about implementing multicultural education in the
classroom, there is not really much thought given to the rural population. -
Jaqueline Yahn (2011) lists out a few myths that help further prove why it is a
problem that multicultural education does not acknowledge rural people. The
first myth is that rural means white; when in fact it has been found that
This shows that if more about rural culture was included in multicultural
education, people would not make these assumptions anymore. The second
myth is that rural is monocultural; even though there are many subcultures
in rural areas (Yahn, 2011). The final myth is that rural is only a small
amount of students; but it has been found that rural students make up 19
percent of the youth educated in America (Yahn, 2011). Once again, as with
the above myths, these may not be widespread thoughts if people were
(2010), these issues are examined. First of all, it points out the fact that
parents, more strongly with the ethnicity of one parent over the other, or
leave ethnic terms out of their descriptions (Mouzong, 2010). Also, many
times they might decide to change their ethnic identity during different
stages and circumstances in their lives (Mouzong, 2010). Also, in the case of
this feeling of being caught in the middle than those who live in larger
towns (Mouzong, 2010). Another issue, in particular for those students who
of betrayal, but if they choose a Hispanic identity, they are often teased by
peers and family members about having lighter skin tones, not speaking
Spanish, and being seen around town with a white parent (Mouzong, 2010).
Multicultural education has its roots all the way even before the 1954
is an important starting point for teaching and learning as well as a basis for
creativity (Mora, 1994). The students will be more open and will like to learn
about other students cultures, especially if they are in a rural school with
little diversity.
for becoming the best teacher that I can be. Because I want to teach in a
that this select group of students does not feel left out or inferior to the
References
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Irwin, L. H. (1999). Do rural and urban elementary teachers differ in their attitudes
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Mora, P. (1994). A Latina in Kentucky. Horn Book Magazine, 70(3). Retrieved from
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Mouzong, C. & Vuchinich, D. Caught (2010, May 17). Caught in the middle: Raising a
multiracial
http://www.education.com/reference/article/caught-middle-raising-multiracial-
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Reed, K. (2010). Multicultural education for rural schools: Creating relevancy in rural
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MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN RURAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 12
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Yahn, J. (2011, November 21). Appreciate the diversity in rural places. Retrieved
from
http://www.tolerance.org/blog/appreciate-diversity-rural-places