Our World is a diverse place and with technology and news information about other countries and The U.S.'s involvement in the affairs of other countries I think it is fair for us to talk about the world we live in, and not just the country we currently live in. More than fair, I think it is important. We cannot ignore differences without inadvertantly saying a message about being different!
Every classroom should have a globe. Students should be able to identify continents and places and I really liked how Mrs. Starr implemented the use of the globe in her class and students really responded to it and enjoyed seeing it. If we show them, their minds can grasp that the world is bigger than our small town, or our hometown.
Muticultural Crayons! These come with a wide variety of skin tones so students can draw pictures that look like them. Raji loved to draw and see representations of himself...why wouldn't the other teachers make use of these in their classrooms?
It seems like such a basic tool for the classroom and one that makes sense if we have our eyes open...people come in a wide array of colors.
I was disappointed that Mrs. Starr bought these and they all came back un-used from the other teachers.
I was also dissapointed that she was put down, as forgetting American Cultural when she decided to celebrate Spring in the variety of ways it is celebrated around the world. It makes me think about how or current school calendar is still based on an agricultural society...students don't need all this time off to leave school and pick crops...we don't live that way anymore. But, I think it says a lot about how CHANGE happens slowly in the school system!
Just a thought about the blobe in a classroom. As a teacher and with that globe in the room, we have to make a contious effort to use the globe even when we do not have the mix of cultures in the room. Also, a way to make the room see the other cultures is bring in some people from the community to talk and point out some other cultures in the community.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found the image of the multicultural crayons. It seems almost like the pendulum swung the other way - from the days of my youth having a peach colored crayon that was labeled "flesh" and to these days of having a variety of colors that are labeled "multicultural." Wouldn't it be nice if the pendulum would stop swinging and they were just crayons, just colors and kids could color freely without feeling a pull in any direction?
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