Spring 1999
Vol 7 Issue 2
IN THIS ISSUE...
Addressing Diversity
Renewing Our Commitment to Understanding and Faith
Developing Instruction that Promotes Diverse Perspectives
SEE ALSO...
The Labyrinth
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction
Addressing Diversity: Growing Our Own Teachers in an Urban Setting
Jackie Jaap, SMCC
As we approach the year 2000, the changing demographics in America poses an awesome challenge to our educational system. The proportion of minority students in our nation's schools is nearing forty percent, and continues to grow. Many of these students live in low-income neighborhoods and attend poorly funded schools. Furthermore, research shows that minority children from lower socioeconomic groups are disproportionately placed in lower academic tracks and experience less success in American public education than their suburban counterparts. Locally, ethnic minorities represent an even larger percentage of the student population. Some of the schools in the Roosevelt Elementary School District and Phoenix Union High School District report that 70-80 percent of their students are of Hispanic and African American descent. Also significant is the rise in the number of limited English proficient students, the high dropout rate of minority students, and the declining number of minority teachers.
As educators we have a clear challenge to find effective ways to serve the needs of this racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse student population. Education for multiculturalism requires system-wide changes that permeate all aspects of school life. It also requires that we train our future teachers to rise to the challenge and embrace the invitation to transform education in the United States so that it really does serve the needs of all children. To help meet these challenges, three faculty members-- Yvonne Montiel, Peter Facciola, and Jackie Jaap-- created the Dynamic Learning Teacher Training Program at South Mountain Community College.
Believing that schools and learning environments must reflect the cultures of the communities they serve, three years ago we turned Dynamic Learning, an established, successful one-year learning community, into a "grow our own" four-semester teacher training program. Our goal is to recruit minority students from South Phoenix who, upon completion of their educational degrees from Arizona State University, will return to teach in our community. Central to the program is our vision of teachers needed to transform inner city schools--ones who have a solid, research-based agenda for educational reform and a passion for improving the lives of our children. We have based our program on the belief that multicultural education is for all students and is synonymous with innovation, reform, and effective teaching and learning. Although we have faced and continue to face many challenges, Dynamic Learning is proving to be an effective educational model for helping minority students achieve their dreams of becoming teachers.
One of our challenges is to create and maintain an effective, culturally responsive learning environment over the four semesters that students spend in our program. In our two morning cohorts of full-time freshmen and sophomores, over 60 percent of the students are Hispanic-- Mexican American, Mexican, Peruvian, and Honduran. African Americans and Anglo-Americans comprise the other 40 percent. Our afternoon cohort of instructional aides is nearly 100 percent Hispanic. Research in multicultural education and educational reform in general indicates that mainstream values of independence and competition can actually impede learning, especially among black and Hispanic students whose cultures place a high value on cooperation and relationships. We therefore have grounded our program in a value system based on community and collaboration, and strive to create a supportive, challenging atmosphere which stresses mutual responsibility, shared decision making, extended dialogue, and team work.
It takes time, effort, and commitment to build this kind of learning community. Most of our students enter Dynamic Learning with mental models of teaching and learning that have been formed by their previous school experiences. Much of their learning has been passive and teacher directed. They have worked independently in a competitive environment and have experienced learning in fragmented, discrete courses in 45 to 50 minute class periods which allows little time for interaction with their peers or instructors.
To introduce a different model more in keeping with how people actually learn, we have intentionally structured our learning environment to allow sufficient time and opportunities for faculty and students to develop genuine connections with one another. For four semesters, our students, as a cohort, experience team-taught, integrated interdisciplinary blocks which meet for nine hours a week. Upon entry into the program, students are placed into heterogeneous groups where they learn about cooperation, team building, and tolerance of others' abilities and values as they work on collaborative projects, write and edit papers, critically analyze reading material, and plan for classroom presentations.
When the inevitable problems arise, ranging from racial comments to the frustration of native English speakers working with second language speakers, we know their problems must be addressed. They won't just go away when the semester ends because we will all be together the next semester—and the next. So we work on effective group communication and teamwork skills, emphasizing member roles, problem-solving procedures and conflict management. We also listen to each others' stories, which helps us to acknowledge that each student makes unique contributions to the learning community.
A student from a small private school realizes she can learn from a high school dropout; a student who accepts his physical challenges with grace teaches us all that we can rise above our perceived limitations. Through our interactions, we are constantly encouraged to reflect on our own beliefs and to consider that our individual world views are not necessarily the norm. At the end of the four semesters students comment that they like the extended time period because, as they say, "There is an opportunity to explore issues in depth and to hear other perspectives. Over time you begin to grow, learn from your peers, and bond with others." Through their participation in the program, our future teachers build a foundation for creating appropriate multicultural learning environments when they have their own classrooms.
An additional challenge we have faced is that of developing a curriculum that reflects these same values of community and cooperation. Experts in the field of multicultural education suggest that an effective curriculum should: integrate disciplines, emphasize experiential learning, use the community as a laboratory, include field trips, and require individual and group research projects. With these principles in mind, we have organized our curriculum into integrated, thematic blocks, consisting of core classes in composition, humanities, communication, and education. In each of the blocks, we connect learning with our students' backgrounds and their goals of becoming teachers.
The field experience is central to the curriculum. Each semester, students spend one morning a week in the community schools, observing and participating in a variety of classrooms. They experience first hand the realities of teaching and begin to think strategically about learners—about their cultural differences, about the community context, and about ways to engage students at all levels with important substantive ideas. They present mini-lessons to the class, work in small groups, do one-on-one tutoring, and conduct literature circles. From these activities they have identified and researched critical issues in education such as assessment policies, respect, and discipline. Also, current debates featured in local news (bilingual education, charter schools, and school funding) become very real to our students as they observe the disparities between schools in South Phoenix and schools in more affluent communities. At the end of the four semesters, students use their field experiences and research as the basis for developing their own educational philosophy. As they seek to understand the complexity of these issues, students move from a static, memorization-based system to a problem-solving, interactive system that enhances everyone's learning and thinking. This shift in focus is essential to preparing teachers who can create more successful schooling for urban children.
Another critical component of the Dynamic Learning Teacher Training Program is helping our students make the transition to Arizona State University. Almost one-half of the students in our first cohort were admitted into the Professional Teacher Preparation Program (PTPP) in the College of Education at ASU in the fall of 1998, having completed four semesters in Dynamic Learning. Others were admitted spring 1999 semester and still others have been admitted for the fall of 1999; within three years over 60% of our original cohort are in the PTPP, a high percentage, especially for minority students. Their transition to ASU has been greatly facilitated by our partnership with the College of Education. All of the courses that students take with us are guaranteed to transfer to ASU and meet the requirements for admission in the PTPP. We have built in other support strategies to assuage the fears of first generation college students facing a large university campus. Over the four semesters in Dynamic Learning, key administrators and professors from ASU visit our classes, and students visit the ASU campus, where they meet with advisers and shadow education majors for a day. We also provide help with the application process, which includes essays, transcripts, ACT scores, letters of recommendation, resumes, and the bilingual proficiency exam. Many of our students have told us they would still be at South Mountain without this extra support.
The success of the program makes the long work hours worthwhile. Our students at ASU report that they feel well prepared for their coursework; four are on the Dean's List. They also have remained very close as a group and rely on each other daily for academic and personal support. We have approximately 75 more students who are currently in various Dynamic Learning blocks, preparing to follow the first cohort. Over 60 percent of these students represent ethnic minorities, and our community schools are eager to hire them after they graduate.
Over two million new teachers will be needed in the United States in the next decade. Many of them will be responsible for educating the children of the urban poor. It is essential that these teachers have the best training possible. Until all schools show respect for the diverse styles and capacities of every student and nurture the highest aspects of the human spirit, we cannot claim to understand the true meaning of multicultural education.
Bibliography
Caine, R. N., and G. Cain. Making Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 1991.
Nieto, S. Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1996.
Sleeter, C. E., ed. Empowerment through Multicultural Education. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1991.