Multicultural Project

Multicultural Project Reflection

              Diversity in the classroom is a wonderful asset for students. It allows for the natural exchange of cultural information between them. I witnessed this firsthand while working on my Multicultural Project this semester. In this second grade classroom, there are three ESL students and other English-speaking students of different backgrounds. There are also two students with a 504 plan. The teacher, Ms. Waleko, and I, decided to build upon a recent lesson of theirs about community types. We wanted to have the students compare and contrast the cultures of two communities.

              While showing the students the powerpoint presentation, they were extremely enthusiastic learning about the different communities. Talking about New York State granted them a personal connection to the material. The students also had tons of questions for me when we were talking about Madagascar. I feel like using my personal experience allowed the students to get even closer to that culture than they would if they were exploring it on their own.

              After the presentation, I modeled how to fill in the Venn Diagram using your own personal culture. The students went back to their desks to start their own exploration. The country links were shared with the students on the teacher’s home page. They were very eager to explore all four country choices before choosing one to draw and write about. Unfortunately, many of the Chromebooks are very old and some students had trouble using the mouse pad. Others had images and documents that were loading extremely slowly. Even still, classmates were passionately chatting with their table neighbors about the country they had chosen.

              Once a student finished their Venn Diagram they were to look at the other three country links provided. When everybody was done we all sat on the rug and compared what we wrote. This was a great time for the teachers and students to learn more about each other’s lives at home. Some students were surprised to find personal connections to the culture they chose. Another thrill they got was looking at the different types of money in other countries.

              I think that the implementation of this lesson went over very well. All of the students, including the three ESL students and two students with 504 plans, were able to complete this activity without any trouble. If I were to teach this lesson again I would want to use more online resources for the students and also get some books for them to look through. I also think that doing this lesson over the course of 2-3 days would be more beneficial for the students. It would allow for more research time and for them to create a presentation of their findings. Working with Ms. Waleko was an enlightening experience and I’m looking forward to observing her classroom further.