How To Make A Multicultural Classroom

• Understand a tourist curriculum and avoid using it as your multicultural curriculum.I was so glad to see this point in the Creating A Multicultural Environment course because it is paramount to creating a multicultural classroom. A tourist curriculum is a curriculum where you include “other” cultures only during particular times, for example, Chinese cultural activities during the Lunar New Year. Cultures beyond the dominant one in your area are separated by doing this, and then the lesson to our students is that they are not the norm; they are different and separate. This is not the goal of multiculturalism, which aims to make multiple cultures the norm. You don’t have to ignore special times like the Lunar New Year, but you should aim to include elements of many cultures throughout your daily curriculum. I love books about global holidays. Every month, we look at all the holidays celebrated worldwide for that month and note how we celebrate some but don’t celebrate others. The book Favorite Day is also an excellent introduction to this practice, and I read it the first day of school to set this idea that all holidays are valid.

  

• Focus On The Importance of Self-Identity.
  When children have a strong sense of individual and cultural identity, they are more open to learning and accepting others. Spend time integrating activities and lessons into your daily lessons about who your students are, celebrating them as individuals, and building their pride. It’s important for children to feel secure in their uniqueness. This can help them better understand and appreciate the uniqueness of others. Embrace and value every one of your students for the unique individuals they are.
  
• Include Families and Build on The Familiar
  Teachers must instill in their students the importance of being true to themselves.  You can do this by teaching about family cultures and traditions and incorporating them into lessons, materials, and book choices. Food in the kitchen area should represent many cultures, especially those represented in your classroom; family photos should be on display, and using family traditions in lessons is always a plus. Using the Funds of Knowledge framework is a great way of accomplishing this! 
  
• Find and Celebrate Differences and Similarities
  Exposing oneself to and learning to accept differences in the larger community is crucial to complete the puzzle. Diversity doesn’t just include the visible differences but also the subtle ones. Recognizing that the norm for one person is only their norm and not a universal one is essential in developing a greater understanding of others and empathy for those outside of our identity group. This seems like a huge task for early childhood educators, but a little intentionality goes a long way. Talk about similarities and differences from the lens of preschoolers. Talk about what your students call their grandparents, what bedtime is like at their house, and what they ate for dinner. Of course, make sure that any question you ask is appropriate for your group of students. Note these differences and talk about them. Children need to learn we are different in a variety of ways not simply by the most obvious ones like race, gender, or the languages we speak. 
  
• Intentionally Pair Students Up for Tasks
  Pair children who don’t pair up naturally together for tasks like classroom chores.  I am so glad this idea was mentioned in CCEI’s course about multiculturalism because although I did this naturally in my class, I know I need to be more intentional about it. That is one point the course made over and over that we need to be intentional with making classrooms antibias because when we aren’t intentional, we tend to slip into biased ways unintentionally. We have demanding jobs as teachers, and it’s easy to fall into routines and lose intentionality. When we pair up kids from different cultural backgrounds or even simply different social circles, we teach them to widen their circle and learn about and accept others. 

Taking this course from CCEI was a valuable use of my time as a teacher who is always eager to stay on top of best practices. For me, it was PD, but for you, it could be part of your CDA coursework. I love the variety of courses offered and am thrilled that CCEI’s parent company, StraighterLine, now provides online college credit courses in ECE. Now, no matter what pathway in continuing your education, whether professional development, CDA training certification, or getting your degree in ECE, you can do it easily from home! 

Learn More About ChildCare Education Institute®