James A. Banks Multicultural Education Analysis

Education 2120 Discussion Post #2

Claim:

Dr. Banks’ five dimensions of multicultural education assists teachers by giving them an understanding of different cultures present in a classroom, allowing them to broaden content material to attribute to student success, and enabling them to make the school culture more accepting of diversity.

Evidence: In a publication released by the American Educational Research Association written by James A. Banks in 1993 titled “Multicultural Education: Historical Development, Dimensions, and Practices”, content integration is defined as the first dimension of multicultural education (5). Although this is only the first dimension of achieving acceptance of diversity in schools, it is an essential method

He states that equity pedagogy is about “the physics teacher not so much adding content about women physicists and African American physicists, but rather the physics teacher changing the way she teaches physics, for example, so that girls and African Americans can learn physics.” (2). He suggests that teachers should frame their pedagogy around a broad range of methods that can enhance the learning experiences of all individuals.

• For example, if students in a high school English class are struggling with grammar and research indicates that students from different backgrounds learn the subject better by grouping together and identifying the parts of speech in a sentence, the educator can include this in their lesson plans and classroom environment. She can group the desks together prior to the students entering the classroom and provide an assignment that will require multiple students to complete.

• Equity pedagogy will enhance an educator’s ability to teach to multiple categories of students by using differentiated learning techniques, which will result in a classroom environment where all students can

In every classroom, some form of prejudice generally exists, and it is essential for educators to ensure all of their students a safe and accepting learning environment.

• The previous three aspects of multicultural education greatly contribute to prejudice reduction. Following the example of the American Literature educator incorporating Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” into his curriculum, he can also frame his lesson through an empowering perspective and teach it using diverse methods of pedagogy. By using the first three aspects of multicultural education in this manner, he will help students admire and relate to a background that may differ from theirs, which will result in more understanding and acceptance for both the students and teacher.

Evidence: According to the interview, the last dimension of multicultural education is empowering school culture and social structure (3). This includes providing a diverse range of faculty members, students involved in extracurricular activities, and ensuring that students from all of the different backgrounds feel as if they have the ability to succeed (3).

• If the previous four dimensions are practiced in a classroom, school culture and social structure will generally be more accepting of