By Dr. David Childs Childs, Ph.D.
Northern Kentucky University
As our society becomes increasingly more diverse, it is important that schools strive toward developing a more inclusive curriculum in public schools that goes beyond simply patronizing people of color. James Banks offers four levels of multicultural curricular reform that is effective and meaningful and integrates social justice into the lesson. Below I have included the four approaches outlined by Banks. I encourage teachers to move beyond the first level (The contributions approach) to the more thoughtful, meaningful and transformative approaches to multicultural curriculum design.
From “Four Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform”
By James Banks
Contributions Approach
This approach reflects the least amount of involvement in multicultural education approaches. This is incorporated by selecting books and activities that celebrate holidays, heroes, and special events from various cultures. For example, spending time reading about Dr. Martin Luther King in January is a common practice that falls into this category. In this approach, culturally diverse books and issues are not specified as part of the curriculum (Banks, 1999).
Additive Approach
In this approach content, concepts, themes, and perspectives are added to the curriculum without changing its basic structure. This involves incorporating literature by and about people from diverse cultures into the mainstream curriculum without changing the curriculum. For example, examining the perspective of a Native American about Thanksgiving would be adding cultural diversity to the traditional view of Thanksgiving. However, this approach does not necessarily transform thinking (Banks, 1999).
The Transformation Approach
This approach actually changes the structure of the curriculum and encourages students to view concepts, issues, themes, and problems from several ethnic perspectives and points of view. For example, a unit on Thanksgiving would become an entire unit exploring cultural conflict. This type of instruction involves critical thinking and involves a consideration of diversity as a basic premise (Banks, 1999).
The Social Action Approach
This approach combines the transformation approach with activities to strive for social change. Students are not only instructed to understand and question social issues, but to also do something about it. For example, after participating in a unit about recent immigrants to North America, students may write letters to senators, Congress, and newspaper editors to express their opinions about new policies (Banks, 1999).”
Here are some other resources for teachers that highlight Dr. James Banks’ work on multicultural curriculum.
Multicultural Education: Goals and Dimensions
Approaches to Multicultural Reform
Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum and Reform
Stages of Multicultural Curriculum Transformation
On Educating for Diversity: A Conversation with James A. Banks
Bloom-Banks Matrix: Design Rigorous, Multicultural Curriculum for the Diverse 21st Century Classroom
Reference
Banks, J.A. (1999). An Introduction to Multicultural Education (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
I really liked this article and found it very helpful as it provided a lot of great tips and insight on how to be culturally diverse in the classroom. When I start teaching, I really want to teach in an inner-city school – which are normally very diverse. This article really helps shine some light on some wonderful ways to teach to a culturally diverse classroom through each of the approaches that are talked about. I plan to use these in my classroom as I learn to accommodate to the many different students in my classroom.
I actually found this article more interesting the more I read it. I think this article can be very helpful to general education teachers as well as special education teachers. I think that these approaches are important because teachers can choose which approach will fit best with their classroom and their students’ needs for successful learning. Having these approaches can help all teachers, especially when the classroom’s will be diverse. I also think that other than the approaches, having all of the other resources that highlight Dr. James Banks’ work is very helpful as well. This article is something I could definitely use in my classroom.
This article is such a helpful resource. Classrooms are becoming more and more diverse and being able to accommodate your students and make them feel comfortable is so important. These approaches are greats thins to develop into every lesson and give another viewpoint on basic things you usually teach but in a way that is educational and culturally appropriate.
This article is very good for current and future teachers. I believe it is very important for all schools to teach a diverse curriculum. Students need to see the different sides of history, not just from one point of view. As a future educator, I plan to incorporate multicultural education into my curriculum. This article give many resources for teachers to use to developing a more diverse and inclusive curriculum.
This article was such a great read. It is a great resource for me to add to my toolkit. This article provided me with ways to make sure that ALL students feel welcome in my classroom, which is something that has always been super important to me. It provided me with great ways to do so and I can’t wait to use the resources in my classroom to make sure that it is a diverse learning environment.
I really liked how this article pointed out different ways to make sure classrooms are learning about different cultures. All of these methods are great and should be included in the classroom but one that specifically stood out to me was the social action approach. I like this approach because I feel like sometimes people don’t feel like they have a voice or get nervous to stand up for what they believe in. I think students would enjoy the activity of writing to senators, congress and newspaper editors about the policies and it would help them understand and remember different policies. It would also help them practice using their voice and taking a stand for what they believe in, which could change the world one day.
One of the most important things to me when it comes to teaching social studies is that I provide students with a thorough education. Sometimes, it can be rather intimidating to me when I think about how to teach my students about other cultures and people of color. I want to ensure that my students get more than the “fluff.” Coloring a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. or coloring a Kinara is not enough. There is no substance to those things. I want my students to really think about the world they live in and how they can make it a better place. The approaches discussed in this article are a great way to begin to focus on better education practices.
My number one goal as a future educator is for all of the students I encounter to feel welcome in my classroom. One of the biggest pushes I have had from professors is to build classroom community in order for all students to feel welcome. While it is extremely important, I don’t think the community will be sustained throughout the school year without providing an inclusive learning environment for my students. Each of the approaches listed above are great reminders to the many ways teachers can provide their students with an inclusive, multicultural environment.
This article was really interesting to me. It really opened my eyes to the diverse needs of classrooms. It gave really good insight on how to approach diversity in the classroom. I want to make all my students feel welcome and included in the classroom, this article gave me good ideas on how to make this change better.
As someone who is currently student teaching in classrooms as well as having a bachelor’s in social issues such as racism, I’ve often wondered how I could marry my degree with teaching in the classroom. Seeing the possibilities lined out as thus is a great help. I would like to incorporate multicultural curriculum as much as I am able in my classroom and I plan to use this article as a point of reference when I am doing so.