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Unit 5

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Multicultural Issues in Educational EnvironmentsINTRODUCTION
In the previous units, we focused on the topic of diversity and the different ways in which your learners are diverse. In the next several units, we will focus on multicultural issues and how they impact curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
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LEARNING ACTIVITIESCollapse All
Toggle Drawer[u05s1] Unit 5 Study 1Weekly Planner and Reflection Journal
Use the Weekly Planner and Reflection Journal to help you keep track of your activities so you stay organized and meet all required deadlines. The tool also contains a section for you to record your reflections on your learning goals and experiences for the week. This space provides a private, informal area for you to record your thoughts on your strengths and challenges as they relate to inclusivity and diversity in learning environments. Your entries won’t be read, responded to, or graded by the instructor; however, you are strongly urged to make weekly journal entries, as you will need this content to complete the Unit 10 Course Reflection assignment.
As you prepare your weekly reflection entry, remember to connect at least one of Brookfield’s Four Lenses to your entry:

Autobiographical experiences.
Eyes of students or clients.
Relevant theories.
Colleagues’ perceptions.
Complete the Weekly Planner and Reflection Journal to track your activities.

Toggle Drawer[u05s2] Unit 5 Study 2Develop Your Toolbox
Readings
Use the Internet to complete the following:

Majumder, K. (2015, February 20). Six article types that journals publish: A guide for early career researchers [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.editage.com/insights/6-article-types-that-journals-publish-a-guide-for-early-career-researchers
Purdue University. (n.d.). Purdue OWL: Reference list: Basic rules. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/

These rules are the same as those found in the APA manual; this site might be more convenient for you in some instances, as might be the Campus APA links that follow.

Campus Links
Take advantage of these Capella resources on scholarly research and APA style and format.

Find Scholarly and Peer-Reviewed Sources.
Sources and Evidence.
APA Citation – Citing a Book.
APA Citation – Citing a Journal Article.
APA Citation – Citing a Website.
Multimedia

Click Resource Toolbox to investigate the Library Research section.

Take the library tour and read about evaluating sources, narrowing your topic, and forming a search strategy. These skills will be helpful to you throughout your degree program at Capella.

If you find these resources to be particularly helpful, remember to add them to your ongoing list of resources that you started in Unit 1.
Resource ToolboxBEGIN ACTIVITYICONTranscript

Toggle Drawer[u05s3] Unit 5 Study 3Multiculturalism and Instructional Interventions
Readings
Use the Capella library and the Internet to complete the following:

Cassell, J. A., Nelson, T., & Arnold, H. B. (2013). The journey from Babel: Unleashing the power of the collective through the creative dynamism of difference. Multicultural Education [Special issue], 21(1), 52–58.

The authors of the article discuss challenges, benefits, and possibilities related to teaching multiculturally.

Dalton, J. C., & Crosby, P. C. (2013). Diversity, multiculturalism, and pluralism: Moving from hospitality and appreciation to social inclusion on campus and beyond. Journal of College and Character, 14(4), 281–288.

This article distinguishes among approaches of diversity, multicultural, and plurality, focusing on higher education settings. As you read, consider the approach used in your own educational setting. 
For a summary of the article’s relevant points, review the Diversity, Multicultural, Privilege section of the Definitions [DOC].

Gorski, P. (n.d.). Key characteristics of a multicultural curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/curriculum/characteristics.html

Includes tips for a multicultural approach to the content of the curriculum, the delivery of instruction, instructional materials, and perspective.

Irish, C., & Scrubb, M. (2012, November 12). Five competencies for culturally competent teaching and learning [Blog post]. Faculty Focus. Retrieved from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/five-competencies-for-culturally-competent-teaching-and-learning/
Wei, L. (2013). Who and what should we educate our students to be? An inquiry into the curriculum of multiculturalism in education. Taboo, 13(2), 86–90.

The distinction between teaching multiculturalism and teaching in a multicultural way is discussed. Think about how teaching multiculturally affects curriculum, instruction, and assessment in your setting.

What If I Am Not a Classroom Teacher?
Your professional role, or the one to which you aspire, may not involve classroom teaching. If that is the case, consider the more general concept of providing adaptive experiences for those students or clients with whom you work. It will be helpful to review the Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment section of the Definitions [DOC] for a more general perspective. It will also be helpful to review the KWL chart you completed in Unit 1, in which you reflected on how curriculum, instruction, assessment and multiculturalism are involved in your own professional role.
Specialization-Specific Resources
Click Specialization-Specific Resources to view the media piece.

This media piece provides a starting point for further learning. Note that some of the readings within your area of specialization may be required for successful completion of your course. Others are recommended or optional enrichment. Refer to your unit studies for required readings.
If you are in the Teaching and Learning Program, which is based on a personal, customized approach rather than specializations, we encourage you to explore the range of P–12 specialization-specific resources in this presentation as appropriate to your interests.
Specialization-Specific ResourcesBEGIN ACTIVITYICONTranscriptLearning Components
This activity will help you achieve the following learning components:

Identify challenges related to inclusivity and diversity.
Review outcomes of applied inclusivity and diversity practices.
Define diversity in an educational setting.
Define inclusivity in an educational setting.

Toggle Drawer[u05s4] Unit 5 Study 4Discussion and Assignment Preparation
Your third assignment, Literature Review, will be due next week, at the end of Unit 6. The first task in your work for that assignment is to locate 4–5 articles on multiculturalism and how cultural issues impact curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Refer to the resources provided in the Develop Your Toolbox study in this unit to help you find relevant articles and think critically about them. As a reminder, in Unit 1 you used the KWL chart to help situate your professional role in the general framework of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. It will be helpful to review your KWL chart before you begin your article search, as it will help you identify the most relevant keywords.
As you conduct your research, keep these things in mind:

Use current articles—those that have been published within the last five years.
Be sure to include both empirical articles and other types of articles about which you learned in the studies this week.

Empirical articles are those in which the author has conducted a research study and is reporting on the results and significance to the field. These types of articles generally include research questions, participants, data collection and analysis, and findings. Because empirical articles are found in peer-reviewed journals, to locate these types of articles most effectively in the Capella library, narrow your search to peer-reviewed articles.

For the second discussion in this unit, you will be sharing the annotation of one of the articles you selected. For the purpose of this discussion, you should use an empirical article.

Toggle Drawer[u05d1] Unit 5 Discussion 1Multicultural Issues in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
In some professional settings, diversity and multiculturalism are given very little consideration. In others, they are celebrated as a special event (for example, a multicultural food celebration). In still other settings, diversity and multicultural approaches are embedded in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. For this discussion, respond to the following:

How are diversity and multiculturalism approached in your professional setting?
What benefits can you identify in implementing a multicultural approach to curriculum, instruction, and assessment in your setting?
What challenges do you foresee in implementing a multicultural approach to curriculum, instruction, and assessment in your setting?
What If I Am Not a Classroom Teacher?
Your professional role, or the one that you are preparing for in your Capella program, may not involve classroom teaching. If that is the case, consider the more general concept of how multicultural and diversity characteristics are relevant for those students or clients with whom you work. It will also be helpful to review the KWL chart you completed in Unit 1, in which you reflected on how curriculum, instruction, assessment, and multiculturalism are involved in your professional role. The KWL chart contains prompts that will help you situate your professional specialization within the general framework of the discussion. You may also find it helpful to review the Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment section of the Definitions document, linked in Resources.
Make a Connection
In addition to responding to the discussion prompt above, at the end of your post state a question or issue that is of interest to you. This is meant to help engage your peers and let them know how they can best support you.
Response Guidelines
These guidelines apply to your responses to other learners, which are in addition to your response to the discussion topic itself.
Respond to the post of at least one learner. In your responses, offer suggestions for addressing the identified challenges.
Post your initial responses in the discussion area by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. (Central time zone). Comments to other learners’ posts are due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. (Central time zone). 
Learning Components
This activity will help you achieve the following learning components:

Identify challenges related to inclusivity and diversity.
Summarize professional experience related to inclusivity and diversity.
Identify challenges experienced in relation to inclusivity and diversity.
Review outcomes of applied inclusivity and diversity practices.
Analyze strategies for integrating inclusivity and diversity in an educational setting.
Provide evidence to support conclusions on the effectiveness of inclusion and diversity strategies.
Resources

Discussion Participation Scoring Guide.
Definitions [DOC].

Toggle Drawer[u05d2] Unit 5 Discussion 2Share an Annotation
For your upcoming assignment due in Unit 6, you will develop a literature review on multicultural issues related to curriculum, instruction, and assessment. This discussion will provide you an opportunity to create an annotation for one of the empirical articles you located on this topic. See this unit’s Discussion and Assignment Preparation study activity for how to identify an empirical article and refer to the Campus links in Resources for assistance. After you find an empirical article on your topic, complete the following:

Write the reference for the article. Be sure to use APA style for the reference.
Write a 150–200 word annotation. Include the purpose of the study, data collection and analysis overview, and a summary of the findings. Identify any limitations of the study. Note: One source for this information is often the article itself; many articles have a section in which the authors address limitations of the study.
For the discussion, below your annotation, describe why you chose this article and how its findings could be applied in your own professional setting. Note: This is not a part of the annotations you will do in your literature review.
The overall format for the annotation is slightly different from standard APA format. Your post should follow the format below. The completed post should have three sections. No headings are necessary.

Start with an APA-formatted reference list entry for the article.
Add your annotation. It should be a single concise paragraph without headings. Focus on the basic information point by point and don’t worry if the paragraph seems a bit choppy. Your reader will be looking for what the article says; it is not necessary to explain why the information in the article is valuable, for example.
End with a statement about why you chose this article.
Response Guidelines
These guidelines apply to your responses to other learners, which are in addition to your response to the discussion topic itself.
Respond to at least one learner. Offer feedback on the annotations. Did each peer create the references in APA format correctly? Did they include all parts in the annotations? Were they written clearly and concisely? Offer at least one suggestion for improvement.
Post your initial responses in the discussion area by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. (Central time zone). Comments to other learners’ posts are due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. (Central time zone).
Resources

Discussion Participation Scoring Guide.
How Do I Find Peer-Reviewed Articles?.
APA Citation – Citing a Journal Article.

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