Adapting Curriculum for Multicultural Classrooms

Problem: School had small but sizable demographic of Cambodian students with strong ties to their culture who were falling behind academically.
Preparation: Over the summer, teachers participated in development by learning about Cambodian history and culture through college classes and outside readings. To teach a topic adequately, teachers must have a fount of knowledge concerning it so they can not shy away from hard questions.
Teachers formulated “big ideas” that students would be left with after the curriculum; not so concerned with standardized testing alone. This included things like “genocide affects people for years” and “knowledge about historical events can help us understand present day conditions”.
Also: students will understand the history of cambodia and its relationship to the united states. students will engage with Cambodian community. Curriculum will affirm the culture of Cambodian students. Curriculum will build understanding between students of all backgrounds.

Divided into Events throughout the school year, intensive study for one to two weeks, focus group week.

Events throughout school year:

Visitors
Field trips

One to three week unit:

English - focus on Cambodian and Southeast Asian folk tales
Science - One teacher focused on deforestation and environmentalism in the Cambodian rainforest, had students design bookmarks and then sold them with proceeds going to environmental charities. Another had students visit a Cambodian community garden and study the topography, soil conditions, etc. while learning about technology.
Math - work focused on comparing ratios of space in cambodian vs. American homes. Also, worked with demographic and population comparisons.
Art - learned about the architecture and religious iconography of Cambodia, focusing on whether it is appropriate or not to use religious iconography in artwork; studied using star of David or Crucifixes in art work and why it is or isn’t done, as well as relationship between artist and artwork.

Focus Groups:

Students worked with one discipline in heavy concentration for one week at a time.
English focused on dramatizing the folktales they’d read
Art focused on scenery and props for the dramatization based on their knowledge of Angkor Wat.
Science students used their data to create a model of the community garden
Math students used their skills and knowledge of Cambodian housing to create a scale model of Cambodian houses.

Finally, the students held an event in which parents, teachers, and family members could see what the students had created and hear about how they had done it.

This curriculum had a hugely positive effect on the feeling of integration that Cambodian students had in the school.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy