Together for a Better Multicultural Society

I propose that educators construct pedagogical responses to youth in schools in ways that consider classrooms to be the result of and the boardroom for complex global flows. Youth's production of individual and collective identities wherein flows are apprehended, discarded, combined, and recombined, rages against purifying processes of neocolonial classrooms.     

Drawing Parallels in Search of Educational Equity: A Multicultural Education Delegation to China Looks Outside to See Within

In 2004, a professional delegation of multicultural educators visited the People's Republic of China to explore how diversity issues are addressed and how students are prepared for entry into the international workforce. The delegation, sponsored by the People to People Ambassador Programs, observed numerous parallels to the American system of education, including the challenge of providing equity for students of minority cultures, especially those in poor rural areas, and the conflict between modernization and preservation of cultural heritage.     

Texts

Made in America: Immigrant Students in Our Public Schools. Laurie Olsen, New York: The New Press, 1997, 276 pages, $25.00 (hardcover), ISBN 1–5658–4400–9, and $14.95 (softcover), ISBN 1–5658–4471–8.

The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America From a Small School in Harlem. Deborah Meier, Boston: Beacon Press, 1995, 190 pages, $12.00 (softcover). ISBN 0–8070–3111–9.

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow: Meeting the Challenge of Our Multicultural America & Beyond. Paul D. Christiansen and Michelle Young, San Francisco: Gaddo Gap Press, 1996, 376 pages, $29.95 (softcover). ISBN 1–8801–9218–7.     

“Can't Nobody Sleep” and Other Characteristics of Culturally Responsive English Instruction

In this article the author presents a collective case study of two English teachers identified as particularly successful with Black students. Through the use of ethnographic techniques, the study provides a snapshot of how these teachers facilitated academic gains in urban high schools through their use of culturally responsive English instruction.     

Study of the stability of a series of synthetic colorants applied with styrene-acrylic copolymer, widely used in contemporary paintings, concerning the effects of accelerated ageing

This study examines the materials of a contemporary pictorial artwork, belonging to the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki (Greece), and needing conservation. The combined use of micro-FTIR and micro-Raman spectroscopy allowed the identification of almost all painting materials. Moreover, the stability of a series of synthetic pigments towards accelerated ageing is investigated in applications using the contemporary binding medium styrene-acrylic copolymer. The pigments in question are: Hansa yellow PY3 and PY74, quinacridone PV19 and PR122, naphthol AS PR112, phthalocyanine green PG7 and blue PB15, dioxazine PV37, van Dyck brown PBk11, ivory black PBk9, and titanium dioxide PW6. The organic pigments were applied alone or mixed with titanium dioxide, in rutile form or as a mixture of rutile/anatase. The experimental swatches were subjected to ageing tests, and subsequently studied as to colour changes by means of colorimetric measurements, and as to the molecular structure differentiations by infrared spectroscopy in reflectance mode. The ageing tests included exposure to high temperature and humidity (90 °C, 60% RH) and to ultraviolet radiation (350 nm, 30 °C and 50% RH, with a substantial temperature increase at 90 °C for 3 days). The greater colour difference is caused by high temperature and humidity, whereas paint layers containing TiO₂, and especially the mixture of the forms rutile/anatase, prove very susceptible to ultraviolet radiation, demonstrating a significant colour difference and extended molecular changes.     

“西单女孩”的追梦之旅

在北京西单地下通道卖唱养家的河北涿州女孩任月丽,凭一曲翻唱的《天使的翅膀》蹿红网络,被人们亲切地称为“西单女孩”。2011年2月2日,草根明星任月丽亮相央视春晚,她的《想家》声情并茂地打动了亿万观众的心坎。     

English-Spanish Cognates and the Pura Belpré Children's Award Books: Reading the Word and the World

English-Spanish cognates are an important subset of words in both the English and Spanish languages. Cognates are words that possess identical or nearly identical spellings and meanings in both languages as a result of being derived from Latin and Greek. Of major importance is the fact that many of the more than 20,000 cognates in English are academic vocabulary words, terms essential for comprehending school texts.

?The Pura Belpré Children's Book Award has been given since 1996 to outstanding children's and young adult literature that represents, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience. The books are judged for their literary and artistic quality.

?There are many English-Spanish cognates in each of the Pura Belpré picture books. The purpose of this article is to introduce the Pura Belpré Cognate Database, which lists all of the English-Spanish cognates for each of the children's picture books that have won the award or have been designated as honor books. Ideas for vocabulary, spelling, and morphology lessons or mini-lessons are also presented.     

Culturally and Linguistically Relevant Readalouds

The teacher readaloud is an instructional tool established in its ability to foster children's language and literacy development. Increasing cultural and linguistic diversity and changing standards place pressure on teachers to provide literacy and language instruction relevant to children's everyday lives and learning. This article presents a framework for conducting culturally and linguistically relevant readalouds within two essential components, talk and text, in terms of developing cultural competence, maintaining high academic expectations, and fostering a critical stance. Particular attention is given to the interactive nature of these readalouds and how they can be used to promote children's active co-construction of textually-based meaning.