Howe, W., & Lisi, P. (2017). Becoming a multicultural educator: Developing awareness, gaining skills, and taking action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. pp. 427

Multicultural education is a required course in teacher education programs; therefore, it is critical for students to be provided with a high-quality textbook that addresses the fundamental issues of multicultural education. Becoming a Multicultural Educator, awarded the 2013 Philip C. Chinn Award by the National Association of Multicultural Education, is highly recommended and stresses that closing the achievement gap is not possible without knowledge of how to incorporate culture and the experiences of students into teaching and learning. The text is divided into five sections: Background, Knowledge, Awareness, Skills, and Action. The thinking ahead questions activate prior knowledge about upcoming topics and expose learners to useful questioning strategies that could be applied to classrooms with culturally and linguistically diverse students. At the end of the chapters, there are reflecting back higher order questions that prompt students to think deeply about what was read.

Section I, Background, contains two chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the field of multicultural education and includes definitions, theories, and models as well as the misconceptions and misunderstandings of multicultural education. Chapter 2 answers the question, “What is a multicultural educator?” followed by the authors’ four-step model for educator personal growth in multicultural education.

Section II, entitled Knowledge, also has two chapters. Chapter 3 addresses historical perspectives on multicultural America and includes the history of the United States from a cultural perspective, how civil rights shaped the nation, and the major legislation that has impacted members of diverse groups. A summary of historical highlights from 1513 to 2015 is included. Chapter 4 discusses foundational knowledge for culturally responsive teaching and answers important questions such as, “With what important aspects of culture should teachers be familiar?” and “What should teachers know and be able to do to be effective teachers for all children?” (p. 96).

Section III is called Awareness, and the primary focus is on enhancing the awareness of self and others as cultural beings. Chapter 5 explores personal cultural identities and their influence on teaching and learning. Robins, Lindsey, Lindsey, and Terrel (2012) referred to this as an inside-out perspective on being a culturally proficient educator. Not only must educators know themselves as cultural beings and how their identification with different cultural groups influences everything they do in the classroom, but they must also be skilled in ways to become aware and explore the cultural identities of students they teach. In this chapter, both primary and secondary dimensions of culture are defined. Chapter 6 focuses on how schools can work with diversity as a strength and how educators can help students develop a deep understanding of others as cultural beings.

Section IV, Skills, centers around the classroom skills needed by multicultural educators such as curriculum development and lesson planning, instructional approaches, skills in language and linguistic diversity, and assessment that is culturally responsive. The characteristics of a multicultural curriculum, the forms of bias in materials, and writing multicultural lesson plans are parts of Chapter 7. Learning theories, differentiated instruction, and multiple intelligences are the key topics of Chapter 8. Educating English language learners, including the best teaching strategies and how language proficiency affects student achievement are some of the learning objectives of Chapter 9.

Section V, Action, concludes with issues and strategies for taking action to become a multicultural educator. Chapter 11 stresses the importance of developing a portfolio that will include a platform of beliefs, personal vision, a network of colleagues, and samples of data that exemplify classroom practice. The authors suggest an ongoing professional development plan as well as developing the skills of a reflective practitioner. Finally, Chapter 12 is related to action planning on a school-wide level, including action planning, readiness for change, school improvement, and supporting teacher growth for multicultural education.

Becoming a Multicultural Educator: Developing Awareness, Gaining Skills, and Taking Action is an excellent, practical textbook that incorporates the main areas of multicultural education. Teacher educators looking for a basic, easily accessible text about comprehending multicultural topics need not look further. The Sage Publications website has three free chapters available for previewing. This text differs from other texts in the general layout of the chapters, which provide specific learning objectives, a quote, opening and closing case studies, thinking ahead questions, application activities and exercises for the readers, exhibits and tables, reflecting back questions, and profiles in education that highlight prominent multicultural scholars. Options for journaling about difficult issues such as racism, bullying, and high-stakes testing could be integrated by using the textbook questions. The appendix, The Vital Multicultural Classroom, includes free resources for multicultural curricula. The online instructor resources include lecture notes, PowerPoint presentations, videos, links to journal articles, and a bank of test questions for each chapter. The modeling of research-based instructional strategies that enhance student achievement (Marzano et al., 2001), on page 235, could be incorporated into each lesson. A free student study website features quizzes, resources, flashcards, and a link to the authors’ blog. Learners who are reading this textbook would benefit by learning not only about the knowledge and skills needed to become a multicultural educator, but also about how to develop personal and organizational action plans in order to implement multicultural education. Preservice and practicing teachers are encouraged to embrace diversity and become committed to challenging assumptions and uncovering biases on their lifelong journeys to becoming multicultural educators.

Reference

Marzano, R.J., Pickering, D.J., & Pollock, J.E. (2001).Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Robins, K. N., Lindsey, R. B., Lindsey, D. B., & Terrell, R. D. (2012). Culturally proficient instruction: A guide for people who teach (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Kristina Howlett is an assistant professor of TESOL at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas.