Cross-Cultural Teaching Tales
Judith Kleinfeld
This book compiles 23 teachers' short anecdotes about their experiences with cross-cultural encounters in the classroom and elsewhere in their professional lives. Stories are organized into the following three sections: "Starting Out in a New Cultural Scene," "Clashes in Cultural Rules and Values," and "Across Generational, Class, and Institutional Cultures." Tales were gathered in a graduate program at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, and so many stories focus on Native Alaskan cultures.
Judith Kleinfeld. Cross-Cultural Teaching Tales (1989). Center for Cross-Cultural Studies: Fairbanks, Al.
(58 pages).
Sponsoring Agency: College of Rural Alaska
Language: English
Reading Level: Easy
Formats Available: Printed Material
(Will also be available online on the CLAS web site)
Center for Cross-Cultural Studies
College of Rural Alaska
University of Alaska-Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Al
99712
Phone: (907) 474-5831
Email: fypress@uaf.edu
Languages Available: English
Intended User Audience:
This book was written for pre-service and experienced teachers who work with culturally diverse children. It is also of some interest to all early intervention service providers who deal with these children.
Product Development:
The author used anecdotal information to write the book. Most contributors were of European American background. The book was written primarily for teachers of Alaska natives but is applicable for teachers of any indigenous group, e.g. Native Americans. The book has been used with the indigenous populations of Australia, as well.
Product Evaluation:
The book has not been field tested.
Product Dissemination:
An unknown number of books have been distributed.
Review #1
About the reviewer:
The reviewer is a doctoral student in early childhood education,
studying multicultural literature. Her research focuses on
representations of Native Americans in children's literature. She is
Pueblo Indian and grew up on a reservation in northern New Mexico.
The majority of her teaching experience is with Native American
children in off-reservation boarding schools. At the university she
currently teaches children's literature and has previously taught in
the early childhood teacher preparation program.
Audience:
Cross Cultural Teaching Tales is a collection of 23 short stories prepared for pre-service and experienced teachers who may teach in culturally different settings. Although many of the stories are from teachers who work with the native populations of Alaska, the book also includes stories about working with the following populations: Japanese, Polish, Navajo, African American, and Nigerian. (Some of the stories are also about people who are of low SES.) The focus of the stories is on the ways cultural differences impact interactions between individuals from different cultures. Therefore, the book has applicability to a wide variety of cultural and/or linguistic groups. In an educational setting, the collection may be used by pre-service teachers, experienced teachers, paraprofessionals, librarians, school administrators, counselors and social workers, service delivery personnel, and other school support staff personnel (e.g. secretaries, clerks, custodial staff).
Individuals with little or no contact with diverse cultures will find the collection most useful. The easy reading level makes the stories accessible to a wide range of readers. The content is one of import to a wide range of personnel, and can be used with a wide range of service providers, from paraprofessionals to graduate students and faculty in diversity training seminars.
Strengths of the Material:
I see this collection of stories being used in a classroom discussion format as case studies of cultural conflict. A fundamental component of multicultural education is to help people become more aware of their own biases and perspectives. Many of the stories in this collection are successful at presenting the conflicts that occur when teachers expect students and their families from culturally diverse populations to behave in ways more typical of their own or the dominant population. The easy reading level of the stories makes the book useful for a wide audience. The short length of each story allows them to be read quickly in one class session and then used as a starting place for discussions about cultural differences.
The story “Sex Education for Parents” illuminates the ways different cultures think about the role of parents and teachers. In many culturally diverse populations, teachers are accorded the highest levels of respect and authority. Parents do not question that authority. This lack of inquiry may be erroneously associated with a lack of caring or interest in the child’s education.
In “A Navajo Halloween” the teacher (not Navajo) asks her Navajo paraprofessional if the Navajo people celebrate Halloween. Encouraged by a “yes” answer, she proceeded to get the classroom ready for a party. While her intentions were good (she did not want to introduce activities that might be offensive to the Navajo people), her question assumed that the Navajo way of celebrating Halloween and the traditional American celebration were similar. They are not similar, as she discovered when she witnessed her student’s fear of the decorations she put up for their Halloween party.
Other stories illustrate how stereotypes, the idea of static cultures, and differing perspectives on competition can misinform a well-intentioned teacher’s activities and interactions with culturally diverse populations. The stories are not just about racially different populations. Some are about differences across class or institutional cultures. For example, “The Hierarchy of the High School” is about teacher and school culture.
Limitations of the Material:
The greatest drawback to this book is the uneven quality of the stories. Some are well written and effectively convey the conflicts that can occur between cultures, but others lack sufficient information to fully understand the cultural differences being discussed. The stories were not written for an audience who works with special needs children. As such, stories do not address this area.
Adaptations:
These are teaching tales that would benefit from a skilled discussion leader who can bring out the main points from the group. Thus, it is important to have a good facilitator to lead a discussion on cultural diversity. When introducing the materials to a group of workshop participants or pre-service teachers, the instructor will need to spend time articulating who the author of the story is, fleshing out the personal characteristics and biases, and his/her background. Without this information, the participants may be in essentially the same place the author of the story was -- unable to see the biases he/she brought into the situation, how these biases clashed with the population the teacher was working with, and therefore unable to understand the conflict. Only through time and experience were the authors able to see their biases. As the instructor introduces the story, he/she must be careful to avoid making stereotypical statements about the culture depicted in the story. However, some “universal” statements are possible (i.e. in the Halloween story, the theme is not that Navajo people are superstitious, but rather, that different cultures can view similar artifacts in different ways.)
It would also be useful for the reader to know more about the author of each story, as their identity is a key factor in how their stories develop. Perhaps the instructor could encourage the class to put themselves in the story as the author, to see how their own biases might impact their behavior.
Because the material is not written with a special needs population as the primary audience, instructors or participants will need to apply cultural understanding they gain from the stories as a basis from which to consider the ways different cultural groups think about disabilities. (For example, in many Native American communities, homosexuals are not seen as undesirable members of the community; rather, they are thought to have special status and are accorded a high level of respect. They are different, and that difference makes them special. Is “difference” in special needs children accorded special status in other cultures?)
Generalizability:
The stories in this book cover a wide range of "culture" that spans not just race, but class and institutional cultures as well. Therefore, the stories can be used in a wide variety of settings. In-depth discussion of the stories can lead to growth of cultural competence. In a well-facilitated discussion, it will become clear that our perceptions of many cultures keep them frozen in a specific place in time, and that these inaccurate perceptions can become obstacles in our interactions with cultures different than our own. These stories can also help the reader gain an appreciation for the ways that different values are manifested in other cultures. "Respect" in one culture looks different from one culture to another, but it is, nevertheless, present cross-culturally.
The only caution is that users be aware of the population with whom they intend to use the material. For example, it may be culturally inappropriate for segments of the Nigerian population to read about some aspects of dealing with death. Therefore, the story "A Nigerian Burial That Could Have Been My Own" may not be a good choice to use with that population.
Recommendations:
I recommend this collection, and find the materials to be neutral.
Producer's Response:
The reviewers' comments on "Cross-Cultural Teaching Tales" were well-taken
and helpful. The book is indeed appropriate for anyone teaching in
Native American communities and other multicultural settings. The use of
English is indeed a limitation.
We will keep these comments in mind as we develop additional tales. I am
pleased to offer them to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Review #2
About the reviewer:
The reviewer is originally from a Native American reservation in the
Southwest. She is currently an administrator for an early childhood
intervention program operated by an Indian tribe. This program
coordinates closely with the Head Start programs and early
intervention providers, as well as the state pre-school programs.
The program has also helped to establish a Parent Training and
Information Center which serves Native American families; therefore,
much of her interest lies with parent involvement and collaboration
with professionals. Many of the children are from rural and remote
reservation areas and are from lower SES backgrounds.
Audience:
This material is a compilation of stories told by teachers based on cross-cultural encounters. The tales are primarily tales of cross-cultural encounters in Native American communities and more specifically in the state of Alaska among the Alaska Native people. Although the teacher stories are cross cultural encounters while working in schools in Native American communities, the tales can be generalized and useful for teachers who are entering any employment setting which is of a different culture. There were several stories that were cross-cultural encounters in the Japanese and African American communities. The extent of possible users for the material is primarily new teachers or staff entering a school or employment setting that is of a different culture than their own. For example, an individual who has worked in predominately urban, white middle class setting and accepted a job to work in a predominately Native American community or a community from another culture would benefit from the tales as they would be very helpful for understanding situations from a different perspective.
Strengths of the Material:
The material is a series of stories told by teachers working in culturally diverse settings. The storytelling approach is reflective of cultural diversity, as story telling is a teaching method used by many Indian tribes. The material provides a clear introduction providing information on how and why the collection of teacher tales has been recorded. The material is well organized, with a table of contents in which the reader can select particular tales to read. The language used is easy to understand and the stories are interesting to read. The presentation of material is from the standpoint of new teachers and their encounters in communities that are different than theirs. Overall, this document provides an effective way of presenting material for students entering teaching. The stories are interesting, easy to read and present the lessons teachers learned from their own experiences.
Limitations of the Material:
The material as presented would require that the reader be proficient in reading English because of the English idioms and cliches used in the document. Because the document is intended to be used by new staff who will be teachers in a Native American or other culturally diverse community, the material has not been translated. The material is appropriate for readers who primarily speak English.
Adaptations:
The tales are people’s individual experiences; therefore the stories stand alone as presented with the lessons learned. I would recommend that the stories be used along with other training material or during lectures on working with culturally diverse groups. The introduction is clear about who the intended audience is for these stories, therefore I do not recommend any adaptations to the document, other than adding some photographs or graphics, which might improve the presentation.
Generalizability:
Most of the tales are relevant to Native American communities and cannot be generalized across cultures. The stories contained in the document are about rural Alaska Native Americans and cannot be generalized to other Native American tribes. For example, the beliefs and cultural practices of one Native American tribe cannot be generalized to another. If a teacher were to accept a job in rural Alaska, the stories about this particular geographic area would be useful to the individual. The readers are cautioned with regards to generalizing the material across cultures.
Recommendations:
I would recommend these tales to new staff members seeking employment in Native American communities and in particular rural Alaska Native American settings. The tales are interesting and provide many lessons to be learned by new teachers and staff entering cross-cultural environments. The tales provide a unique way of learning, as opposed to providing a list of dos and don’ts for a particular community/tribal setting. I would recommend this material for students entering teaching and who are heading for culturally different settings.
Producer's Response:
The reviewers' comments on "Cross-Cultural Teaching Tales" were well-taken
and helpful. The book is indeed appropriate for anyone teaching in
Native American communities and other multicultural settings. The use of
English is indeed a limitation.
We will keep these comments in mind as we develop additional tales. I am
pleased to offer them to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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