Personal Connections to The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies

The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies: Personal Connections

Christine E. Sleeter  |  Link to Article: Article

Hannah Kennedy  |  FNED546

While reading the article The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies by Christine E. Sleeter, I made many connections between things Sleeter said in the article and things I see every day at the school I teach at. This article also caused me to ponder ways I can implement more ethnic studies into simple lessons at school in order to ensure I am being inclusive to all of my students who come from a plethora of backgrounds. 

The first personal connection I made while reading this article is how important it is for teachers and curriculum to include ethnic studies, as it increases engagement. I noticed this when I was filling in for the teacher's aid. The kindergarten teacher was doing a read-aloud, and chose a book named What Can You Do with a Paleta, which means popsicle in Spanish. As soon as she said the name of the book, the students who speak prominently Spanish at home got super excited and were so engaged throughout the lesson. They immediately made connections to their personal lives, as they were telling stories about times they have had paleta's at home. The rest of the book was in English, but it had a few Spanish words. This also engaged the prominently English-speaking students, as they were excited to learn the Spanish words. This showed me how simple it is to incorporate different ethnicities into a single lesson. This also reminded me of Carlos in the article, as he became super engaged when he noticed that his culture was represented. It was so exciting to see how engaged the Spanish-speaking students became when they realized their culture was being represented. It made me wonder, if it is this easy, why don't we as teachers do it more often?

What Can You Do with a Paleta by Carmen Tafolla

The second connection I made between this article and what I see at my school every day is the fact that ethnic studies can be used as a tool for empowerment because it can increase confidence and academic performance in students. I see this in my school when we utilize ethnic studies and notice that the kids that resonate become very empowered, and end up doing better academically. When we do a lesson that involves multiple ethnicities, students respond super well, and they end up learning better and performing better academically. I also felt like this resonates with the part of the article that focuses on how Carlos changed his educational path after exploring ethnic studies. When students become super engaged due to relating to a curriculum that represents their ethnicity, it encourages them to explore different educational paths because they become more interested in education. This is so important and I am glad the article mentioned this. Incorporating more ethnicities can encourage students to explore more educational paths. 

What are some ways we can incorporate ethnic studies into everyday lesson plans?