Three & Four

Chapter Three: What is it like to Teach in Urban, Rural, and Suburban Schools

The United States, in all its complex diversity of communities, has three types of public schools in the country. There are urban school districts and schools, rural schools, and suburban schools. There are specific characteristics that set them apart.

Urban schools are located in cities and tend to be large, and student bodies tend to reflect the diversity of urban communities. Rural schools often reflect a sense of community where members of the community are close-knit. These schools are often found primarily in the Midwest, West, and South.Suburban schools are located adjacent to urban communities. People often move to the suburbs to escape city life, but city problems are found in suburbia as well.

The schools here in Guam seem to possess similar characteristics of a suburban school.There, however, are differences. Sure, Guam is a close knit community where everyone seems to know each other, but in terms of coming together as a community to address concerns and fix problems in the public school system, there is no close-knit support. And like urban schools, funding is often scarce in our education system which deters the quality of education that we provide to our students.

INTASC Standard 3



Chapter Four: What Multicultural Education is and What it Involves

In a sense, multicultural education is aligned with the No Child Left Behind Act. Multicultural education is designed to ensure that all students receive equal opportunities regardless of socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, and racial and cultural backgrounds. There are five models of approach to multicultural education.

There's the teaching of exceptional and culturally different students, which targets students who are behind academically. Another approach centers around human relations., and aims to enhance positive feelings towards each other. Single group studies focuses on the background of one group. They also work towards social change. The multicultural approach targets all students and organizes curriculum to provide culturally relevant activities in all subjects. Lastly is the multicultural approach that aims to rebuild or reform society, which I personally agree with.

In Guam, diversity in the classroom has been in existence for awhile. Many have migrated to Guam from all over the place, but we have seen great numbers of people coming from the Philippines or the FSM ( Federal States of Micronesia). To accompany these individuals, some who have no exposure or knowledge of the English language or Western society, programs such as the ESL (English as a Second Language) have been implemented in the public school system. However, no specific approach to Multicultural Education has been enforced here on Guam.

INTASC Standard 2