Lesson Plan and Rationale
| Age group: 3-5
The stimulus used: I wanted to conduct a Preschool Free Play Program for children |
Key questions
How do English kids feel when they wear Shalwar Kameez?
Why don’t Muslim student wear a suit?
How multiculturalism can be supported through dressing up differently
The Activity:
Introduce a new dress code for different children in the class. Students will be provided with different pictures of people wearing different cultural dresses. They have to idealise this picture and choose to wear something differently
Do all children know people who wear these dresses?
Now, the teacher will ask some questions
Children will be sharing their views and thoughts if they observe anyone wearing these dresses. For Instance, Muslim students will be talking about people who wear a suit. On the other hand, English or Hispanic children will be talking about the native dress of Muslims
Dressing like other people will help to know different cultures. Children will understand the culture difference by meeting or acting accordingly.
The follow-up activity seems essential, as students will carry posters or pictures of different people wearing the same dresses. The purpose of this activity is to encourage self-expression, drive the ability to embrace diversity, collaborating.
The Rationale:
Promoting diversity early in children’s education will undoubtedly instill multicultural acceptance in them, and from a pre-school teacher’s perspective, certain activities can be used to achieve this objective. In addition to such activities, it is paramount that within any activity in the classroom I should promote and maintain equality and acceptance. Children will come from different cultural backgrounds, and I have to manage equally when conducting these activities. For instance, the Pre-School free play program is triggered by multicultural theory. According to multicultural theory, all psychology emerges in a particular cultural framework or society. It is a fact that every culture indicates some strengths and weaknesses (Oikonomidoy, 2002). This program or activity will help to streamline the strengths of all cultures and creates a new environment or society for children. The most important thing is to change the psyche of children, who come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. For Instance, multicultural theory will be justified when children from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds are provided with the same opportunities in the program. Children will create a new culture here and depict some strengths and weakness. Remarkably, it is to be used in the educational process, especially in pre-school activities. Equal opportunities to show skills and growth for all students will also justify equality. Effective implementation of multicultural theory can help to create the culture of togetherness. Children coming from different cultures will be working or playing in different teams.
The activity promotes equality. Equality theory depicts that people are motivated through fairness (Weishart, 2014). For Instance, children are to be treated fairly in this program or activity, which can motivate them to show their strengths and promote their growth. Fairness is one of the primary elements in this program, which can bring equality and teach children how to work or play together to achieve something decided/chosen. Stereotypes are to be evaded. Children will be used randomly in different teams. Mutual goals and communication can help to maintain or reduce the impact of diversity. Before conducting this program or activity, I have to take diversity training. I have to learn how a diverse environment creates an effect on behavior, performance, motivation, and assertiveness.
Conclusion
The rationale of conducting this pre-school activity is to bring equality and prepare students for early education in the educational institution. I want to create a diverse culture or society through this program, which can change the behaviours of children. For Instance, I want to make a group of students, which can achieve goals without any cultural intervention. Free play is open for every child, and without having cultural differences, opportunities are to be availed. It seems rapid growth of children, and the activity can be improved with time
References
Conceptual collective online reflection in multicultural education classes [Journal] / auth. Oikonomidoy Eleni // Multicultural Education & Technology Journal. – 2002. – 2 : Vol. 3. – pp. 130-143.
Transcending Equality Versus Adequacy [Journal] / auth. Weishart Joshua E // Stanford Law Review. – 2014. – 3 : Vol. 66. – pp. 477-544.
