News Item
Renewed Commitment to Culture & Diversity Initiative
December 14, 2011
Celebrating Culture and Diversity in the Monticello Central School District
The culture and diversity initiative began in Monticello Schools in 2010, spearheaded by Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Newman. It is a district-wide effort to incorporate positive cultural references into everyday classroom learning and includes the celebration of the many diverse cultures that comprise the school community. The initiative also focuses on teaching tolerance and respect.
Focusing on Social Justice
It goes way beyond the professional responsibility of educators having equal expectations for all students regardless of skin color, cultural background or religion. It is our ethical obligation to ensure that the core values of the Monticello Central School District are upheld, that every student is treated with dignity and respect, and that there is equal access to opportunities and resources. This is the true recipe for success. This is our journey - our work-in-progress.
If we are to flourish, we must continue to embrace and celebrate who we are as a culturally diverse school community. Building relationships based on trust are worth our concerted efforts. Above all, we must never lose sight of what is most precious - the future of our children.
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage
The George L. Cooke Elementary School art room, under the guidance and expertise of teacher Amy Garrett, is a place of multicultural learning. It is a colorful voyage of creativity and a showplace for bold and beautiful images. In her art lessons, Ms. Garrett celebrates the work of artists from diverse backgrounds as a way to open the hearts and minds of her pupils and ignite their curiosity and wonder.
Mexican-American Cartoonist
During October, students in grades K-5 celebrated and explored the life and artwork of the renowned and prolific Hispanic artist, Gustavo Arriola. Senor Arriola was a pioneer in the world of cartooning. He broke new ground in the 1940s when he rose to fame for creating the first boldly ethnic cartoon character named “Gordo.” During his career, he also contributed his talents to the well-known cartoon series “Tom and Jerry.”
As part of learning about Hispanic heritage, students discussed how Mr. Arriola’s success, being Mexican-American, helped other young artists from diverse cultural backgrounds break into the field of cartooning. Students also had the opportunity to draw their own cartoons and write an original dialogue for their characters, similar to those in professional comic strips.
Photos: Cooke Elementary School art teacher Amy Garrett is surrounded by enthusiastic young artists Desiree Edwards, Jenelle Leon-Saravia, Zachery Ocasio and Michael Lands. The students, who are from Yesenia Kreeger’s fifth grade class, expressed how much they enjoyed the cultural art history lesson about the life and work of cartoonist Gustavo Arriola. As part of the lesson, they had the opportunity to create their own comic strip characters and stories.
Budding young artist Jadin Williams displays his comic strip creation.
Literature as Cultural Learning
To help celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Every Person Influences Children (EPIC) representative Jane Sorensen visited Christine Cavello’s first grade class as a guest reader.
Ms. Sorensen read to the youngsters from the book, “Celebrating Cinco de Mayo: Fiesta Time” by Sandi Hill and Claude Martinot. She engaged the students in multicultural learning by telling the story both in Spanish and English. She then had the class repeat certain words and phrases out loud in Spanish. The children were thrilled to learn the meaning of the Mexican holiday and enjoyed having a guest in their classroom.
Photo: First-graders in Christine Cavello’s class learned some words in Spanish while EPIC Parent Coordinator Jane Sorensen taught a lesson about the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo. Also pictured is teacher aide Virginia Mejia.
Learning a second language, learning about other cultures, making new friends
At the Chase and Rutherford Elementary Schools, students in grades K-5 are studying a second language. As part of the International Baccalaureate (IB), classroom learning is being enriched with the knowledge of how to read, write and speak Spanish. In addition, students are engaged in lessons that highlight the beauty and richness of the various Spanish-speaking cultures from around the world.
Students in Katlyn LaGrutta’s fifth grade class embraced a recent lesson that not only helped them practice their enunciation of Spanish words, but also introduced them to holidays from a variety of Spanish-speaking countries such as Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Language instructor, Elisa
Martinez, whose parents are from Spain, uses literature, music,
dance, art, food, history and costumes to inspire students as
she introduces them to new cultural experiences.
“In this day and age, it is actually a detriment for children not to learn a second language,” said Ms. Martinez, who although she was born in the U.S., spoke Spanish before English. “As our world becomes more global, it becomes more important.”
Apparently, this class of fifth-graders understands that importance as well. When asked how learning Spanish will affect them personally, they replied with the following:
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It could open new doors for them in business and give them more communication skills.
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It will help them communicate with new students and others who can only speak Spanish.
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It will help them communicate better if they travel to, or work in, other countries.
Some students shared tips about how they practice their Spanish comprehension when not in school. These included watching Spanish TV stations, playing Nintendo DS in Spanish and speaking to family members at home. About 25 percent of the class said they know someone outside of school who speaks Spanish.
Parental Support
As for having parental support for this type of learning, Ms. Martinez expressed that she gets an immense amount of positive feedback all the time. One parent, Elizabeth Evans, a former high school chemistry teacher, shared how her experience growing up in South Africa proved just how important it is to be multilingual.
“On any given day I had to speak three languages just to communicate with the people I encountered,” said Ms. Evans, whose two young daughters attend Chase. “There is significant research that connects learning a second language at a young age to an increase in a child’s overall cognitive flexibility and creativity.”
Research-Based Learning
Some of the research noted by Ms. Evans supports the theory that learning a second or third language can actually help youngsters learn their primary language. In addition, as the world becomes more and more globalized, a second language can provide our children with greater opportunities for future success and more skills to bring to the ever-growing competitiveness of the world marketplace.
With all the positive reasons to learn about other languages and cultures, there is also the fun side of it – this year for the elementary school students, that may include learning how to dance the flamenco!
Photo: Chase fifth-grader Colleen Michaels touches a skull figurine – a customary symbol in the “Day of the Dead” holiday. Spanish teacher Elisa Martinez included the interactive discussion in the day’s Spanish lesson after reading from the book, “I Remember Grandpa: A Story about the Day of the Dead,” en Espanol, “Yo recuerdo a Abuelito: Un cuento del Día de Muertos.”
Gustavo “Gus” Arriola
Gustavo Arriola (7/17/17–2/2/08)
was a Mexican-American comic strip artist and animator primarily
known for the comic strip Gordo (1941-1985). His work introduced
many Americans to Mexican culture as it chronicled the life of
Mexican bean farmer Perfecto Salazar “Gordo” Lopez (Gordo
approximately translates to English as “Fatso”). Gus Arriola was
born in Florence, Arizona, the youngest of nine children. His
mother died when he was a baby and he was raised by a relative
in a Spanish-speaking household. He learned English by reading
the Sunday comics. His family moved to Los Angeles, California
when he was 8-years-old. He first studied art formally in high
school.
MORE at Wikipedia.
Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday held on May 5. It is celebrated in the U.S. and in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Dia de la Batalla de Puebla. The date is observed in the U.S. as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride, and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War. In the state of Puebla, May 5 marks the Mexican army’s victory over French forces in 1862. Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day. That holiday is celebrated on September 16. MORE at Wikipedia.
Visual Art as Critical Thinking
”Visual arts are an excellent discipline to build and utilize critical thinking skills. I don’t think we often give credit to the deep conceptual and interpretational thinking that goes into the creation of a piece of art, and this is often because art is treated as something separate from the core content areas. School does not need to be this way.” MORE at Edutopia
Every Person Influences Children (EPIC) in the Monticello School District
The EPIC organization provides a variety of free resources to families throughout the Monticello School District, including parenting workshops, an early learning book club, and a family literacy program. Jane Sorensen serves as the EPIC Parent Coordinator for the three district elementary schools. She can be reached at 794-8830 or jsorensen@k12mcsd.net. Robin LaFountain serves as the EPIC Parent Coordinator for RJK Middle School and Monticello High School. She can be reached at 796-3058, ext. 20098 or epic@k12mcsd.net. For more information about EPIC, visit the national website at www.epicforchildren.org.
Flamenco
Flamenco is a type of music and dance with its foundation in *Andalusian music and dance. Gypsies played an important part in the evolution of the genre. The cante (singing), toque (guitar playing), dance and palmas (hand claps) are the principal facets of flamenco. In recent years, flamenco has become popular all over the world and is taught in many countries. In Japan, flamenco is so trendy, there are more academies than in Spain. *Andalusian is an autonomous community that is recognized as a nationality of Spain. MORE at Wikipedia
Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and around the world. The holiday focuses on the gathering of family and friends to pray for and remember loved ones who have died. In Mexico, it is a national holiday. The celebration takes place on November 1 and 2 and includes building private altars to honor the departed. The origins of the modern holiday trace to an Aztec festival dating back hundreds of years. The holiday has spread from Mexico to places such as Brazil, Europe, Asia and Africa. MORE at Wikipedia