(Posted 10-5-99)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News Service Contact: Deborah Durkee, 336-334-5371

CULTURALLY DIVERSE ELEMENTARY STUDENTS POSE
NEW CHALLENGES FOR TODAY'S TEACHERS
 
GREENSBORO--As the face of America changes and is reflected in the classroom, what's the best approach to teaching?
A group of teachers from Level Cross Elementary School in Asheboro wants to address that question as they increasingly face a more culturally diverse student population.

Led by Leslie Maniotes, a Level Cross teacher and a University of North Carolina at Greensboro graduate student, the teachers applied for and received a grant from the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park to explore multiculturalism, what it means to be an American, and how those ideas are connected to teaching on an elementary school level.

The grant provides funds for seminars to explore the topic under the guidance of a qualified consultant. Serving as discussion leaders and faculty consultants are Dr. Mary P. Erdmans, an associate professor of sociology, and Dr. Mark I. Smith-Soto, a professor in the Department of Romance Languages at UNCG. Smith-Soto, a published poet, who is of mixed Costa Rican and American backgrounds, brings his personal perspective to the seminars.

"The teachers are hoping to get a broader base from which to teach, to understand their students better and the cultural realities that their students are meeting at home," Smith-Soto said. "That way they can be more sensitive to the things they might need to give as teachers and thereby become better teachers."

Erdmans' research has focused on Polish immigration. Smith-Soto's academic specializations are contemporary poetry and Spanish-American literature. Together they have developed a reading list to help teachers understand the experience of being a transplanted American. They met with the teachers in the spring to determine the project's direction. Seminars began in September and will continue through November.

"Working with these teachers means a lot to me personally, but it's also something that I've worked on on campus a lot," Smith-Soto said. "The chancellor says we need to reach out and share our expertise. I feel like that's what we're trying to do here, working with other parts in the educational chain."

Following are a few of the readings Smith-Soto and Erdmans have recommended.

Excerpts from: "The Hispanic Condition: Reflections on Culture and Identity in America" by Ilan Stavans, "Brothers and Sisters" by Bebe Campbell, and Israel Zangwill's play, "The Melting Pot." Emma Lazurus' poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty (Give me your poor, your tired...); The Problem of Assimilation in the United States by John Higham; A Talk to Teachers by James Baldwin; and selections from "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman, which they call, "one of the greatest and most successful efforts to define America, to give voice to the rich complexities inherent in being American."

Also recommended was the video "Color of Fear," which examines the pain racism has caused in the lives of eight American men of Asian, European, Latino and African descent.

A UNCG faculty member since 1975, Smith-Soto is a former head of the Department of Romance Languages.  He is the author of two books and received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.  Smith-Soto has served as editor of the International Poetry Review since 1992 and will have one of his poems published in the 2000 edition of the prestigious literary journal, The Kenyon Review.

Erdmans has been at UNCG since 1992. She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University. She is the author of "Opposite Poles: Immigrants and Ethnics in Polish Chicago, 1976-1990," which won a national award from the Polish American Historical Society.

The National Humanities Center is the country's only independent institute for advanced study in all branches of the humanities. The Center gives teachers from across the nation the opportunity to study under leading historians and literary scholars and develops programs to rekindle teachers' enthusiasm for the subjects they teach. Scholars from UNC-Chapel Hill, Columbia, Duke, East Carolina and N.C. State have contributed to past programs.
 

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