“Multiculturalism and Storytelling”
“Multiculturalism and Storytelling” is a two-semester, graduate level course, taught by the Center for Documentary Expression and Art. The course is designed to help K-12 teachers enhance their overall effectiveness by infusing Utah-based multicultural content into social studies, language arts, math, and science curricula.
Developed by the CDEA in 1999, the “Multiculturalism and Storytelling” course immerses teachers in content drawn from the publication Missing Stories: An Oral History of Ethnic and Minority Groups in Utah. In this course, teachers learn to explore life in Utah through the first-person accounts of the state’s Ute, African-American, Chinese, Jewish, Italian, Greek, Japanese, and Latino residents. Teachers also learn to conduct oral histories and to explore the impact of stories and story telling.
“Multiculturalism and Storytelling” introduces teachers to Utah’s diverse society and empowers them to explore it and develop new methods to teach students of its complexity and richness. As cumulative evaluations indicate, the class has had a transformative impact on teachers. The class opened minds and hearts to the reality of Utah’s diverse peoples and communities, and it sharpened appreciation for Ute, African American, Chinese, Jewish, Greek, Italian, Japanese, and Hispano/Chicano history and culture.
The course is designed to cover two semesters. In the first phase, teachers produce a packet of lesson plans that they integrate into their class the following semester. The second phase of the course offers training in the "Action Research Model" process, which helps instructors evaluate and enhance their effectiveness as teachers. All teachers attending the course receive paid in-service and six graduate credits. Lesson Plans and Action Research Plans developed by course participants are available for use from this site.
For more information, or to register for the course, visit the “Contact Us” page.