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Teachers as Agents of Change

With the increasing demand of the 21st century and classrooms being more diverse, educators must do more than share their knowledge and follow a scope and sequence of curriculum standards. The increased diversity in schools with "overlapping identities involving ethnicity, gender, religion, and transnationalism" brings more cultural pressures and educational issues that surface a need for multicultural education and how teachers address the needs of children from a widening cultural spectrum (Banks, 2004; Kymlicka, 1995). These days, the teacher is expected to function as an agent of change in the teaching-learning process and design educational environments that create global learners "This pedagogical approach encourages critical reflection, belief in social justice, an understanding of power and inequality in the world, and promotion of a global outlook"(p. 68). In this process, the educator plan to establish bonds of commitment among the school, the student's families, and the community for education to develop the maximum intellectual, nurture the growth mindset, and the creative and social capacities of the learners to have better human beings who care about improving the world.

Multicultural Education

The ideological principles of freedom, justice, fairness, equity, and individual rights are the foundation for multicultural education. Differentiated instruction plays a critical role in a multicultural classroom. In this sense, the teacher takes responsibility for assessing the diversity of the classroom and designing instruction and learning environments that are fair and equitable access to all students with the belief that all students can learn. All students have equal access to education regardless of their condition for learning (disability, language learner, poverty). It calls for reflecting on one's classroom practice and results from an ongoing process of trial, reflection, and adjustment in the classroom itself. Multicultural teachers are culturally responsive, which means they explore the students' diversity and interests, assess their social and academic needs, and design learning environments with collaborative structures for all students to embrace diversity and learn from peers' experiences.

Designing Multicultural Learning Environments

According to Bank (2008), the key elements of multicultural instruction include :

1. Content Integration, Teachers are aware of their own biased and revise the curriculum to identify potential biases. Adjust context to different perspectives. Modify instruction to meet the need of diverse learners; integrate technology. Use students' home language, and implement resources through which students can build connections. Invite a speaker to enrich a particular context. Plan for Tiered instruction to meet students' needs.

2. Equity Pedagogy, Create classroom rules that equally apply to all students. Set high expectations for learning. Plan for problem-solving and collaborative structures (creative projects, project-based learning); students choose their learning choice and format; peer tutoring and reciprocal teaching; the teacher implements different collaborative structures for classroom discussion (Think-Pair-Share, Grand Conversation, Fish Bowl); differentiate assessment.

3. Knowledge Construction Process, Teachers facilitate different ways to construct knowledge through digital apps, graphic organizers, timelines, checklists, and others. Empower students to enrich their knowledge through a critical perspective by connecting knowledge to current issues.

4. An Empowering School Culture and Social Structure Empower students to critique current issues in the school, in the community, and in the world (e. g., global warming) by writing essays and letters to local leaders. Create local clubs based on students' preferences (science clubs, book clubs, etc.). Connect with local communities to find sponsors that favor students' interests and activities. Connect parents to school activities and parent conferences.

Becoming Agents of Change

To advocate for multiculturalism and become an agent of change, it is essential that teachers engage in professional development and school training to grow aware of the students' diversity and develop the skills necessary to recognize the effects of cultural and racial diversity on students. "A large body of educational research argues that preservice teachers should learn more about multicultural education and different aspects of diversity in order to acquire the appropriate awareness, knowledge and skills that support their understanding and teaching strategies in the classrooms (Ladson-Billings, 1994; Sleeter, 2005; Gorski, 2009; Krummel, 2013; p. 6).