Multicultural Awareness Focus of Class

Source: www.arkansased.gov/state-board/members

Mireya Reith

It was a late afternoon Tuesday class, and new assistant professor Tina Howlett proffered packaged cheese and crackers in the Peabody Hall classroom. No sooner had her undergraduates received their syllabus copies and introductions were made, she introduced a guest speaker, not the usual course for a first day of class.

Howlett brought in Mireya Reith, chair of the Arkansas Board of Education, which advises the state's Department of Education. The fall semester class is Understanding Cultures in the Classroom, CIED 4403, in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction of the College of Education and Health Professions.

As a child, "when you're different, you're singled out," she said, noting that while growing up she was called by other children "Mexican monkey," and their parents worried about disease if they went to her house. At a young age she found truth in the adage, "What makes me different makes me stronger."

Reith discussed her background, a child of a Mexican immigrant, born in Wisconsin and graduate of Fayetteville High School, going on to earn degrees at Williams College in Massachusetts and New York's Columbia University, then a stint with the Peace Corps. In 2010, she returned to Arkansas and now is founding executive director of Springdale-based Arkansas United Community Coalition.

After 20 years serving Rogers Public Schools as a secondary teacher of English for speakers of other languages and ESOL/migrant specialist for the district, Howlett joined the University of Arkansas faculty over the summer. For this class, she wants her upper-level students to gain skills to educate racially, linguistically and culturally diverse public K-12 classrooms, according to her syllabus.

In short, Howlett told the students that day, she wants each of them to master "becoming a multicultural educator." The class has 23 students, nearly all of whom are seniors.

The guest speakers Howlett has invited to come in over the semester have been picked both for their personal histories and professional experiences. She wants the upperclassmen to see how some who've come before them develop awareness of similarities and differences then use that knowledge and empathy in leadership roles including teaching.

Reith noted the path to shared knowledge goes both ways. As a child, her parents sent her to spend some time each summer with family in Mexico, to help ground her in her heritage.

"Barbie is a universal language," she said of playing dolls with her cousins.