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The importance of diversity in the classroom
Diversity in education research paper
The importance of diversity in the classroom
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Yes, it is in fact true that I am what is consider the majority of teachers in the United States. I am a white, middle-class, monolingual female. One thing that I think helps me with being outside of the basic box, is my family life and personal experiences. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey where everyone knew everyone and respected the diversity of everyone in the town. One thing about me is that my family definitely does not meet the traditional family structure standards. I lived with my mother and my half-brother. My brother and I have different dads and my brother happens to be half black. The interesting thing about it is, that I didn’t realize my brother was a different race then me until someone told me when I was in first …show more content…
You could honestly say that everyone’s jaws dropped, and to my surprise one of the kids looked and me and told me I need to go sit at the right end of the table with the rest of the white kids. At first I had no clue why the kids thought this way until I met their families. This type of segregation was obviously passed down for generations. Some of my white friend’s parents actually didn’t want them to hang out with me when they found out I had a mixed brother. Even though I was not familiar with this type of situation, it did not stop me from being friends with everyone that I possibly could. After a few weeks in my new environment, I accomplished getting some of the different races to play with each other on the playground! Another more recent encounter with other cultures occurred when I started dating my boyfriend. He is actually the first generation in his family to be born in the United States. His father’s family is from Italy and his mother’s family is from Cuba. I always take on the challenge of trying to learn everything about his families’ cultures. It always gives me lots of laughs when trying to communicate through the language barrier with his grandpa! From the beginning, I have always found it fun to learn and understand different cultures and backgrounds of the people I …show more content…
The observations I have done throughout my education courses have given me knowledge on how to apply diversity into my everyday classroom. When you receive the curriculum, everything you will teach is pretty much set in stone, but that doesn’t mean I can’t put my own twist on it. As long as the standards are being met, I can adapt my teaching to my diverse group of students. I can allow kids to strengthen their reading skills and cultural knowledge by including books about living in or visiting other countries. I can include teaching students about diversity with using Venn Diagrams, reading activities and discussions. One of the challenges is that there is no room to go off standards in this day and age. This means that as a teacher I need to include diversity issues in my hidden curriculum. I want my students to learn the differences between opinion and fact. They need to know that everyone is different and is allowed to have their own opinion. When teaching, I plan to teach my students to look at things from different perspectives. While still including the standards, I will teach my students to be aware of diversity issues and show them what they can do about these issues because as we all know children are the future and how we teach them impacts the future. I will ensure that
...Teaching acceptance and diversity of different ethnicity is one of the key components that can be taught in our school systems today. Here in America we have many different ethnic groups and races, we are one big melting pot. During school these differences should be embraced in a positive manner and a proper learning experience. Diversity is often mistaken for the word division, and sometimes people teach that diversity is division. Diversity should be taught in a way that brings people together, not divide people into groups. Like Konig said, “I hadn’t really given much thought to the ethnic and national backgrounds of Sarah’s classmates. I can guarantee that Sarah, being two and a half gave the subject absolutely no thought.” (51) We can take a few lessons from Konigs daughter and learn to not give the subject any thought, and just accept people for who they are.
Diversity is an important concept for students to learn about because our world is growing into a more diverse planet every day. This is an opportunity for students to realize that we are all different, no matter our race, culture, or even social class. First, I introduce the book The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolf. Teachers should then ask students to predict what the story may be about. After reading the story, ask the students what they learned from it. Encourage students to focus on being different from others, learning to accept others, and that we all have unique abilities and qualities. Then, ask each student to say one positive ability or quality about themselves. Re-read the last few lines of the book, “We are a box of crayons, each one of us unique. But when we get together, the picture is complete” (DeRolf,
We need to be aware of the diversity in the classroom. Cultural diversity includes: bi-racial, adoptive, immigrant, gay, and step-families. It is a large majority of the students today even in my generation. Focusing on making a balanced curriculum that exposes the students to all of these different backgrounds is very important. I know that it is likely that a teacher will not be able to cater to every student, but it is important to involve each of them. There is a large percentage of students that have dropped out due to the lack of having a connection with the curriculum. It is frustrating that we are lacking progress in our schools to help these children connect when studies show that each cultural group will soon be equal in numbers. We need to form a better
When interacting with people from other cultures, there are many barriers that a teacher has to cross. The first is getting a job when the culture is very different to their own. One example of this is where some cultures value individualism and self-proponents, while other cultures value group efforts and fitting in. Due to these differences, a very exceptional person, might come across as average, while an average person could make themselves seem exceptional. Without the correct impressions teachers are more likely to hire the teacher they “are more comfortable with… because she’s like us”(Guerra 2012) rather than someone similar to Ms. Garcia, an exceptional teacher who did not know the correct social behaviors during an interview. This led to the above quotation, where a committee asked the principal to reconsider his decision to hire Ms. Garcia (Guerra, 2012).
middle of paper ... ... Several teachers do not know how to receive the support they need. Diversity in classrooms is both positive and negative. However, if teachers are provided with the right resources and keep an open mind, their students can become successful civil human beings.
I do believe that to stop the cultural divide it will begin with me being the teacher. If my students see that I am treating other students different based on who they are or I am allowing students to feel uncomfortable, then they wouldn’t want to work together to look past those differences as well. I have to be the model for my students for them to understand that it is important for us not be separated and to accept people for who they are. If students see that I am interacting with someone in another culture, then they will start to do so as well and they wouldn’t see anything wrong with it interacting with others. For example, if my students are seeing me interacting with a student who is white with me being black, then other students in the classroom that are colored will see that their is nothing wrong with interacting with people who are a different race than
I attended a school district in which around 70% of the students there were white. Despite being in a district that is largely considered to be in a rather liberal community, with a sizable population of students from other parts of the world or whose families are from other areas, and many students from a more urban area, mostly black, opting for school of choice, many of the people in the district aren’t as progressive thinking as they perhaps would like to think. As far as I can tell, none of the students from different countries or cultures are teased or bullied for being different. These students were pretty accepted and not really considered weird or unusual. Yet these kids were still not normal, or not
I believe it is important to first analyze the word diversity when examining the need for diversity within a classroom. According to Webster's New Pocket Dictionary, diversity means variety, a number of different kinds. I often discuss and read about diversity in terms of cultural backgrounds; the unification of histories and stories from people from all over the world. Although, I believe that in a higher-educational setting, diversity can also be discussed as the acceptance of the various minds within a classroom. I believe that it is important to recognize the thoughts and experiences of others in a learning environment. Collectively, students learn from teachers, teachers learn from students, and students learn from their peers. By allowing diversity within the classroom, a sense of community can develop. Diversity encourages an active, not passive, learning style. I believe that the culture of Columbia College Chicago is dependent on diversity. The motto “Create Change,” suggests students actively seek the change they want to see in the world. In order to obtain change a community developed out of diversity must be discovered.
The cultural diversity in society, which is reflected in schools, is forcing schools not to solely rely on content-centered curriculum, but to also incorporate student-centered lesson plans based on critique and inquiry. This requires multicultural education to a dominant part of the school system, not just an extra course or unit. Further, it demands that learning itself no longer be seen as obtaining knowledge but rather, education be seen as creating knowledge. Multicultural education should be seen as affirming the diversity of students and communities, promoting the multicultural ideas of the United States, and building the knowledge and behaviors needed for students to be a positive and contributing member of society and the global community as a whole.
The world is currently undergoing a cultural change, and we live in an increasingly diverse society. This change is not only affect the people in the community but also affect the way education is viewed. Teaching diversity in the classroom and focusing multicultural activities in the programs can help improve positive social behavior in children. There is no question that the education must be prepared to embrace the diversity and to teach an increasingly diverse population of young children.
Everyone seems to define family differently, however, the significance of family is the same. For you, family means everything. You can always count on your parents and siblings for help and love. Family is very valuable and important to you and should never be taken for granted. No one can deny that family is the foundation of our generation. A family is where we all start our life journey and helps us grow to be successful throughout our lives.
Personal Statement Twenty years ago, I was delivered by my grandpa to the Fillmore County Hospital. My parents agreed on the name Brittney Lynn Reinsch, naming me after my grandpa. As you can tell, my family is very close knit. My grandpa has been my doctor since before I was born, everyone lives no more than three hours away from each other, holidays consist of two days of family, and everyone hugs before leaving. I am a very lucky girl as I get to have three families.
Some ways I plan to accommodate student diversity in my teaching is to maintain a diverse learning environment for my students. I understand that not all students learn the same so I plan to use differentiated instruction. Differentiated instruction would include using strategies such as a Jigsaw classroom or Cooperative Learning and would allow students to have different opportunities to learn the
family plays an essential part in the way we act in society and it has The strongest impact in our lives. As we develop, we take in numerous things from our family such as how to behave, Respect and good values. Yet, before I start discussing my family, I need to describe to you the spot that we get to know each other which additionally implies something unique to me and my family. This spot is known as the family room. This room is little however comfortable. It is painted in white and has three windows finished with excellent shades. By the windows you can value a pleasant perspective of some wonderful trees and a decent pool. On the dividers there are some family photographs like the ones that show where my siblings and I were conceived
After writing about my history and the themes I selected, I have learned a lot about who I am in society. I have realized that I am an average girl that has not experienced much of life. During this analysis I have come to realize I have not had much contact with other family types or other cultures.