Diversity

This week was somewhat of a chill week. We played a game that helped explain some of the many diversities that are in this world, and we took a quiz on key terminology to know for this class and that are related to diversity.

The game we played was stressful and annoying. Some memorable quotes coming from that day of class were "Adulting is hard..." and "Life is stressful..." All things we know to be true, but when you really think about it, you realize, "Oh, man... this REALLY IS difficult..." And how true is it of our students! They are coming from such a wide range of families and scenarios and dealing with so many things. We will never be able to imagine what they're going through, since we, as teachers, will not have experienced everything that our students have gone through. However, we can help no matter what.

I liked the document "Primary and Secondary Dimensions of Diversity" which discusses the obvious things we see that are different about our students and are easy to recognize and incorporate into our lessons/classroom. But then there are also things we cannot see on the surface - like income status, parental status, religious status, etc. These things are important, too, and good things to know about our students. Knowing these secondary dimensions will help us understand how students learn and how to motivate them and why they might be upset or unwilling to do an assignment.

We discussed having a multicultural classroom and what that looks like. We read an article, "Heightening the Standard of Quality Education," and some things that really jumped out to me were the following quotes: "Multicultural education is education that concerns and benefits everyone. It takes into account all the complex components of an individual -- gender, class, religion, and economic background, not simply race. It deems these positive qualities and incorporates them into the curriculum and educational policies... We need to create conditions so the students feel that they are worthy, capable, and belong... Therefore, multicultural education is valid and addresses the performance gap by identifying the talents, qualities, and frames of reference of children and creates a learning environment that students can see themselves mirrored in, which attributes to increased motivation and interest in learning material." I know that's a super long quote, but I feel like it's all important and shows how having a multicultural education is vital to the prosperity of our students.

The standard that this week connected most with is Standard 2 - Teachers Establish a Respectful Environment for a Diverse Population of Students. "Teachers embrace diversity in the school community and in the world. Teachers: • Demonstrate knowledge of diverse cultures; • Select materials and develop lessons that counteract stereotypes and incorporate contributions; • Recognize the influences on a child’s development, personality, and performance; and • Consider and incorporate different points of view." This is vitally important for the success of a classroom! If we don't know how our students learn and what might be influencing their learning abilities, then are we really doing the job we're supposed to be doing?

I want to leave with a quote from an article I read about multicultural education.

http://www.theedadvocate.org/6-ways-to-implement-a-real-multicultural-education-in-the-classroom/

"Value your real-life experience of diversity over the textbook version... multicultural education cannot be taught in a textbook. It must be developed by each educator based on a particular student group." Relationships are key!