Diversity in classroom

Diversity is a beautiful thing; from religion to physical looks, the differences among people is astounding. The world would be such a monotonous place if everyone were the same. However, many tend to note that diversity in a classroom can sometimes be an issue- especially among the students. From my own experiences within a diverse class, I realize that the contrast between students is a blessing and a curse

Poverty is a serious issue which our society and children faces every day. It is a constant struggle that shouldn’t be ignored. UNICEF states “The study of OECD countries in 2007, over fourteen percent of Australian children under the age of eighteen are currently living in households who are defined as poor or with incomes less than half of the median national income”. The increase in the number and percentage of children living in poverty within our society has contributed to making today's classrooms more diverse than ever it has been. This highlights and makes both teaching and learning more challenging. Diversity exists in the students who are living in poverty and the education assistant and teachers must provide the concept of diversity

Students have their own best way in effectively learning the lesson. With the diversity of students, the problem is each student has a preferred learning style. It becomes undeniably one of the reasons that make it difficult to achieve the best expected outcome out of teachers’ effort. However, teachers try to incorporate various teaching techniques to make every learning opportunity become productive, meaningful, and relevant for the learners.

Monday, January 29, 2018, was my first day at Saraland High School and it was my first day of observations. Saraland High School is located in Saraland, Alabama where it is a part of the Saraland City Schools School System. Saraland High School has a student population of approximately 1,000 students. The teacher that I will be observing for this semester is Mr. Kendric Cook. Mr. Cook teaches Health to 10th graders. Mr. Cook has been teaching and coaching for 6 years and this is his first year teaching at Saraland. On my first day, I got to observe Mr. Cook and his teaching styles. Mr. Cook told me before he started his lesson that he considers himself to be a non-traditional teacher. He likes to sit at his desk or sit on top of the student desk when he teaches because he really wants to make sure that his students are engaged in the lesson. Mr. Cook told me that when he was in school his health teacher would just sit at his desk and he would not really “teach” and he

As a member of several clubs and organizations, I have always valued the wide range of people you can find within the walls of my high school. If you walk into my Physics lab, you will find me collaborating with a dancer strongly involved in his cultural heritage and a volleyball player in the engineering academy. If you come to my Calculus class, you will see me calculating derivatives with a football player, a snowboarder, a National Honor Society officer, and a painter. The word “diversity” is often used to describe a cross-cultural population, but it is so much more than that. At Bartlett High School, students originate from hundreds of different cultures, with an abundance interests, and participate together in an assortment of activities.

Chalmette High School is located in Chalmette, Louisiana. The schools population is one thousand six hundred and seventy two students and many diverse cultures. It is a school that has rebuilt since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. It is a public school that has students from grade 9-12. The role of the classroom teacher is applying for creative fellowship grant. It is grant which will provide financial resources for the teacher and school to develop and improve on the education of the students. The population make-up is sixty percent Caucasian, twenty-two percent Hispanic, fifteen percent African American and three percent Asians. The classroom structure is made of a mixture of cultures. It has students from different cultures with different

Literature if used correctly can enhance a child’s life. It can become a valuable tool in helping children to understand their home, communities and the world in which they live. Through literature children’s vocabulary, imaginations, and self understanding is built. Children should be exposed to literature that is age appropriate and within the context of learning respect for themselves and others by the diversity of the books. My literature plan is based upon multicultural diversity which reinforces reading readiness, read-along that emphasis multicultural songs and rhymes, build self esteem through art, music and movement and responses to literature.

I really enjoyed this experience and I believe that I benefitted from doing my observational practicum in a diverse school. This allowed me to get a snapshot as to what it would be like teaching at a diverse school. I noticed that the classrooms that had the best classroom management were due to the fact that teachers addressed good behavior and rules very thoroughly during the beginning of the year, showed confidence, and students respected the teacher as well as the teacher respected the students. This is much easier said than done, but from this experience I will make it a priority that good behavior and classroom rules are addressed and enforced from the first day of school until the last day of school. I will also work on my confidence

Like it or not, there has always been diversity among students in the classroom. It is the fact that each and every student is unique. From every circumstance, students bring a varying set of values, perspectives, and beliefs to the learning environment. Understanding the character of students is important in order to become a competent teacher. In fact, teachers should be aware and recognize students, as unique individuals, all acquire information differently than others. Some of these differences are due to developmental variations in cognitive, physical, intellectual, moral, emotional, and social changes caused by maturation and experience. And this reality of classroom conditions makes instruction much more challenging for teachers and

Within the core of many educational institutions, diversity is a commercial tacit. While every institution cannot offer the same kind of diversity, the endorsement of such exists through various definitions. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges define diversity through the various classes: race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, disability, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and age (“Statement on Diversity”)

Once students and teachers are aware of cultural differences, they become aware of racism and can fight to eradiate it. Through their unbiased understanding of the differences between cultures and races, they are able to come to a point of acceptance of themselves and others. If you noticed in my previous paragraph, I mentioned the different types of diversity. Diversity emphasizes how different students and teachers are, but when explored in a classroom, can be used to reveal our similarities. Once students and teachers grasp the concept of diversity, displayed through everyday interactions with diverse groups of students and teachers, racism begins to disappear. In addition, positive sense of self can be developed once students and teachers have an understanding of their own uniqueness through experiences and understanding of diversity. Once teachers and students

When observing the teacher student interactions, it was interesting to see the personality of the four students come out. Student one seemed to be quiet when interacting with the teacher. She seemed to not give more than one or two word answers, normally yes or no. She didn’t seem to want the teacher help or to interact with the aide. Student two seemed to be the opposite of student one. While she stayed on topic, she gave elaborate and over detailed answers to the aide. She seemed to want the aide to only pay attention to her and wanted constant positive feedback from the aide. She seems to get upset when the aide starting helping the other children and would try to direct the attention back to herself. It almost be a sense of learned helplessness. Student three seemed to be a mix between student one and two. When the aide would

Everyone contains baggage, some big, some small. It is part of our day to day lives, and is usually something we are not even aware of. Although I have only been in class for a few weeks, I have become more and more aware with the baggage that I contain. Through talking about major issues with my fellow classmates, or just becoming more aware and more knowledgeable of these particular issues; I have learned so much about myself, my community and even the world.

As of July 1, 2011, there are 36, 708, 083 people in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2017a). 1.2% higher than the population last year, which was 36, 264, 604 people of all ages and both sexes (Statistics Canada, 2017b). The growth of population in Canada, which in this case powered largely by immigration, increases not only the human capital, but the diversity in every province as well. Hence, as diversity expands, there is also a rampant growth in religion. In 2011, there are 108 religions observed in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2011) - Christianity, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu – to name a few. These demographics have connotations on how diversity in school is also evident.

This paper starts off by describing my field observation site and its goal as a school. I then am going to talk about the specific classroom I was placed in and what I’ve learned as a whole. I describe my experiences and observations and its relation to what I’ve learned in theory from the educational course I took this semester. My main focus is going to be on pedagogy, classroom management, and cultural diversity in the school.