Educational Diversity Within The Classroom

The United States population is filled with diverse individuals. It is important for educators to understand that diversity in classrooms is not just based on race but ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, economic status, learning disabilities, and etc. It may not affect your student directly but it can be a part of their family background. Educators may assume that students have the same social or educational status of each other which in some cases is not true. If they assume that every student is on the same academic level, the students may suffer educationally or emotionally. Teachers need to understand that all students grow and progress at different times and it is up to an educator to help start their growth in the right direction and to make each child feel accepted. Yale University () discussed how it can affect teachers if they do not understand how to assess diversity, “teachers may themselves feel out of place based on their own ascriptive traits (i.e. differences based on class, privilege, etc.).” Diversity in classrooms is becoming more frequent and educators need to understand how to properly assess their student’s based on their educational needs and how to teach other students how each of them are different individually. There is no right choice to teach diversity but it is something that needs to implemented in classrooms.

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.

When I choose this class, it was because of the name; AED 225 Diversity, Pedagogy, and Visual culture. The eye catching word was diversity. I do not consider myself to be racist, yet I am judgmental as is everyone else in the world. Diversity is a topic that interests me very much. I like to see other people’s point of views and racial situations they have gone through. For example, when I first entered Woodbridge Public High School I did not know anyone. When I met someone they believed I was Caucasian because off how I look. I was offended when someone thought I was not Hispanic. Therefore, every time I met someone new I asked them what they thought my ethnicity was. I wanted to make sure people knew I was not Caucasian. I do not carry

Teachers should understand the diversity spectrum that is in a classroom; there are cultures, races, languages, and socioeconomic backgrounds in classroom during the 21st century educational realm. Students need to acknowledge student’s diverse background specially when they arrive late in the school year.

Being a woman of color means I am inevitably silenced by the superior white male, yet being an activist eliminates my voice by the majority in all forms. My first year of college has been interesting, to say the very least. I’ve grown accustomed to the distinct differences and surprising similarities between myself and the hundreds, maybe thousands, of other students on campus, which I wasn’t familiar with among the fifty-two people in my high school graduating class.

This 1st grade math class has a diverse population of learners. Some were above grade skill knowledge, some were on grade level, some were below grade level and one had a learning disability in math. To help with this diverse group of learners, there were different instructional methods used: Team teaching/Whole group, Alternative teaching/small group. During whole group instruction, the concept was modeled and explained clearly. Whole group instruction allows the students to learn from their peers through their questions and answers. The class was divided into groups to practice the skill as well. I understood that I needed to closely observe my IEP students and a few more to make sure that they had an understanding of the skills. Small group

Diversity in the classroom is having a diverse group of students simply means recognizing that all the people are unique in their own way .Their differences could consist of their reading level, athletic ability, cultural background, personality, religious beliefs, and the list goes on.

Race, religion, culture, language, and disability are a few of the many forms of diversity that we see in classrooms around us. Diversity, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “the condition or quality of being diverse, different, or varied; difference, unlikeness” (OED, n.3.d.). Each student in the classroom is going to have varied abilities, needs, and interests. As the teacher, he or she will utilize multiple teaching methods in order to meet the needs of every individual in the classroom. Some faculty has reported that teachers are failing to make little or no changes in their classroom operations to handle issues concerning diversity (Pasque, Chesler, Charbeneau, & Carlson, 2013, p. 1). By following guidelines to accommodate each student in the classroom, it is imperative that the teacher designates different abilities, interests, and tasks to help the students succeed and achieve their goals.

Schools and classrooms of today contain an increasingly diverse population of students. As of 2012 percentage of white students in public schools has decreased from 59% to 51%. It is projected that by 2024 the percentage of white students will continue to decrease to 46% (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2015). In 2013 the National Center for Educational Statistics has reported that 51% of the students in public schools were from low-income families. In contrast, 1989 the percentage of students from low–income families was 32%. (NCES, 2015) The percentage of students with disabilities in public schools has been around 13% for the last 10 years. (NCES, 2015) As a superintendent I need to lead the district’s staff and students to recognizing the diverse populations of people interact with and teach on a daily basis. Another appropriate response to our increasing diversity in public schools is to

The thought I have about teaching in a diversity classroom. Is it going to be a big challenging? Challenging in a classroom I see and deal with on an everyday basis sometimes but, dealing with a diversity classroom I have no idea. I believe in treating each of my students fair with unique strengths. I will like to create an open classroom that can value the experiences and perspectives of all students.

I am currently working in a Title 1 school. In the community I work in, diversity is extremely apparent. One of our largest diverse populations is found in the Haitian and Hispanic community. Being raised part Haitian, has created not only empathy and fair-mindedness for my students, but has brought awareness to their resilience in life. One major issue I think students of diverse populations face is the culture shock. As I previous mention, the Haitian community is well apparent in my school. Most people know that Haiti is not one of the richest places on earth, so therefore a student who is entering an American school for the first time can find it to be a bit overwhelming due to the culture changes. I know in my classroom, I pride myself in modifying my classroom for all students. I display this by presenting more visuals, Rosetta Stone program, Haitian-English or Spanish-English

In 2016, Donnetrice Allison does a Ted Talks on the trend of claiming diversity within an institution. Diversity is something people have demanded within public institutions, lack of diversity can lead to bad media coverage. For this reason, organizations now often strive to advertise their means of achieving a diverse environment. Allison points out in her talk that achieving diversity within an institution has become more of a numbers game rather than a humanitarian deed. Organizations have become obsessed with the idea of having diverse members, but do not focus on giving those people the same experience as the dominant group. Allison points out that because of this, institutions become (some what) diverse, yet exclusive to the minorities.

The American ethnic makeup of its population is evolving as immigrants across the globe seek refuge and residency here in the United States. The change in the diversity can be seen firsthand in the public school system across the states as the children of immigrants are being integrated in the classrooms (Choi, 2011). This increase in multicultural students has been able to influence public policy and syllabus changes to reach the educational needs of students regardless of their ethnicity (Choi, 2011). Hence, the goal of a multicultural education is to provide a level playing ground for all students (Choi, 2011). Furthermore, educators are adapting to the ethnic change in the classroom and are restructuring

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”)