Graduation Speech : School Experience Essay

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.

This paper will be discussing a recent fifteen hour field experience I participated in which I observed a classroom which included many students of diverse ethnic and cultural groups. I will discuss any prejudices/discriminations I observed in the classroom based on ethnic and cultural diversity. I will also describe how this experience has made me determined to try to create a positive learning environment for students of diversity in the classroom.

In order to implement this into my future class I first need to recognize the variety of individual culture, gender, background, socioeconomic status, learning style, developmental stage and other factors of students, families and colleagues. Establishing that my classroom is a safe zone and a place where differences are celebrated and embraced will help me create an environment where everyone’s diversities are respected.

Classrooms will be filled with a variety of students coming from many different cultures and backgrounds. Teachers need to acknowledge each student will be different in this aspect and will have had different experiences in their lives. As the class moves forward, the goal is to provide students with the same experiences, just with through different lenses. To do this, the classroom must have a strong sense of community and a

I observed the 2nd-grade general classroom from the Navy Elementary School. Throughout of the observation, the classroom was very diverse, and the teacher had to work with each of diverse students within the lessons. In the United States, the schools are becoming increasingly diverse. Many teachers find the diversity and exceptional learners in their classrooms by English language Learners, special education and the students who are culturally diverse. Due to diverse learners, giving an appropriate instruction to students is very important. Based o what the students receive from the teacher, individual students will accomplish their tasks and perform academic success

The district is committed to practices that will teach students to appreciate diversity and recognize its necessity in a democratic society aiding students in continuing the lifelong learning process. Priorities of this commitment include removing prejudice, cultural barriers, and discrimination that may occur regardless of intention or not. The district recognizes that students need to be educated about social justice and equity while learning to accept and respect those that are not the same as they are. To achieve this requires that the district’s faculty also treat students and each other with acceptance and respect. Students should be prepared to thrive in a society that is multicultural and interconnected globally. Lifelong learners need an appreciation for the various cultures and their innate differences which bring about greater problem solving when each group’s contribution may be

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.

There has been a clear notion on what is needed in today’s education and that is diversity in the classroom to include material in the curriculum that openly addresses diversity. Teachers need to be aware that being multicultural is important, adaptation is required and ability to provide students with a safe environment. Meanwhile, also understanding the student’s interest, culture, and background is vital in the student’s learning. For example, according to Karmeen (2013), “21st Century Teacher Educator” and “Teachers as “Healers”: 21 Century Possibility? Or Necessity?” by authors Whitfield and Klug (2004); both promote the ideas of including multicultural materials in the curriculum. They both agree that the reduction of prejudice and promotion of social justice is key. One should obtain the knowledge to understand and recognize what is unique among different groups that each student represent.

The High school graduation day is a life full of journeys for everyone, high school life is a

We live in a time in which everything is categorized by lists, whether it’s a dreaded school rubric or a David Letterman Top Ten List. As the millennium turns, we are deluged with lists: the best books of the millennium, the greatest songs of the millennium, the most influential people of the millennium. Personally, I may be sick of all these lists, but no graduating class of 2006 could let this occasion slip by without one more list: The Top Ten Things I Learned in High School. So listen along and see if your experience parallels mine. Here goes:

As I have mentioned before, I grew up and attended school under Scholar Academic philosophy, but my experience in high school was a mixing bowl of various ideologies and philosophies, as our school kept exploring options on how to improve academics and student enrollment. The changes I experienced in high school sparked my curiosity for an education career.

The long, gloomy buildup to my joyful experience began many years ago, when I first started school. Even on my very first day of kindergarten, it was already clear to me that going to school wasn’t going to be something that I enjoyed. I was very shy and withdrawn, and the other kids weren’t at all interested in being friends with me. Despite my efforts to try and fit in, they never seemed to like me as much as they all liked each other, The kids in my class didn’t see my quiet nature as shyness, but rather as something that made me strange. I was often picked on and felt excluded. Even though I always had a close friend through all thirteen years of school, I always felt as though I wasn’t fitting in like I should have been.

As a future teacher, it is extremely important to get as much experience in the classroom as possible in order to be ready to teach without assistance after graduation. By having 20 hours of observation the two semesters before entering the education program, it is beneficial to experience life in the classroom, reflect on the things learned, and one day be able to implement them into one’s own classroom one day. This paper will discuss my personal experience in my field placement and connect it to what I have learned in the EDUC 2130 class. During my observation times, I learned many things, including but not limited to, effective classroom management techniques and diversity throughout the classroom.

This class, UWP 104FY, has lead me to realize the areas I struggle in and how I overcame those struggles. When I entered this class, I lacked practice with writing and was unable to adjust my habits to accommodate the flow of this course. I had not written an essay, except for research papers, since my fall quarter of freshman year. It was especially hard for me to adjust my time to account for all the activities in the class. Since the course is a hybrid course, I only had one face-to-face meeting with the class. Half of the class requires self-pace and constant checking of what needed to be accomplished. With my initial abilities, I was unable to excel in the course. However, as the course progressed, I was able to change some of my

Hayes glanced at the poster of the newly opened school. The school had been closed all summer to make way for new renovations to the classrooms in order to make them more technologically advanced for the newcomers. There were some buildings that were still under construction, but most of the main buildings had been finished to reopen to the students.