Multicultural Education : Integrated Diverse Learners

Within a school, equality, diversity and inclusion is very important. It is their duty to make sure all children have equal access to the curriculum. Whether they are a different race, culture, gender or have a special need or disability, it is important that they are supported and have a right to participate and be treated equal; this is known as inclusion. As part of this it is important that schools and other professionals support and promote cultural diversity in schools and the wider society, breaking down any discriminatory barriers to learning.

“Start Where You Are But Don’t Stay There” by Richard Milner is a book about dealing with diversity in the classroom in today’s day and age. It holds a focus on allowing all students to be successful academically and throughout their lives. Milner talks about several different case studies in which teachers must help students who are struggling. It goes through scenarios with Mr. Hall, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Jackson, and Ms. Shaw, who are all struggling with diversity in different ways. This book holds an importance in expressing ideas and concerns of equality in schools, and I believe it would be beneficial for all aspiring educators to read it.

Diversity encompasses numerous characteristics including socio-economic background, ethnicity, special needs, gender, and giftedness (Cazden, 2001). Today, classrooms are getting more varied and diverse with students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and students with a disability. It appears that teachers must meet the needs of all students successfully and individually to effectively teach a classroom of diverse students. This paper will first identify three challenges involved with ensuring that teaching strategies are

The ways knowledge or lack of thereof of diversity can affect my roles as a special education educator is comprehending learners will originate from various distinctive background. For this reason, I should obtain compassion ahead of communicating with the families about the student’s inadequacies challenges, apprehensions acquire prior to an enhance instructional learning environment. Moreover, understanding diversity in these specific areas will assist in delivering the appropriate accommodations for individuals and their families. For example, premise I cognize the family doesn’t articulate English a translator will be provided before communicating with the parents. Therefore, important to understand learner’s lifestyles

The diversity found in public schools are those who speak another language other than English, come from different cultural backgrounds, are different socioeconomically, have learning disabilities, physical conditions, have different sexual orientations or genders. Students that are not straight, European American, and come from a comfortable or high socioeconomic status, resulting in private schools or have accessibility to paid for tutoring, are not always at arm’s reach for help or proper resources regarding their education at home or school, in some cases. These students face challenges and overcome them in a plethora of ways.

There are many factors that play a role in the learning process for every human being. Race, religion, language, socioeconomics, gender, family structure, and disabilities can all affect the ways in which we learn. Educators must take special measures in the delivery of classroom instruction to celebrate the learning and cultural differences of each of their students. As communities and schools continue to grow in diversity, teachers are searching for effective educational programs to accommodate the various learning styles of each student while promoting acceptance of cultural differences throughout the classroom. It no longer suffices to plan educational experiences only for middle-or upper class white learners and then

and curriculum. The discussion of the historical and philosophical background of multicultural education teaches educators how race and culture influence educational policy and programs. Multicultural teaching and curriculum is also crucial for the development of equitable education for diverse students. The author asserts that multicultural education can lessen biases while also furthering democratic beliefs and practices among students. The text’s discussion of multicultural education is significant to the field of multicultural education as it demonstrates how multicultural educational practices help students become culturally literate and prepared for today’s diverse and globalized world.

The United States school districts have transitioned into a multicultural learning center supportive in the role of teaching students, families, and communities about the benefits of embracing diversity and the positive impact it stimulates in promoting equality. Schools share the responsibility to assist in preparing student development for life after school in a multicultural society. The involvement of schools to provide successful integration for students from all ethnic backgrounds will prove supportive as school’s diversities continue to increase further into the 21st century. In this paper, a discussion of my school’s affirmation for diversity will be included. The next section will include how affirming diversity impacts multicultural education. Third, I will include some of the ways in which teachers and schools can support students for whom English is not a native language. Fourth, I will include an explanation of why schools that serve economically disadvantaged and culturally marginalized students are more likely to have arts programs cuts, including what researchers say about this trend, and how it affects student achievement. Fifth, explain why the choices between assimilation and affirmation are somewhat different today than 100 years ago. Finally, include some of my ideas for affirming diversity in PK-12 settings.

Our schools are full of a variety of children who are diverse in their own ways. What comes to mind when you hear the word diversity within schools? Many people think of race or culture, but diversity in our schools is more than that. Diversity can include race, religion, culture, and even learning styles in a classroom. In the past classrooms where not that diverse consisting of white protestant students. Currently diversity in classrooms is on the rise big time. Today’s classrooms are more effective in diversity, learning styles, and influences than past years.

Multicultural education incorporates the idea that all students- regardless of their gender, social class, and ethnic, racial, or cultural characteristics- should have an equal opportunity to learn in school, (Banks & Banks, 2010, p. 3.) For centuries our country, the United States of America, has been known as the “melting pot” in a sense that our world was moving towards multiculturalism. Some see the old metaphor, the “melting pot” fading away within the last decade and has grown into a new term(s) like the “salad bowl” and “mosaic”. These two terms can best be defined as mixtures of ingredients that each keeps their own individual characteristics (i.e. a salad bowl and a mosaic). Joyce Millet says it best, “Immigrant populations within the United States are not being blended together in one “pot”, but rather they are transforming American Society into a truly multicultural mosaic (Millet 2010.) Americans come from all over the world. If you were to type American Culture into a search browser on the Internet there would be a wide variety of searches that pop up including cultures like African, Native American, Asian, Polynesian, Latin American, and more.

Diversity in classrooms can open student’s minds to all the world has to offer. At times diversity and understanding of culture, deviant experiences and perspectives can be difficult to fulfill, but with appropriate strategies and resources, it can lead students gaining a high level of respect for those unlike them, preferably than a judgmental and prejudiced view.

A teacher must understand the diverse world we live in; a teacher must also understand that with that diverse world come many different teaching situations that he or she will need to be prepared for prior to beginning teaching. As a teacher in 2016 and beyond, students from every culture and country could be present in a classroom, so preparation and understanding are key. Within those cultures, there will also be students who identify with subcultures. A teacher will not be successful as such if they cannot understand and respect each student 's uniqueness. With that being said, they must also teach others to respect those unique qualities as well. Teachers are often responsible for students of different religions, students who may not have English spoken in their home and students who have come from varied ethnical backgrounds. Because in today’s society, the acceptance of diverse lifestyles are growing more students are openly expressing their personal choices to be LBGTQ (Lesbian, Bi, Gay, Transgendered or Questioning). Another diverse subculture teachers are facing is the rising population of homeless students. Today’s teachers are facing in abundance, students who identify on the LBGTQ spectrum as well as students whose home circumstances leave them in poverty and specifically homeless, both area’s present an opportunity for the teacher as well as her class to practice positive acceptance skills and expand each person’s diversity consciousness as well as develop

School leaders strive to create the best learning environment within the school they operate; however, the teachers are the ones to implement the grand educational plan. In their journey to achieve excellence, the teachers must consider multiple factors that will have an effect on students’ psychological and social development. In addition, the issue of minorities is changing the dynamics of education. While student populations were never really homogeneous, the past couple of decades of exceptional growth in student diversity, plus the widening economic gap among students have produced even larger and increasing academic and cultural differences among students. Often times, diversity is being neglected and even looked down upon. “Teachers must be prepared to assist culturally and economically diverse students to ensure their academic and social success” (Ormond, 2006, p.16). One of the goals of education is to provide all children with equality of opportunity.

There is an unspecific amount of human population that inhabit our planet and each and every person have their own distinct culture and ethnic background. In Australia, there are statistics that show more than 30 percent of households speak another language beside English (ABS, 2011). Many people in the world can also have a combination of these cultures, which gives them the ability to communicate in more than one language. This would mean that they are considered either to be bilingual or multilingual. Being bilingual is a formidable skill that is primarily used to communicate with others, but it can also provide power and opportunities in certain social fields. There are those who discourage their children from learning another language because of many reasons. This could include not being able to pay for these lessons, availability of competent teachers and may reduce the child’s focus in other subjects. Conversely, there are free educational programs in Australian schools that give children an opportunity to study their family language because it demonstrates the country’s strong support for cultural diversity. This is because multiculturalism promotes cultural awareness, which includes having a diverse range of cuisines, beliefs, interests and traditions shared across the country.

The development of a school and classroom curriculum is critical to achieving a multicultural school setting for students. The implications of my findings for teaching and learning are that educators need to better evaluate their texts and curriculum that they use with their students. In Becoming a Multicultural Educator, author James Banks explains that every student should receive an education of high quality and with that they should attain skills that will help them to flourish in a multicultural world (196). Also on page 196, author B. M. Scott discusses that there are three factors that need to be addressed in order to achieve a multicultural curriculum. The three factors are; “First, educators need to increase their own personal