Practicum Experience

I learned that I will need to understand the issues facing my students inside and outside of the classroom. By having this understanding, I hope to be able to form real relationships with my students, make learning relevant to each student, and be able to provide the necessary support to make them successful learners. I want to be a resource and/or participant in my students’ life rather than just a spectator and/or teacher teaching about diversity. I realized that my previous perception would have left some students struggling in my classroom. I would have overlooked students’ needs if I only concentrated on teaching diversity in my classroom. I believe that this experience has made me grow as an educator and made me realize how I need to understand the complexities faced by my students in order for me to become successful in the classroom and to become an effective teacher.

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.

Most of the students in my culturally diverse school enter my classroom with wisdom and knowledge from their home experiences that can be used to expand their learning even further. The positivity from the learning in my classroom are exponentially greater when my students feel the appreciation and respect that I have for the rich cultural value that their family contributes to the ever-growing educational environment. I believe that young children learn best in a relational, interactive mode rather than focusing on the simple rote instruction.

The teacher uses the understanding of differences in individuals, cultures, and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet rigorous standards.

To effectively reach all learners from diverse backgrounds, it is imperative that implementation of the content reflect and relate to students cultural background (Woidkowski & Ginsberg, 1995). Culturally responsive teaching is multidimensional including curriculum and instructional practices as aforementioned however; failure to address teacher-student interaction, classroom climate, performance assessment, and overall school culture will lead to a fractured approach (Howard, 2012). Wiodkowski and Ginsberg outline a framework for culturally responsive teaching focusing on motivational conditions related to respect, choice, rigor, and competence. This framework included establishment of an inclusive setting so all members of the community feel included and respected, development of positive attitude towards the learning experience through personal significance and choice, creation of challenging work that creates values for learning new material and having been exposed to the growth experience (Woidkowski &

“First of all, it's important that I understand, value, and respect students from all diverse populations. I do this by studying an individual's family values, beliefs, etc. so that I may maintain a good relationship with not only the students, but parents as well. Furthering education and attending conferences to gain knowledge of diversity is crucial to meeting all student

• Diversity: Everyone is different and these differences need to be valued, the tolerance of different cultures, beliefs, races, ages and gender to name a few, needs to be of importance not only to the tutor but the students as well. Creating a classroom atmosphere of valuing and understanding individual experiences and views can be achieved through ground rules and by the example set by the tutor.

It is essential for educators to participate in ongoing and formal preparation in the form of workshops, courses, discussions, etc. Such preparation should focus directly on educators becoming culturally competent and able to understand the impact of biases and stereotypes, as well as cultural diversity and its ability to impact teaching and learning alike. Working with students from racial, ethnic and language minorities and their families can be very different from other students and

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

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.

Although demographics are excellent, there are still learning challenges that confronting the learning community. For example - 10 students and their families recently joined the school after migrating from overseas. These students and their families require a range of

The teacher uses understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.

List the most significant strengths that you bring to the practicum based on preceding checklist.

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

Diversity and Inclusion: I will approach diversity by embracing and being open to learning about other people and their families. I would make sure everyone is included and make sure students are respectful and open to diversity. I will adapt instructions if needed to meet the needs of a class or an individual student. I would adapt a lesson for an individual student if that student is struggling or needs extra help to make sure everyone is learning effectively.