file · Web viewFINAL REFLECTION FOR DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM ... the true extent of the meaning of the word ... race (Cushner, McClelland, & Safford, 2012)

Running Head: FINAL REFLECTION FOR DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM 1

Final Reflection for Diversity in the Classroom

Tisha Orth

Texas Woman’s University

FINAL REFLECTION FOR DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM 2

Final Reflection for Diversity in the Classroom

I grew up in an upper middle class Christian white family. We moved around due to my

father’s job, so I experienced many different and diverse areas. My parents both grew up in

small rural towns, and we often visited family in these small communities of Tennessee and

Kentucky. Most of my relatives farmed on their own land and barely made ends meet. My

cousins often made fun of my ever-changing (due to moves) accent, because I didn’t sound like

them. I suppose that is one way I adapted to my changing environments. We spent time in

southern Illinois, Minnesota, northern Kentucky, and Chicago before my parents settled in

Nashville, TN. Most of the areas we lived in were predominantly middle class, white suburbs.

In Chicago, I attended a very ethnically diverse (though still upper-middle class) junior high

school. The neighborhood we lived in was an upper class neighborhood, but it was ethnically

diverse. Most of my best friends were Jewish. I remember wishing I was Jewish so I could

celebrate Chanukah! Although I was exposed to and raised to be tolerant and accepting of

diversity, I am not sure that I understood the importance of embracing and celebrating diversity.

This Diversity in the Classroom (EDUC 5173) course has forced me to examine the true

extent of the meaning of the word diversity. It has taught to consider aspects of diversity that I

was unaware of previously. Diversity does not just encompass race and ethnicity. Gender,

sexual orientation, language, ability/disability, body size, language, age, social class, and religion

are also examples of areas of diversity. This class has taught me that it is our many different

areas of diversity that make us individuals. In the following pages, I will examine the impact

that this course and the field observations have made on my view of education and my role in

that educational experience. I will discuss the ways that I will work with my students to build a

diverse learning community built on mutual respect. I will describe what I envision for my


future culturally inclusive classroom including community building, the physical arrangement of

the classroom environment, communication processes, multicultural curriculum, and assessment

that I will use to teach students to embrace and celebrate their diversity.

Impact of Course and Field Observation

EDUC 5173 has helped me to better see and understand my own diversity. It caused me

to consider other forms of diversity that had never occurred to me before. Prior to this class,

when I thought of the term diversity, my thoughts went to race and ethnicity. Our textbook

identifies twelve sources of cultural identity: ethnicity/nationalism, social class, sex/gender,

health, age, geographic location, sexuality, religion, social status, language, ability/disability, and

race (Cushner, McClelland, & Safford, 2012). This semester I have learned more about each of

these areas through the class assignments, getting to know my Wiki colleagues, and observing at

a local elementary school. The areas of diversity that I realized that I have little experience with

are socioeconomic issues and language issues. Having this brought to my attention will allow

me to better prepare myself professionally to begin my career. I have also realized that the

demographics of today’s students will not be the same as that of students 10 years from now. I

need to stay current with professional development and always be aware of my ever-changing

surroundings.

By becoming aware of the types of cultural diversity, I will be more aware of the most

effective ways to teach my students. I can make them feel included and welcome in my

classroom. Every student is different, so the make-up of every class is different. They each

learn in different ways. I will need to know my students and teach them in the way that they

learn best, while still exposing them to other types of instruction so that they will not be left


behind if another teacher does not differentiate instruction. I want to help my students learn

more about themselves. I learned more about myself as I completed the Wiki Self-Concept Map

assignment. I had to look not only at my outward appearance (what people can physically see)

but also at other aspects of myself that make me, me. This map made it easier for classmates to

get to know each other and provided insight into how to best work with each other. I think this is

a fabulous assignment to begin the school year, one that would be very helpful in my future

classroom. It helps the teacher get know to the students and also helps peers get to more about

each other. An assignment like the self-concept map will aid me in providing an equitable

education with equal opportunities to learn for each of my students.

Diversity-Affirmative, Culturally Inclusive Learning Community

Teachers with little exposure to diversity are vulnerable to subtle forms of discrimination

(Logue & Kim, 2011). Dysconscious racism, involves purposefully overlooking differences and

accepting inequalities as a given. Examples of dysconscious racism are beliefs that teachers

should treat all children the same and that fairness is equivalent to the same treatment regardless

of the child’s need or privilege (Logue & Kim, 2011). In order to have a diversity-affirmative,

culturally inclusive learning community, I will need to continue my own education. I will stay

current on diversity issues by attending professional developments, reading educational journals,

and collaborating with my colleagues.

I must be conscious of my students’ cultural backgrounds in order to create and maintain

a diversity-affirmative, culturally inclusive learning environment for my students. All 12 of the

areas of cultural identity identified by Cushner, McClelland and Safford (2012) must be

addressed. I can be prepared for my students on the first day of class in several ways. I will be


sure to read the records and notes from previous teachers. This will aid me in knowing the

gender, age, geographic location, race, ethnicity, language, health and ability/disability of my

students. I will create a “home survey”, similar to the one used by the kindergarten teachers at

the school in which I observed, ready for the families on “Meet the Teacher Night.” If my

school does not have such an event, I will mail this survey to students’ families with a welcome

letter prior to school starting. This survey will include questions to help me identify the religion

(through questions about holidays and other celebrations), family structure and personalities of

my students. An area will also be included to update any school record information that may

have changed and request family involvement in the classroom. (Social class and status are areas

of diversity that will most likely be observed in the first few days of school.) I can make

adjustments to the learning environment as things change with my students. I will be flexible

with my plans to accommodate my student’s needs.

Building Community Based on Mutual Respect

I want to create a learning community in my classroom built on mutual respect between

myself and students and their peers. I will get to know each of my students and show a sincere

interest in their interests. I can build assignments based on their interests. I will find common

ground with my students in order to relate to them. I will let them know that I am a real person

outside of school, with children and activities. If my students are from a different background, I

will make every effort to get to know more about their culture, language, music, etc., as Julie

Kelman (1996) did. Her students began to respect her more and grow as a community when she

began to show an interest in their Puerto Rican heritage. She created a sense of community in

her classroom using their heritage. They took pride in teaching her their culture and language.

They took up a common cause and went to the elementary school to read to younger students.


This service learning opportunity helped her students with their English and also helped the

younger students with listening skills and provided role models (Kelman, 1996). I will include

service learning opportunities such as these to help my students create a sense of community in

our classroom.

I will include an assignment at the beginning of each year that will be similar to the self-

concept map that we completed in EDUC 5173. This will help me get to know the students, help

the students get to know each, and help them discover new things about themselves and their

relationships with their peers. Once the students get to know each other better, they will feel

more comfortable in collaborative learning groups. Using peer collaboration, they will learn to

work together and respect each other for their strengths and help work on each other’s

weaknesses. I will encourage this collaboration by providing many cooperative learning

opportunities and by having desks arranged in groups. I will have to make sure that I have a

good classroom management system in place so that students know when collaboration is

expected and encouraged and when individual work is required. I will encourage a sense of

community by planning team building activities for our class. These activities will include

games, assignments, and service learning opportunities. I will have several team building

activities at the beginning of the year, but I will also continue to do them throughout the year to

maintain the community atmosphere.

Diverse Classroom Environment

According to Wong and Wong (2009), effective teachers have the room ready when

students arrive. I am a planner and organizer by nature, so I expect this to carry over into the

classroom. I will be sure to have my day planned and everything ready to go before my students


arrive each day. All of the materials that I need will be easily accessible so that I do not lose

valuable instruction time looking for needed materials. My classroom will be easily accessible

for all of my students. All materials the students will need access to will be at a level that they

can all reach (height appropriate for age or disability). Items they do not need or should not have

access to will be in higher cabinets or stored securely. Aisles and walkways will be wide enough

for all students and clear of obstructions. All students will have an unobstructed view of the

front of the classroom where the white board, projection screens, and pull down maps will be

located. My desk will have an unobstructed view of every area of the classroom.

Student desks will be arranged in groups of four or five. The students sitting together

will be as diverse as possible, based on the 12 areas of cultural diversity as identified by Cushner

et al. (2012). I will rearrange the groups every few weeks so that students will get to know

everyone in the class and have the opportunity to work with everyone. Having individual student

desks, rather than tables, will make it easier to move rearrange the room for various activities.

They can be put in larger groups, in a circle, or in a horseshoe for differing activities. If the

desks are rearranged, I will be sure that all areas are still accessible for all students. There will

always be a clear and easy path for me to walk around the room to interact with and observe my

students.

I will have many resources available in my classroom so that students of all learning

types can be successful. I will have class computers and listening stations. I will have a diverse

selection of books available in my classroom library. It will include books of diverse content as

well as large print, braille, audio books, books of differing reading levels, and books in different

languages. My classroom will include a white board (visible by all students) for important

information, lesson examples and a section for current learning objectives; maps of the world;


posters from our content containing diversity (for example, 4th grade social studies would contain

many posters depicting diverse places in Texas, artifacts from different areas of Texas, diverse

people groups, genders, races, ethnicities, abilities/disabilities, etc.); a word wall with content

vocabulary; classroom rules and expectations; daily schedule; and required evacuation

procedures. My classroom will include a comfortable reading area with a cushy rug where

students can relax and read. Ideally, my classroom will have plenty of natural light where we

can grow and nourish plants. My room will be a warm and inviting place where my students feel

welcome and comfortable to be themselves and feel accepted.

Communication

Communication in my classroom will be two way. I do not plan to be a lecturing teacher

that is always talking at my students. I plan to encourage active learning in my classroom. My

classroom will be set up in a way that encourages collaboration amongst students. Students will

be able to learn from each other’s diverse experiences and knowledge. My desk will be in a very

accessible location for my students. I plan to be moving around my classroom, engaging my

students, and observing their interactions with each other. I will ensure that I am accessible for

my students. I will open each morning with a morning meeting. This morning meeting will vary

based on the age and personality of the students, but it will be a time for me to welcome my

students to another day of learning and share announcements and daily learning objectives.

Students will also be invited to share their own short announcements. This will help the class

build a sense of community. In addition to content journals, I will have my students keep a

separate journal for free writing where they are able to write about whatever subject they want.

This journal will be for their eyes and my eyes only. This way I will be able to look a little

closer at what interests them or any concerns they were having.


I will make sure that I am communicating clearly with my students. I will incorporate

English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching techniques. I will use the eight components of the

Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) to ensure that my English language learners

(ELL) are being included in all classroom activities (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short 2006). These

eight protocols include lesson preparation, building background, comprehensible input,

strategies, interaction, practice and application, lesson delivery, and review and assessment

(Echevarria et al., 2006). These will be further discussed in the following multicultural

curriculum section. I believe that following the SIOP model will not only aid my ELL students

but will be of value to all of my students.

I will have a communication folder similar to those used by the teachers I observed. This

folder would be a place to communicate with the families of my students and would go home in

the students’ backpacks daily and returned to me each morning. (I will need to be aware and

make accommodations for any families with language barriers.) I will include a weekly

newsletter with important information regarding upcoming events, assignments, opportunities for

families to become involved in the classroom, spelling/vocabulary words, and other important

information. A behavior sheet will also be kept in this folder so that families will be aware of

good behavior and problematic behavior. All homework assignments will be sent home and

returned to school in this folder. All graded papers and other important information will be sent

home in the folder. I will also include blank pages in the center of this folder for notes between

home and school. I will be sure to write positive notes to parents, not just notes about problems.

Parents can let me know about things going on at home. I will also provide all parents with my

school email address and school phone extension (to leave a voice mail) so that they can contact

me. I will answer all communications as soon as possible. I will compile an email list at the


beginning of the year for parents that would like to receive electronic reminders as well. I will

send digital copies of my newsletters. I will also make use of the school website to keep families

and students in the know. All information that is presented in electronic form will also go home

in written form since not all of my students’ families may have access to the internet. I want my

student’s families to be as actively involved in their child’s education as possible. Also, having

parent volunteers come into the classroom gives students the opportunity to learn from other

sources with varied experiences.

Multicultural Curriculum

I want to ensure that my curriculum multicultural in content, and I use diversified

teaching methods to reach all types of learners. I will strive for curriculum transformation, not

just curriculum infusion, in my classroom. Banks (2008) states that curriculum infusion means

multicultural information is shown from the perspective of historians rather than from the people

of the culture being included. Curriculum transformation involves experiencing different

cultures from their viewpoint (Banks, 2008). I want my students to experience different cultures.

While completing the Multicultural Lesson Plan Wiki, I learned that it is much more difficult to

include multicultural instructional practices than it is to just add in some multicultural content. I

will be sure to present material to my students using a variety of instructional strategies so that

learners of all types will get the information presented in a form they can best understand. I will

be sure to model any activity as well as describe it so that my students can also see what I expect

from them. I will be sure to include many aspects of diversity in my lessons and not just rely on

the textbooks provided. The fifth grade math textbook that I analyzed in the Field Activity #2

Wiki was, in my opinion, severely lacking in diverse material. Especially being a Texas edition

book, I feel that it should have been more representative of the area. I will follow the lead of the


teacher that I observed and use a text such as that sparingly. She used it only as a guide and for

an occasional classroom assignment. All lesson plans will be completed in accord with student

Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and Section 504 plans with proper and effective

accommodations.

I will use the eight SIOP components, as described by Echevarria et al. (2006), to ensure

that my lessons can be understood by all of my students. I feel that this method is beneficial for

all learners not just ELLs. In my lesson preparation, I will ensure that objectives are clearly

stated for my students. Graphic organizers will be used (this is very helpful for myself as well)

so that students can see the concepts. Whenever possible, I will provide concrete examples for

lessons. I will build a background with the content by relating to the experiences of my students

as possible. Comprehensible input will be used when speaking with my students, taking into

account age, development, and English language proficiency. I will have students work in groups

of varied levels so that proficient students may encourage students that need more help. I will

use varied strategies such as cooperative learning (such as the jigsaw method), previewing and

predicting, summarizing, prompting, questioning, and elaborating. I will be sure to use an

appropriate wait time for my students to formulate their thoughts (Echevarria et al., 2006). One

teacher that I observed had faster students write down their answers while allowing other

students more time to think before asking for a volunteer to answer. I will use this practice in my

classroom. I will be sure to have plenty of interaction opportunities with my students during

instruction time and encourage interaction amongst their peers. This way they can learn from

each other. I will provide hands on materials and manipulatives for practice and opportunities to

apply what they have learned. I will ensure that my lessons are appropriately paced for my

students and delivered in a way that they can comprehend. I will review and assess students’


progress throughout the lesson (Echevarria et al., 2006). Assessment is discussed further in the

next section.

Assessment

I will use authentic assessment as much as possible in my classroom in conjunction with

traditional assessment. Authentic assessment, as stated in our text, “goes beyond reliance on

narrow and fallible tests in linking knowledge about individual learners with instructional

planning and decision making” (Cushner et al., 2012, p. 386). According to Chen and Martin

(2000), traditional tests do not assess the child as a whole. They do not give a clear picture of

how the child performs in the classroom, and they do not reflect the current theories in learning

or provide usefulness for the future. Chen and Martin (2000) suggest using a combination of

performance based traditional assessment and portfolio based assessment in order to achieve an

authentic assessment of content mastery. This will be my goal for assessing my students. I want

to know that they know how to apply the knowledge that they are learning, but I also want to

prepare them for the type of standardized tests required by the state.

I will use activities such as the JigSaw activity included in my lesson plan (where

students had to research the game they were given, apply what they learned to play the game,

and teach what they learned to their classmates) to determine their level of content mastery. This

type of assessment requires more work for the teacher, but it provides a clearer picture of the

mastery level of each student. I also plan to keep portfolios of my students’ work so that they

(and I) can see and measure their progress over the school term. I will be sure to utilize all levels

of Bloom’s Taxonomy when designing assessment for my students. I want to be sure that they

can not only recall the information but also apply and analyze information. I will complete


assessment to evaluate my students’ knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis,

and evaluation (Moore, 2009) of the content.

Conclusion

Wang, Haertal, and Walberg (1993/1994), after reviewing 11,000 pieces of research that

spanned 50 years, identified 28 factors governing student learning. They discovered that the

most important factor in student learning is classroom management. The least important factor

in student learning is classroom demographics. The success of my students will rest more on

how I choose to run my classroom than on their cultural backgrounds. Their success is in my

hands. It will be my responsibility to ensure that each of my students succeeds during their time

in my classroom. I will become an advocate for all of my students. I want to ensure that they

receive the education that is optimal for them. Wong and Wong (2009) state that the “effective

teacher is learner focused” (p. 224). In order to be learner focused, the teacher must know and

understand her students and what makes each of them unique. As a classroom teacher, I will

strive to know and understand all of my students so that I may become an effective teacher. Our

textbook defines multicultural education as “a process of educational reform that assures that

students from all groups (racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, ability, gender, etc.) experience

educational equality, success, and social mobility” (Cushner et al., 2012, p. 22). This will be my

goal as I continue my journey as a teacher and lifelong learner.


References

Banks, J. A. (2008). An introduction to multicultural education (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Chen, Y., & Martin, M. A. (2000). Using performance assessment and portfolio assessment

together in the elementary classroom. Reading Improvement, 37(1), 32-38.

Cushner, K., McClelland, A., & Safford, P (2012). Human diversity in education: An

intercultural approach. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2006). The eight components of sheltered instruction.

Adapted from Making content comprehensible for English language learners, the SIOP

Model. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.

Kelman, J. (1996). Strategies of a monolingual ESL teacher in a bilingual classroom. TESOL

Journal, 5(3), 14-17.

Logue, M., & Kim, S. (2011, Summer). The persona doll project: Promoting diversity awareness

among preservice teachers through storytelling. Social Studies Research & Practice, 6(2),

1-14.

Moore, K. (2009). Effective instructional strategies: From theory to practice (2nd ed.). Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Wang, M., Haertel. G., & Walberg, H. (1993/1994, December-January). What helps students

learn? Educational Leadership, December 1993/January 1994, 74-79.

Wong, H., & Wong, R. (2009). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher.

Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.

Documents

file · Web viewFINAL REFLECTION FOR DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM ... the true extent of the meaning of the word ... race (Cushner, McClelland, & Safford, 2012)