Running Head: STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS

Diversity Statement of Informed Beliefs Laura Decker College of Southern Idaho EDUC 204: Families, Communities, Culture Evin Fox Fall 2013

STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS

Statement of Informed Beliefs Introduction Differences can be found everywhere around us. They're found in homes, jobs, schools and communities. People are different. It's a fact of life. There are people of all sizes, shapes, and colors. There are people who have different learning styles where a child has a consistent pattern of behavior by which s/he approaches learning experiences. They also have different beliefs and morals, or what a person believes to be right or wrong, than the person sitting next to them. This is why it's so important for teachers to address diversity in their classroom. People often become afraid of what they don't understand. This is where we begin to see bullying in a school environment where aggressive behavior is used to cause harm or distress to others, typically this is happening towards students who are different. Teachers need to explain different cultures in their classroom so that each student can learn to be more accepting of each other and can grow individually. Students capable of Learning All students are capable of learning. It doesn't matter where they come from or who their parents are. Every child, of every age, is able to learn. They may not learn the same as another child or as quickly, but they can retain information just the same. The big influence on what a child learns is based on their readiness to learn. The concept of 'school readiness' is multifaceted, encompassing the physical health, social-emotional, cognitive, and linguistic status of children (Berns, 2013, p. 207). If a child is healthy and has parents that are involved with them, then these children are more ready to learn than those children who are unhealthy and are ignored by their parents. Children need to have a good home environment in order to properly learn what is being taught in a classroom. Once the child has shown theyre actually ready to learn, the teacher has a few different responsibilities to make sure each child is given the information that they are ready for. According to

STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS accountability, teachers are responsible for students learning or achievement outcomes. One responsibility the teacher has is to be prepared. The teacher needs to have a lesson set up and ready to

go every day that s/he is in the classroom. This is probably the biggest responsibility the teacher has. If the teacher comes to class with nothing to teach, there isn't likely to be much learning going on in the classroom. Additionally, having a lesson plan prepared helps keep the teacher on track so that s/he isn't all over the place and children are learning what they should be learning. Another responsibility the teacher has is to be flexible. S/he needs to be prepared to teach something different if what s/he had planned doesn't go as well as hoped. Sometimes children don't respond as one would expect and the teacher needs to be able to be flexible and teach the lesson either in a different way or to teach something else entirely. It's all about the children. Even the best lesson plan ever created could fall short with a certain group of students. Also, a group of children could act differently depending on the day. Teachers could plan an upbeat activity, but the children are tired and don't respond well to the activity. This is where the teacher would need to come up with something more appropriate to the situation. Another responsibility a teacher has is to be creative. Creativity draws the line between a dull class and an exciting one. This creativity can be shown in lesson plans, crafts or the class environment. The teacher can show creativity in lessons by coming up with a unique idea on how to teach a certain subject. S/he can come up with fun, different ideas on how to make crafts that can help a student learn and understand a lesson. Creativity can also be seen in the classroom itself by creating a fun and comfortable place to learn. Teachers' expectations A teacher's expectations can be both helpful and harmful to students. They can be helpful because expectations help lead students to strive harder towards a certain goal. More often than not, a child wants to please his/her teacher, so once a teacher's expectations are given, the child tries to succeed. This is because the student forms an attachment to the teacher where s/he forms an

STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS affectionate tie that binds them together. A teacher's expectations can be harmful if they are too high.

This can lead to big disappointment in the students when they fail. A teacher can make a student expect too much of themselves, and when they don't accomplish something the child feels as if s/he is a failure and not good enough. Children may even make sure not to take any more risks for fear of failing. If a teacher's expectations are too low, it can lead to overconfidence in a child and they think they can get anything right. When they do fail, which will happen sometimes, this will also lead them to stop taking risks for fear of failing. It's a hard line to straddle to make sure a teacher's expectations are not too high and not too low. Educational goals have several different roles in the classroom. For one, they help keep students on task. This helps them know where the lesson is going and help their mind not wander to something else. These goals can also help students learn how to make their own goals. When they are on their own away from school, they will learn to make their own goals about everyday things and hopefully keep this habit as adults. They can learn to make goals to lose weight, be a better person, raise enough money to buy a house, or have a goal to have their puppy house-trained by February. Educational goals also helps clear up confusion. If the goals are stated clearly and correctly the students can know exactly what they're supposed to be learning. Students' Social Ecology Theory It is important to connect students' learning to social ecology. The students need to be able to connect with what they are learning. If a student isn't interested in the topic of the lesson or s/he has never been around the situation s/he is likely to just block out the lesson and not pay attention. If they actually like what the teacher is talking about and understands a little bit about it then the student will likely pay more attention and retain the information being taught. Also, if a teacher using lessons that have real-life problems that kids go through then this can help the children learn how to cope with these problems in their daily lives, not just school. If a teacher uses an example in math that has to do with

STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS paying bills and s/he is talking to a group of first graders, the teacher isn't going to have many positive results. The teacher would be better off talking about going to the store and choosing a candy bar and paying for it.

Families, communities and culture all have a huge impact on students' learning. The ideal set-up for a child would be the creation of a mesosystem. This is where two or more significant others in a child's microsystem, or relationships with significant others such as family and school, are linked together. For example, the family or community is involved at the child's school. If the families and communities of the students are highly involved with the school the kids will have a better educational atmosphere. There will be more donations to the school to provide better materials. There will also be more adult volunteers to do clubs, teams, and field trips. If the people in the children's lives are involved, they know exactly what the children should be learning and can help guide them in the right direction and give help where needed. They can also provide more motivation for the students to succeed. Families, communities, and culture can have a negative impact, though. If a child has a bad home life s/he doesn't learn as well. They're too distracted by the bad things that are going on at home. Also, if the child's community is not involved with the school, the child doesn't have as much moral or financial support as they could have in their school environment. If a child's culture is not accepted in the classroom this can lead a child to not want to learn. This especially happens when the dominant culture in the school is too different from their own. This also leads to confusion because the child doesn't understand the culture, hence the information is not given to them in a way that they understand. Cultural diversity instruction Diversity is everywhere. It's in schools, jobs and communities. I highly expect diversity in my classroom and I will welcome it with open arms. I will acknowledge diversity in my classroom by

STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS teaching all of my students about different kinds of culture. We'll talk about cultures that pertain to the Chinese, Africans, Mexicans, Muslims and of course Americans. There are many more that we could talk about. In my classroom, we will do many different activities that involve the history and background of different cultures. We'll discuss their traditions so my students understand their customs, beliefs and stories that have been handed down from person to person. So not only will we talk about the current traditions of cultures, we'll talk about their history. My goal is to have my students know and understand different cultures and possibly learn to accept them. If they understand why and how things are done in different cultures, hopefully they wont be afraid of each other and make fun of each other. I want to change their attitude, or their tendencies to respond positively or negatively, about diversity. I want them to accept each other. Eventually, I want to succeed in having my students achieve the conventional level of moral reasoning. This is Kohlberg's stage of moral reasoning where an individual can look beyond personal consequences and consider others' perspectives (Berns, 2013, p. 421). This would be where a person can see someone with different skin and not form a prejudice, or prejudge someone, before they know them as a person. I hope to teach them that it's not alright to stereotype. That they understand it's not alright to form an oversimplified representation of different groups. Cultural assimilation is the process where a minority takes on the cultural characteristics of the majority. Some people believe that this is how it should be in schools. Teachers should only teach and accept work that is given in English and expresses American traditions. Other people believe that cultural pluralism should be shown in the classroom. Cultural pluralism is a mutual appreciation and understanding of a variety of cultures. I believe that this is the correct way to address diversity in a classroom. A variety of cultures should be explained so that each student understands and appreciates people who are different from them. Of course, the social norms of the majority group should be

practiced on a daily basis so that the children understand the rules, patterns, and standards expressed in

STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS

society so they function as successful citizens. Other than this, though, other cultures and beliefs should be welcome in a classroom. Curriculum for all learners Sometimes assessments will show that the students aren't learning and retaining the information being given. This is where adjustments will have to be made. When I notice that my lessons and assessments are not working, I will quickly improvise. I can do this by always having a backup plan. This can include having an entire other lesson planned and ready to go or explaining the same information in a different way. I can also do this by trying a different activity than the one I had originally planned. If I had tried a written activity, I will then try a hands-on activity and vice versa. Assessments are used to test a child's understanding of information that was given. This can be done through a written test/assignment, asking the child to relay back what they learned, asking s/he questions, or having them create a project off the given information. If I notice that my students are not doing will on their assessments, this tells me that I need to go back and teach the lesson again in a different way. Either the children were not ready to learn that day or I chose the wrong approach. Assessments are my feedback from my students. They give me evaluative information, positive or negative, about my behavior, or in this case, my teaching strategies. They are pretty much grading me with their scores. If they fail the assessment either I or s/he has gone wrong somewhere and we need to go back and fix the problem. It is extremely important that every single student grows in a classroom. This is where they go to learn, to improve and to advance. To me, this is the sole goal of education. I will ensure that every student grows by making sure that every student in my class learns and remembers a majority of what I taught by the end of the year. If they can do this they will be able to go on to the next grade in school with a good start so they can continue to move forward. I will also make sure that my students are happy in the classroom and feel safe enough to take risks. If I succeed in this, I will have considered the

STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS year a success. If a child is happy to come to my classroom and is unafraid to stand up and maybe get something right or say their opinion then I will have done something right. This is how they will grow and develop into healthy, happy adults. Conclusion

Every child is different. They all come from different backgrounds and different families. Some come from Mexico and some come from China. Some families are poor and some families don't have a father. Diversity is a part of our everyday lives. It needs to be addressed in the classroom and it needs to be taught to all students so they can learn to accept it and embrace it. Diversity brings so much to each group. Different groups bring new ideas and concepts, and can help create new traditions. I will embrace diversity in my classroom and teach all of my students as much as I can about different cultures so they can be more accepting individuals and can learn to grow to be accepting and wellrounded adults.

STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS References Berns, R. M. (2013). Child, family, school, community (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.