Final Reflection

Final Reflection:

Diversity in Classrooms

Molly Cypert

EDUC 5173

Dr. Gina Anderson

November 30, 2009

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Personal/Professional Growth

EDUC 5173 has provided me with learning tools to be a better educator, both

personally and professionally. I have gained a greater insight on diversity situations and

cultural issues in society. I have always considered myself open to diversity issues, but

EDUC 5173 opened my eyes to a different world. Overall, I feel that EDUC 5173 has

contributed to me becoming a positive role-model for young students. I can relate my

knowledge learned in this class and apply it to my teaching methods.

EDUC 5173 has helped me establish professional teaching strategies that I can

take with me in my career. I have learned the importance of recognizing cultural issues

in the classroom and how to incorporate it into the students’ learning environment.

Classroom environment is a crucial factor in the students learning process and EDUC

5173 has given me ideas and skills to improve the physical arrangement of my classroom.

I have learned how to develop lesson plans that utilize different diversity aspects. I have

also been introduced to the reasons many educators fail to reach certain students because

of diversity related issues. Marginalization, teacher expectation, curriculum

compatibility, and cultural incompatibility are where many educators fail when trying to

reach students in a multicultural setting. Straight Talk: Growing as Multicultural

Educators was a great resource that informed me about diversity failures.

Personally, I have grown as a person and can relate better to diversity situations. I

have developed a stronger cultural understanding and diverse background. This class has

helped me become a better community leader in society. I have learned more about me,

matured as person, realized I have been culturally biased, and learned the importance of

voicing your own personal opinion. It is also important to know yourself first when
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teaching diversity issues. I feel that this class has given me life long tools to succeed in

society.

Culturally Inclusive Learning Community

There are many important factors to consider when developing a culturally

inclusive learning community which include, ways you and your students value diversity,

the classroom environment, communication with your students, and how you will assess

your students. This final reflection touched on some of the

Ways you and your students will value/respect diversity

In my classroom I will address issues such as racism, social class, religion,

sexism, and body size openly to encourage my students to respect diversity. Confronting

racism in the classroom will teach students to value diversity. When I teach my lessons, I

will point out the different ethnicities throughout the book. This will help prove to

students that everyone should be accepted regardless, of their race or ethnicity. I will

teach my children about different social classes, by encouraging students to not make

remarks about other children’s clothing, unless it is positive. In my opinion, it will also

be a good idea to incorporate poverty in other countries, in the classroom. However, this

will be a sensitive subject and I do not want to offend any of my students. Religions will

be addressed in the curriculum and sexism will depend on the age of my students. It will

not be appropriate to introduce sexism to younger grade-levels. The older grade-levels

should be taught that sexism is a form of diversity and should be respected. Body size is

also important to recognize in the classroom. Younger students should be taught that

people come in all different shapes and sizes. The older students should be taught not to

judge someone based on how they look.

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The earlier you start teaching students to value diversity, the more accepting they

will be. It is important to emphasize differences and be open to diversity related

questions. I will also offer my own personal experiences to teach students that everyone

experiences different forms of diversity. Field trips would also be an excellent way to

teach diversity and students should have the opportunity to experience them.

Physical arrangement of classroom

The physical layout of my classroom will be similar to my field experience

classrooms at Lakewood Elementary. The desks will be grouped together with three or

four students sitting at each section. Each student will have their own job at their desk.

One group may be the team captain, communicator or secretary. Each six weeks the

roles will be switched around. The team captain will oversee their group. The

communicator may speak for the group or ask questions. The secretary will be

responsible for reminding the students to turn their work in on time. The students will

learn to work together and create team leadership skills. I will place motivational and

inspirational quotes made by the students on the walls in my classroom. There will be

different learning activities, rules, students’ artwork, posters and calendars placed

throughout my classroom. The learning activities will relate religion, different genders,

and races to help create a more affirmative learning community. The chapter 9 case

study in Cushner’s book provided a great idea for religious artwork in the classroom. I

would like to create my own exhibit of each student’s place of worship or belief in my

classroom. I will model Cushner’s idea and make a map of the world and place each

student’s place of worship in the appropriate place on the map. If the student does not

have a place of worship I will have them draw a picture of what they believe or a place
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they feel safe. I can then place it appropriately on the geography map. It is a great way

to create a more unified classroom and introduce my students to different backgrounds. I

would also like my students to develop their own self-investigation map on poster-board.

I will place each student’s self-investigation map throughout my classroom. For fun, I

would like to make a clinic pass with all the different way’s to say “Bless You!” It would

be an interesting and fun clinic pass for the children to have on the way to the nurse. The

physical layout of the classroom is extremely important. It should make the student feel

comfortable and open their eyes to different ways of life.

Communication

The lines of communication will be open in my classroom. I will encourage my

students to voice their opinions, respectively. The students need to realize their opinions

matter. During my observation hours at Lakewood Elementary, the teachers encourage

their students to, “Use their words,” when speaking. I will use this as a guideline to

follow when my students are voicing their opinion.

“To understand language diversity in a comprehensive and positive way, we need

to re-conceptualize how we view it” (Nieto, 2001, p.81). The basis of communication is

recognizing it and viewing language diversity in a positive way. Language, Culture and

Teaching, is an excellent resource to increase communication in the classroom. The text

teaches you to view language barriers as a resource and not as a weakness. You need to

teach children the history of language discrimination and the crucial roles it has in the

classroom. Multicultural language understanding is an essential role that affects a

student’s academic achievement. It will be my responsibility, as a teacher to ensure the

lines of communication are open and actively facilitated in the classroom.

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Nonverbal communication should also be considered in the classroom. Students

“learn by doing,” and it will be important to teach them the affects of using nonverbal

communication. Eye contact, posture, expression, position, and gestures are forms of

nonverbal communication the student should learn to use appropriately. As a teacher, I

should be able to understand student’s nonverbal clues because it may signal something

is wrong with one of my students. Overall, nonverbal communication is just as important

as verbal communication and should be affectively utilized in the classroom.

Curriculum

A variety of learning activities is important to consider when developing a

student’s curriculum. There are also many opportunities and challenges that I will face as

a teacher. As a teacher, I will need to consider multiple intelligences, English language

learners, cooperative learning, and many other forms of learning styles. There are many

important ethical considerations to consider when developing curriculum for my students.

I will be sure to have a variety of learning activities for my students to practice. They

will learn about different social classes, a person’s physical attributes, and multicultural

experiences. 110 Experiences for Multicutural Learning is an excellent resource to use

as a guide to develop culturally related lesson plans. It offers a variety of lesson plans that

incorporate diversity into the classroom. It is for all grade levels and will be an excellent

tool for the classroom. It is important for me as a teacher to develop effective and

affirmative lesson plans to increase my student’s academic achievement. “The

challenges are great, and professors will have to develop new skills so that they can use

the exercises wisely. But the rewards of guiding students toward more effective

intercultural interactions will make these extra efforts a good investment of time, talents,
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and energy” (Pederson, 2004, p.xiii)

EDUC-5173 has given me many tools to incorporate diversity learning into my

classroom. For example, I will use my lesson plan that I developed in field activity 4. It

will be a fun holiday activity for my students. It will address issues of race, religion, and

heritage. They will get to choose their favorite holiday and research the history of it.

The main objective will be to improve their writing skills, research skills, and introduce

them to new cultures. They will also get to use their creative side, as well as improving

their presentation and organizational skills.

Assessment

Assessing a student’s progress is one of the most crucial aspects of teaching. I

will assess my student’s progress by utilizing the 5’C’s in Principles and Practices of

Multicultural Education. The 5’C’s will address issues of race, ethnicity, and education.

1. Commitment

 At the end of every six weeks I will measure my commitment and

my student’s commitment in the classroom. I will make sure

everyone is following their responsibilities and have consequences

for students who are not measuring up to their level of

commitment.

2. Co-responsibility

 This is shared responsibility between administrators, students, and

teachers. Co-responsibility will be assessed in faculty meetings

and my own personal opinion of the students in the classroom.

3. Communication
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 I will measure the communication in the classroom by having my

students conduct class one day. The second graders in my field

experience would call on each other in class and ask each other

questions related to the learning activity. The teacher was there as

a mediator, but was able to monitor the students’ communication.

4. Cultural Understanding

 To check for cultural understanding in my classroom, I will give

pop quizzes to my students that include different culture and

diversity related issues.

5. Courage

 Above all, I will provide words of encouragement to my students.

I will have each student create a poster or picture of their own

words of encouragement. The artwork can be placed around the

classroom and viewed all year long.

I will also have review days to check my student’s cultural understanding. I may

provide students with a checklist of my grading criteria to ensure that my students

understand the criteria, I expect of them. Overall, my assessments will encourage my

students to appreciate different backgrounds and cultures. They will develop a better

understanding of their peers and learn about diversity. My lesson plans will broaden

students’ horizons and expand their knowledge. I will increase classroom

communication and provide fundamentals needed to succeed in society.

EDUC 5173 was an excellent class and informed me about many diversity related

issues. I have developed more learning tools to be a better educator, both personally and
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professionally. I have been able to develop a better understanding for a culturally

inclusive learning community. EDUC 5173 has helped me develop the physical

arrangement of my classroom, improve communication with my students, create a variety

of students’ curriculum, and has taught me how to assess my students. This class was a

positive experience and I will be able to incorporate diversity learning into my classroom

to improve my teaching methods.

References

Cushner, K. H., McClelland, A, & Safford, P. (2008). Human Diversity in Education:

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An

Integrative Approach. New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social

Sciences/Languages.

Grossman, H. (1994). Teaching in a Diverse Society. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Nieto, S. (2001). Language, Culture, and Teaching: Critical Perspectives for a New

Century (Volume in the Language, Culture, and Teaching Series). Mahwah, NJ:

Lawrence Erlbaum.

Pedersen, P. (2004). 110 Experiences for Multicultural Learning. Washington: American

Psychological Association (APA).

Powell, R. (2001). Straight Talk: Growing as Multicultural Educators. New York: Peter

Lang Publishing.

Ramsey, P. G. (1986). Teaching and Learning in a Diverse World: Multicu

Education for Young Children (Early childhood education series). New York:

Teachers' College Press.

(2006). Race, Ethnicity, and Education (Praeger Perspectives). Westport, CT: Praeger

Publishers.

(2006). Race, Ethnicity, and Education (Praeger Perspectives). Westport, CT: Praeger

Publishers.