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Diversity Reflection

Sara Zapalowski
Canisius College

Over the past few decades, the United States has had an
increase in the amount of immigrants and refugees coming into the
country. As a result, the American education system has had to learn
new techniques in order to educate and take care of these culturally
diverse learners. Since it is predicted that the amount of culturally
diverse learners is to increase and many languages can be represented
in one classroom, I, as a future teacher, must learn how to incorporate
and teach these learners so that they are successful in all aspects of
their lives.
Since every culturally diverse learner comes into the classroom
with his or her own fund of knowledge, teachers must build upon
what a student already knows and does in order to help them connect
with each of the students. Culturally diverse learners come into the
classroom with a set of skills, strategies, and strengths learned from
their families or groups, otherwise known as a fund of knowledge, in
order to allow for them to compete in this society academically and
socially. In order to connect with these students, teachers can utilize
and build upon these funds of knowledge for the culturally diverse
learners in a plethora of ways. Firstly, as suggested by Terry and Irving
(2010), teachers should learn of the students learning styles in order
to connect with and build upon their academic strengths. When a
teacher learns of a students learning style and teaches according to

this diversity, Terry and Irving state (2010):


Teachers will begin to learn more about the students in their
classrooms.

This understanding is critical for developing a

relationship with the student that is based on who the student is.
Students in our classrooms represent a

complex milieu of internal

differences and social experiences. By becoming

sensitive to the

diversity in learning represented among students, teachers

can

be more effective in generating positive educational outcomes for all


students. (119)
Therefore, by simply asking or figuring out through observation a
culturally diverse learners learning style, a teacher can begin to form
a positive connection with the learner. Furthermore, teachers can make
relationships with culturally diverse learners by learning about the
students interests; even more, the teacher can teach using these
interests, causing the student to understand that the teacher truly
cares about him or her. Lastly, the teacher can learn about the
students culture, home life, and strengths in order to connect with his
or her students. By sending home a survey to parents who can speak
English, by talking with a familys social worker, or by talking with and
communicating with the child, the teacher can find out what the
students life is like and what skills are the students strengths. Once
the teacher figures this out and teaches while incorporating the

students culture and skills, the teacher begins to connect with the
culturally diverse learner. Although some teachers may believe that it
is difficult to connect with their culturally diverse learner, there are
simple ways such as incorporating their strengths into lessons to begin
to make connections with the students.
Although culturally diverse learners may have difficulty in the
classroom due to lack of English language, teachers should not treat
culturally diverse learners much differently than other students; that is,
teachers should be invested in helping these students to succeed and
should treat them as compassionately and humanely as any other
student. According to Terry and Irving (2010), teachers commonly
lower expectations for culturally diverse learners and other minorities;
however, this is not good practice because low standards lead to low
achievement (114). Therefore, teachers should implement high
expectations for all of their students, including the culturally diverse
learners, in order to encourage the students to succeed academically.
When the teachers implement high expectations and give the students
the tools to succeed, the teacher is allowing for the culturally diverse
learner, like all other learners, to learn the necessary material. In
addition to keeping high learning expectations, teachers must also
treat the culturally diverse learners compassionately and humanely.
Many of the refugees and immigrants in this country come from
troubled territories; therefore, many of these children possibly have

seen and heard things that are traumatic. Since these students could
have endured traumatic experiences, the teacher should be
compassionate and understanding. Because of these events or from
cultural differences, the teacher should be understanding when these
students do not respond to situations according to our cultural norm.
Because these students need extra encouragement and compassion,
the teachers should create caring realtionships with these learners, just
like any other learners, so that the teacher can understand the
students background.
When beginning to work with a culturally diverse learners, a
teacher must be welcoming and kind and willing to teach. On the first
day that a culturally diverse learner is in the classroom, the teacher
must welcome the student, but to the students cultural norms. When I
volunteered at the ENERGY program, I worked with two students from
Burma who knew very little English. Therefore before meeting them, I
did some research on the country of Burma and learned to say hello in
their language. Due to the kind welcome, the students began to trust
me and came to me whenever they needed help. After meeting the
Burmese students, it came time for me to teach these students how to
speak English. Provided by the program, a teacher

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