Why diversity in the classroom matters. | COMPILED DISCUSSION POSTS

Discussion Forum Unit 1 Unit 1: Discussion Assignment Home  My courses  EDUC 5710 - AY2021-T2  12 November - 18 November  Discussion Forum Unit 1  Unit 1: Discussion Assignment Search forums Settings The cut-oà date for posting to this forum is reached so you can no longer post to it. Greetings, Colleagues, In the discussion forum, you are expected to participate often and engage in deep levels of discourse. Please post your initial response as early in the unit as possible and continue to participate throughout the unit. You are required to post an initial response to the question/issue presented in the Forum and then respond to at least 3 of your classmates’ initial posts. You should also respond to anyone who has responded to you. After reading the following article, post a response to the questions below in the Discussion forum: Matthiessen, C. (2018). Why diversity in the classroom matters. Retrieved from https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/why-diversity-in-classrooms-matters/ what surprised you the most? what suggestions would you oàer the school to improve the climate in its diverse classrooms? The video may also be viewed to enhance your response. Unit 1: Discussion Assignment by Jacqueline Lyew-Armstrong (Instructor) - Wednesday, 11 November 2020, 5:41 PM  / Discussion Forums will be peer-assessed using this rubric. Jacqui 153 words FOX 26 NEWS SPECIAL: DIVERSITY IN … Diversity encompasses the many diàerences present in human beings. (How to Bring Diversity in The Classroom, 2020). In a world that is becoming one global village, our schools are no longer a place where we have people of only one race, one skin colour or one faith. We need to teach our students how to understand and accept the diàerences that they might encounter while interacting with other students. - What surprised me the most? It is sad but I have to say that what I read and what I saw in the video did not surprise me. Being an international educator I have had such experiences in my class and in the school I work at. Very often this kind of problem arise when the students do not know about diàerences and are not taught to accept diàerences. Our curriculum very often is content based and schools do not worry about the dynamics on campus or what culturally diverse learners go through. Educators often expect students to learn what is being taught and are not concerned with the personal issues that adolescents have to deal with. Many international schools are international in name only and do not include the teaching of values like tolerance, acceptance and respect in their curriculum. - What suggestions would I oàer the school to improve the climate in its diverse classrooms? Re: Unit 1: Discussion Assignment by Marie Helene Espiegle - Thursday, 12 November 2020, 2:14 AM  / Educators are the ones that will be interacting more closely with the students. The Õrst thing that they need to do is learn about their students, get to know them, where they come from, what their culture is and make them feel accepted. Diversity must be included in the school's curriculum. Students need to be valued, to be given the opportunity to share their culture, their habits and their beliefs with others. In the IB programme, we have the concept of international mindedness that is an important part of the curriculum. Through various activities, discussions and reÖection students are led to think and reÖect about our commonalities and diàerences. Students who are not native to the language of instruction must be identiÕed and lessons and curriculum need to be tailored to allow them to access the content. Diàerentiation then becomes a must in today’s classroom. Personalized learning—learning that is connected to each individual’s development, background, interests, and experiences—provides an approach that broadly and equitably supports educators’ eàorts to empower learners as individuals. (Making Learning Personal for All, n.d.) One thing that I do in my classroom is teach the variation that a language may have. I show students videos of people speaking the same language so that they know there is no perfect way of speaking. Languages vary depending on regions in the same country or on what country you are from and that the most important thing about language is to communicate not make fun of anyone’s accent. Our programmes need to include material from diverse cultures and perspectives so that we are opening our students’ knowledge of the world. Including diverse learning material is a sure shot way to bring diversity into the four walls of a classroom. In a short space of time you can expose students to an unimaginable variety of diàerent things. (How to Bring Diversity in The Classroom, 2020) Our duty as educators is to make everyone feel valued, accepted and respected in our classrooms. This can be achieved in a literature class, by including authors from diverse origins in the programme. We need to empower our students and teach them to be citizens of the world. Students who learn about diàerent cultures during their education feel more comfortable and safe with these diàerences later in life. (The Importance of Diversity in the Classroom - School of Education, 2014) References: How to Bring Diversity in The Classroom. (2020). Excite Education. https://www.excite.com/education/blog/how-to-bring-diversity-in-the-classroom Making Learning Personal for All. (n.d.). http://digitalpromise.org/wpcontent/uploads/2016/09/lps-growing_diversity_FINAL-1.pdf The Importance of Diversity in the Classroom - School of Education. (2014). School of Education. https://drexel.edu/soe/resources/student-teaching/advice/importance-of-cultural-diversity-inclassroom/#:~:text=When%20working%20and%20learning%20with,in%20a%20diverse%20worki 691 words  / Hi Marie I loved reading your article from beginning to end. It is great to know that you have experienced diversity in your teaching that is why I really liked your suggestion to implement it eàectively. I agree with your point that being teachers, we should make our students feel valued and respected in the classroom. 56 words Re: Unit 1: Discussion Assignment by Parveen Vashisht - Friday, 13 November 2020, 5:17 PM Hi Marie, As I read your post, I have so many realization and I learned so many things about your suggestions and recommendation which are all equally beneÕcial. 28 words Re: Unit 1: Discussion Assignment by James Deogracias - Saturday, 14 November 2020, 4:10 AM Thanks for your post Marie. Like you, I wasn't surprised by anything in the article or video; people who are minorities are historically marginalized, segregated, criticized, bullied, or persecuted, and it still goes on today. In light of the Black Lives Matter movement and social enlightening taking place recently, my school has done well in taking steps this year to become more diverse and culturally aware. Also, like you, I am working to diversify the books and authors we use in class. You may Õnd the website from the Pima County Public Library (n.d.) useful in Õnding authors of interest. Check it out. References Pima County Public Library. (n.d.). 8 Lists of 100 African American Books by School Grades, K-8. https://www.library.pima.gov/blogs/post/8-lists-of-100-african-american-books-byschool-grade-k-1/ 130 words Re: Unit 1: Discussion Assignment by Jeà Klassen - Saturday, 14 November 2020, 1:01 PM  / Permalink Show parent Hi Jeà, thank you for your response. My school is also working on creating a more culturally diverse campus and it is so heartwarming to see things move Õnally. We are still struggling with getting the students to open up and talk about any act of discrimination though, guess it's a long road ahead. 54 words Permalink Show parent Re: Unit 1: Discussion Assignment by Marie Helene Espiegle - Tuesday, 17 November 2020, 9:58 PM Thank you for your post Marie. You have given some great suggestions on how to enhance diversity and inclusion in the classroom. I especially appreciate the fact that you mentioned how you facilitate learning to appreciate the diàerences rather than seeing them as obstacles. Language can be a barrier in so many diàerent ways, but when you show your students the beauty of diàerent accents, dialects, variation of words and pronuncation - this can truly show your students the variety and the beauty of the language. You have brought up an important aspect of equality versus equity, which is crucial in understanding diversity, diàerentiation and inclusion. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. 111 word