![\"Race,](\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3347\/2019\/08\/02125556\/Picture121-e1564750702973.png\")
Some of the many dimensions of student diversity as noted by the NEA (n.d. )[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhat does each of these mean to you?\u00a0 Where do you fit in each of these categories? What was your school like regarding diversity on these levels?\u00a0 Is anything missing?\r\n\r\nActivity (The Regents of the University of Michigan, 2016) www.crlt.umich.edu\/print\/355<\/a>\r\n\r\nYou might identify your own attitudes toward diversity by remembering certain pivotal moments in your life. Ask yourself the following questions:\r\n- \r\n \t
- Recall the incident in which you first became aware of differences. What was your reaction? Were you the focus of attention or were others? How did that affect how you reacted to the situation?<\/li>\r\n \t
- What are the \u201cmessages\u201d that you learned about various \u201cminorities\u201d or \u201cmajorities\u201d when you were a child? At home? In school? Have your views changed considerably since then? Why or why not?<\/li>\r\n \t
- Recall an experience in which your own difference put you in an uncomfortable position vis-\u00e0-vis the people directly around you. What was that difference? How did it affect you?<\/li>\r\n \t
- How do your memories of differences affect you today? How do they (or might they) affect your teaching?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_467\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3347\/2019\/08\/07145558\/Picture1-300x185.png\")
By Nick Youngson is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, Alpha Stock Images, http:\/\/alphastockimages.com\/[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAnother term we hear used a lot regarding today\u2019s classrooms is multicultural.\u00a0 When you think of the word culture, what comes to mind? The word means different things to different people.\u00a0 Culture is a very all-encompassing concept and includes the many things that combine to make one community or group different from another, such as their: values, clothing, religion, holidays, traditions, language, music, literature, beliefs and expectations (Alsubaie, 2015; Perso, 2012).\u00a0 If we look at culture that way, it is clear that everyone is coming from their own unique cultural experience, including students and teachers.\u00a0 The culture of the teacher and the students in one classroom will affect the education process found there (Alsubaie, 2015).\u00a0 \"Multiculturalism is a situation in which all the different cultural or racial groups in a society have equal rights and opportunities, and none is ignored or regarded as unimportant\" (Collins English Dictionary,2019). It is, therefore, very important to seek to understand both your own background and cultural beliefs and those of your students.\u00a0 As stated by Alsubaie (2015) \u201cteachers who learn more about their students\u2019 backgrounds, cultures and experiences will feel more capable and efficient in their work as teachers\u201d (p. 88). The more aware you become of your own personal set of beliefs, values and expectations, and even of your own biases, the better able you will be to seek to understand your future students.","rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3347\/2019\/08\/02125236\/1244936886_151fdc0748_o-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhen you envision your future classroom full of students, what does it look like?\u00a0 How does it sound?\u00a0 What do your students have in common?\u00a0 How do they differ?\u00a0 Reflecting on these questions is valuable.\u00a0 Hopefully, you will come to understand that you are not going to be teaching a class <\/em><\/strong>of students, as much as a collection of individuals, each with their own strengths, talents, weaknesses, personalities and needs.\u00a0 There are many ways in which your future students may differ.\u00a0 The following is a brief overview of some of the myriad factors that will make your students unique and, in some cases, challenging.<\/p>\n
As defined by the National Education Association (www.nea.org<\/a>, n.d.), diversity is \u201cthe sum of the ways that people are both alike and different\u201d (para. 1).\u00a0 The NEA goes on to list a variety of dimensions that are included in diversity.\u00a0 Some of these are: \u201crace, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, language, culture, religion, mental and physical ability, class and immigration status\u201d (para. 1, www.nea.org<\/a>, n.d.).\u00a0 It is such diversity that creates both richness and challenge within a classroom.\u00a0 The variety of students in one\u2019s classroom provide many opportunities for learning and growth for everyone in that community.\u00a0 Concurrently, such diversity brings with it many related challenges such as the need for differentiated learning techniques to meet the needs of every student.\u00a0 Individual perspectives relating to diversity can provide the fuel for bullying and harassment of students.\u00a0 And these are just two potential issues; there are many more.<\/p>\n
Reflect on the Following:<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/p>\nSome of the many dimensions of student diversity as noted by the NEA (n.d. )<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
What does each of these mean to you?\u00a0 Where do you fit in each of these categories? What was your school like regarding diversity on these levels?\u00a0 Is anything missing?<\/p>\n
Activity (The Regents of the University of Michigan, 2016) www.crlt.umich.edu\/print\/355<\/a><\/p>\n
You might identify your own attitudes toward diversity by remembering certain pivotal moments in your life. Ask yourself the following questions:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Recall the incident in which you first became aware of differences. What was your reaction? Were you the focus of attention or were others? How did that affect how you reacted to the situation?<\/li>\n
- What are the \u201cmessages\u201d that you learned about various \u201cminorities\u201d or \u201cmajorities\u201d when you were a child? At home? In school? Have your views changed considerably since then? Why or why not?<\/li>\n
- Recall an experience in which your own difference put you in an uncomfortable position vis-\u00e0-vis the people directly around you. What was that difference? How did it affect you?<\/li>\n
- How do your memories of differences affect you today? How do they (or might they) affect your teaching?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/p>\n
By Nick Youngson is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, Alpha Stock Images, http:\/\/alphastockimages.com\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Another term we hear used a lot regarding today\u2019s classrooms is multicultural.\u00a0 When you think of the word culture, what comes to mind? The word means different things to different people.\u00a0 Culture is a very all-encompassing concept and includes the many things that combine to make one community or group different from another, such as their: values, clothing, religion, holidays, traditions, language, music, literature, beliefs and expectations (Alsubaie, 2015; Perso, 2012).\u00a0 If we look at culture that way, it is clear that everyone is coming from their own unique cultural experience, including students and teachers.\u00a0 The culture of the teacher and the students in one classroom will affect the education process found there (Alsubaie, 2015).\u00a0 “Multiculturalism is a situation in which all the different cultural or racial groups in a society have equal rights and opportunities, and none is ignored or regarded as unimportant” (Collins English Dictionary,2019). It is, therefore, very important to seek to understand both your own background and cultural beliefs and those of your students.\u00a0 As stated by Alsubaie (2015) \u201cteachers who learn more about their students\u2019 backgrounds, cultures and experiences will feel more capable and efficient in their work as teachers\u201d (p. 88). The more aware you become of your own personal set of beliefs, values and expectations, and even of your own biases, the better able you will be to seek to understand your future students.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCC licensed content, Original<\/div>- Foundations of Education. Authored by<\/strong>: SUNY Oneonta Education Department. License<\/strong>: CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul>CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>
- Photo of Children. Authored by<\/strong>: Terry Dawson. Located at<\/strong>: https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/11561948@N00\/1244936886<\/a>. License<\/strong>: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":85404,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Photo of Children\",\"author\":\"Terry Dawson\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/11561948@N00\/1244936886\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Foundations of Education\",\"author\":\"SUNY Oneonta Education Department\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-393","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":389,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85404"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":587,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/393\/revisions\/587"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/389"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/393\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Foundations of Education. Authored by<\/strong>: SUNY Oneonta Education Department. License<\/strong>: CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul>