"No two snowflakes are the same" this is equally equivalent to students and their learning. When asked in class today what is the first thing that comes to mind when you see the word "Diversity" not going to lie my first thought was "race" even though I know diversity is so much more than just that. Diversity is... race, gender, attitude, socioeconomic status, home support, physical/emotional, culture, religion, and the list goes on and on. Now knowing this information, think about how there are multiple methods of teaching styles and methods. As a teacher we have to be up to date on our students lives, students learning styles, how they differ from other students, and also aware of new teaching tools and research in order to best teach every child.
There are so many types of students and learning styles/diversity in every single class. In fact I find it very daunting because it is our job as a teacher to get our content into their head and also have them want to learn. Students are all motivated by different things and interested things. How do we motivate every student? How do we reach every student? Is it possible to reach every student? I don't expect every student or parent to like me. I know it isn't possible for every parent to agree with my methods and as for students, they don't want to be told what to do or corrected and I am sure that for some reason I will rub a student the wrong way even though that is not my intent.
In my observation hours that I have been putting is at an Elementary school, for a different class, it is easy to see diversity. These students all handle themselves differently and play differently and sometimes this causes issues with other students because some kids do not appreciate the way other students play and do not understand why they are acting in this way. Multiple occasions of tattle tailing take place and the teacher does a good job of correcting their behavior without insulting either student. Students also are on totally different athleticism levels and some can skip and some struggle to, but it doesn't matter because they are all having fun even when the teacher helps some students learn how to skip. The teacher uses different games that incorporate different styles of using the loco motor skills and the games don't always require a winner or a loser. This is a good idea because then students do not feel inferior and thus will enjoy P.E. and continue to participate and to learn.
Jenna,
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I am glad the diversity discussion was impactful to you! You are right - this is an area where you will continually work - and...yet...there are always new things to learn related to diversity. Again, what connections were you able to make to your future classroom? How did the class help you to visualize what it will be like to teach diverse students? What specific connections were you able to make to the NCTCS?
I also had the same initial thought about diversity and I think most people do, but there is a lot more to it. Each student is going to be different in their own way, but we as teachers have to figure a way out to reach their level. We can not expect them to come to the level of the rest of the students, the teacher has to be willing to come down to their level for the student to be successful. Each time we go to observe different classrooms you will see a different piece of diversity every time.
ReplyDeleteI like your snowflake reference! It would be a great example to use while teaching children about every person being different. Does it not seem very daunting that we, as the teacher, have to find our diverse groups of students activities or lessons to keep them all entertained?
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