When someone thinks about "cultural diversity" in classrooms, they most likely think about lists of holidays, food differences, religious traditions, or even language. Although culture is about all of those things, it is much more than that. A person's culture is the way that they live, their experiences, the way that they learn, grow, and adapt. To get students
involved in the classroom, we need to
reach out to them in a way in which they are
comfortable. We must expand our efforts in ways that are not only culturally appropriate but
linguistically responsive as well. Asking children's parents to come in and share their culturally appropriate stories with the classroom is a great way to get a family involved in the classroom and it gives a little insight about their culture from their perspective.
This video is just a short little inspiration on why we need to celebrate diversity in the classroom
Having strategies in your classroom that are targeted for ELL students will help them adapt better and feel a sense of comfort in your class. Knowing what is going to happen every day will get children on the right track in the classroom. Not only will having a daily schedule or a daily routine in your class help ELL students, but all of the children in your class will benefit from it. Assigning classmates to work together as a "buddy" will give them a little extra push and support when children are struggling. Children who are paired with ELL students should have certain qualities that stand out among others, such as being friendly, knowledgeable, respectful, and eager to help others. Around your classroom your ELL students will benefit greatly if you have posters with different languages on them, such as "Spanish and English" posters. These posters will have a picture of an object or an action with the English word on top and the Spanish word written underneath. This could give the ELL student a sense of comfort and they may even have fun explaining to their peers what those words are and it could even spark an interest in a speaking in different languages for your other students as well. One activity that really jumped out to me when thinking about cultural diversity in the classroom is "A Bag of Artifacts". In this activity you engage in visual communication. Each child will bring in a paper bag filled with objects that they like from home. Each child then takes out the objects and explains what the objects are and why they are meaningful. This gives not only ELL students, but all children a special time to share their unique stories with the classroom.
If the everyone in the world were to have the ability to view life
through a child's point of view again, we would see a huge change in our
lifestyle. One of the best qualities about our little ones is that
color, cultural differences, and even language usually don’t phase
them. They don't see another person and immediately judge them for
being different. This being said, that doesn't mean that children don't
not notice the differences between themselves and another student, but
they don't usually let those differences affect their outlooks on them.
Teaching about different cultures at a young age will have a lasting
impression on children throughout their entire lives.
Great post Lauren! Diversity is definitely something that can occur in any classroom no matter where you teach and I love some of the ideas you included in your post to help become accustomed to it. I have previously taken EDEL 244, which is also about diversity and we talked about the same types of things you did in your blog post. Personally I love the idea of bringing in family members to talk about traditions or lifestyles and I also love the idea of allowing students to bring things in and share them! Not only do the ELL students learn about new things, but every student is learning something new in this situation. As teachers, what more can we want other than for every student to be learning in our classrooms? Another thing you mentioned was that usually diversity is thought of as differences in race, ethnicity, lifestyles or other aspects similar to these, but sometimes I think we forget that diversity can also pertain to previous knowledge. Depending on students' backgrounds and experiences, they might not have the same vocabulary levels as other students, or may not be able to make associations and interpretations when reading a story. It's important to remember these somewhat hidden diversities in our classrooms. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to address diversity in the classroom, you have so many great ideas about diversity in the classroom. Not only are you just addressing diversity but embracing it in a positive manner and helping students to view diversity in a positive light. By allowing the students to bring in stuff to the classroom to show other students parts of their traditions and life styles it makes them feel special and valued within the community. And I loved the part where you talked about viewing the world through a child's eyes, that is a very interesting thing to think about.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great post! You've got so many different ideas about bringing diversity to your classroom. I really likes the idea of inviting parents to visit the classroom and teach their childs classmates about their culture. That is such a great way for those students to feel special and to emphasize parental involvement. I also really liked your idea for giving ELL students a "buddy" who will give them help and support in the classroom. What a great wat for those students to make friends and not feel so secluded by always having to go ask the teacher for extra help!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! For starters, I really enjoyed your intro when you broke the stereotype of what cultural diversity is and gave other examples to broaden the readers horizons. The video was a great little touch to your blog entry and was like you said "inspirational". last semester I was in EDEL 244 which is a diversity course. We learned that even the most standard curriculum decides whose history is worthy of study, whose books are worthy of reading, which curriculum and text selections that include different voices and multiple ways of knowing, experiencing, and understanding life can help students to find and value their own voices, histories, and cultures.Like you said, "If the everyone in the world were to have the ability to view life through a child's point of view again, we would see a huge change in our lifestyle".
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