Diversity
Diversity is one of the most important parts of a classroom. As a teacher, you should appreciate and embrace diversity. Everything a teacher does should be centered around the fact that no one is the same. Every student has their special gifts that they can bring to improve the classroom. Students should be taught to embrace the fact that their friends have some of the same qualities as them, but in some ways are totally different. I think it is also important as an educator to include the various backgrounds of children into everyday lessons. There is an added motivation for students when they learn about people that look like them, share the same traditions as them, etc. As a teacher I will maintain a positive learning environment, and encourage my students to embrace diversity as well.
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
In my Diversity of Learners and Settings course we spent the whole semester emphasizing the inportance of diversity. One asignment I completed in this class was a case study analysis on disability. The case studies we had to work through showed examples of poorly handled situations with diverse students. My case included a student with autism who does not react well to loud noises. The issue was the teacher deemed it "unfair" to warn the child of a false fire drill putting that student at risk. These situations seemed very easy to handle from my point of view, but this was useful to me as a future educator.
SCHOOLING AND CULTURAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Another assignment from my Diversity of Learners and Settings course was a Schooling and Cultural Biography. The purpose of this assignment was to dig through your life and interrogate certain situations you have been through. The whole point of the assignment was to understand the impact our personal identities have in our lives. During this assignment I was able to see instance where I was given priviliges that others weren't. In the same way, there were some things I was not priviliged enough to do. All of these privileges come from our personal identities which include the following: race, religion, social class, gender, etc.