By
Dr. Paul A. Rodríguez

There is a shift in the ethnic composition of the United States

Everyone has basic needs.

As teachers we must recognize multiple views of intelligence and
differing learning styles.
Children of today are very much like children of yesterday or the children of
the future. There are stages of cognitive, social, emotional and physical
development that have been identified. Every culture has psychological
and physical needs that cut across all cultures and genders.

Gender issues affect the curriculum

Schools address the individual needs of students through multicultural,
bilingual, special education and gifted and talented programs

To be a successful teacher, you must be aware of many dimensions of
student diversity

Students in your classroom are very likely to come from a variety of
racial and ethnic backgrounds, representing many different cultures and
ways of looking at the world.

Some students you encounter may speak a primary language other than
English

Academic abilities, achievements and learning styles of students will also
vary.
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
Students in your classroom will develop at different rates and probably
will display diverse needs

Males and females are different, even when they come from the same
socioeconomic, racial or ethnic group. They are raised differently and
often society has different expectations of them. Treating boys and girls
equitably as individuals and not as gender stereotypes is a constant
challenge for both male and female teachers

Regardless of your own beliefs on the subject of homosexuality, if you are
going to teach in the public schools, you may very well teach gay and
lesbian students. As a teacher you will be challenged to establish and
maintain a safe and supportive classroom for all your students

Your students will also come from various socioeconomic backgrounds.
Students from high socioeconomic backgrounds generally do better than
those students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Diversity
The term race refers to people with common ancestry and physical
characteristics, whereas the term ethnicity applies to people who may be
racially similar or different, but also share a common culture, usually
including language, customs and religion.
Public school classrooms include an even higher percentage of minorities
than the population as whole. The national averages disguise the fact
that minority groups are unequally distributed across the country.
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Cultural Pluralism: Not There Yet

Melting pot—meant that immigrants were expected to give up their
language, religion, customs and all cultural beliefs. A stripping away of
everything in exchange of assimilating into the American dominate
culture.

Assimilation or enculturation—many Europeans immigrants were easily
assimilated into the dominant American culture, but, as described in
Acting White, people of color were often prevented from doing so.

Cultural pluralism or Salad Bowl, mosaic, tapestry—has replaced the
melting pot concept with an understanding and appreciation of the
cultural differences and languages among U.S. citizens. The goal is to
create a sense of society’s wholeness based on the unique strengths of
each of its parts. Cultural pluralism rejects both assimilation and
separatism, a philosophy that suggests each cultural group should
maintain its own identity without trying to fit into an overall American
culture. Instead, it seeks a healthy interaction among the diverse groups
in our society—that is, each subculture maintains its own individuality
while contributing to the society as a whole.

Cultural pluralism does not exist in the United States. Racial, ethnic and
cultural diversity do exist, equality among the various groups does not.
Unfortunately, U.S. schools have often failed to support cultural
pluralism. Traditionally, public schools have been run fro the benefit of
those in the dominant cultural group, thereby excluding minority groups
from receiving the full range of benefits.
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Folks know that parents have to parent, that children can’t achieve unless
we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate
the slander that says a Black youth with a book is acting White
President Barack Obama

Schools that embrace cultural pluralism seek to promote diversity and to
avoid the dominance of a single culture.

The goal for schools that aim for cultural pluralism is that no particular
cultural group either dominates or is excluded from those activities and
accomplishments that schools value
Multicultural Education

Multicultural education—is an idea, an educational reform movement,
and a process whose major goal is to change the structure of educational
institutions so that male and female students, exceptional students, and
cultural groups will have an equal chance to achieve academically in
school

Multi-uniculturalism—before an individual can begin to understand and
embrace the culture of others, they must begin with themselves. They
must reflect and embrace their own unique self and simultaneously
embrace globally the cultures of others to receive a greater
understanding of self and others.
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Different Approaches

Teaching the exceptional and culturally different—builds bridges between
the students’ backgrounds and the schools to make the curriculum more
“user friendly”

Human relations—builds positive relations among members of different
racial/cultural groups and between males and females

Single-group studies—focus on programs that examine particular groups

Multicultural approaches—promote cultural pluralism by reconstructing
the whole educational process around the perspectives of diverse racial,
ethnic, cultural and social classes

Multicultural social justice—teaches students to examine inequality and
oppression in society and to take action to remediate these inequalities
1.
What are the pros and cons of living in a culturally pluralistic society?
2.
In your opinion, is this preferable to a ‘melting pot’ or assimilationist
approach to diversity? Why or why not?
3.
Does the idea of multicultural education make sense to you? Why or why
not?
English Language Learners

more than 5 million LEP students, or English language learners, ELLs, are
enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools
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The Government Response

Lau vs. Nichols case, the U.S. Office of Civil Rights suggested guidelines
for school districts to follow, the so-called Lau Remedies. The guidelines
specified that “language minority students should be taught academics in
their primary home language until they could effectively benefit from
English language instruction”

Bilingual education programs—have been designed to help students reach
their goals of English proficiency

Immersion model—students learn everything in English.

Transitional model—provides intensive English-language instruction, but
students get some portion of their academic instruction in their native
language

Maintenance or developmental bilingual—education aims to preserve and
build on students’ native-language skills as they continue to acquire
English as a second language
No Child Left Behind and English Language Learners

Requires that ELL students be tested at least once a year, using the tests
chosen by each state. As might be expected, ELL students do not do as
well on the tests as native-English-speaking students
1.
How can you help prepare yourself for the diversity you are likely to
encounter in the classroom?
2.
What experiences with diversity will you bring to the classroom? How do
you think these experiences will help you as a teacher?
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Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner—states that people have at least eight distinct
intellectual capacities that they use to approach problems and create
products
1.
Verbal-linguistic intelligence—language skills
2.
Logical-mathematical intelligence—to understand principles of some kind
of causal system
3.
Spatial intelligence—the ability to represent the spatial world, like
sculptor or chess
4.
Bodily-kinesthetic—capacity to use your whole body or parts of your
body to solve a problem
5.
Musical intelligence—capacity to ‘think’ in music and to be able to hear
patterns and recognize, remember and manipulate them
6.
Interpersonal intelligence—ability to understand other people
7.
Intrapersonal intelligence—an understanding of yourself and knowing
your preferences, capabilities and deficiencies
8.
Naturalist intelligence—ability to discriminate among living things and to
have sensitivity toward features of the natural world, such as rock
formation and clouds
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Teaching Implications

Fostering individual abilities in a variety of areas is one way teachers can
help students. To address varied intelligences, helps to understand the
students
If students do not learn the way we teach, then let us teach the way they
learn
--Kenneth Dunn, Expert on Learning Styles
1.
Look at Howard Gardner’s list of intelligences, which are the strongest
intelligences? How do you know?
2.
Should teachers use and identify Gardner’s 8 intelligences to understand
their students? Why or why not?
3.
What are the general characteristics of your learning style?
4.
How will you account for various learning styles in your students?
Special Education
The term special education is often used as a designation for services
designed for students with disabilities

Differently abled—is the most current term used when working with
students with varying challenges

Individualized Education Program (IEP) outlines both long-range and
short-range goals for the child. Since that time, a number of federal
laws have reinforced and extended the commitment to special education
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
Least restrictive environment (LRE) meaning students with disabilities
should be educated with children without disabilities to the greatest
extent appropriate

Mainstreaming—used to describe the practice of placing special education
students in general education classes for at least part of the school day,
with additional services, programs or classes being provided to these
students as needed

Inclusion—means the commitment to educate each child, to the
maximum extent appropriate, the regular school and classroom

Full inclusion has been a civil rights issue

IDEA—Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

ADA (American Disabilities Act)—ensures the right of individuals with
disabilities to nondiscriminatory treatment in aspects of their lives other
than education

Assistive technology—refers to the array of devices and services that help
people with disabilities perform better in their daily lives. Congress
incorporated definitions of assistive technology into IDEA, declaring that
such technology must be provided whenever necessary as an element of
free and appropriate public education

The most important aspect of the IDEA is to avoid stereotypes of students
and individuals
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Gifted and Talented Students

The term gifted usually includes intellectual ability. The gifted child is
extremely bright, quickly grasping the ideas and concepts you are
teaching and making interpretations or extrapolations that you may not
even have considered

The term talented most often refers to an ability or skill that may not be
matched by the child’s more general abilities.

When their special needs are neglected, gifted and talented students
drop out of school at rates far exceeding the dropout rates for those not
identified as gifted. Many of the students fell unchallenged.

Minorities are underrepresented in gifted and talented programs.
Acceleration and Enrichment

Accelerated programs allow gifted students to learn at a pace
commensurate with their abilities, allowing them to progress to advanced
materials faster than their age norms or grade levels. Enrichment
activities provide gifted students with opportunities to go beyond the
regular curriculum in greater depth and breadth, to engage in
independent or collaborative inquiry that develops their problem-solving
abilities, research skills and creativity
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Teaching Implications
1.
Use the regular class as a forum for research, inquiry and projects that
are meaningful to all the students
2.
Encourage them to maintain confidence in their own ideas, even when
those ideas differ from the norm
3.
Allow students to work together in areas of high interest, such as social
action research projects
4.
Help students apply complex cognitive processes such as creative
thinking, critiques and pro and con analyses
5.
Expand your ideas concerning which instructional materials are
available. Investigate any technological resources that are available.
6.
Use differentiated instructional strategies
7.
Implement curriculum compacting—students who demonstrate mastery
in advance are allowed to accelerate through the material or pursue
enrichment activities while the unit is being taught to the rest of the
class
8.
Match students with mentors to help develop talent and engage students
in relevant and applied problem solving.
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Glasser’s Choice Theory

Believes that each of us is born with fundamental needs for survival, love
and belonging, power, freedom, and fun. Throughout our lives, our
motivations, actions and behaviors are attempts to satisfy these needs.
If we understand and identify these needs within ourselves, we can make
conscious choices about how best to meet them. The recognition of our
ability to make choices results in personal empowerment: we have
control over how we choose to react to external events and information.

Glasser believes that teachers should empower their students through the
use of choice theory—by combining the needs of students with classroom
assignments or activities. The more students are convinced that their
schoolwork satisfies their needs, the harder they will try and the better
the work they will produce.

Glasser’s theory of personal empowerment provides one interesting way
of viewing and identifying a wide variety of student needs. Other
approaches, such as Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, may
also be useful. The most important point is that teachers must be aware
of their students’ varying needs and respond accordingly in the
classroom.
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Adolescent Subcultures

Teenagers often satisfy their needs for belonging, power and fun by
forming cliques, or groups that share common characteristics and reflect
status among their peers

Each clique has attitudes, behaviors or dress characteristics that
distinguish it from all other cliques

Membership in teenage subcultures begins to form in the middles and
junior high schools, as cliques develop around particular interests such as
athletics, academics, student government, drugs and tastes in cars and
music
Gender Equity in the Classroom

Women have also suffered discrimination and denial of equal educational
opportunities; historically, women in our society have been denied
educational employment opportunities routinely extended to men.

Teachers must be alert to avoid unfairness in their treatment of either
girls or boys

Boys are encouraged to be independent, whereas girls often are expected
to conform to accepted norms

Males are more likely to dominate classroom discussions, whereas
females tend to sit quietly. Boys are more likely to call out, and when
they do, teachers are apt to accept the call-out and continue with the
class. When girls call out, a much less frequent occurrence, the
teacher’s typical response is to correct the inappropriate behavior.
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
Girls have closed the gap in terms of the number of courses taken in
mathematics and science, but gender differences remain in the kinds of
courses taken, with boys more often enrolling in advanced courses. Girls
are much less likely to enroll in computer science classes in high school
than are boys.
Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for
meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable
development and building good governance.
--Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General of the United Nations
Implications:

Have high expectations for all students

Examine instructional materials to be certain that sex role stereotyping
or bias does not occur

Examine and address, the frequency with which students are called on
and the kind of responses that they provide the students to ensure that
gender biases are not occurring

Encourage the use of computer technology in the classroom

Eliminate the assignment of sex-stereotyped tasks

Organize classes so that students don’t segregate themselves by sex

Model sex-equitable behavior
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Sexual orientation

Considerable evidence indicates that schools are often hostile
environments for young homosexuals

The hostility that gay and lesbian youth encounter in school is mirrored in
the larger society
Implications:

Establish classroom guidelines about name-calling

Address all name-calling immediately

Respect different points of view

Make no assumptions about students’ families or their sexual orientations

Be role models for how all students should be treated with respect and
dignity
1.
Do schools treat boys and girls equally? What examples can you cite to
support your response?
2.
Do you have beliefs or attitudes that would inhibit you from treating gay
or lesbian students fairly in your classroom? If so, what, if anything, do
you intend to do about it?

Rather than thinking of minority students as having a culture that is
valid—albeit different—from theirs, teachers sometimes think of these
students as deficient
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Implications:

Seek out experiences to broaden your understanding of societal and
cultural commonalities and differences

Spend time in communities whose residents differ from you in terms of
ethnicity, culture or language

Volunteer in schools that differ from those you attended

Learn about and appreciate the values and backgrounds of your students

Teach to your students’ strengths rather than making them feel incapable
or deficient

Provide a variety of educational experiences, and find ways for all
student to achieve recognition from you and their peers for being good at
something

Coordinate expertise and support with your students’ parents or
caregivers and other professional staff at the school so that students get
a consistent message

Schools’ traditionally emphasize the middle-class values such as
individual learning and competition may clash with the values
represented by their students cultures.

Teachers must respect the value systems in students’ home lives and help
them, in positive ways, to bridge the gap between the two worlds
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Key Terms

Acceleration

Assimilation

Assistive technology

Bilingual education

Choice theory

Cultural pluralism

Culturally responsive teaching

English language learners

Enrichment

Inclusion

Individualized education program

Individualized family services plan

Learning styles

Least restrictive environment

Limited English proficient

Mainstreaming

Multicultural education

Multiple intelligences

Special education

Multi-uniculturalism
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