Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Accomodating Differences - Essay

Better Essays
1200 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Accomodating Differences - Essay
Running head: ACCOMMODATING DIFFERENCES

Accommodating Differences
Asia Jones
Grand Canyon University
Educational Psychology
EDU 313N
Janet Prouty
January 08, 2012

Accommodating Differences
As the student population in the United States continues to become more ethnically diverse, the education system is faced with challenges on how to provide equal education opportunities and academic success for all students. Today’s teachers must possess knowledge on how to accommodate cultural diversity in the classroom. There are a number of factors that must be taken into consideration when being responsive to ethnic groups and their cultural values. Many ethnic groups have distinctive and similar values when dealing with teaching and learning. However there are ways to emerge diversity and curriculum into educational settings, while being respectful and aware (Ormord 2008). In order to effectively accommodate students, teachers should possess culturally responsive teaching combined with experience and cultural characteristics. This type of teaching method requires knowledge about all cultures, constructing learning communities, integrating cultural diversity into curriculum and using multicultural instruction strategies ( Gollnick & Chin 2009). This can be achieved by performing in depth cultural analyses of textbooks and multicultural literature because there are many contributions that have been made by various ethnic groups and teachers need to be aware of these accomplishments.
Another way to integrate cultural diversity into classrooms is through symbolic curriculum. A great way to introduce this method to students is by honoring all cultural holidays, in the form of posters, signs, banners or a decorated bulletin board or pot lucks. The advantage of doing this is so teachers can educate their students on the different cultural holidays and the meaning of its importance. Due to misleading information displayed by the media and music industries, teachers may have to clarify inaccurate portrayals of cultural groups.
Cultural scaffolding can be another way to accommodate students in a culturally diverse classroom. This can be paraphrased as using student’s cultures and experiences to increase awareness and improve academic success, while working in group settings learning about each other. Character education may also be a good route to take in order to accommodate differences in diversity. Implementing a character education program in schools can help educate students and teachers on ethnic cultures. This can include workshops, lesson plans, books, posters, videos, articles, workbooks, etc. These lessons can be integrated into curriculum and should be taught over the course of the school year ( Ormord 2008).
One of the most obvious issues in multicultural education has to do with dealing with stereotypes. Everyone can fall victim to believing stereotypes, including the staff in schools. Some common stereotypes are that Asians are really intelligent and African Americans are only talented in music and sports but are not as talented in academics, and Hispanics are under achievers. The book, Culturally Responsive Teaching for American Indian, African Americans, Hispanic Students, relays that, according to the self-fulfilling prophecy, if an educator believes the stereotypes, then they most likely will have lowered expectations of Hispanics and African Americans in the classroom, and high expectations of Asian Americans. This usually affects students’ performance in the classroom negatively, directly related to the expectations of the teachers. If an educator believes any negative stereotypes, they can directly influence a student’s academic course in a negative way. . These negative attitudes that some teachers carry can be considered a reason why there is such an increase of high school dropouts. There are so many teachers who often have a fear of teaching or building positive relationships with minority or under privilege students (Vang 2005). In this American society we have witness stereotypes being used to label students in the classroom by teachers who just have some underlying issues that need to be addressed. Teacher’s resistance and negative attitudes can affect the way students perform academically. Everybody should be entitled to the receiving the best education possible with their beliefs and cultural preferences respected.
The primary goal of multicultural education is to use positive methods to educate everyone about cultural diversity, so we all can acknowledge similarities between us and learn to accept them. As a future teacher, I am not too concerned about what subject to teach and strategies on how to teach it to students, but my primary concern is how to obtain ideas of how to teach cultural diversity and make it an active role in my classroom. I have come to realize that cultural diversity has a needed purpose in schools and accommodated in classrooms, and should be respected and involved on an everyday bases.
A great way to incorporate these methods into the classroom and educate students on diversity is to add multicultural ideas to lesson plan, activities and curriculum.

Lesson Plan
This lesson plan is designed for grades first through fourth grade and may be used to educate elementary school students on diversity and multicultural effects. The objective of this assignment is to give students a better understanding of cities, states, cultures, the languages they speak and the food they eat. This is a group assignment. Teachers should pick students from different cultural backgrounds for this activity.

Assignment:
1. Step one is to supply each child with a map of the world international or United (grades my vary selection). For first graders, the names of states should be filled in but for second and third grades it is optional.
2. Have students select a state, country or the teacher can select states pertaining to the diversity of individuals in the classroom (varies by grade level).
3. After selections have been made, each child is directed to investigate there state or country.
4. Each student is responsible for answering the three to five of the following questions.
A. What language do the people in this state speak?
B. What color is the flag that this state represents?
C. What type of food do the people in this state prefer?
D. What religion does this state prefer?
E. Which holiday is of importance to this state and why?
F. How is this state’s lifestyle similar or different from yours?
G. What is the state or country famous for?
5. After all information is collected, students should write a summary on what they found?
6. Students should search the internet for pictures or images correspond with the summary?
7. Decorate a poster board with pictures or images found and the summary detailing information provided?
8. Each group will present their completed project in front of the classroom?

References
Gollnick,D., & Chinn, P. (2009). Multicultural education in a pluralistic society (8th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill
Vang, C. (2005) Minority Students are far From Academic Success and Still at Risk in Public
Schools, Multicultural Education, 12 (4), 9-15. Retrieved on January 7th, 2012 from: http://ctserc.org/library/bibfiles/At-Risk
Pewewardy, C. Hammer, P (2003) Culturally Responsive Teaching for American Indian, African American, Asian American and Hispanic students, Eric Clearing-house on Rural Education and small schools, Charleston, WV.
Retrieved on January 7th, 2012 from: http://www.mendeley.com/research/culturally-responsive-teaching-american-indian-students-eric-digest/
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod ,2011, Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, Seventh Edition, by Pearson Education, Inc, retrieved on January 7th, 2012 from: My.gcu.edu./ebooks

References: Gollnick,D., & Chinn, P. (2009). Multicultural education in a pluralistic society (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Vang, C. (2005) Minority Students are far From Academic Success and Still at Risk in Public Schools, Multicultural Education, 12 (4), 9-15. Retrieved on January 7th, 2012 from: http://ctserc.org/library/bibfiles/At-Risk Pewewardy, C. Hammer, P (2003) Culturally Responsive Teaching for American Indian, African American, Asian American and Hispanic students, Eric Clearing-house on Rural Education and small schools, Charleston, WV. Retrieved on January 7th, 2012 from: http://www.mendeley.com/research/culturally-responsive-teaching-american-indian-students-eric-digest/ Jeanne Ellis Ormrod ,2011, Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, Seventh Edition, by Pearson Education, Inc, retrieved on January 7th, 2012 from: My.gcu.edu./ebooks

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Dreamkeepers Summary

    • 1280 Words
    • 6 Pages

    She profusely discusses culturally relevant teaching and demonstrates how this style of teaching does not rely on race, gender, or teaching style. The greatest indicator of culturally relevant teaching is the teacher’s effort and desire to work with and not around the distinctive strengths and weaknesses a child brings to the classroom. By reflecting on her own experiences, observations, and personal views while including empirical data, Ladson-Billings confers the idea of culturally relevant teaching and how it intrinsically relates to the teacher, classroom social interactions, literacy and mathematics teaching, and knowledge itself. She further examines the significance culturally relevant teaching holds for African American students in education and teacher education as a…

    • 1280 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Biracial Identity

    • 3026 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Clauss-Ehlers CS. Race and Ethnicity: Diversity Training for Classroom Teaching—A Manual for Students and Educators, First Edition. New York: Springer Science+ Business Media, Inc., 2006:51–65..…

    • 3026 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Every classroom will consist of students of different ethnicities creating a multicultural environment. Teachers must learn about the dominating ethnicities to better accommodate students’ needs and learning abilities.…

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Chamberlain, S. P. (2005). Issues of overrepresentation and educational equity for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Intervention in School and Clinic, 41, 110-113.…

    • 2023 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This paper is intended to explore and report upon the topics posited by Tyrone C. Howard in his book, Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in Americas Classrooms. Closely examining each and every chapter as they come and how the structure of this book gives a detailed framework and guidance system for novice and experienced teachers to take their pedagogical skills to more diverse and multicultural levels. Also, this paper will review a few lessons or projects that can be adapted and used within my personal educational institute in order to create and ameliorate a diverse community of learners. Quoting the author and his sources frequently provides a framework for understanding the context and rich content of a fairly complex notion that the author presented with panache and gravitas.…

    • 2965 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Multicultural Literature

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages

    By connecting children in different global regions we are now able to close the gaps between our cultures and societies. Children from America can now take part in global celebrations, which will broaden their minds, and open up their hearts to new and different cultures and concepts. Introducing children to multicultural experiences will “encourage children’s curiosity.” (Hagiwara, 1998) Children are capable of learning new things with little difficulty, if becoming culturally diverse became part of their everyday habits by the time that they entered college they would already be well round individual with a vast knowledge of the global society.…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Banks, J.A. (1995). Multicultural education: Historical, development, dimensions, and practice. In J.A. Banks and C.A. McGee-Banks (Eds.), Handbook of research on multicultural education (pp. 3-24). New York: MacMillan.…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Our country is becoming one of the most culturally diverse nations in the world. With its nicknames “The Melting Pot” and “The Salad Bowl”, the United States is a place where any culture can come, live, and be free. However, in the education system, culturally diverse students’ needs are not being met. Many teachers are not qualified to for the position of being a teacher in a multicultural school and they now have to be trained properly for such a position. Researchers are trying to find ways to make schools more accessible for their students while allowing the material to be significant for each student. Also, not only does the institutions need to change, but also the personality and the way that the teachers are instructing their students as well.…

    • 1661 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Garcia, E. E. (1991). The Education of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students: Effective Instructional Practices. UC Berkeley: Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence. Retrieved on October 24, 2010 from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2793n11s…

    • 1570 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    National Association for Gifted Children, (2008). Meeting the Needs of Gifted and Talented Minority Language Students. Retrieved December 1, 2012 from http://nagc.org/index.aspx?id=124…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Order to work effectively with student of different origins a teacher must be confident and comfortable with their own heritage. The teacher should familiarize themselves with their background. This will help when planning and creating your classroom Donna M. Gollnick and Philip C. Chinn…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It is important for educators to be able to identify challenges they may have when using different teaching strategies to ensure students are getting the appropriate education. Effective teaching strategies help students to learn. Since not all children learn in the same ways it is important to be flexible and willing to change a strategy so that it meets everyone’s needs. Some educators may be unsure of their ability to reach and teach culturally diverse children. Some may even express reservations about their ability to teach students that are from a culture that is different from their own (Chisholm, 1994).…

    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    References: Gollnick, D. M., & Chinn, P. C. (2006). multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society (7th ed.). : Pearson Education, Inc.…

    • 1220 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A diverse culture is a dramatic change in our society and will continue to impact the educational system. Teachers must be able to teach students who have different languages and ethnicities with culturally appropriate strategies. This requires that teachers not only know the subject matter they are teaching but know how to make it understandable to a multicultural group of students. Teachers should be sensitive to all ethnic groups and not have cultural bias when working with students and their…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The important of cultural diversity in Maryland is on the rise. Attending a school with a diverse student body can help prepare your child for citizenship in a multicultural democracy. As the United States become a more culturally and ethnically diverse nation, public schools are becoming more diverse, too. According to an article “Cultural Diversity” the article states that “The Census Bureau project that by the year 2100, the United States minority population will become the majority with non-Hispanic whites making up only 40% of the United States population” (Cultural Diversity, 2012.) There is no doubt that students will need to learn how to interact in a diverse environment. Jean Snell, is the clinical professor of teacher education at the University of Maryland, believes cultural diversity enhances the school experience. He states that “There is a richness that comes from students working side by side with others who are not of the same cookie-cutter mode” (Cultural Diversity, 2012.)…

    • 1004 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics