Chapter 3 – Student Diversity

Ebert, E., & Culyer III, R. (2014). Student Diversity. In School: An introduction to

education. Belmont: Wadsworth.

What’s Your Style?

• Complete the ice breaker on pp. 55 - 56 in your text.

Culture, Ethnicity, and Race

• What is the difference between culture, ethnicity, and race?

• What is the difference between America as a “melting pot” and America as a “salad bowl”?

Stereotyping vs. Characteristics

• What are some of the characteristics of various racial and ethnic groups who comprise American students?

• How do we distinguish between stereotyping and understanding cultural characteristics?

• What are the implications for teachers when working with students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds?

Religion

Debate: Prayer should/should not be allowed in schools

Gender, Sex, and Stereotyping

• Gender – “social aspect of sexuality; behaviors that are considered masculine or feminine”

• Sex – “the biological distinctions of male or female”

Logic

• A child is injured in an accident and is rushed to the hospital. The doctor takes one look at the child and says: "I can't treat him, that's my son." The doctor is not the child's father. How do you explain this?

• Carol Gilligan found that “men value following rules and law, females value relationships and caring”

• Debate– Do these findings represent social effects on learning or biological distinctions?

Using Language

• Impact of poverty on language

• ESL, LEP, and ELL students

• Controversies surrounding English instruction to students for whom English is a 2nd language

Controversies

• Controversies surrounding English instruction to students for whom English is a 2nd language

– Teachers are responsible for providing a quality education to all their students

– All teachers are likely to have a student with limited English proficiency at some time

– NCLB requires all students perform at grade level by 2014

Issues

• Research suggests 5-8 years of a 2nd language are required before a student can use it effectively for academic purposes (3-5 years for oral proficiency, 4-7 academic proficiency –then they have to “catch up”)

• Pull out programs vs. bilingual programs

Motivation

• Think of a recent classroom experience in which all the students seem to be engaged. Brainstorm motivators you think the teacher used successfully.

• Think of a recent classroom experience in which some students appeared disenfranchised. What kept them from being engaged?

Motivation (cont.)• Go to the Vanderbilt link for motivating

students. Compare your list to the ideas presented here.

• What is a teacher’s responsibility for motivating his or her students?

• Look at CAMM Worldwide video

Expectations

• How do student expectations affect their performance?

Temperament

• How does a student’s emotional intelligence affect his or her performance?

Reading and Literacy

• 1900 -Sign a name 1930s -3 years of

school 1947 – fifth grade

1970 – ninth grade today – completion

of high school

Learning, Sensory, and Physical Diversity

Children with exceptionalities are

Exceptionalities

• Intelligence – may include children with cognitive problems or those with heightened ability

• Learning disabilities – may include children with learning disorders or those that have problems focusing on learning.

• Sensory and physical disabilities

• Children may or may not have overlapping conditions

What is Intelligence?

- An abstract concept

- One’s ability “to learn from experience and to adapt to the environment”

- Reflects one’s cognitive potential

Intelligence

• The Stanford-Binet test was standardized with the results being scored as intelligence-quotient (IQ)

• MA/CA x 100 = IQ

Intelligence

• Weschler – IQ is normally distributed over the general population

Multiple Intelligences

Quick Review

• It’s as simple as it is complicated. . .There are numerous ways in which students are diverse. We must consider each of those when we try to reach all of our students.