What is Cultural Diversity?

How would you define cultural diversity?

How do you teach cultural diversity?

What are your assumptions?

• What are the different cultures in my school?

• What characteristics first come to mind when I think of each group?

• Where did these impressions come from?

• How do I treat people based on these impressions?

• Can I remember a time when someone made assumptions about me? How did it make me feel?

Where Do Biases Begin?

How we react to people from different backgrounds is influenced by many factors:

• Personal experiences

• What we hear about people

• Can I see myself sharing any values with them?

• How much power do I believe these people have in my society?

Avoid Biases in the Classroom

1. Address your class without bringing your personal opinions into the conversation

2. Avoid showing favoritism

3. Balance media from one viewpoint with that of another

4. Avoid favoritism based on gender, religion, and ethnic backgrounds

Teachers Establish a Respectful Environment for

a Diverse Population of Students

Element A

Teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive,

nurturing relationship

with caring adults.

Strategies to Add Diversity to Your Classroom

1. Diversify your classroom decorations2. Build cultural diversity into your lesson plans3. Come up with unique homework assignments4. Invite guest speakers5. Take your class on field trips6. Celebrate various cultural holidays in the

classroom

Element B

Teachers embrace diversity in the school community and in the world.

Diversity in the classroom

• Poverty 22% in the US

• Homelessness

• Foster care

• Military families

• Drug/Alcohol abuse

• Chronic Conditions

• Language barriers

• Religious barriers

• White

• African-American

• Hispanics

• Vietnamese

• Asian

• American Indian

• Other countries

Demographic Changes in NC

Hispanic, 2% Asian, 1%American Indian,

2%

White, 65%

Black, 30%

1994 - 1995

Hispanic13%

Asian3%

American Indian

1%

White53%

Black30%

2011 - 2012

Racial and Economic Diversity in North Carolina Schools

January 2013

Swain County

Race/Ethnicity of Teachers in NC

Teaching Strategies

• Lessons from PBS.orghttp://www.pbs.org/teachers/search/resources/?q=cultural+diversity&x=0&y=0

• Lessons from Diversity Council.orghttp://www.diversitycouncil.org/hsActivities.shtml

• Read, Write, Think - Cultural Diversityhttp://www.readwritethink.org/search/?sort_order=relevance&q=cultural+diversity&srchgo.x=15&srchgo.y=3&old_q=

• Dick Blick Art Supplies – Multicultural Lessonshttp://www.dickblick.com/multicultural/lessonplans/

• Teaching Diversity.org – Online Teacher Supporthttp://www.teachingdiversity.org.au/

Element C

Teachers treat students as individuals.

Strategies

• Talk to students as a person

• Listen to students with good eye contact

• Create personal learning plans

• Demonstrate respect through positive reinforcement

• Set rules and limits for personal conduct

Element D

Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs.

Define Special Needs Students

• Challenges with learning

• Communication challenges

• Emotional & behavioral disorders

• Physical disabilities

– Hearing, Visual

• Developmental disorders

• Intellectual giftedness

• Poverty

• Homelessness

• Foster care

• Military families

• Drug/Alcohol abuse

• Chronic Conditions

• Language barriers

• Religious barriers

Researched Based Strategies

• Behavioral models

– Focus on observable outcomes of learning

• Constructivist models

– Students are active participants in the process

• Ecological models

– Focuses on the interaction between learner and his/her environment

Element E

Teachers work collaboratively with the families and significant adults in the lives of their students.

Instructional Strategies to Add Diversity to Your

Classroom1. Consider students’ cultures and language

skills when developing instructional activities

2. Use advance and post organizers

3. Facilitate independence in thinking and action

4. Require mastery

Strategies for Teaching Culturally

Diverse Students1. Learn about your students cultural

backgrounds– Appreciate and accommodate the similarities

and differences

2. Give your students equal amounts of respect

3. Avoid making assumptions4. Be sensitive to the student’s home life

Strategies for Teaching Culturally

Diverse Students5. Use a wide variety of teaching strategies

6. Encourage students to respect and enjoy their diverse cultural heritage

7. Focus on the ways students learn and observe students to identify their task orientations

8. Teach students to match their behaviors to the setting