Diversity, Inclusion and Cultural awareness for the classroom
Objective:
Diversity, Inclusion and Cultural awareness for the
classroom, reflections.
I have worked on raising awareness.
Outreach programs were more in the hands of the community
service coordinator in my school. Hence, I am left with “…infuses
cultural characteristics, perspectives, and experiences of ethnically and
racially diverse students into one’s teaching style to help a broader range of
students understand the content presented.” (Ruggs and Hebl, 2012, p.9)
Which one has been missing in my teaching?
Infusing of cultural characteristics, perspectives, and experiences of
ethnically and racially diverse students into one’s teaching style to help a
broader range of students understand the content presented has been completely
missing in my teaching.
Why?
Frankly, I have no idea! I guess I never thought of
it. I have worked with so many diverse students in my life and I have
differentiated the curriculum so much, that knowing that this can be done would
have helped me to differentiate it better. There was not much constraint. My
school gave a lot of freedom to be creative with curriculum. May be it is
because I was so enamoured by International Baccalaureate (IB) and its booklets
(Learner profile for IB students. (n.d.)) that I turned outside instead of
inside myself to get answers. I became a follower of IB instead of a practitioner
of my own wisdom.
How can this be
minimized?
This could have been minimized at 2 levels:
1. Internal: By working on one’s inner conditioning and developing non-judgmental
acceptance. (Bodhipaksha, 2007) This is the approach as practices by eastern
mystics. This is what leads to combat “…inability
of educators to understand students and be sensitive to and inclusive in
teaching styles and content”. (Ruggs and Hebl, 2012, p.1). It is found that
“…teachers, advisers, counselors, and other role models often have negative
perceptions or make negative comments about female
students’ abilities (versus male students’ abilities)”. (Ruggs and Hebl, 2012,
p.2). It is also found that practice of ‘mindfulness’ (Bodhipaksha, 2007) or
‘metta’ (Salzberg, 2018) or any other form of meditation helps one to be more
compassionate and less judgmental (Bodhipaksha, 2007).
2. External:
a. Learning tools of the curriculum
by way of strategies to implement it in the classroom. This is the gift of the
west that has worked on tools to deliver curriculum in a differentiated manner
(Teachings in Education, 2017) in the classrooms.
b.
Read
about the “…negative effects of exclusion and the
positive benefits of diversity, inclusion, and cultural awareness…”. (Ruggs and
Hebl, 2012, p.4).
c.
Attend
professional development sessions in order help learn about how to “create
and nurture diversity in classrooms…”. (Ruggs and Hebl, 2012, p.6).
d.
Teach in a “variety of
ways” (TEDx Talks, 2015) instead of being obsessed with learning styles.
Do I know better
now?
Of course, yes! I can do a lot.
Internal
1. Observe even more intensely every
concept that my mind holds by developing the mindfulness. (Bodhipaksha, 2007)
External
1. Have a Maths club in the school
and invite girls to join it by having strategies that appeal to both boys and
girls.
2. Generally, “…teachers interact and engage more often with male
students than they do with female students in the classroom.” (Ruggs and Hebl,
2012, p.2). Be aware of it and consciously interact with a sense of equality
with everyone irrespective of their difference. This is helped a great deal by
staying mindful.
3. During collaborative learning in class have always mixed
groups and rotate the groups in different lessons so even the diversity is
diverse!
4. In one’s lesson plans, research and bring names of
people who have great work in any field from different groups, both minority
and majority. For example, one can talk about female at stock exchange, pilot,
mathematician to name a few.
5. Help students with extra time whose families are
unable to support them, as “families make a
difference and often a great one” and an absence of family closeness is a
barrier in education. (Schunk, 2012, p.465). One of my colleagues used
to say about the students ‘all these students need is love’. She loved them and
they reciprocated by blossoming in her classes.
6. Organize scholarships or financial support for
students who are low socio-economic status to help them in overcoming the
barrier. (Schunk, 2012, p.465)
7. Electronic media can be more a hindrance and help.
Technology does not always help. (Kochar, n.d.). Hence be realistic and wise
about the use of it for the classroom and talking to parents about it for home
use.
8. Interactive discussions (Strangman, Hall and Meyer,
p.8.) with students in class about diversity and its effects on our lives.
Keeping the discussion open and allowing all views to come forward, one can
lead it to strategies to work in harmony in the class.
9. Be practical and do AAA (Adapt, Accommodate and
Adjust). (Stevechen, (n.d.)) In
one of my classes I had the following constellation:
A. Spoke Hindi alone.
B. Spoke Korean alone.
C. Spoke Korean and English.
D. Other – Spoke English and Hindi
To combat this, I created study buddies. A
and someone from D. B and C. I would teach in English, then wait for buddies to
translate and then I would move to the next task. If non-English-speaking
students had queries, they would ask, someone would translate for everyone into
English and then I would answer in English and then it would be translated for
them. Then and only then we would
proceed further. Slow but steady…!
10. “Connect” (Sen, 2018) with the
students and create a safe zone in the class through positive relationships.
Now that I have read about
“Stereotype threat occurs when
persons feel threatened in a particular domain for which a negative
stereotype is held about a group they belong to, resulting in
impaired performance” (Ruggs and Hebl, 2012, p.4) and its detrimental
effect on students, I am definitely more alert in all walks of my life and not
just in the classroom. I would, I hope, treat my maid, driver, rickshaw puller,
washerwoman and all the host of individuals in Indian society who work odd jobs
for others at very low income much
better. I have seen Indians respond better to people from western world. It
is not always because they are from the west and Indians are subservient. Often
it is because the western visitors or residents in India (some of them) treat
everyone of any work area with so much respect that they naturally respond with
positivity. I hope from now on I would be similarly more sensitive. It is
hard…for our conditioning is so strong as anyone else’s is, but I shall be
definitely 1% better. J
References
1. Bodhipaksha. (2007, February 17). Developing a
nonjudgmental attitude. Retrieved from https://www.wildmind.org/applied/daily-life/mindfulness-and-acceptance
2. Learner profile for IB students. (n.d.).
Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/benefits/learner-profile/
3. Kochar Monica. (n.d.). My failed class! Retrieved
from https://humanemaths.blogspot.com/2019/06/my-failed-class.html
4. Ruggs,
E. & Hebl, M. (2012). Literature overview: Diversity, inclusion, and cultural
awareness for classroom and outreach education. Retrieved from https://www.engr.psu.edu/awe/ARPAbstracts/DiversityInclusion/ARP_DiversityInclusionCulturalAwareness_Overview.pdf
5. Salzberg, Sharon. (2018, December 13). Why
Loving-Kindness Takes Time: Sharon Salzberg. Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/loving-kindness-takes-time-sharon-salzberg/
6.
Schunk, D. H. (2012). Learning
theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
7.
Sen, Shelja. (2018, March 1). Build emotionally safe communities for
children | Dr. Shelja Sen | Child Psychologist | TEDx Gateway. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUGmvuUDl1s
8.
Stevechen. (n.d.). What is the difference between accommodate and adapt
and adjust ? Retrieved from https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/2402022
9.
Strangman, N., Hall, T., &
Meyer, A. (2004). Background knowledge instruction and the implications for UDL
implementation. Retrieved from http://aem.cast.org/about/publications/2004/ncac-background-knowledge-udl.html
10. Teachings
in Education. (2017). Differentiated instruction: Why, how, and examples.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVvImZcnkw
11. TEDx
Talks (April 2015). Learning styles & the importance of critical
self-reflection. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=855Now8h5Rs
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