Diversity in Education Diversity Aspects Term Paper

251). This would show how well they observed, organized their thoughts and read (or were read to). "Overall, children from both middle-class and economically disadvantaged homes produced reasonably long narratives, but children from disorganized families did not.... Follow-up... showed that the first two groups did not differ from each other" (Peterson, p. 258). All the children were Caucasian, from English or Irish ethnic backgrounds, whose families had been in Newfoundland, Canada for generations, However, the children from disorganized home were distinctly disadvantaged in story-telling ability. All seemed to be much alike in intelligence; what made the difference was the kind of home life they had, whether middle class or economically disadvantaged, if their home life was disorganized and confusing, they experienced foster care, poor parenting skills and a disorganized family life, they were at a disadvantage in learning skills.

Students come to school from many different ethnic backgrounds. They speak different languages and are raised in different cultures. Teachers must learn to incorporate all the students in the environment with collaborative, cooperative activities to help all the students to read and write and learn the English language. The 1986 Task Force on Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English found that children learn many different ways, but a common factor is the teachers' interest in the student's experience. If teachers try to understand and accept second-language development, students can learn a second language (1986, para. 34).

The third article is about how students in community college are a diverse group. Teachers in community colleges must honor the variety of viewpoints that students bring with them to college, work with non-traditional learners and accommodate different learning styles and skill levels, create a safe place for students to share with each other in the classroom and in teams of other students, learn to appreciate the deep values that reside in various cultural upbringings and try to bring out the best in each individual (NSF, Module 1)

In the fourth article David Sadker looks at the "gender wars," or the traditional discrepancy between male and female in the classroom and how the emphasis on equality of women may have backfired in that boys are expected to be dominated by feminist teachers and teaching. Gender bias brings out the best and the worst in males and females, he claims, and lists the different ways in which boys and girls exceed (Sadker, p. 4). His ability to point out the differences in how males and females learn and develop their learning abilities is important to the teachers who must teach both girls and boys in school. Sadker encourages teachers to overcome gender stereotypes and bias and look at each student as an individual.

3) Three Instructional strategies to help diverse learners read might be to:

Provide specific times and places for silent reading by all students;

Having the teacher frequently read aloud, allowing students to hear the sounds and become familiar with the structures of written language;

Provide opportunities to write in English, as first- and second-language growth dramatically improves with reading and writing.

References

1986 Task Force on Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English. (1996). Expanding opportunities: academic success for culturally and linguistically diverse students. NCTE Guideline of the National Council of Teachers of English.

NSF. (2006). Getting results: creating a community of learners. National Science Foundation, a Professional Development Course for Community College Educators.

Peterson, Carole. (1994.) Narrative skills and social class. Canadian Journal of Education.…