Diversity+01

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Synthesis
Abstract

This article points out how teachers within school districts use basically the same methods when teaching regardless of the students in the classroom. Guild tells how this does not make sense since educators are aware of the multiple intelligences and that students all learn in different ways and at various speeds. The article highlighted the factors that have an impact on the way a student learns. These factors include socioeconomic status, gender, race, culture, and family background. A teacher should know both the students personal background as well as their learning style in order to reach the individual student. According to Guild, “A teacher who cares about and develops methodologies sensitive to the needs of the learners she works with will foster success” (20). A good teacher is a teacher who helps students reach his or her full potential. A student will not reach his/her potential if the teacher is not using methods that speak to the student's individual learning style. However, Guild does acknowledge the fact that uniformity does work to some extent, since most students are graduating, but this is not enough for some educators.

Reflection The general consensus from the reading was that everyone understands the importance of a culturally sensitive classroom. Guild repeated herself over and over with her focus on reaching kids by understanding their backgrounds. We all realize that race and ethnicity is becoming more and more varied and that classroom make up is ever changing. The class also seemed to be uniform in the understanding that they will have to provide and have ready a variety of strategies to uncover student needs. Several reflections indicated the anxiety of trying to reach each and every student with differing needs. Not only to teach to those needs but to do so that is culturally sensitive and understanding. An underlying question on everyone’s mind is the [|“How?”] question. It is generally understood the diversity, culture, ethnicity, race etc. all play a role in classrooms today. Teachers have to carry these challenges with them in to the classroom daily. The answer to the [|“how”] question is what everyone seems to be waiting for.

Anna Schools
Diversity, Learning Style and Culture Abstract/Reflection Through out history, schools have seemingly taught learners the same way, despite cultural, socioeconomic, and family background differences. If students are all different, why do we continue to try to teach the same way? As a learner and as a teacher, it makes me question the educational system altogether. I want to help all my students succeed; it doesn’t matter to me where they come from, who they are or what they do. Teachers are looking to change the strategies they use to allow each learner to reach their full potential in the classroom. “A teacher who cares about and develops methodologies sensitive to the needs of the learners she works with will foster succeed (p. 20)”, that is that kind of teacher I want to be. It is possible for all students to succeed if provided with a variety of learning styles. Teachers need to understand how to work together to develop the best way to help students succeed. My practicum teacher and the other third grade teachers got together every Wednesday morning to discuss students, learning styles and any problems. I got to sit in on a few of these meetings and found them extremely interesting. We do not know the “one best way to teach (p. 4)” and relying on each other makes the job easier. I liked being able to find out what works for other teachers, how they managed to figure out their students’ learning styles and what they did to help their students learn. I understand that I am going to need to approach my classroom with flexibility to be able to accommodate the different learning styles of my students.

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Lizzie
The “Diversity, Learning Style and Culture” article really expanded upon the idea of teaching not just, to all students, but for all students. This article develops the notion that there are many factors involved in a student’s learning. The battle between uniformity and diversity surround many types of students and their cultures. This leads us to the question of “what is good for the whole” and “what is good for the individual”. Taking learning styles and the vastly growing number of students with diverse cultural backgrounds we have to figure out what should stay the same in schools and what should be different. We revert back to the opposition between equality and equity. Students’ cognition, conceptualization, affect, and behavior are all factors in their learning styles. Thus, in order to better understand our students and the way they learn we must understand them, their culture, and their cultural and personal connection to learning. Teachers must now put their personal culture and learning style aside to teach and reach the larger number of diverse cultures and learning styles in the classroom. Taking into consideration the culture, learning styles, and achievement can help teachers to identify a student’s individual as well as social path to take on learning.

I now feel my position as a teacher needs to be transformed and molded into, not just a job but a lifestyle, a person that not only has to but wants to know their students inside and out. It is not enough anymore to know the various learning styles and understand them. As teachers we must leave our own style behind and become unbiased to cultures and other learning styles. I feel that I need to make a better effort to transform my classroom into an open space for those who don’t have one, a place for those who don’t yet realize what they are capable of but I can show them. I think I have a lot of learning and growing to do along with my students. At the root of this opposition between how to serve all cultures, learning styles, students and even myself as a teacher, is the idea that all have the ability to achieve and succeed. However, they just need my reassurance and guidance that I will be and I want to be the one to help make it happen.

Filbert
Abstract This article discusses the varies ways students learn and the varies ways teachers teach. Guild suggests that teachers must be most concerned with students' individual cultural background and specific and/or multiple learning styles, insisting that just knowing your students' learning style is not enough. Four styles are discussed in depth–cognition, conceptualization, affect and behavior. Public school systems seemed to have mainstreamed all learning types into a program that puts most students at a disadvantage. Students with non-Caucasian heritages are the most at risk in a mainstreamed instructional plan. The idea of nature vs. nurture is briefly talked about.

Reflection After reading this article, and the chapter on Diversity from our textbook, I'm //almost// convinced that culture has such a large impact on education. I think that this article did a really crappy job of defining what a student's culture really is. Guild was mainly focused on race and ethnicity, which is only a small part of one's culture. I would love to get to know my students in a more meaningful way; I'm tired of the run-of-the-mill "getting to know you" index card. I think the best (and easiest) way to incorporate this in the classroom would be student-led lessons. They know their culture more than I do, they should be the teacher. In theory it sounds wonderful, but the reality is a bit more unrealistic.

**Marcy Cooper**
This article was basically about the disparity between the literature and knowledge that educators read and possess about the way students learn and the reality that is seen in the classroom. There are books and books that flood the market and line the home libraries of educators and administrators across the country and yet an observer would be hard pressed to find much difference between the classroom of 50 years ago and today. It is not because the teachers are indifferent to the needs of the students, lazy, or ineffectual. There is a choice and a compromise that has to be made between diversity and uniformity. Diversity is a well known fact; every student is different and learns differently. No one would argue with that. However, the problem stems from the need for uniformity and organization necessary in a system expected to educate the entirety of America’s youth. This system is for the most part effective. The majority graduate and can meet the demands of life. Most educators do believe that the majority isn’t enough though. This article suggests how that diversity can be used to help rather that separate the student from majority.

I thought two interesting points the article made were about information gather and use about cultures and how students deal with their surroundings as an individual. Implementing knowledge gained by studying other cultures can be tricky. Just because a majority of people believe a certain way that does not mean that the entirety of that group of people believes that. That would be stereotyping, which is dangerous and hurtful. An educator not only has to have the back ground knowledge that this is a widely held belief by a particular set of people but in that set of people there are individuals that are different and the educator can not lose sight of that. The other interesting point that the article made was that a student will succeed when the student’s internal beliefs about themselves and their world, match up with the culture and beliefs of their parents, and both of these match up with the culture and beliefs held by the school and subsequently mainstream America. Students struggle when the three areas are not in align. A few examples might be the culture of the home and that of the school is in direct conflict, or if the student’s internal beliefs or personality are not mainstream, or any combination of the three. Teachers could and should be sensitive to this in order to ease the conflict and friction of the situation for the student.

John Thomas
In this enlightening, yet poorly balanced article, Guild d efines some of the more subtle nuances in differentiated learning. Guild points out some of the flaws in the widely-accepted schools of thought concerning differentiated instruction and expands on the theory of multiple intelligences, putting particular emphasis on the idea that there are many types of learners within their own overarching learning styles categories. Guild is also persistent in explaining that teachers should strive towards diversity in their instruction, keeping it from being solely based on a surface disparity in learning styles and taking into account the instruction's effectiveness: “To provide an equal opportunity for all students to be successful in school, educators must first develop a deep understanding of individual differences in learning.” Guild examines problem areas with recognizing learning styles in students such as cultural background, race, and the influence of a student's innate personality on learning. Differences in cultural and racial influence on groups of students are also addressed, and Guild cites a number of studies that show learning styles apply loosely to certain racial and cultural groups, but the learning styles of these groups also depend on individual learning characteristics. The author continues to ask versions of the same question throughout the bulk of the article: “How should we accommodate differences in learning styles?” The answer almost always involves an emphasis on raising awareness of learning styles and differentiated instruction, and ultimately, “...improved instructional methodologies and practices for certain students will result in improved instruction for all.”

Guild does a good job of raising important questions concerning multiple intelligences. It seems to me that educators love to speculate all kinds of instruction based on the surface features of many of Gardner's categories, but it almost always ends up being a method for educators to flex their lesson-planning muscles. Guild makes sure to emphasize how easy it is to create instruction that will ultimately make things worse. Citing a number of concerned researchers who make this argument, Guild makes a good point when she encourages educators to be more selective in their differentiated planning—taking all factors into account before doling out instruction for broad learning styles, factors such as culture, race, personality, and subtler characteristics of researched learning styles categories. Guild's cases for the differences in learning styles across cultures and race were a convoluted mess, however, and the second half of the article becomes hopelessly redundant. She ends up asking the same questions time and again, always circulating back to the all-encompassing answer that educators just need to be more aware of learning styles. The article's flaws become more glaring and frequent—i.e.: the personal bias-laced freudian slip “Many reports contend that African Americans or Hispanic Americans or girls learn in certain common ways.” and the vague, possible translation-error "Many of these instruments are self-report." The article's disjointedness eventually works against Guild's otherwise intriguing areas of focus.

Cara Brouse
Over the summer I have been internally debating whether or not to have the students in all of my classes fill out learning inventories. This seemed like a good way of getting to know the students a little more as well as what kind of learners are in each classroom. After reading this article I have decided that I will ask every student of mine to fill out one or more learning inventory. There might be a classroom with mostly students who would benefit the most from project based assessment while another class is primarily test takers. I would like to get to know all of my students in one way or another so that I can do my best to find out how I can help each individual reach their potential in the classroom. The only way to do this is by getting to know the students.

I understand that it is extremely important to use a variety of methods and approaches when teaching. In the article, Guild says that “using the best of a variety of approaches benefits many learners.” Some teaching methods are not going to work for certain groups, but they make work great for others. Until a teacher knows their students it will take much trial and error to decide which styles and methods to use for each group of students. The Thomas Armstrong quote that was used really pleased me because I have always personally thought that children (and adults) are being over prescribed. If a child is being hyper or disruptive, adults in this day tend to think that medication will solve the problem. Kids have energy and some of them need to use it.

Rachel Lamblin
In this article, Pat Burke Guild identifies the contradiction of being aware that every student learns and thinks and does in his or her own unique way, and yet schools promote uniformity. The challenge is to have student achieve a “common mission” while supporting various learning and thinking styles. To create a valuable learning experience, teachers must have an understanding of every student’s style. Just as students have one or a few dominant learning styles, so do teachers tend to favor one type of teaching. Along with an awareness of how students learn, a teacher needs to be aware of how he or she tends to teach. This knowledge will provide “greater opportunities for success” for both students and teachers.

I learned last year that I am a very strong visual learner. I learn best by being able to see something in front of me, such as a diagram or picture. As a teacher, it is easy to try and teach in the same way that I learn. If I am aware and observant of my students’ strengths, I can then improve my own teaching strategies to meet the needs of my students. I look back on my own experience in elementary and high school and see signs of uniformity. No teacher ever made it evident that he or she had noticed my learning strengths. Instead, everyone was given the same assignment with the same parameters. If I didn’t do as well as my straight A classmates, I assumed I just wasn’t as smart. I have always noticed that I learn well when I can see something in front of me, but I never thought much about how we all learn differently. I believe that when a teacher cares enough to try to reach every student by using the various teaching and learning styles, it shows that the teacher cares about the student and wants that student to learn and to succeed.

**Kimberly Hudson**
In most public schools, teaching leans more towards uniformity than diversity. In order for education to be successful teachers and schools need to find a balance between these two concepts. Often different cultures clash with the culture that is emphasized in schools. Also students who are diagnosed with ADHD may not be because they actually have the disorder but because they are not in tune with the way the teacher is teaching or stresses from life outside school. Cognition consists of two different stages, perception and the gaining of knowledge. This knowledge is then used differently by different people and how this affects the person is also extremely individualized. Students who share cultural experiences may have similar ways of learning. A student’s way of learning is a combination of genetics and the environment in which they grew up. As educators we need to accept the fact that everyone learns in a different way. It is not new knowledge that people think and learn in different ways, however, it is overwhelming, as a teacher, to realistically teach to each student individually. I think that in order for my sanity that I will have to cross mix both diverse ways of teaching and uniformity by allowing the same concepts to be understood in many different ways. I remember as a student being restless when a teacher was boring me so in order to be a successful teacher I need to make sure that students are interested in what I am saying and how it can be relevant to their lives by understanding their culture and history. I realize too that some students cannot help the way that they learn and act. In order to be successful I have to adapt to them and find strategies that help them learn the key concepts that I am trying to teach.

Jason Allshouse
“Diversity, Learning Style and Culture” was an article by Pat Burke Guild which talked about the importance of recognizing that students learn in different ways. Every person has a unique way of thinking along with a unique learning style that dictates how he or she sees the world and how he or she reacts in that world. One thing that stood out in the piece was how Guild mentioned that teachers are well aware of learning difference, but it comes down to whether or not they will modify their lessons and classrooms to reach all students – in a nutshell, are teachers sincere about this or are just they talking about it and doing nothing about it. The other big part of the article talked about how teachers must take into account the diversity of their students (which includes: gender, religion, culture, ethnicity) along with taking into account their own diversity. Students with different cultural background will react differently than what you might be use to and you need to take that into account when you are a teacher. I thought that the article was very interesting, and I feel as though I have come into contact with a lot of these topics while out in the schools. I was an ed. tech this summer at an inner city elementary school in Portland; the same school that I graduated from. The school has quite the hodgepodge of students, but is now almost 70 percent black. In fact, we had no white students at all in summer school. The toughest thing to deal with, like the article mentions, is the difference in culture. Many of these students, who ranged from first to eight grade, were street-wise beyond their years but were still young kids – it was not uncommon for a seventh grade girl to have to take care of her four younger siblings on a daily basis while the parents were out. These kids were incredibly street smart and knew a lot about topics, mostly those not allowed in school, which they should not have known about at their ages. In today’s schools, that is very common and as a teacher you need to be able to accommodate for those students and find ways to reach them – that also means that you need to put aside some of your own culture beliefs and norms because chances are they will clash with the students and their beliefs. People learn and behave differently and we cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching or our students will continue to fall behind the rest of the world.

Kirsten Petroska
As I came to the end of this article I thought about the idea of whether or not it should be the schools conforming to its’ students or the other way around. I thought of packing a backpack full of clothes versus packing a suitcase. A backpack in structured in such a way that it may be expanded or contracted as needed for the items being put inside it. There is still a general design being put to use (as there could be a general design for a school’s curriculum), but it can be adjusted as needed, based on the contents. With a suitcase, on the other hand, you are forced to very tightly and uniformly pack your clothes—there is no room for expansion, and you may even be forced to leave a few articles of clothing out. That is what the general idea of this article is—who are you going to be as an educator, or how are you, as an administrator, going to run your classroom or school? Will classrooms be backpacks, stretching in and out around students’ needs, abilities, and cultural preferences? Or will they be suitcases, where students are shoved in, whether they really fit or not. Teachers and administrators need to be thorough in their knowledge of their students and not, as the article pointed out, simply pay “lip service” to the idea of diversity in the classroom. If one does not make the choice to have the school conform to the students, one cannot enjoy all the things one can pack into one’s backpack, because something will inevitably be left behind.

Margaux DePue
Though many educators understand that not all students learn the same way due to varying factors such as different backgrounds and styles of thinking, educators have difficulty integrating this knowledge into their practice. In order for educators to properly ensure student success, they must have a firm understanding of students’ individuality and have a commitment to finding the most effective teaching methods for these individuals. Though in the past people have claimed that sameness in teaching is efficient, it is not the best solution, as it can lead to a “holy grail” quest for the “best” way to teach- a dangerous concept that leads to poor self-esteem and labels among students. In order to prevent chaos in the classroom through a possible misunderstanding of the term “diversity,” educators should first decide what the ultimate goals and experiences should be for all students. From here, educators can examine the differences in learning styles among students, which are concerned with how students think, how students form ideas, how students feel and how students act. Since it is known that teachers also have vast cultural and cognitive differences, it is also known that the teaching styles of educators can determine how effectively students will learn. If educators teach for many learning styles as opposed to just one, then their students will have more success in the classroom.

Though the lack of specific solutions to the puzzle of diversifying teaching in the classroom concerned me, this article made me reflect on two main things. The first is the idea of double-consciousness in the classroom, or belonging to two cultures, such as that of the student’s home and that of the school. This is a term that was originally coined by W.E.B. DuBois when he wrote about the confusion many African Americans experience as they try to either assimilate to the “mainstream” culture or assert their own. It saddens me that so many students from many backgrounds, religions and cultures are still dealing with this serious dilemma in the classroom. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that students should never have to worry about conforming to the teaching styles of the classroom or the teacher and all students should be given opportunities for success regardless of their styles of learning. The other issue is that I feel that relying too much on information about a student’s culture is dangerous when determining their learning style, as this can lead to unintentionally profiling students and creating stereotypes in the classroom, a pitfall that even Guild falls into in his writing. Also, there are certain ways that students with different learning styles can learn from one another (such as through group projects and individual presentations) and still learn together, not as separate groups in a single class.

Kayla Coombs
The article “Diversity, Learning Style and Culture, written by Pat Burke Guild, discusses how each student is an individual learner with his or her own learning style, background, intelligences, talents and abilities, socioeconomic statues and culture. All of this will impact how each student will learn and perform within and outside of the classroom. Part of the teacher’s main responsibility in the classroom is to strive to understand each student and be able to engage him or her in a meaningful way. It is important for the teacher to acknowledge that everyone learns in a different way. The goal is for all students to be successful learners and for each learner to have equal opportunities in the classroom. The teacher must be willing to teach to each individual learner and learning style to ensure that each student is reached.

One thing this article touched upon that definitely had me try to put into perspective for what I would do in my own classroom is concerning student files. If I had access to student files I would question whether or not I should look at them because, as the article discussed, I wouldn’t want it to form the basis of what I expect each student to be as an individual and a learner. But, one must also consider that this information could be useful in the sense that it is providing the educational history of each learner that could save a teacher a good amount of time when getting to know the students and deciphering each student’s learning style. Another topic the article discussed is that usually there is not only one way to learn. When teaching English/language arts, I can already see potential in being able to teach content in different ways for the individual learners I will have in my classroom. I realize how important it is for me to teach in a variety of ways so as to ensure that all learners can benefit and succeed in the classes I teach. I want to be able to teach to the multiple intelligences and engage students in different ways of learning. I would like for students to be able to have their learning styles accommodated in my classroom, but also for each student to experience trying to adapt to learning in other ways as well.

Rachel Fritschy
This article definitely hit the nail on the head with some of the biggest problems amongst our schools today. In practicum here at UMF, we are taught many times over how important it is to create diverse lesson plans that can be used by many different types of learners. Sure that sounds easy to do on paper but once you actually get in the classroom is it really that easy? Can you teach what you want to teach while making sure that every child is accounted for? Those are some of the questions that I have about diversity in the classroom. In most cases, taking care of the masses comes before taking care of the individual but in a classroom, you won't succeed as a teacher if you do not accommodate all of your students' learning styles. I know that there are many different ways of learning and I know that I will try my absolute best to do everything in my power to accommodate all the different learning styles and intelligences amongst my students. Another point that this article emphasized was the differences among cultures that will arise in my classrooms. That is one thing that I love about my specific concentration (science) because there are many different perspectives on many different topics. For instance, the actual known origin of the solar system is not completely known and that would be something that I investigated in my classroom. Overall I thought this article was really great in that it definitely pointed out a serious issue that needs to eventually be resolved so that we can all become better teachers.

**Jason Malbon**
The reality of diverse classrooms is not something you cannot overemphasize. As an educator, I want to be able to take real, tangible steps to bring diversity into daily lessons. My goal is to be able to quickly adapt instruction to a wide variety of students with diverse backgrounds. To this day, classrooms across the country suffer from “sameness”. Although some uniformity is necessary, there is little balance between diversity and uniformity. This is inexcusable since there are volumes of data and theories indicating the benefits of diverse, varied instructional methods. Uncovering the learning styles of students will and understanding cultural background will serve many purposes. First, the more teachers learn about the cultural diversity of students, the more they can accurately meet student needs. Also, it is important to understand that each and every class will have different needs. Uncovering strengths and weaknesses is an ongoing process. Thinking beyond the superficial aspects of an intelligence style will lead to more meaningful instruction. The fallacy of focusing on remedial work for students struck me as very important. The phonics analogy provided a good case and point. If a student has trouble in a certain area of instruction, do not focus on and train in that weakness alone. Uncover the learning style of the student and allow them to showcase what they know and how they learn. Above all, uncovering cultural backgrounds, learning styles and being flexible with instruction will better serve students, teachers and families.


 * McKell Barnes**

Abstract: The article we read for assignment was called //Diversity, Learning Style, and Culture// and it was written by Pat Burke Guild. This article mainly talked about diversity in all aspects of students and learning in the classroom. Students are not only diverse racially, or economically, but also by different learning styles. We are all different by which we learn, think, behave, and conceptualize. In order to accommodate for these differences we must, as teachers, be willing to have diverse styles of teaching. Not every student is the same, thus teachers must not treat every student the same. This is the best way to maximize learning for every student. After reading this article, I began to reflect on the multiple things my education professors have preached over the past three years about diversity. This article did a good job of summing up what they’ve been saying in each and every education class. We, as teachers, need to be able to reach all students, and we must be able to do that in different ways. This is so because there is so much diversity in every classroom as the article spoke upon, that for every student to reach their full potential teachers must be willing be diverse themselves. This was a great article to re-enforce the ideas my education professors have instilled the past three years.

