EXC440: Teaching For Diversity by Sana Iqbal

Week 1: What does diversity for teaching actually mean?

sana_iqbal97 — 2018-07-25 03:19:25 UTC

If you had asked me four years ago what does diversity for teaching mean I would reply with "teaching different cultures". I had no knowledge what diversity teaching involved and the reason for this is because I had no experience in this field. Four years later at the end of my teaching degree I am giving another response to this question based on all the knowledge and experience I have acquired over the years. Diversity for teaching means breaking the barriers and celebrating the differences of the students in the environment. As teachers we often go into a classroom with pre-conceived thoughts and that plays a big impact in the way we teach. Diversity does not just cover culture as stated in my previous meaning but rather focuses on the different personalities of individuals, socio-economic status, race, religion etc. Bell and Adam (1997) state " diversity relates to differences among social groups such as ethnic heritage, class, age, gender sexuality, ability, religion, and nationality". All these factors relate to diversity teaching as it is these factors which contribute to making an equitable environment. During my rounds of placement, I can see how diversity teaching is implemented in the classroom such as teachers making sure the content is suitable for everyone and caters for everyone's needs. It is very easy to overlook all these factors and focus on the class as a whole but that is where teachers lose the students and are unable to make that secure relationship. With Australia being such a diverse country we should embrace and acknowledge different cultures in the school environment and as teachers it is our role to create a safe and secure environment for students to learn in.

references:
Adams, M, Bell, L, Goodman, D, Joshi, K, 1997,

Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, Routledge, <https://books.google.com.au/books?id=24lwCwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=teaching%20for%20diversity&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q=teaching%20for%20diversity&f=false

Week 3: Recognising 'diversity': Your own personal practice

sana_iqbal97 — 2018-07-25 03:32:24 UTC

In order to become a successful teacher it is important that you understand all the students in the classroom. As a pre-service teacher, I try to learn about all my students in the classroom, their likes, dislikes, hobbies etc because these all contribute to good classroom and creating class content. It is also important to see what teaching method the students prefer such as talking off slide, discussions group work as I want to get the students full attention. I want to create students that are accepting of everyone's opinion and valuing the different cultures present. It is quite difficult when you have a large number of students in the class as I have to make sure that every student feels welcomed not excluding any. Which is where the term inclusion comes from, involving all the students and meeting the needs of all the students. A school must be supportive of all the diverse students present in the school and therefore develop the curriculum and planners taking into account all the various factors which might impact on this. Loreman, Deppeler and Harvey (2001) state "inclusion works best with teachers who understand and demonstrate effective teaching and learning practises within a framework of collaboration and support from the school community". I believe it not about highlighting the diverse students in the classroom but rather it is to make the classroom in a way that these differences are not noticeable. Students that require extra support and assistance should not feel excluded from the classroom as since the whole class is doing the same work, they can explain the work to the student in a more simplified version. In one placement I took a year 10 class in which we were studying Macbeth and I had one student that had difficulty understanding the different English as he just newly moved to Australia. In order to make him understand I told him that he can google translate the words he does not understand into pashto which is his everyday language in order for the student to understand the words he was saying rather than just writing it down. Later on when I had to mark his work I realised he understood the words more well and created an excellent piece. I want to become that teacher that supports all my students and meets all their needs and in order to do that I need to establish a strong relationship with my students. I stand by the fact that teachers should be educated in this matter in understanding and valuing the diversity in the classroom as that is their responsibility as a teacher. Taking on the role of the teacher comes with a lot of pressure as many expectations are upon you, but I believe the only way to overcome this pressure is to not let anyone give you an excuse to complain. Teachers as well as students enter a classroom filled with pre-conceived notions which is absolutely normal, it comes naturally or learnt from your surrounding. I must learn to convert my thoughts into creating a new beginning when entering a classroom and free my mind from all previous thoughts as I cannot let anything get in the way when I teach my students.

Week 2: Privilege white society/ Vicki&Thanh reading (Thompson (2002)

sana_iqbal97 — 2018-07-25 03:32:34 UTC

Privilege, the superiority of one person or group over the remainder of people. In society we define those with privilege who have high status and wealth but that's our biased society, what about the school environment? The school policy advisory guide (2015) explicitly states
schools can:
"support a safe and inclusive school environment where the school community feels welcome, supported and physically and emotionally secure".
As a pre- service teacher attending numerous placements discrimination happens in the school environment, however not by the teacher but by the students. Let me explain, students coming from a high socio-economic background have the best branded laptop, access to tutors and better resources and yet in the same class we will see a student from a low socio-economic status holding a hand me down laptop and borrowed text books from the library. Similar situation in the Thompson (2002) reading of Vicki and Thanh, where Vicki comes from an educated background and aspires to become a vet with the support of both her parents. Thanh, born in a camp in Thailand to refugee parents who work day and night in a restaurant for him to attend school. Now if I compare the two, it is easy for me to say that Vicki will succeed in university but Thanh will not but what am I basing this on, their socio-economic status? Who's not to say that Thanh will become a heart surgeon and Vicki will end up living off her parents income. Schools have the ability to provide for those students who cannot afford proper resources so that they do not fall behind in class and are treated equally as the other students. Bishop & Gylnn, 1999;Gilbourn & Youdell,2000) state that "it is not the children who are disadvantaged but rather it is the school that does the disadvantaging". If the school makes some radical changes the educational outcome for the students could be evenly distributed. That is adopting different teaching methods and grouping of students can all play a part in creating an equitable environment. Students coming from a different background should be given further assistance in order to make sure the task is understood fully. Assessments should be made taken in mind the diverse students in the class and how they can approach this task. By treating all the students equally we can easily take the word privilege out of schools and concentrate on creating students succeeding in their future no matter what background they came from. We should remove this idea that students from a poor background will not be able to succeed academically Gale and Densmore (2002) state that "we believe every student has the ability to excel academically as there many forms of support which can be easily accessed by students from lower socio-econmic background". It is up to the individual and the effort they put towardss their studies which will create a strong future for themselves. Schools pride themselves as creators of equal opportunities for all students and it is time that they rise to that statement and start focusing on the issues of all the students rather than favouring selected students.

Reference:
Gale, T, Densmore, K, 2002, Student success and failure: as a matter of fact or just how they are portrayed?, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education , Vol. 30, Number 1 <https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/662917/viewContent/4087996/View>
School Policy and Advisory Guide, Victoria State Government, Education and training, <https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/management/Pages/humanrights.aspx>
Thompson (2002), Vicki & Thanh, Schooling the rustbelt kids, retrieved 28th July <https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/662917/viewContent/4087987/View>

Week 4: Taking on matters of ‘normal’ and ‘ability’: Why is it important to be conscious of what you believe counts as ‘normal’? How does this influence who can learn and what they can learn in your classroom?

sana_iqbal97 — 2018-08-08 03:49:10 UTC

What I define as normal may not be the case for others because we all have a different mindset and it is this mind set that effects our way of live. My grandpa was a principal in a school back in Fiji, now those days if a student did not hand in their homework, it would be a straight ruler to the hand. Obviously now that would be counted as abuse and jail ect but when ever he speaks about this he believes what he did was absolutely right as that was the only way to educate the kids. We now currently live in a generation where students don't need to come to school since everything can be accessed online and if homework is not handed in a small cross will be marked next to your name. I believe that the environment and the surrounding you grew up in have a heavy influence on the way you perceive things in life. If you ask me to describe a normal classroom I don't know how to put that in words, no class is perfect but no class is a havoc as well. I walk into the classroom with zero expectations because I want to see the students raw ability and be impressed by my students than expecting more of them. Teachers have to teach the content regardless of their thoughts to it, I remember on one placement I had a teacher who had strong opinions as to why we should not celebrate Australia Day but had to contain his emotions when teaching to the class as he did not want to create a negative image. Other students might have passionate feelings towards this occasion therefore as teachers we are restricted in our thinking as our teaching to the class cannot be biased in any way. Its the same case with all the factors such as race, gender, faith or culture, any thoughts I have on these issues must not influence me teaching the children in anyway as I want to create an equitable classroom where all students are treated equally. Every student is unique in their own way and I am not the person to judge a person based on their views as everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I want to get rid of the notion of a 'normal classroom' and instead create a welcoming classroom where we celebrate differences and embrace our faults. Students learn what I present to them and I could never alter any lesson due to the fact that I do not believe its right but yes if it does involve something my students would not be comfortable in Hart Et Al (2004) state "one central priority for teachers is to try increase the extent to which young people feel emotionally safe, comfortable about their participation in learning activities". Therefore I need to make sure that the content I provide to the students is something I believe will not affect the students in any way as the students are all my responsibility in the classroom.

Reference:

Hart Et Al (2004), Transforming the capacity to learn, retrieved 4th of July 2018 <https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/662917/viewContent/4088014/View>

Week 5: Thinking through the approach of this unit and preparing for a placement in teaching for diversity

sana_iqbal97 — 2018-08-15 11:55:00 UTC

In the reading presented by Mills (2008) he stresses the fact that we need to prepare pre-service teachers in advance in order to create successful diverse students. I believe that experience in the field is our only disadvantage as pre-service teachers as our exposure to the students is very limited and therefore we can only pick up on a few things but not fully comprehend it. Sogunr (2001) states that "though most teachers are

competent in their subject areas, they lack adequate knowledge, skills and attitudes that are necessary to successfully teach diverse student populations". I could not agree more with this because when I take a class, I tend to make sure everything is going as per my lesson plan but fail to see if every student is on the right level in understanding the content, because when I'm up there explaining I tend to assume that all the students have understood it before moving on. But the truth is I did not have a class like this where I was exposed to see that I have been blinded by getting my lessons to work well failing to see the diversity in the class. It really does play a big impact as to how you run the class or what changes you can make in the class based on what you have noticed about the students. I have seen many multi-cultural programs in the placements I have attended but that is the limit to what schools do in order to celebrate the diverse cultures in the school environment. As a pre-service teacher I would like to question the teachers in my upcoming placement as to how they make a successful diverse classroom in which all the students feel welcomed. As teachers it is our responsibility to make sure that every student feels wanted and welcomed and the only way to do that is by establishing a secure relationship with them. Creating learning sessions based on creating content which suits the needs of all the students and how discrimination is avoided in the classroom should be provided in schools for all teachers. Before taking this class I did not realise that there are many factors involved in creating a diverse culture and what is the appropriate way to deal with this, I am sure many teachers are still struggling with this aspect therefore it is important to conduct regular workshops where the teachers can express their thoughts and views and hear expert opinion as to how we as teachers could expand our learning in creating an equitable environment. The experiences I have gain during placement will strengthen my approach in dealing with cultural insensitivity as will the lessons and class discussions I have made during this class.

References:
_{Mills, C. (2008). Reproduction and transformation of inequalities in schooling: The transformative potential of the theoretical constructs of Bourdieu.}

_{British Journal of Sociology of Education}

_{retrieved 11th of August 2018 <}_{https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/662917/viewContent/4087972/View}_>

_{Sogunro, O.A. (2001). Toward multiculturalism: Implications of multicultural education for}

_{schools.Multicultural Perspectives,3 (3), 19–34.}

Virtual Backpack

sana_iqbal97 — 2018-08-20 11:23:05 UTC

What exactly do students bring with them to school? Apart from the obvious supplies, as teachers we need to uncover what they carry within them. As a pre-service teachers I come across many different schools and each have a different ambience about them which makes them so apart from each other, and it is the students that I notice the most. I see students who tend to keep to themselves and don’t open up to others and then I see the opposite students who have no problem in expressing their feelings. I realised that each student carries something with them to school which could be “responsibilities”,”racism”,”feelings of neglect” etc., all these factors contribute to the way the student acts in school and this is where our role of a teacher is to identify the root of the problem in order to create a happy environment for all the students. Keefe (2006) states that teachers and school administrators must also view situations from various perspectives and sensitise themselves to the cultural and social context that infuse every educational situation”. As teachers it is our responsibility to ensure each student feels comfortable and is not victim to bullying of any sort but there are some matters which I cannot comprehend from my students as they tend to keep these matters private and do not want any interference. Belonging is such a factor that only the student can help themselves in, exposing into the environment surrounding them and creating bonds within the school is not easy for all students. Keefe (2006) also goes on to state “the dominant culture welcomed students who were able to ‘fit’ into the able-bodied mainstream but did not see the need to support students who had different needs and to include students with a disability as a part of society”. These students with these type of needs come to school in order to feel acceptance from the school community which they are entitled to have but unfortunately I have come across such schools that tend to avoid such students or leave them to the support staff when it is our responsibility to treat these students the same way we treat all the students in the school. It is only when these changes occur that a student will be able to happily walk knowing that they are welcomed and accepted for the individuals they are.

Reference: Keefe, M, Carrington, S, 2006, Schools and Diversity: The inclusive society, Pearson Education, Australia, retrieved 7^th August 2018, file:///C:/Users/Sana/Downloads/Mary%20KEEFFE%20The%20Inclusive%20Society.pdf