Teaching Diverse Students

This essay was written for my Educ 380: Diverse and Learner Ready Teaching course at Trinity. The essay itself is a contextual factors paper that I wrote about Amos Alonzo Stagg High School. It discusses the community, district, and school factors. It also includes classroom factors, student characteristics, and instructional complications that these factors may bring forth.

This essay shows that I am aware of and "understands the spectrum of student diversity" (1A) at Stagg High School. In addition, it shows understanding of "how teaching and student learning are influenced by development (physical, social and emotional, cognitive, linguistic), past experiences, talents, prior knowledge, economic circumstances and diversity within the community" (1C). Lastly, this essay "analyzes and uses student information to design instruction that meets the diverse needs of students and leads to ongoing growth and achievement" (1H). This essay shows evidence through the use of Illinois Report Card which allows me to understand the diverse characteristics and abilities of students inside the school and allow me to reflect on maximizing instruction for these students.

By writing this essay, I learned about the diverse set of students who attend Stagg high School. The information put forth is important to know as an educator as I am to create instructional opportunities to maximize instruction. By understanding the individuals in my classroom and knowing what resources are available, I can plan effective lessons that promote student success and flourishing in the classroom environment.

This book list was formed for my Engl 352: Children's Literature course at Trinity. This diverse book list was created focusing on building a classroom culture that guides students in learning how to be accepting of others, including their race, culture, and physical appearance. 

This diverse book list shows that I as the teacher, "understands the impact of linguistic and cultural diversity on learning and communication" (1E). I am able to incorporate diversity into the lesson plan by allowing students to choose a book from the diverse book list to open their perspective. Similarly, I am aware and "understands the spectrum of student diversity and the assets that each student brings to learning across the curriculum;" (1A) which highlights diversity in the texts we read in which students will be able to connect to. Lastly, it is important as the teacher to remind them that they are all unique and bring their own strengths which then guides and "facilitates a learning community in which individual differences are respected" (1K).  Using this diverse book list will allow students to better understand classroom culture and how important it is. 

By writing this diverse book list, I learned about the diversity in a set of books which helps establish a positive and welcoming classroom culture. Classroom culture allows students to look beyond age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or race. Instead, it allows me as an educator to build a classroom culture that is inclusive and welcoming of all.