Support cultural diversity in the classroom

Teaching Culturally Diverse Students: Recommendations for Teachers

If you are currently serving as a teacher in the K-12 education system or preparing to become a teacher in the future, it’s important to learn how to promote a culture of diversity in your classroom. A few things you can do to embrace cultural diversity and equity in your classroom include:

Hold high expectations for all students and help all students learn. Cultural diversity does not require teachers to have diverse expectations. One must maintain same high expectations for all students (Krasnoff, 2016).
Implement varied instructional strategies. Students arrive at class with different background knowledge, so teachers need to use a variety of strategies to meet the needs of their learners. Being prepared to implement different instructional methods and strategies will help promote a successful diverse classroom (Western Governors University, 2020).
Emphasize cooperative learning in your classroom. Children who belong to different cultures will have a chance to learn in teams and work on projects in a collaborative setting (Krasnoff, 2016)
Foster critical thinking in your class discussions. Encourage learners to examine important topics from varied perspectives. This process allows students to not only respect, but also view others points of view, especially perspectives that represents the culturally diverse students in your classroom.
Welcome parent volunteers into your classroom. This will allow culturally diverse parents to see how you teach in your classroom, and their children will have a feeling that their parents are socially accepted in the school (Krasnoff, 2016) .
Celebrate Holidays and Events. Include information about a variety of holidays and celebrations in your curriculum.
Learn students’ names and pronounce them correctly. Recognize different names and meanings associated with these names. For example, Prakash means light that removes evil or force that can help us fighting evil.
Take your class into the community. Find opportunities to organize and participate in cultural events organized by community members. Include topics, such as interview members of the diverse communities, as this will encourage a sense of community in students (Dixeal University, n.d.).
Teach a culturally inclusive curriculum. In order to enhance multiculturalism in classroom, it is important to include inclusive curriculum in different subjects (Alismail, 2016). For example, in history and social studies subjects, teachers can incorporate lessons on how the Indian Removal Act affected Native Americans, what are some contributions made by immigrants, and the effect of slavery on the U.S. economy, and explains how enslaved African Americans were treated.
Modify teaching Strategies- Educators also need to modify their teaching in ways that facilitate the academic achievement of students from diverse racial, cultural, socioeconomic, and language groups. For example, instructors can provide individualized learning for the students who need extra help and they can also use team-based or project-based teaching approaches to enhance the academic achievement of students of color (Gorski, 1995).
Build Trustworthy Relationship - To gain a better understanding of the backgrounds of students, teachers must invest time and energy into developing trusting relationships with both students and their families" (Fuhrman, 2020). This will not only help educators to align their classroom instruction based on the needs of the individual students, it will also help students to feel safe and secure in the classroom which is more important than anything in order to enhance students' learning.

Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Guide to Evidence-Based Practices for Teaching All Students Equitably

A vast and growing body of literature suggests that teachers must be intentional about eliminating inequity and creating a culturally responsive classroom climate. As the population of diverse students continues to increase, teachers should acknowledge the changing demographics and pay attention to such issues to enhance learning and provide meaningful learning experiences to students. There is a plethora of evidence that demonstrates inability to engage diverse learners in the classroom poses obstacles in planning and teaching.

This article provides a wide range of practices—supported by research—that can help prepare educators to become more culturally responsive in their approach to teaching.

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How to embrace diversity in your classroom

The website Teachers Vision (created with the help of certified teachers) provide guideline and strategies for teachers so they can build a stronger teaching/learning relationship with their culturally diverse students.

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Strategies for Teaching Culturally Diverse StudentsA descriptive list of behaviors and strategies for teaching culturally diverse students.

Culturally Inclusive Curriculum

"The Curriculum serves as a mirror when it reflects individuals and their experiences back to themselves. At the same time, the curriculum serves as a window when it introduces and provides the opportunity to understand the experiences and perspectives of those who possess different identities. An inclusive curriculum should be balanced and include diverse windows and mirrors for every student" (Pennsylvania Department of Education, n.d.) . Some of the multicultural resources that teachers can include in their course and classroom are listed below:

Wall Posters and Pictures

Based on the diverse population of students in the classroom, teachers can hang posters and pictures depicting cultural groups and gender. Additionally, classroom signs can also be hung in several languages so that ELL students can easily follow the directions (Lynch, 2016). It is important to note that this approach can promote an environment in which students from diverse backgrounds feel more comfortable being themselves. Showing students photographs of people of different groups and communities also allows students to see people that look very different from themselves. This creates empathy for people who do not bear a resemblance with students. (Celebrating cultural diversity in the classroom,2021; The Importance of Diversity in the Classroom, n.d.). Teachers can also build word walls in which they can stick words in both English and each student's native language. This would allow students to learn about different languages in the classroom.

Photo by Hope McConnell

Multicultural Literature

Literature is usually part of every classroom routine, and for that reason, it is necessary that teachers are careful with the selection they make. Teachers can enhance diversity into their classroom by including books, articles, and infographic in the curriculum and classroom library that feature diverse characters (as much as possible). The inclusion of diverse books is a powerful tool as it enables students to gain a better understanding of both their own culture and understand how things are similar and different across cultures and ideologies. Additionally, by exposing students to a diverse range of literature, educators also promote students to be more open-minded later in life (Hammond, 2015).

Inclusive Lesson Plans and Classroom Activities

“A primary goal of culturally responsive education is to help all students become respectful of the multitudes of cultures and people that they'll interact with once they exit the educational setting (Lynch, 2012, p, 1)”. Therefore, in order to enhance multiculturalism in the classroom, it's very essential to write and implement lesson plans that includes variety of cultural views and contributions others have made to the field (Alismail, 2016) . For example, in the history and social studies subjects, teachers can incorporate lessons on how the Indian Removal Act affected Native Americans, what are some contributions made by immigrants, and the effect of slavery on the U.S. economy, and explains how enslaved Africans Americans were treated. In Geography, students can explore the demographic information of other countries. By incorporating awareness about social action and social justice issues, the fight for people’s rights, and immigrants, we can "help students develop positive attitudes toward different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups"(Banks, 2016, p 17).

(Language Lizard, 2017)

Games and activities

Including activities and games in classrooms is an effective way to promote students participation and encourage students to share their heritage. Games and activities offer a fun way for students to learn about differences and similarities among people and to introduce the concept of diversity. We can make a list of popular games and sports from various places and can introduce them to kids such as triangle games from Greece or Takraw from Thailand. We can also celebrate a sport event in the school during that time, we can explore about the sport of the various places.

Guest Speaker

Inviting guest speakers into the classroom who represent the student population and their interests can help students connect learning experiences to their communities. As guest speakers come into the classroom, they can also share their points of view and experience, which can enable students to have access to other professionals’ perspectives (Lynch, 2012). For example, in social studies if students are learning about the immigrants and their struggles, you can invite an immigrant guest speaker and he/she can share their story. Besides inviting guest speakers from diverse groups, you can also invite parents/guardians as guest speakers to share their experiences with the students or read books. As students see and hear from others perspectives, it helps them to develop empathy for others.

(Hunterdon County Democrat, n.d.)

Here are Titles/links to a few websites/blogs that have a collection of multicultural resources and lesson plans that teachers can use in order to make the curriculum more inclusive for all students.

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