FOUNDATION OF SPECIAL AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Module No. and Understanding Diversity in the Classroom

Title
Module Hello everyone! I hope you’re feeling well. Are you ready to eat and digest
Overview our first lesson for this course? Be ready! Beginning is always the hardest yet
the rest will make you easiest.
In this module, you will be learning about understanding ones individual
differences, the figure of diversity in the classroom. It is a preparation of
handling students with different individual differences.
Modules  Express an understanding about diversity in the classroom and
Objectives and  Create examples of a situation based on learner diversity in a typical
Outcomes classroom.
Lessons in the Lesson 1: Diversity in the Classroom
module
Time Frame 1 Week
Introduction How’s your earning upon learning various relevant educational information? I
thought you gain a lot from the previous one. And now let’s continue earning
about lesson 1diversity in the classroom.
Activity
Task 1: Watch me!

Instructions: Watch the video in a given

linkhttps://www.ted.com/tedx. Then, answer the questions below that
based on the lesson presented.

1. What can you say about the person in the video?

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2. What if you’re in her/his place, would you do the same thing as
she/he does? Why?
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3. How you overcome your struggles in life?
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Task 2: Mind map

Instructions: Based on the video, jot down your idea or meaning of
the word below.

DIVERSITY

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 Task 3: Identification
Instructions: Encircle the words below that define diversity.

Discouragement Race
Discrimination Unlikeness gender
Sameness
Physical ability uniqueness various

Analysis How did you find the activity? Is it difficult or easy? Now I have a question
for you to discover more.

Instructions: Using the Venn Diagram, what isthe difference of a girl and
boy?
Boy Girl

Abstraction
READ, THINK AND UNDERSTAND

Understanding Diversity

Diversity
Simply means recognizing the group or the group of individual differences
that we see in our students (Eggen&Kauchack, 2010).
 Difference- no two individuals are exactly alike.

Diversity in the classroom–

It means looking at each student’s unique profile- his biological
challenges, his family patterns, and where he stands on the developmental
ladder (Greenspan &Weider, 1998). Obviously it is identified with race,
gender, age and other physical attributes. It also identified by some less
obvious characteristics like religious and/or spiritual beliefs and social
orientation.
What can teachers do to encourage, value, and promote
diversity?
 Take the time to learn about your students' background, interests,
and learning style.
 This will allow you to create an environment that is conducive to each
individual student.
 Allow time for the students to learn about each other and gain an
appreciation for the diversity they bring to the classroom.
 Remind them how boring it would be if we were all alike and there
were no differences among us to make each person unique.
 Teach students that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. When
working in teams encourage students to take advantage of the
strengths of the team members in order to produce the best possible
results.
 Bring in different people to the class as resources that students might
be able to connect with.

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  Search out people that are different from yourself and that might
share certain qualities with your students.
 Students need role models. Many times when they see they are
connected in some way to a person they will be more apt to listen
and learn from them.
 Never tolerate bullying, teasing, and other put-down behavior at any
time in the classroom.
 Implement a "zero tolerance" for anything that is disrespectful,
hurtful, or intolerant of diversity.

Learner Diversity in a typical Classroom

Culture

Socioeconomic Status
Gender

Learner
Diversity

Learning style Language

Figure 1. Sources of Learner Diversity in a Typical Classroom

Culture

Culture is an important consideration in understanding learner’s diversity.

Think about the clothes you wear, the music you like, the food you prefer.
These and your other family patterns are all part of your culture. When you
entered school, you brought with a set of habits and values learned from
home and neighbourhood. At times they complement or reinforce classroom
practices. Some children bring with them a resistance of culture. These are
the beliefs, values and behaviours that do not conform to the mainstream.
This type of culture can challenge the management skills of the teacher.

Child Adult interactionanother cultural dimension that influence

classroom diversity. Let us look at these two examples of request:
Statement 1: “Would you like to help clean the room?”
Statement 2:“Help me clean the room.”
The first statement is indirect and shows a reciprocal or
complementary interaction. You have a choice whether to help or not. On the
other hand, the second statement is a worded command and exerts
authority. You have no choice but to help. The type of child adult interaction
is an important consideration when the teacher desires to establish
compliance behaviours.

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 Gender

Gender difference is another important consideration in understanding

diversity. We identify roles expected of girls and boys. Thus, we frown when
boys play with dolls or when girls play rough games. We assign math and
science to the male domain and the languages to the females. These role
identities have resulted to stereotype threats, e.g. girls fear playing football
because they will be called “Tomboys” or boys fear to be seen alone in the
company of girls because they will be considered sissies.

Teachers may unintentionally reinforce gender stereotypes such as assigning

housekeeping tasks to girls and tool-using tasks to boys or give more
responsibilities to boys than girls (UNESCO, 2004). In these ways they may
be complete unaware that they treat boys and girls differently.

Language

Your dialect can also make you different from the rest. How different is your
speech intonation, pronunciation, and rhythm from your classmates? No
matter how hard you try to imitate a second language speaker, e.g. English,
there will always remain a trace of your mother tongue, the language you
grew up with. Language makes a Bisaya different from a Tagalog or an
Ilocano, or any other native.

Socioeconomic
status
Over time, socioeconomic status has been considered in relation to school
performance and behaviour. Differences in behaviour are attributed to the
extent of parents are involved in their child’s development, how basic needs
are met and the provision of stimulating and developmentally appropriate
experiences.

Learning
Style
Learning style are the preferences individuals demonstrate in the
ways in which they concentrate, process, internalise and retain academic
information. If we recognize the learning styles of our students, we are given
opportunities to recognize students and the differences in learning between
them. This recognition helps us create ways for them to become effective
learners.

Application Task 1. Show Me Your Examples!

In this activity, you will be graded by the rubrics below.

Instructions: In the diversity typical classroom, create one example of a
situation from each attribute based on your experience.

Culture

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 Gender

Language

Learning Style

Socioeconomic Status

Rubrics
Organization of words 25
Content 45
Originality 30
Total 100 points

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 Task 2. True or False

Instructions: Read and analyse each item. Write T if the

statement is True and F if the statement is False.

______________1. Condemning students in front of his/her classmates

boost their confidence.
_______________2. Dana considered his/her students uniqueness and
differences in her class.
_______________3. Teacher Bee is fond of selecting his favourite students
during class.

________________4. Teacher Exe said,” Bee and Cee are exactly alike.”
________________5. Leaners with special ability and gifted are considered
also as an attribute in learning diversity in the classroom.

Task 3. Reflect And Relate

Instructions: Express your thoughts by answering the questions
below.
1. How will you address the multiple differences of your students?
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2. As an educator, why you need to understand the concept of diversity?

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3. What can you conclude about the lesson presented?

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Closure Congratulations! You have accomplished the lesson 1 of your module.

Keep it up and continue earning!

Reference
Dañocup, O Briones (2010). Classroom Management: Preparing Education Teachers,
CA: Lorimar Publishing, Inc., 776 Aurora Blvd., cor. Boston Street, Cubao,
Quezon City, Metro Manila

https://www.ted.com/tedx

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