The Diversity Case Study

After reading the case study in the beginning of chapter one, I realized that diversity is a major issue that promising and existing teachers must face in their day to day lives. In this particular case study it talks about a girl named Samantha who will be a first time teacher soon, but she is now enrolled in the diversity course. She begins the course by first thinking that she is well prepared for handling diversity because she feels that she has been exposed to it before, and has been able to manage the situation successfully. For example, she talks about the volleyball team that she is a part of. She goes on to explain that her volleyball team looks like the “United Nations” because of all the different types of people on her team. What Samantha later begins to realize is how much of a huge impact diversity causes when it comes to the teaching process. She begins to think about children with disabilities, people who speak differently than she does, or people who carry heavy accents which she is unfamiliar with and would most likely have a hard time understanding. Samantha also starts to evaluate her brother’s difficulties since he is already a teacher in the classroom. She realizes that her brother teaches in a school which isn’t too far from where is will soon be and that he has a lot of diversity in his classroom as well. I have had many experiences which I would say have somewhat helped me be prepared for diversity but I wouldn’t go as far as saying that these experiences alone have fully prepared me. As of now I work in an after school program at an elementary school. My groups of students all are very diverse. I have everything from students who are of different ethnicities, colors, and genders. I also have many students who are being raised in single family homes, and some who are even part of the foster care system. Some of the children are open about it and others aren’t, but the ones who are most affected I can see through their behaviors and how interested they are in school and learning. Being a teacher I know that I would be dealing with the same or if not very similar circumstances in the classroom, and being exposed to dealing and helping these children now, I feel it gives me a step forward in how I would approach these same issues in my classroom. I would try to group those who are least motivated with students who I see are progressing forward and are interested. Diversity is a large issue that comes along with teaching, but I think I can learn to deal with it.