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Running head: DIVERSE CLASSROOM

Creating a Diverse Classroom


Charity Santiago
AED 204
February 16, 2014
Susan Thompson

DIVERSE CLASSROOM

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Creating a Diverse Classroom

Growing up in the small town of Sierra Vista, Arizona, gave me a unique perspective on
diversity. Sierra Vista is just thirty miles from the Mexico border, and a significant portion of the
towns population is Hispanic. Additionally, Sierra Vista neighbors the military base of Fort
Huachuca, Arizona, so a large number of residents are military-affiliated. Soldiers from all over
the country are sent to Fort Huachuca for training. Many of these soldiers come to Sierra Vista
after an overseas deployment, bringing with them spouses of different ethnicities. The jobs that
the Army post creates also establish major differences in socioeconomic classes. Employees of
the Department of Defense can earn close to double what an off-post employee would earn for
the same job. All of these factors combine to render Sierra Vista an ethnically,
socioeconomically, and culturally diverse city. In my position as an elementary school teacher
with the Sierra Vista Unified School District, creating a diverse classroom in which students can
embrace and celebrate their differences will be essential.
Currently I am privileged to teach at Imagine Early Learning Center (IELC), a preschool
that serves ages six weeks to five years. My class is the older threes, consisting of students
whose birthdays missed the September 1 cutoff date for school last year and will move into
IELCs pre-k program this fall. In my class, we have Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic,
Indian and Asian students. These students come from ethnically diverse families and celebrate a
variety of different holidays throughout the year. There is a broad range of socioeconomic
statuses within my classroom as well, as some students attend on scholarships for low-income
families while other students have highly educated parents who hold high-paying, influential
jobs within the community. Some students come from single-parent households while others are
growing up with a nuclear family. Two of my students show significant developmental delays.

DIVERSE CLASSROOM

One of these students attends a special needs program part-time to help address these issues, but
the other student has little parental support and is raised primarily by a teen sibling. For the
purpose of this project and because I feel my experience gives me particular insight into
diversity, I will use the same ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural differences that exist in my
current preschool classroom when planning for a diverse elementary school classroom.
The first step to creating a diverse classroom is to acknowledge that every person is
unique. A teacher cannot make assumptions about children based on age, gender, ethnicity,
culture or socioeconomic status. I will strive to keep my mind free of biases or assumptions as I
get to know my students. I will also be aware of my own identity as I interact with my students
(An approach for teaching diversity, 2005). My own experiences as a Caucasian female in a
blended family and interracial marriage with multi-ethnic adopted and step-children will not only
allow me to empathize with a number of my students, but also will have an effect on my
perception of students and their parents. I feel acknowledging my own identity is a personal but
crucial first step in establishing a diverse classroom.
While I strive to create an atmosphere of tolerance and honesty, I will be open about my
own identity and will encourage the students to discuss their differences in a respectful manner.
Silence will not resolve or celebrate differences, but communication will. Once my students can
acknowledge their differences, we will discuss their similarities and establish that even people
who are different share common traits. Gently pushing them to acknowledge their similarities to
each other should help my students make connections without fear or trepidation. This will also
discourage any potential racism and prejudice (Creating a multicultural classroom
environment, 2008). While acknowledging our differences and similarities, my goal will be to
create a safe and engaging environment for my students to express their opinions respectfully. A

DIVERSE CLASSROOM

climate of honest and open communication will help when we begin reflective discussions on
diversity-related readings and exercises (An approach for teaching diversity, 2005).
Some of our exercises will involve fun projects in which students can write or talk about
their personal identity, their home lives, and their culture. I plan on an ever-changing bulletin
board that acknowledges and celebrates the diversity within our classroom. We may have a
Learn to Eat! month in which we try foods from different cultures, including some of the
students personal favorites. On the bulletin board, we can post recipes and even hand-drawn
pictures of the foods we tried, including information about the foods cultural or geographic
origin. On our Families Come in all Shapes and Sizes! week, we will discuss the students
different family situations and what they like most about their families. For that week, our
bulletin board will be covered with different shapes: stars, squares, circles and octagons.
Students will draw pictures of their family members and glue the pictures inside the shapes,
which we will then post on the bulletin board in celebration of diverse families. I know from
firsthand experience that there are children in my preschool classroom who would jump at the
chance to talk about their blended families.
I am most excited about the celebration of different holidays on our bulletin board. This
week, I came up with a concept for a bulletin board that was meant to embrace cultural diversity.
The board was split into four different sections for Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan and
Kwanzaa. What caught my attention after my sketch was finished was that the different sections
and separated holidays appeared to be reminiscent of the separate but equal laws that existed to
segregate whites and non-whites in the early twentieth century. After revisions, my bulletin board
integrated all students holidays into the same space- a bulletin board representation of the total
integration within my classroom.

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I feel privileged to have grown up in such a richly diverse town and to be witnessing that
same diversity now in my preschool classroom. I look forward to encouraging my students to
embrace diversity and tolerance while acknowledging the similarities that are present in every
one of us. I recently saw an Internet meme that showed two egg yolks in a bowl, with one brown
eggshell and one white eggshell discarded on the counter next to the bowl. Although I cant
remember the caption exactly, I will paraphrase: A teachable moment for children: on the
outside, we appear different, but on the inside, we are all the same. While our differences are
meant to be celebrated, I also believe that remembering our similarities will bring us closer.

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References

An approach for teaching diversity. (2005). University of Wisconsin Whitewater.


Retrieved from http://www.uww.edu/learn/diversity/dozensuggestions.php
Creating a multicultural classroom environment. (2008). Teacher Enrichment Training Solutions
Newsletter, 3(12).
Retrieved from https://www.cceionline.edu/newsletters/December_08.html

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