Diversity of Learners and the Importance of Multicultural Education

Introduction

When you feel like you belong somewhere, your work ethic improves because you feel like it’s your home or a safe environment where you can demonstrate your full potential. In today’s world, when we treat our community members like our family, embrace and respect individual strengths, and create a collaborative and safe space, this will lead to a culture of belonging and inspire our stakeholders to be their best selves. That’s why, in today’s world, starting from Kindergarten to top level business, we need to address diversity and understand the benefits of being diverse. Since, schools are the places where we grow our future community members, we need to work and let everyone within our community what diversity is and how best we can help each other to become a better student, teacher, administrator, and a community member.

A Reflection on the Analysis

At the beginning of this course, we described diversity as understanding, accepting and showing respect to each individual person regardless of their origin of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs. In the context of education, we also added special needs, language barrier, learner characteristics, talents, and gifts. I also mentioned that it is extremely important to support and protect diversity because by valuing individuals and groups free from prejudice, and by fostering a climate where equity and mutual respect are intrinsic.

Within this context, if we want to support and implement the true equity, we really need to take care of diversity and how best we can identify our students’ and communities’ needs in general. Diversity among students in education directly impacts their performance. Studies show

that students work better in a diverse environment, enabling them to concentrate and push themselves further when there are people of other backgrounds working alongside them. This promotes creativity, as well as better education, as those with differing viewpoints are able to collaborate to create solutions.

A recent study in the journal “Child Development” illustrated that students feel safer in school and in life when they are educated in a diverse setting. Students are able to learn about different cultures and backgrounds, allowing them to feel a greater sense of comfort with these differences. That in turn makes them more comfortable with themselves, leading to a deeper sense of safety.

Promoting diversity in schools is more than just encouraging students of different backgrounds to attend certain schools. It requires administrators to think critically about lives. Learning skills to build communities promoting diversity and employing human resource functions, such as recruitment and orientation, are essential for educators that have a desire to lead one day. Those looking to further their career as school administrators must have a thorough understanding of how to implement diversity within education.

A Reflection on the Application

Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) introduced the nine proven characteristics of effective schools. They are having clear and shared focus, high standards and expectations for all students, effective school leadership, high levels of collaboration and communication with stakeholders, curriculum, instruction and assessment aligned with standards, frequent monitoring of teaching and learning, focused professional development, supportive learning environment, and high level of parent and community involvement.

If we want to create an effective school, I believe these diversity is the heart of all these values. During this course, we discussed learning styles, multiple intelligences, and learning modalities. At one point, we defined the multicultural education as a reform movement designed to change the total educational environment so that students of diverse racial and ethnic groups, both gender groups, exceptional students, and students from each social-class group will experience equal educational opportunities in schools, colleges, and universities. To do this, we must understand students’ intellectual abilities, how they process information, and how to teach them in ways that honor who they are. To understand students’ intellectual abilities, we focused on Howard Gardner’s nine multiple intelligences. Gardner tells us that multiple intelligences are ways that students demonstrate intellectual ability. On the other hand, learning modalities are ways we process information to memory.

Differentiated instruction is at the core of instructional practices that address each child’s needs. The lecture notes that such instruction enables teachers to deliver a curriculum appropriate for all students in the classroom by addressing each child’s individual needs.

During the lectures, we were introduced rubrics as a measurement of assessment for diverse learners. We discussed the key components of rubrics, the strengths and challenges of using a rubric, and how data derived from the use of a rubric can be useful to teachers and school leaders.

We discussed instructional strategies for ESL learners, gender-based instructional considerations, and issues related to instruction and technology. The integration of technology into the classroom experience is another way to address diverse learning needs. Technology is designed to enhance curriculum and instruction. It is up to teachers and school leaders to ensure that the technology acquired by their school for classroom use is integrated in the best way possible.

Multicultural education is a foundational piece in supporting the academic needs of diverse learners. There are a few things that schools can put in place to make multicultural education a reality in classrooms for all students. First, all students must have equal access to resources. This can be a daunting task as we know resources can vary from school to school within a district, especially a large urban school district. But school administrators can ensure that all students within their school building have equal access to the same resources for student achievement. School leaders can also ensure that teachers and teacher leaders receive the professional development they need to be able to successfully instruct diverse learners. Such professional development can inform teachers about the cultural practices of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups as well as provide guidance on instructional strategies for diverse learners. Another way to support multicultural education is through equity pedagogy. Banks (2001) defines equity pedagogy as instruction that provides all students with an equal opportunity to attain academic and social success in school (p. 147). Next, stakeholders’ involvement in student achievement is an important part of supporting multicultural education. Parents and community members should be involved in decision making in the school. Finally, to successfully support multicultural education in the school, teachers and school leaders must acknowledge the differences in learning styles among diverse learners. Understanding concepts, such as multiple intelligences and learning modalities, are key factors of such acknowledgment.

Conclusion

To truly acknowledge, honor and respect our diverse learners, teachers and school leaders must create spaces and practices that recognize the diversity of their students. Creating an environment that is conducive to learning for diverse learners can be just as important as the selection of instructional strategies and practices. Three factors play a key role in creating an educational environment for diverse learners: social/emotional, curriculum, and parents/community. Teachers need to give strong consideration to the role social concerns play in the classroom, how students feel about school, how curriculum reflects the students and the world around them, and the ways parents and community members can inform curriculum and instruction.

References

1. SRCDtweets. (2013, September 24). Cross-ethnic friendships in urban middle schools make youths feel less vulnerable, safer. Retrieved from https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-09/sfri-cfi091713.php
2. Zalis, S. (2017, December 06). The Truth About Diversity -- And Why It Matters. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleyzalis/2017/11/30/the-truth-about-diversity-and-why-it-matters/#2577b5fa66e7
3. (2002). Educating Hispanic Students: Obstacles and Avenues to Improved Academic Achievement. UC Berkeley: Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1f98t91w