Diversity in the School Community

Presenters

Deloris RhodesAudrey Toney, Ed.D.

University of North Carolina, WilmingtonApril 24, 2010

My Perceptual Lens

My Perceptual Lens

What do you see?

My Perceptual Lens

What do you see?

My Perceptual Lens

What do you see?

My Perceptual Lens

Quickly mentally add these numbers in your head:

My Perceptual Lens

A Quick Quiz:

1. YOU  ARE A PARTICIPANT IN A RACE. YOU OVERTAKE THE SECOND PERSON. WHAT POSITION ARE YOU  IN?

2. IF YOU OVERTAKE THE LAST PERSON, THEN YOU ARE IN WHAT POSITION?

3. MARY'S FATHER HAS FIVE DAUGHTERS. THE NAMES ARE NANA, NENE, NINI, NONO, AND ________ .     WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE FIFTH DAUGHTER?

My Perceptual Lens

What is this?

My Perceptual Lens

What is this?

People always resist change.What prevents them from seeing, accepting & understanding new and/or different ideas?

Why?

A paradigm is a set of rules & regulations that establish boundaries and tells you how to be successful within the boundaries

Joel Arthur Barker Future Edge

• Paradigms act as filters

• Things that agree with your paradigm you accept.

• Things that disagree with it you reject, ignore or distort to fit your existing paradigm

• They dramatically affect our judgment and decision-making by influencing our perceptions.

Directions

Don’t read the words, say the colors quickly in which they are printed.

Although we see both the color and the meaning of each word, experience has taught us to pay more attention to the meaning.

James R. Stroop called this the “interference effect.”

Objectives

• To discuss how diversity informs an equitable, multicultural, learning environment

• To discuss the impact of stereotyping in the educational setting

• To examine a framework to measure educator’s development towards cultural competency in a multicultural context

Why Should We Learn About Diversity

Diversity can enrich your life and your world.

Understanding and appreciating differences help:

• Individuals gain new insights and outlooks while enjoying new relationships.

• Communities tap the varied talents of their members to help meet common goals.

• Groups of every size-from classrooms to corporations–when uniqueness is respected, morale and productivity improve.

Dimensions of Diversity

• Like trees in a vast forest, humans come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors.

• We share important dimensions of humankind with all members of the species.

• Biological and environmental differences separate and distinguish us as individuals and groups.

• A vast array of physical and cultural differences constitute the spectrum of human diversity.

• The various dimensions of diversity help shape our basic self-image and our fundamental world-view.

Primary Dimensions of Diversity

AgeRaceEthnicityHeritageGenderPhysical abilities/qualitiesSexual/affection orientationMental abilities/characteristics

Secondary Dimensions of Diversity

EducationCommunication styleWork backgroundWork styleIncomeMarital statusMilitary experienceReligious beliefsGeographic locationParental status

Dimensions of Diversity Handout

Diversity & Attitudes

Break -10 minutes-

What HaveYou Heard?

Discussion

Processing What Have You Heard & Attitude Awareness Survey

• What do many of the comments we have written on the lists represent?

• Are they true?

• Where did these comments come from?

• How would these stereotypes impact how we treat certain people?

• What are the implications for student achievement?

Diversity & Attitudes

Test your attitude

How aware are you about yourself and others based on age, race, gender, etc. ?

To explore, complete one of the Implicit Association Tests at:

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/takeatest.html

(https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/selectatest.html)

Objectives:

• To discuss the impact of stereotyping in the educational setting

• To examine a framework to measure educator’s development towards cultural competency in a multicultural context

What We Know

• There are differences between and among groups of people.

• Race is a socially constructed attribute that is a social phenomenon.

• Racism is a system of privileged discourses and discriminatory institutional practices, which acts upon our individual perceptions of reality.

And, our understanding of what is real is intrinsically racist because we have grown up in and live in a society with racist institutions.(Making Race Visible: Literacy Research for Cultural Understanding,2003)

What We Know

• Race is undeniably an element of social status and is therefore, negotiated as a social process rather than as a biological determinant.

Thus, the permanence of racism in our social reality means we have a personal responsibility to understand racism and work against its effects on our interpretations, our identities and how they play out in our classrooms to the extent which our discursive practices maintain inequity and injustice. (Making Race Visible: Literacy Research for Cultural Understanding,2003)

What We Know

• Cultural differences influence the teaching-learning process.

• Schools, like society, advantage some groups more than others.

• Schools adhere to a color-blind paradigm.

What We Know

• NCLB is as historically important as desegregation of schools in 1954.

• Culturally responsive teachers value and build on students’ prior knowledge.

Group Activity

• Personal Experiences—Survey on Attitude

• Pair / Discuss / Share

Culturally Responsive Teaching Video

White Teachers/Diverse Classrooms

Complete the “What Squares” Sheet as you view the video

What is multicultural education?

Multicultural Education (defined)

A progressive approach for transforming education that

holistically critiques and addresses current

shortcomings, failings, and discriminatory practices in

education.

Multicultural Education

The underlying goal of multicultural education is to affect social change (transformation).

•  The transformation of self;

•  The transformation of schools and schooling;

•  The transformation of society

“If our destination is excellence on a massive scale, not only must we change from the slow lane

into the fast lane; we must literally change highways. Perhaps we need to abandon the

highways altogether and take flight, because the highest goals that we can imagine are well

within reach for those who have the will to excellence.”

Asa Hillard, University of Georgia

AS OUR STUDENTS BECOME

MORE AND MORE DIVERSE…

SO MUST OUR WAYS OF

TEACHING THEM.

“Exploring Diversity in the Classroom Through Teaching & Learning”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-qnuqCZ7hg

NC Teach II Diversity Class 1 (April 24, 2010)

Homework Assignment

Due: May 1, 2010.

Reflect and identify a paradigm that you currently hold that will be problematic for you in working with students that are different from you.

As a classroom teacher, what strategies will you use to adjust the identified paradigm to work effectively in a multicultural setting with diverse student?

No less than one page with a limit of 2 pages using single spacing and 12-pt font; 1” margins