Summary and Analysis of Week 2- Perspectives On Diversity

Summary and Analysis of Week 2- Perspectives On Diversity

Jen Glazier
TE 825
Dr. Jacobsen
June 3, 2014

Summary and Analysis of Week 2- Perspectives On Diversity

Everybody has ideas and experiences that define their idea of diversity. These ideas are formed
through personal experiences at home, school, and through the media. These personal experiences
create myths about certain cultures, and shape our own definitions of diversity which are then
established through the curriculum and materials we supply in our classrooms. We live in a society that
believes there has been a change in the way people from different cultures are perceived, but it is clear
through schools curriculum and through class discussions that the facts we provide about these cultures
are not as accurate as we would like to believe. Many people in the discussion talked about how their
curriculum resources did not accurately portray the differences that exist between different cultures.
That lack of accuracy, in addition to the personal ideas one holds about diversity, can influence the types
of conversations that are held in the classroom. These uncomfortable conversations are not being held
because, in this politically correct world, teachers and adults are afraid that they may accidentally offend
an individual just by addressing some of the differences. In reality, the fear of offending others has only
contributed to the persistence of the problem. After the readings and this weeks discussion it is evident
that even as much as we would like to believe our minds are open, myths are created, regardless of
validity, about the type of families we have in our classroom. All the group members shared personal
experiences to add to the message of the readings for the week. These personal experiences stemmed
from views they had when they were younger, to actual scenarios they have experienced as teachers.
After reading the Compton-Lilly article, Confronting Racism, Poverty, and Power all members
of the group contributed to the discussion by either agreeing with certain myths about families, or
discussing different myths they formed about families through their schooling or in their current
classroom. Even though it is hard to admit, we all held negative ideas about families in regards to their
childs education. Some people found that their myths were inaccurate, while others feared that their
myth was more of a reality. Christina (May 26, 2014) talked about how she believed families did not
have books in their home. However she found this myth to be incorrect. She started a reading program

Summary and Analysis of Week 2- Perspectives On Diversity

with buddies, and found that through this program children were bringing in books from home, instead
of borrowing books from the school library or her classroom. Unfortunately, this was not the case in
most of the groups interactions with families throughout the year. Megan (May 27, 2014) held the
assumption that parents do not work with their children at home with reading. She found this to be true
because of the low income parents having to work odd hours and night shifts making it hard to help with
their childrens homework after school. Lashawn gave a very interesting perspective, because she felt
that growing up she was on receiving end of the myth. She grew up attending a public school in Detroit,
and often felt that she was grouped together with all Detroit Public School students. Even though she
felt on the other end of the myth, even she had certain stereotypes about different families. Lashawn
felt that many DPS families did not have the necessary resources required to help their children learn to
read at home. She talked about how this was based off of her own personal experience. Growing up she
had a lot of books age appropriate for her, but never saw any adults read anything, which gave the
impression that there were not a lot of resources for her parents to read.
The discussion then evolved and began to focus on the different types of expectations we hold
for students based off of these myths. There was a debate about whether or not it was lowering
expectations when modifying homework. Some group members felt that if you minimized the
homework then you were lowering the expectation and decreasing its perceived importance, while
some group members reflected on what their idea of homework was. After reading all of the comments,
it is clear that even though we try to have open minds about our students we still hold negative views of
some families based on our personal experiences and/or the different ideas we were exposed to while
we were growing up.
When the group was talking about myths and the ideas that they hold about the families in their
classroom, a big idea that emerged was the idea of how to get parents and families more involved with

Summary and Analysis of Week 2- Perspectives On Diversity

their childrens learning at home and at school. One idea that was talked about was the idea of use of
technology to aide students learning at home. There is a big push today in the market for academic toys
and how they can benefit childrens learning. Our group discussed the potential effectiveness those
tools could possess, and whether or not families of low income should invest in them. It was agreed that
these toys could really benefit children, especially in families where parents unable or felt that they
were unequipped with the ability to help their children with their education. Many group members felt
that while technology could be a useful support at home, it should be in moderation and in addition to
other types of resources in order to maximize the value of learning at home.
It was clear to me that everyone in the group attempts to address and/or bring diversity into
their classroom. The most popular way of doing this seemed to be through read alouds and discussions.
After reading the posts, it seemed that people felt more comfortable addressing diversity when it came
to disabilities than race. Not only was this more comfortable for to the teacher, but based on what
people shared, it seemed that students related more and had more conversations when talking about
people with different disabilities. Everyone in our group talked about how they have either gone out of
their way to look for books written in different languages, discussion, or was their curriculum mandated
books about different cultures. Curriculum mandated books or guided reading was mentioned a lot as a
way to teach students about diversity. Christina talked about how her lessons on different versions of
Cinderella were supposed to teach about different cultures. She found that while the books did share
the story from a different cultures perspective, the perception seemed to be stereotypical.
Our group also spent a lot of time recalling different classroom discussions about diversity and
differences between cultures. Christina (5/29/2014) mentioned how her classroom discussions were
based on justice, caring, and respect. She did this to create a larger picture, which she hopes will start a
foundation for her students when confronted with issues of diversity. As a Special Education teacher,

Summary and Analysis of Week 2- Perspectives On Diversity

Megan (5/29/2014), came into the general education classroom and had discussions about curiosities
that the children had. Lashawn (5/28/2014) gave an interesting perspective about how she addresses
diversity in her classroom by being the only African American teacher at her school. She also talked
about how she tries to bring topics of diversity to her students using teachable moments. It seems that
all group members were trying to have courageous conversations and discussions about diversity in
their classroom. Whether it was mandated by the curriculum or through different lessons that they had
decided to do on their own.
As teachers, we want to provide a safe, nurturing and supportive learning environment for all of
our students. There is more to this than just looking the part at the surface, there has to be meaningful
discussions and resources provided that speak to the whole diversity of your classroom. In order to do
this we as teachers must look at our own beliefs and see how they have been impacted our own
personal views of diversity. Before asking children to reflect and talk about diversity, we must first do
reflect ourselves. To do this, I first want to look deeper into the myths that we as teachers hold about
our students and their families. This was a very popular topic that the group talked about in our
discussion. While at first it is hard to admit that you hold negative views about your students and their
families, it is something that everyone in the group was able to speak and relate too. As open minded as
we think we are about students, we still hold ideas about them based off of personal and professional
experiences. This discussion shows me that there is still a big problem in schools today, and a reason
why issues of diversity are still a crisis. When looking back at the myths the group initially held at the
beginning of the year, they all had to do with families being low income, and not being able to provide a
supportive educational environment at home. Megan talked about how she believed that her low
income families did not want to help their children at home, Christina talked about how she didnt think
her families would have books at home, Lashawn spoke about a lack of resources she thought low
income families had, and Jamie talked about how she assumed poverty is a cycle. These ideas drew a

Summary and Analysis of Week 2- Perspectives On Diversity

complete parallel to the ideas Compton-Lilly wrote about. We as teachers get some information about
our students before the school year starts, and then form opinions about them before even meeting or
getting to know more about that student and their family. Most teachers in our group discussion work in
low income areas, where they daily interact with students below or at the poverty level. It would be
easy to assume, like Jamie, that poverty is a cycle. Compton-Lilly points states My students and their
families are assumed to have been born into poor families, to have always experienced poverty, and to
be destined to remain poor unless the public schools remedy the situation for future generations.
(p.34). We are classifying these families into this poverty category without knowing how and why they
are there in the first place. As teachers we assume because they are poor, they lack the resources and
the interest in being successful at school. As teachers we must save these families and their students.
While sometimes this might be the case for families, often times we surprise ourselves by getting to
know people and their backgrounds. This point can be seen as well when we look at how parents are
involved in school. Our group discussed the struggles we had with parent involvement, as well as gave
many ideas to show how to incorporate families into school. Compton-Lilly reminds us that While
parents may not be involved in schools in the ways the school personnel expect, parents do connect
with their childrens education in other ways and feel that they are aware of what is happening at school
with their child (p.39). As a teacher, I think Lashawn demonstrates how she is thinking this way as well.
She talked about how she does not place a limit on parent chaperones or at class parties, but invites all
of her students to share that experience with someone from their family. This opens up the opportunity
for any family member to be involved in something, as well as not setting up the same parents to be the
only ones involved in the classroom. Lashawn also shared a meaningful way that she connects with
parents. She email or calls parents to let them know of the physical opportunities that they can have
with their child at school, while emphasizing that she knows they are already play a social and emotional
part to their childs learning. I thought this was a very powerful way for a teacher to look at how a

Summary and Analysis of Week 2- Perspectives On Diversity

parent supports their education. As teachers we can forget about the social and emotional aspect of
learning, because we are only focused on the academic or physical presence they make at school. In
reality, it is just as important for parents to be socially and emotionally involved, and as teachers we
should not forget to let parents know the significant role they play in their childs success.
The idea that one must get to know someone in order to learn the reality brings forth the notion
that this would apply for teaching all cultures in the classroom. We hold certain ideas and beliefs about
families, so we most likely will hold some of these same ideas when it comes to different cultures.
Singleton and Hays point out that, Many beliefs concerning race are based on misconceptions (p. 21).
As teachers we must think about these things in order to provide accurate facts to our students and
engage in conversations that are not based upon stereotypes. We must first reflect ourselves, and face
stereotypes that we hold. Recognizing the misconceptions that we hold about different cultures gives us
the opportunity to be honest with ourselves and give us a clear viewpoint of the ideas we want to
discuss with the students in our classrooms. Based off of our group discussion, it seems that we all
attempted to have these crucial discussions in our classroom. However, often times we run into things
that stop us from going deeper. In the example I gave, I had children in my preschool class complete a
self portrait of them. I made sure I pointed out different body parts, hair color, eye color, etc, but never
mentioned skin color or race. As the children started working, the idea of skin color came up very
quickly. I had not discussed the idea of skin color because of my own uncomfortable feelings about race,
and not wanting to be offensive or talk to deeply about this issue in preschool fearing what might be
discussed. The children were discussing the differences between the browns in their skin color. They had
their hands out next to one another making observation about the shades. My students wanted to make
sure they represented their skin tone accurately on their self portrait. Even though it was my idea to
breeze over it, the children still brought it up because it is an important part to who they are. This idea
rings true and is further examined by Singleton and Hays. They say,

Summary and Analysis of Week 2- Perspectives On Diversity

More often than not, students from kindergarten through graduate school find exploring race
edgy, provocative, and nourishing. Sometimes a conscious or precocious student does not wait
for our permission to engage the taboo topic, and she will make a comment about race that
launches an orderly classroom into conflict, controversy, or deafening silence. (p. 18).
This shows that whether we want to or not, our students want to talk about these issues. Everyone has
a color to their skin, and it is important to talk about that and how people are different. When we do not
acknowledge this, we are saying that it is not important and not recognizing one of the qualities that
makes a person unique. Singleton and Hays also points out that What is most courageous about
interracial conversations about race is mustering the strength to facilitate them (p. 19). As teachers we
have the influence to start these powerful conversations about race and differences in cultures. Instead
of not talking about the issues, we should recognize the importance of bringing these topics up. This
allows students to engage in conversations where they can talk freely about their ideas and opinions,
and were ideas can be challenged or agreed with. Before you can have these conversations with
students, it is important to realize how you as a teacher are going to be pushed out of your comfort
zone, and you must realize the ideas and opinions you hold. Singleton and Hays write that Through
normalizing the presence of multiple perspectives, we can avoid a situation in which one dominant way
of understanding race invalidates all other experiences and different points of view (p. 20). That is why
we as teachers must push aside our fear of these taboo topics, and provide an environment where
students can discuss these significant issues.