Classroom Diversity

This week I saw a magazine cover which indicated that an enclosed article was about diversity. The picture on the cover was of a black woman and a white woman smiling and shaking hands. This got me thinking about the definition of diversity. Many people seem to think that diversity is only ethnic diversity. Even in ethnic diversity, we need to remember that our country has many ethnicities, not just black and white. Diversity in the classroom is all kinds of diversity!

When I was in college (way back when), I had a class called Multicultural Education. The class was not as the name suggested. It was really about blacks and whites in the classroom, and black history in America. The class did not discuss any other ethnicities. I also had a class called Exceptionalities in the Classroom. This class was about learning disabilities (recognizing them, knowing what to do to help, and integrating the students into the classroom). The class did not include behavioral issues. That was discussed in Classroom Management. Today I imagine that the behavioral issues would be covered in the Exceptionalities class. Today's teachers need to be prepared for all types of diversity in their classroom, school, and district.

In the classrooms in my area, I have seen all kinds of diversity. Yes, there is a little ethnic diversity in our school district, but other diversities stand out more in my mind. One class had an Amish girl. That's very unusual since the Amish have their own schools. As a substitute teacher, I have no knowledge as to why she is attending public school (and it's none of my business).  There are other religiously diverse students in our area too.  In another school, there are several hearing impaired students. Some of these students need the teacher to wear a wireless microphone which is connected to their hearing aides. In a couple of classes, I had students with Asperger syndrome. In many classes, there are students with various behavioral diagnoses. Even being left-handed makes one diverse! All of these are challenging to the regular classroom teacher as well as the substitute teacher.

Even though I live in a small town, we have very diverse classrooms.  We may not have a very ethnically diverse community, but we are very diverse none the less.  People need to realize that diversity is more than the color of one's skin.  Diversity covers a great deal of areas - more than what I have encountered here or discussed in this post. We can do as these children do: have fun with each other and get along, no matter what makes us different! They see each other for who they are as people, not for what makes them different from each other!