Cultural Diversity in the Classrooms

The classrooms in America today are changing in some significant ways:

Students come from a variety of racial, cultural, linguistic, and economic backgrounds.
Students with disabilities of many kinds are spending more time in regular classrooms.

This increase in diversity among the student population is one of the greatest challenges facing teachers in the 90s.

The exercise below will help you assess your knowledge of cultural diversity and your beliefs in some common myths and stereotypes that relate to various cultural and ethnic groups. What myths or stereotypes do you hold? How might these affect your teaching? What do you need to do to be more sensitive in the classroom?

This issue of Teacher Talk examines how these diversity issues influence what goes on in the classroom and what teachers can do to provide all students with opportunities to be successful learners.

Did You Know?

Of all high school sophomores in 1990, students' racial backgrounds were as follows:

Steps for Teachers

To adequately attend to cultural diversity in the classroom, teachers must look first at their own cultural background and understand how their biases affect their interactions with students. Then, teachers can examine the backgrounds and needs of the student population and understand their students' cultural biases as well. Classroom instruction can be designed to connect the content of a course with students' backgrounds.

Even in classrooms in which all the students are white, issues of diversity arise and need to be considered. High school teacher Julie James puts it to teachers this way, "You have a diverse classroom. The fact that your students all have a similar cultural heritage does not mean that they're all the same. Yes, students often dress like their friends or bond into constellations of 'like personalities,' but given the chance, most high school students will assert their differences. The key is giving them a chance. The challenge to the teacher is being able to consistently recognize and value the creative ways that students express themselves and to use these actions, words, or habits to talk about diversity issues."

When teachers have knowledge of different cultural qualities, it is easier for them to recognize the creative ways that students express themselves. The "Exercise on Cultural Diversity" below, assesses your knowledge of cultural diversity while also highlighting some common myths and stereotypes that relate to various cultural and ethnic groups. Teachers can build a supportive classroom atmosphere where differences are not overlooked or minimalized, but are explored, discussed, and celebrated.

Classroom Strategies

The articles in this issue of Teacher Talk offer instructional approaches for working with diverse student populations and related issues of diversity. Some common themes include:

carefully balance academic content with instructional processes
use visuals
use group work
involve parents
build on what students already know
use lecture outlines and overheads
connect lessons with examples from the "real world"

The insightful strategies in this issue come from educators working with specific student populations. But, these tips also reveal solid teaching strategies which benefit students of all backgrounds. They represent an vital direction in helping teachers ensure the academic success of all students.