When conducting teacher webinars, I often ask: “So, tell me about your class diversity. How do you address it?” To my surprise, many educators don’t know what to say. Some believe that their class is “not so diverse”. Or I hear comments like “I don’t see color. I treat everyone the same way”. How come? I wonder. We are not all the same! We live in a complex and diverse world, and we need to be comfortable with that. Not try to make everybody “the same”. The same as who?
There are many layers to diversity, a lot of which are not so obvious. Here are some tips on how to embrace and address diversity with your students:
- Educate yourself. Yes, different races and ethnicities have different behavioral and cultural codes we need to understand as educators. Yes, boys and girls are different in the way they learn and process information. Ask, take courses, read, get informed.
- Provide your students with evidence that people who don’t look or behave like them are still like them. Thus, worthy of their respect and consideration.
- Embed your curriculum with multicultural role models who made an impact in the world.
- Teach history from different perspectives. Put the facts out there for your students to judge. Don’t be the judge.
- Create a diverse environment (with class décor, music, books, etc.).
- Validate your students own cultural heritage and personal identification. Show interest in them and their background.
- Don’t assume. Ask first. Not every Hispanic kid speaks Spanish, not every girl is girly, not every black child is African American, etc.
I hope these tips help you. Please, share your opinion with me. I would like to hear your voice. Finally, remember that being diverse is ALWAYS a plus, and being in a minority doesn’t mean being less valuable or able to contribute to our enrichment. Creating a culturally responsive classroom gets us a bit closer to a more empathic, respectful, and kind world.