HOW I ENSURE THAT DIVERSITY IS CELEBRATED IN THE CLASSROOM
The beauty of our differences has always been quite clear to me. For this reason, teaching my students to acknowledge, accept and eventually embrace and celebrate the things that make us all unique and diverse is an underlying theme in all of my lesson plans. This shows up in many ways from the incorporation of multiple languages, cultures,
races, skin tones, physical abilities in reading materials to actually having students research and share their own heritage with the class. In my opinion, it's through example that children develop empathy and love for others who are
different, and as a result, a focus on equality, equity, and diversity as a whole are meaningful to me.
As one may expect, my understanding of diversity and ideas regarding how to teach students about it
in a fun, meaningful way have grown over the past 4 years. I selected the first
example, a lesson plan on Mexico and Cinco de Mayo because it shows that
although initially interested in teaching students about other cultures (and a
culture that is important to many of my students who are actually from Mexico or
have parents from Mexico), I was quite unaware of how to implement such a topic
in an engaging manner.
The second lesson plan, Margaret y Margarita attached below is from a lesson I implemented in a dual-language classroom at a primarily Hispanic school. The use of the book Margaret y Margarita (in which a white American student and a hispanic Mexican student establish a friendship despite language boundaries) was more meaningful and relevant to my students.
Using puppets to act out the lines in the book, and allowing the students to decorate the puppets in a way that allowed for self-expression, led to success! My growth was apparent (about 3 years later) as I was much more culturally sensitive, engaging and creative with the diverse lesson plan that I came up with!
races, skin tones, physical abilities in reading materials to actually having students research and share their own heritage with the class. In my opinion, it's through example that children develop empathy and love for others who are
different, and as a result, a focus on equality, equity, and diversity as a whole are meaningful to me.
As one may expect, my understanding of diversity and ideas regarding how to teach students about it
in a fun, meaningful way have grown over the past 4 years. I selected the first
example, a lesson plan on Mexico and Cinco de Mayo because it shows that
although initially interested in teaching students about other cultures (and a
culture that is important to many of my students who are actually from Mexico or
have parents from Mexico), I was quite unaware of how to implement such a topic
in an engaging manner.
The second lesson plan, Margaret y Margarita attached below is from a lesson I implemented in a dual-language classroom at a primarily Hispanic school. The use of the book Margaret y Margarita (in which a white American student and a hispanic Mexican student establish a friendship despite language boundaries) was more meaningful and relevant to my students.
Using puppets to act out the lines in the book, and allowing the students to decorate the puppets in a way that allowed for self-expression, led to success! My growth was apparent (about 3 years later) as I was much more culturally sensitive, engaging and creative with the diverse lesson plan that I came up with!
mexican_history_lesson_plan-_contribution.doc | |
File Size: | 39 kb |
File Type: | doc |
margaret_y_margarita.odt | |
File Size: | 27 kb |
File Type: | odt |