This document discusses student diversity and provides teaching tips for diverse classrooms. It addresses socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, gender, language differences, intelligence theories including multiple intelligences, and learning styles. The key points are that student diversity comes from their membership in various microcultural groups defined by gender, religion, social class, ability, race, and ethnicity. It also discusses unintended stereotypes teachers may have and provides strategies for creating an inclusive classroom that meets the needs of all students.

1. Student Diver sity
Dr. Jennifer Irwin
EDU 620: Module 4
Chapters 4 &12

2. Before we begin…
 Please take 5 minutes to watch this
video.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hO9V_g

3. The “Uh Oh!” Effect
 What did you think about the speaker’s
description of the “uh oh” effect? Have you ever
experienced it?
 This is Steve Robbins, a nationally known
diversity speaker
 I saw him speak last year on “Unintentional
Intolerance” …. It was very fascinating. Check
out his website for more info: http://www.slrobbins.com/
 Want to see an example of how we can
unintentionally make assumptions? … see the
next slide.

4.  Form a picture in your mind of someone
from each of the following places:
 Holland
 Mexico
 Hawaii

5.  Was the person from Holland
wearing wooden shoes or
standing in front of a windmill?
 Was the person from Mexico
wearing a sombrero?
 Was the person from Hawaii
wearing a hula skirt or flowered
lei?

6.  How is it that we develop these
stereotypes (which are often simplistic
and untrue caricatures)?
 What you do in your classroom will
largely depend on your knowledge of
your students and their uniqueness.

7. Let’s talk about you and
c ulture
Culture is…. shared norms, values,
behaviors, perceptions, language,
dress, rituals, etc.

8. Individuals Belong to Many Different Microcultural Groups
Gender
Region Religion
Social Ability/
Class Disability
Race Ethnicity
Others?
James Banks

9. Pause, practice, & apply
 To which microcultural groups to you
belong?
 What other cultures do you understand
other than your own?
 What are some potential areas of cultural
conflict in the classroom? What would
you do as a teacher?

10. What is SES ….
 Socioeconomic Status
How much income your family earns
+
Your family’s highest level of schooling
=
SES

11. What does the research
say about SES and
education? (refer to chapter 4)

12. Teaching Tips & SES
 Always set high expectations
 Make adjustments to meet the needs of the class
(differentiate)
 Help students work on retention skills, time
management, organization, etc…
 Arrange enrichment/challenge opportunities
 Be thoughtful when grouping/ use cooperative
learning
 Help students get basics met (food, clothing,
shelter)
 Reach out to parents

13. Ethnicity & Race
 Not synonymous
 Ethnicity: a history, culture, and sense of
identity shared by a group of people (e.g.
Irish, Jewish Americans)
 Race: visible genetic characteristics of
individuals that cause them to be seen as
members of the same group (e.g.
Caucasian)

14. Pause, practice, &
apply
 Refer to chapter 4 …
 How do ethnicity and race affect
students’ school experiences and
achievement?
 What is the “achievement gap” and why
does it occur?

15. Teaching Tips &
Cultural Diversity
 Be fair
 Use a variety of instructional materials &
strategies
 Use community resources
 Openly discuss cultural relations
 Use wait time (allow students 3-5 seconds to
form an answer to a question)
 Use cooperative learning
 Do not permit prejudicial remarks (ignoring
such remarks in the classroom is the same
thing as agreeing with them)

16.  Before you go on, form a picture in your
mind of the following individuals:
 Bank President
 Kindergarten Teacher
 Fashion Model
 Scientist
 Building Contractor
 Secretary

17.  Did you think of these?
 Bank President-male
 Kindergarten Teacher-female
 Fashion Model-female
 Scientist-male
 Building Contractor-male
 Secretary-female

18. Gender Stereotypes: Fill
in the following chart with the all stereotypes you can think of.
Males Females
Personality
characteristics
Best school subjects
Occupations

19. Gender Differences
 What are some generalizations made
about males and females?
 Where do those differences or
generalizations come from?
How do those generalizations/differences
affect teaching and learning?

20. Teaching Tips &
Gender Equity
 Avoid stereotypes
 Promote integration
 Treat equally, but respect learning
differences
 Provide strong role models
 Promote equal opportunities
 Make student achievement private
 Avoid segregating activities
 Use “wait time”

21. Language Differences
 Look in chapter 4 to see the different
approaches to teaching English Language
Learners:
 English immersion
 Transitional bilingual education
 Paired bilingual education
 Two-way bilingual education
Which approach do you think is most effective? Why?

22. Time to visit the
Intelligence Theories
 Survey of experts showed varied definitions of
intelligence (Sternberg and Detterman, 1986)
 Charles Spearman identified one general
intelligence in the late 1920s
 J.P. Guilford identified 180 types in the 1940s
 Robert Sternberg (1988) identified three types:
 Analytic, Practical and Synthetic
 Howard Gardner identified nine domains or
multiple intelligences (1997)

23. Multiple Intelligences Theory
 Linguistic/Verbal
 Logical/Mathematical
 Musical
 Visual/Spatial

24. More Multiple Intelligences
 Bodily/Kinesthetic
 Interpersonal
 Intrapersonal
 Naturalist
 Existentialist

25. We do embody all nine
intelligences! (Eakle, 2006)
 Linguistic/Verbal
 Logical/Mathematical
 Musical
 Visual/Spatial
 Bodily/Kinesthetic
 Interpersonal
 Intrapersonal
Some think that there are people who do
indeed embody all 9 intelligences. Do you
agree that someone like Rev. Dr. Martin  Naturalist
Luther King Jr. was one of these people?
 Existentialist

26. Next Steps with the MI
Theory…
 Help students hone all nine
intelligences to promote “well-
roundedness”
 E. Paul Torrance, father of Creativity,
believes we should “fall in love with
something and pursue it with intensity”
 Expose students to multiple
intelligences in the classroom as a way
of differentiating your lessons.

27. Learning Styles
 Numerous learning style theories exist
 Dunn & Dunn is most popular
 A learning style is a way in which each learner
concentrates on, processes, absorbs, and
retains new and difficult information (Dunn and Dunn,
1992; 1993; 1999)
 Believe 21 different variables affecting a
person’s learning style (environmental,
emotional, sociological, physiological, and
cognitive processing preferences)
 Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, & Tactile (VAKT)

28. Visual, Auditory,
Kinesthetic, & Tactile
Visual Auditory
Kinesthetic (learning by doing)
Tactile (hands-on learning)
What are your
preferred learning styles?

29. Learners with
Exceptionalities
Please skim chapter 12 and complete the
Study Guide.

30. Questions? Let me
know … or bring them
to this week’s
discussion board 