The document is a student's statement of informed beliefs essay discussing their views on teaching diversity in the classroom. It covers five main sections: that all students can learn, the importance of teacher expectations, connecting student learning to their social ecology, promoting cultural diversity instruction, and adapting the curriculum for all learners. The student emphasizes the importance of understanding each student's strengths and backgrounds in order to create a welcoming classroom environment where all students feel they can succeed.

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Running head: STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS
Statement of Informed Beliefs Essay
Bree Hohnbaum
Instructor: Kae Hamilton
EDUCATION 204: Families, Communities, & Culture
Tuesday, Thursday, 10:00am-11:15am, Fall 2011

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Statement of Informed Beliefs Essay
Diversity in schools is everywhere; understanding what makes up a school is a crucial for
today’s teachers. Understanding how each and every student learns can be a difficult task to
accomplish, but the reward is well worth the effort. As a future educator, I would like to
accomplish this difficult task, and master it, if possible. There are a few things to take into
consideration when doing this. I will discuss, in the rest of this paper, how I would like to deal
with diversity in my own classroom someday. There are five sections in which I would like to
touch on and these are: all students can learn, teacher’s expectations, students’ social ecology
theory, cultural diversity instruction, and curriculum for all learners.
All Students Can Learn
It is my responsibility to make sure that every student has an equal opportunity to learn.
Each and every student is capable of learning, if he or she is given the chance. It is also my own
responsibility, as a future educator, to make every student want to learn, not just because he or
she has to be there. I would like to make the education process something that is fun to each
individual student, so that they will go on to future classes with a bright expectation and maybe
even change their previous views on school. The way that I can go about this is to learn what
each student’s strengths and weaknesses are and this can be measured by Howard Gardner’s
Theory of Multiple Intelligences. There are eight of them and they are listed as linguistic,
logical, mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal,
existential, and naturalist. The idea is that every student has strength in one of these categories.
It is then my job, as their educator, to learn which intelligence each student works best with, and
then work on helping that student learn what they need to know in the way that works for them
in their own intelligence category (Berns, 2010). For instance, if a student is struggling with a

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math problem and they are a naturalist, I could relate the problem to something in nature that
relates to them.
The management of the classroom plays a big role in how students will learn. I will,
personally, manage my own classroom using positive reinforcement when it comes to the rules
and norms of the class. I would like to give students points for good behavior through the day,
and then at the end of the day I will give the student with the most points a small toy or a piece
of candy for being on their best behavior and learning that rules are important. Using this, it will
make the classroom more orderly and will make students want to behave so that every student
has a chance to learn without there being chaos. Also, in order to avoid bullying, I will take
away recess minutes to those who need more discipline. I do think that it is important for the
teacher to know all students and have an idea of the students’ background, as in learning whom
members of their nuclear family are and what is going on within the students’ microsystem, so
the student will know that I care about them individually.
Teacher’s Expectations
“Children with high expectations for success on a task usually persist at it longer and
perform better than children with low expectations” (Berns, 2010). This is true for school in
general as well. If I place high expectations on my students, they will then place those
expectations upon themselves and succeed. However, if the expectations are too high or are
unreasonable, this could set the student up for failure. When I make the expectations, I will be
cautious to make them reasonable and obtainable for all. If the student has an internal locus of
control, this makes having high expectations easier for the student will take it into their own
hands and see that the control is within them to succeed.

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Having clear, set goals is very important when it comes to students’ educational process.
Giving reasoning behind the goals is a way to help students learn why those goals are set there
which is more effective than saying just because. There are three different types of goal
structures: Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualized goal structures. I would like to use
Individualized goal structures because they promote teacher-student interaction and make the
student take responsibility for his or her own self (Berns, 2010). If there are no goals for
education, there will be no standards to live up to, and the student will no longer want to try. If
there are set goals and possibly a reward for achieving these, the students are then more
motivated to learn. However, it is my own responsibility to make these goals known and push
the students to achieve this. I must take accountability for the outcomes of each student and I
must live up to the school or state’s standards as well as making the students live up to my own.
Student’s Social Ecology Theory
Connecting learning to students’ social ecology is crucial. The student’s social ecology is
connected to learning in more ways than just one. Ecology is “the science of interrelationships
between organisms and their environments” (Berns, 2010). According to Urie
Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model of Human Development, school is in the students’
microsystem and this directly affects them. Learning is something every student must do, in
order to succeed in life and in order to get him or her effectively socialized for later on in their
adult life. It is my goal, as a future teacher, to effectively pursue this.
Families, Communities, and Culture all impact the student’s learning greatly. Since all
of these things are in the student’s microsystem, according to Bronfenbrenner, it will have a
greater effect than if they were in another system, like the mesostyem. For example, if
something happens to the child at home, like a divorce in the family between the parents, the

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child is likely to take this to school and it can affect their working performance. The child will
not be able to easily concentrate and might need to leave the classroom frequently. This will
cause a direct effect to the student’s learning. My goal is to help these students when something
bad does happen in their family, community, or culture. I will try to give everyone a fair chance
and learn the most I can about the student’s religions, family members and things that are going
on at home or anywhere else they go when they are not in school. I can then take this and apply
it to my own curriculum and give everyone a fair chance. Things do happen outside of school
and as an educator; I would like to help the student maintain a proper education in their own time
of need.
Cultural Diversity Instruction
One thing I would like to try in my own class is; on the first day or so of school, have
everyone go home figure out what their histories are and what ethnic background he or she came
from. I will then take what I have found and put various pictures around the room that relates
and I will also try and work some sort of activity into my curriculum that reflects the student’s
cultural background. Every student is unique and my job is to make sure every student feel
welcome and want to learn. If I do this effectively, then no student will feel bad if they do not
get to participate for some project or for some other sort of holiday that we celebrate in the
classroom. This will also teach the other students and me (being a future teacher) about cultures
around the world, which is an important thing for students to know.
Cultural assimilation is “the process by whereby a minority (subordinate) cultural group
takes on the characteristics of the majority (dominant) group” (Berns, 2010). Cultural
pluralism is “mutual appreciation and understanding of various cultures and coexistence in
society of different languages, religious beliefs, and lifestyles” (Berns, 2010). This being said,

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the difference between the two is that cultural pluralism is good and is what I am striving to
pursue in my own classroom for the classroom is always very diverse and no two people have
the same background. Cultural assimilation is something to steer clear of because I want
everyone to be unique, I do not want the majority of the group taking of characteristics of the
dominant culture or cultures. Society as a whole is moving away from cultural assimilation.
Equality and appreciation of those that are different from us is something I strive to push in my
own classroom.
Curriculum for All Learners
In order for my own methods and assessments to work, I will have to adjust them as
many times as possible for the student’s to receive the information effectively. Trial and error is
what I will be doing in my first year or so, for I do not know what to expect of a class I do not
teach yet. I do have a set list of ways I would like things to go throughout the year, but if some
students are failing and others are exceeding, I need to implement different teaching methods or
assessments that equally fit their needs. Asking another teacher who has been at the school for
some time might be a good solution when I get stuck on something or when I need some advice.
Most teachers will be willing to help. As far as delivery of information goes, I have a way that I
think things will go, but as I said before, everything is subject to change depending on how
smoothly things go through the year. My overall goal is to have every student come out of my
classroom and know that they learned a lot that year.
Through getting to know each student based upon their assignments, work in class, and
tests, I will get a grasp on where the student needs improvement and where they can advance.
Some students may need more time than others to complete specific tasks or tests, and others
will need shorter times. My theory is that I will have a list of other assignments or art projects

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that the students who are fast on things can work on while the others need more time finishing
things up. This way, everyone gets a fair chance, but at the same time, the students who are fast
at finishing things are not bored and cause chaos in the room for they have more things to work
on. I would also like to show a video or something to keep the students occupied while I can
take those students who need more one-on-one time with me and work on the things they need
help with. I would like every student to be on grade level at the end of the year, when they leave
my classroom and go on to the next grade up.
In conclusion, all students are different. They come from different backgrounds, cultures,
religions, communities, and economic backgrounds. My goal is to make each student feel
welcome and want to learn. In doing this I must consider every student and take the time to
know the little details. This helps the students to succeed when they know that I truly care about
them and know a little about their past. I would like for both the students and myself to come
out of the classroom at the end of the year knowing that we learned a lot, not just meeting the
educational goals, but that we learned a lot about each other as well. The more diverse schools
become, the more we need to all strive for equality and the universal design. No student should
ever be left behind.

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References
Berns, Roberta M. (2010). Child, Family, School, Community: Socialization and Support. (8th
Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Print.