POWELL MASTER’S PORTFOLIO 1

Diversity Statement

Standard: A teacher teaches with respect for their individual and cultural characteristics.

Candidates understand how elementary students differ in their development and approaches to

learning and create instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse students.

We live in an abundantly diverse world. When teachers walk into their classrooms each

day they are met with students from different ethnicities, religions, races, financial backgrounds,

and so much more as well as different educational needs. At times this may make teaching

somewhat difficult, but I look at these differences as wonderful, unique opportunities for

enriching learning experiences. In this project I created on what an ideal culturally diverse

classroom would look like I highlight ways to promote a classroom of kindness and respect.

Zaretta Hammond (2018) stressed that teachers should understand their own way of thinking

and strive to build a classroom environment that is safe for all students. This is one of my biggest

goals as a teacher because I believe that all students should be able to come to school and be free

of judgment and be able to take educational risks in a safe, encouraging environment.

During my student teaching semester I was able to encourage kindness and respect by

reading many books featuring different cultures and ideas. While reading these books I took the

time to engage the students in thoughtful discussions about the people in the book as well as how

they felt about the characters and their own personal thoughts and ideas. Having thoughtful

conversations with the students encouraged them to be comfortable with expressing their own

views as well as accepting the ideas of others. This was also a way to show students that we

don’t have to agree with each other in order to be respectful.

One way to develop a safe and encouraging environment is, as seen in my project to use

activities where students and teachers get to know each other. One idea is reading a book at the
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beginning of the school year, which highlights a classroom where students are not getting along.

In the book the teacher tasks the students with writing compliment cards to each other. Having

students think about what they like about their classmates is a great way to encourage positive

thinking. Each student is featured in a weekly bulletin and gets to keep all of the compliments

written by their classmates.

When teaching to diverse students, teachers should consider ways to involve the families

in the classroom so that the uniqueness of the home lives of students are brought into the

classroom. In a study done by Turney and Kao (2009) they found that often times parents who

don’t speak English or low income families who work long hours are left feeling excluded due to

the barriers they face. Promoting family engagement works to take away these barriers and seeks

to meet the needs of the families to promote the best learning environment for the students.

As teachers we are tasked to teach more than just academic subjects. We are preparing

our students to live in a world full of diversity (Darder, 2016). Creating a classroom where there

is a community among the students, parents and teacher prepares students for life outside of the

classroom where they can be accepting of the differences of others and learn how to work with

others so that everyone may learn and grow in the best way possible.

References

Darder, A. (2016). Culture and power in the classroom: Educational foundations for the

schooling of bicultural students. New York: Routledge.

Hammond, Z. (2018). Culturally Responsive Teaching Puts Rigor at the Center: Q&A with

Zaretta Hammond. Learning Professional, 39(5), 40-43. Retrieved from

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http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1194376&site=eds-

live

Leddy, H. G. (2018). Involved Minority Parents Enhance the Quality of Elementary School

Programs in a Diverse Community. Multicultural Education, (3–4). Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgsr&AN=edsgcl.564127231

&site=eds-live

Turney, K., & Kao, G. (2009). Barriers to school involvement: Are immigrant parents dis-

advantaged? Journal of Educational Re- search, 102, 257–271. https://doi.org/10.3200/

joer.102.4.257-271