Cortez 1

Formal Observation 2

Bella Cortez

EDTE 255

Professor Lindsey Serrao

3 December 2023
 Cortez 2

I believe that diversity in a classroom is important because it allows students to learn

multiple perspectives or use different backgrounds to educate one another. Based on videos I

have observed, such as the “Communicating with Others at School” and “Conducting Cultural

Research about Ancient Egypt in Small Groups” videos, diversity is common in classrooms. The

“Conducting Cultural Research about Ancient Egypt in Small Groups” video I believe is a good

representation of a diverse classroom because although a majority of the students were

Caucasian and from middle class, there were some students of other races and students with

disabilities that were included. I learned from the observations that a diverse classroom is not just

about different races, abilities, and sex, but also about students' different learning styles. I learned

from observations that students can learn more about the experiences others that are different

from them have and use multiple perspectives to gain a deeper educational perspective and

understanding of topics.

However, with having a diverse classroom, there may be some challenges. One personal

challenge I might face when teaching a diverse group of students is struggling to meet the needs

of all students. With a diverse group of students, the students will learn differently and need

different tools and resources to succeed. Therefore, I may struggle with meeting all students'

needs in the instructional time. Another personal challenge I might face is having all students

feel represented in the curriculum. I think that students will be more motivated to engage in

school work if they feel represented, however this may be difficult to accomplish for science

classes. Some strategies that the observations have shown could help with these personal

challenges. One strategy to meet the needs of students is to use multiple resources when teaching

a new topic. For example, the “Communicating with Others at School '' video utilized a video to

help with visual and auditory learning and then physically practiced how to have a conversation
 Cortez 3

to help with kinesthetic learning. I think that using different resource types is a highly effective

way to target the different learning styles and needs of students instead of just using one type. In

addition, I think another good strategy to engage diverse learners is by pairing up students with

different backgrounds so they can learn from each other. This strategy was exemplified in the

“Conducting Cultural Research about Ancient Egypt in Small Groups” video where the teacher

paired a blind student with a seeing student so they could work together. Overall, these videos

utilized similar strategies, such as the ones discussed above, to engage diverse learners that

would have addressed my needs if I was in those classrooms.

I believe that social justice and anti-racist practices are important to incorporate into the

classroom and to teach to students. To me, social justice has to do with advocating for equitable

treatment and resources of students. Therefore, with diverse classrooms being common, social

justice practices also need to be used in the classroom. Social justice in the classroom can look

like having a diverse and representative curriculum or learning about the identities of your

students and oppressive policies they may endure. Having social justice in the classroom means

utilizing anti-teaching practices, such as portraying an accurate depiction of history and the

different groups involved instead of focusing on Eurocentric curriculum.

Overall, these observations have been very enlightening on diverse classrooms. I will

take away how diverse classrooms are important to help students develop a deeper understanding

by utilizing multiple perspectives and resources. In addition, I will also use the strategies shown

in the observation videos, such as incorporating multiple resource types into a lesson and

creating groups that include students with a range of abilities, to engage diverse learners. There

is not anything I would do differently if I was the teacher in these observations since I believe
 Cortez 4

they did a good job at incorporating different learning styles in the lesson and including students

with disabilities into the activities by giving them technology accommodations.

 Cortez 5

References

“Conducting Cultural Research about Ancient Egypt in Small Groups.” NBPTS, 2015,

https://atlas.nbpts.org/cases/1098/

“Communicating with Others at School.” NBPTS, 2015, https://atlas.nbpts.org/cases/563/