Helping Diverse Learners

Succeed in Today’s Classrooms

ED 1010

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Dimensions of Diversity
Culture
Language
Gender
Ability differences
Exceptionalities
Add a Word Activity
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Culture
The knowledge, attitudes, values, customs,
and behavior patterns that characterize a
social group.

Cultural Diversity
The different cultures that you’ll encounter
in classrooms and how these cultural
differences influence learning.

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Urban Schools and Diversity
Cultural minorities
Are majorities in 48 of 100 largest U.S. cities
Are majorities in 6 states
Comprise 90% of students in
• Chicago
• Detroit
• Houston
• Los Angeles
• District of Columbia
Percentage of minority students predicted to
increase in the future
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Diversity in Utah Schools
Student Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity,
2008-2009

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Cultural Attitudes, Values, &
Interaction Patterns
Learned at home and in neighborhood
Influence school success, both positively
and negatively
Require both teacher sensitivity and
adaptability

“Cultural Synchronization”
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Educational Responses to Cultural Diversity
Culturally Responsive Teaching video
Multicultural education: a variety of strategies schools
use to accommodate cultural differences in teaching and
learning
salad bowl or mosaic versus melting pot
Culturally responsive teaching: Instruction that
acknowledges and accommodates cultural diversity
Accepting and valuing cultural differences
Accommodating different cultural interaction patterns
Building on students’ cultural backgrounds
Discrimination
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8gCJ4K4tnE&feature=related
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Language Diversity
Maintenance language programs: use and
sustain the first language
Immersion programs: emphasize rapid
transition to English
English as a Second Language (ESL)
programs: focus on English in academic
subjects
Transition programs: maintain first
language while students learn English
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Bilingual Education
Controversial because critics fear the
loss of English as U.S. language
26 states have official English language
legislation
De-emphasized by No Child Left Behind
Proponents claim it is effective,
humane, and practical.
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ESL Programs
English as a Second Language
ESL endorsement
Alternative Language Services (ALS)
English Language Learners (ELL)
Limited English Proficiency (LEP)

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Gender
Gender influences career choices.
Gender-role identity creates differences in
expectations and beliefs about appropriate
roles and behaviors.
Stereotypes create rigid and simplistic
caricatures of groups of people.
Single-gender classrooms and schools
separate male and female students.
Brainstorm: Gender Stereotypes
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 Ability Differences

Scenario: p. 91

Average
68% Above
Below
Average Average

13.5% 13.5%
Intellectually
Disabled 2% Gifted 2%

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Multiple Intelligences
Gardner’s theory:
Suggests that intelligence is not unitary but
multidimensional
Suggests that classrooms should attempt
to develop different kinds of intelligence
While accepted by teachers, is
controversial because of a lack of a firm
research base
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Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence
Linguistic intelligence: a sensitivity to the meaning
and order of words.
Logical-mathematical intelligence: ability in
mathematics and other complex logical systems.
Musical intelligence: the ability to understand and
create music. Musicians, composers and dancers show
a heightened musical intelligence.
Spatial intelligence: the ability to "think in pictures," to
perceive the visual world accurately, and recreate (or
alter) it in the mind or on paper. Spatial intelligence is
highly developed in artists, architects, designers and
sculptors.
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Multiple Intelligences continued
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: the ability to use
one's body in a skilled way, for self-expression or
toward a goal. Mimes, dancers, basketball players, and
actors are among those who display bodily-kinesthetic
intelligence.
Interpersonal intelligence: an ability to perceive and
understand other individuals -- their moods, desires,
and motivations. Political and religious leaders, skilled
parents and teachers, and therapists use this
intelligence.
Intrapersonal intelligence: an understanding of one's
own emotions. Some novelists and or counselors use
their own experience to guide others.
Naturalist intelligence: an ability to recognize
similarities and differences in the natural world 16
Responses to Differences in Ability
Ability Grouping
Places students of similar aptitude and
achievement together for instruction
Between-class ability grouping divides students for
all subjects.
Within-class ability grouping divides students only
in certain subjects, such as math and reading.
Tracking
At the secondary level, divides students across the
curriculum.

What do you think? What does the research say? 17

Learning Styles
Describes students’ personal approaches
to learning
Popular with educators, viewed
skeptically by researchers, and difficult
to implement
Suggests we should develop
metacognition — students’ awareness of
how they learn most effectively
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Students with Exceptionalities
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA)
Passed in 1975
Guarantees a free, appropriate, public education
(FAPE) for all students with exceptionalities
Mainstreaming: moves students from
segregated settings into the regular
classroom

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Students with Exceptionalities (continued)
Inclusion: more recent and more
comprehensive approach, advocates a total,
systematic, and coordinated school-wide
system of services
Least restrictive environment (LRE): places
students in as normal an education setting
as possible
Individualized Education Program (IEP):
individually prescribed instructional plan
created and implemented by multiple
stakeholders 20
Categories of Disabilities under IDEA
Specific learning Multiple disabilities
disability Hearing impairment
Communication Orthopedic
disorder impairment
Intellectual disability Developmental delay
Emotional Visual impairment
(behavioral) Traumatic brain
disturbance injury
Other health Deaf-blindness
impaired
Autism 21
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Students who are Gifted and Talented

Students who are at the upper end of

the ability continuum who need special
services to reach their full potential.
Controversy about Gifted and Talented
programs in the era of NCLB

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Exceptionalities: Implications for
Teachers
Collaboration: working with other
educational professionals to create an
optimal learning environment for students
with exceptionalities
Your role:
Aid in identification process
Collaborate on IEPs
Adapt instruction
Maintain communication
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