Peter,
Generations is something to be aware of. You are right that you need to be aware of it. So many times, we think that students should change for us instead of us changing for them.
Philip Campbell
Sexual orientation, identity, and expression are some aspects of diversity that I haven't seen mentioned here. There are some real cultural differences that would be good to understand.
William,
That was a really eloquent post that was very enlightening as well as entertaining to read. You have some great insight.
Pete
Amen to that! ESL students require added attention, and I usually try to identify them on the first day. A couple weeks ago I was getting a little frustrated at an ESL student who was taking FOREVER on an exam (and I needed the bathroom!) But I calmed myself by remembering that if I had to take a test in HIS language, it would take me a heck of a lot longer. So I relaxed and let him finish.
Carol,
I like how your phrased that, "where we came from and where we are going and how we can all be a part of the future of our career." I feel that is especially important these days when there are four generations in the workplace, and in the classroom too. I wrote a paper about it for my masters. Each generation has its own ideas about success, rewards, scheduling, technology, etc. To be a successful multi-generational teacher, I believe we have to know about each one.
Pete
yes i agree, age is a big factor. plus, family sizes are also effecting the learning ability of students. plus, language can also be a barrier as well.
I agree with you Chris, many students feel discouraged after a bad test or assignment. Once the test or assignment is complete, I always go over it. The students and I discuss the questions and I guide them to the right answer and explain why their answer was incorrect. I always reassure the student there is always “a next time†to earn a better grade or to learn from their mistake.
In terms of age, I've found that emotional maturity (or lack thereof) can be a major stumbling block to academic success.
I'm an instructor in a vocational nursing program, and many of the younger students are lacking this basic level of maturity. Based on their age, this is to be expected. However, when these same students expect to become nurses who are responsible for the safety and lives of their patients, well, that's a whole other story.
Lastly, a lack of emotional maturity makes it difficult for these students to provide appropriate therapeutic communication to their patients.
Hudson
The diversity in the levels of knowledge my students have is what I find the most difficult to manage in my classes. They are reluctant to say they do not understand or have never been taught a certain concept, and I am left to either assume they have the background they need to do the work required or teach the concept to the whole class even though some or most already know it. Dealing with all this certainly requires soft skills on my part.
Apart from cultural and ethnic diversity one must be aware of diversity in principles and attitude towards people and the factors shaping it.
The diversity I see in my classroom is age. I have students that are older than me, students that are younger than me and students who are my age. I have to be sensitive to the generation gap that exists and bring them all together with common interests. I do this by refering to things in the past, present and future and give examples.This helps them understand where we came from and where we are going and how we can all be a part of the future of our career.
Age range comes to mind as far as classroom diversity. Especially technology use that some older students may not have been exposed to in previous educational settings
Living in the Los Angeles area, the other types of diversity we have to deal with is a large economic divide within the population of students I teach. There are student who live and went to school in affluent areas. These students usually do well academically. Students who live and went to school in impoverished areas usually do not do well academically. I also teach in a school with large Asian population. Some students are enrolled in the program I teach due to parental pressures to get a job in the medical profession. These students are not personally motivated to succeed in the program.
Susan,
Can you give any examples of activities that you may use to help reinforce this as well?
I address diversity of student learning styles/preferences (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) by selecting learning activities and materials using each of these modalities.
Thats a good question. I don't know if they can be taught, or at least not easily taught. People have innate personality traits that pervent soft skills from being natural to them. This is the area that all the characteristics and traits you have inherited and learned from infancy to adulthood preside. A person has to truely want to learn a different approach and it in many cases means changing their personality. For example type A personality would have a very difficult time with soft skills. I'm speaking from an area I know well. LOL
I totally agree. I don't think we have experienced in the past as we have today the experiences students bring with them and the impact it has on their ability to learn.
There are many other diverse factors within the education system, particularly in higher education. The economic status of the country has resulted in many older students in the education system. So the age diversity within classes is much more evident. I teach in an area that has low socio-economic status and that fact alone encroaches upon knowledge base, health issues,overall attitude and behaviors.
As a commercial driving instructor, my students have to learn a set of hard skills that require the soft skill of using common sense to implement. My students only have twelve days to learn the requirements for testing. My experience has taught me that students, who place very high or very low in hard skills (IQ), seem to have the most difficulty implementing the use of common sense. Unfortunately, this group of students has the lowest initial success rate. We cannot assume that the average IQ provides the fastest success rate. In my field the two areas of diversification that seem to have the largest impact are; primary education and mechanical type life or work experience.
We have two areas of achievement; classroom and hands-on. We have to rapidly determine the student’s background to assist in their progression. Weaker education requires more classroom assistance and weaker mechanical skills require more hands on assistance. All of the soft skills mentioned in this course are required for me to close the diversity gaps.
Mike Adams
economic diversity would be the big one for me because money does play a roll in what and how you learn.,
