Differences in the Classroom

We all encounter people in our lives who come from various different backgrounds. In education teachers are guaranteed to have students who have had different experiences than they did. I expect my students to have different home lives than the one I had growing up. Growing up I had two parents that were still married and they both always had steady jobs. I recognize that many of my students may only have one parent or they may live with someone who is not their biological parents at all. Also, growing up my house was in a safe neighborhood and I did not have to worry about my safety. My future students may not have this sense of security and it is my job to understand that. The way I will plan for these differences is to learn about my students’ backgrounds. I will try to get information about what their home life might be like early on. For example in my Educational Psychology class we discussed a way a teacher tried to get to know their students and I could do something similar to the “I wish my teacher knew..” sheet shown below (ProfessorWeber).

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On the Carnegie Mellon University webpage there was an article, “Design and Teach a Course” that stated, “When students from different cultures share a classroom – or if you, as the instructor, come from a different culture than your students – it is important to consider how cultural background can affect classroom dynamics and learning”. This quote stuck out to me because I also believe students’ various backgrounds can completely alter the dynamic of the classroom. It is important to understand and address these differences so that the teacher can successfully create an atmosphere where every student is able to learn to the best of their ability.

Sources

University, C. M. (n.d.). Who Your Students Are-Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation – Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved April 05, 2017, from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/yourstudents.html

 

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