Chapter 4 (Diversity) Study Guide

INTASC standards related to this chapter:

*          Standard 3 - Diverse Learners. A teacher must understand how students differ in their approaches to learning and create instructional opportunities that are adapted to students with diverse backgrounds and exceptionalities.

*          Standard 7 - Planning Instruction. A teacher must be able to plan and manage instruction based on knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.

Study Guide Questions:

1.          Research show differences in performance in a number of key areas between children from low and middle socioeconomic families. Identify the key socioeconomic factors that can affect student achievement. Then identify instructional strategies that can be used to address each factor.

          Socioeconomic  status is defined by an individuals income, occupation, education, and prestige in society.  There are many preconceived stereotypes that come with socioeconomic status.  There are also factors in schools that are prejudice against some students because of their socioeconomic status.  Schools are set up for the students that come from middle class and upper class  socioeconomic status because of the expectations of school.  Most middle class and upper class socioeconomic status students will know how to follow directions, comprehend complex languages and understand reasoning.  Also most middle class students will keep learning during the summer pushing the gap between them higher.  This might be because parents of upper and middle class students can afford to buy their children books, puzzles, music, computers, take them on vacations and trips.  Not only will parents of upper and middle class homes buy these but they will also spend time with their children reading, talking and encouraging their children.  In later years these parents are more likely to support their children in sports, extracurricular activities, be on the school board and attend conferences.  While lower economic parents may want to do all these things for their children they may not be able to take time off work or afford these expenses.

          As a school teacher one thing that can be done is to never prejudge students or parents.  Another thing that can be done is to have classroom sets of materials such as calculators and rulers so that there is not a divide on who can afford school supplies.  Teachers can treat all students uniquely but by giving them similar access to opportunities.

2.          Explain the difference in meaning between the terms:

*        Race and ethnicity-  Race is physical attributes while ethnicity is a history, a culture, and a sense of oneself.  Race is different then ethnicity because some people can have the same physical attributes but not have the same culture or beliefs. An example is how there are many different Asian cultures but a lot of Asians have the same color skin, size and facial features.

*          Ethnicity and culture- Ethnicity is an common history or heritage while culture is a customary belief or material traits of a racial or religious group.  Ethnicity may or may not influence culture.

3.          Explain the primary reasons, as summarized by Slavin, for students from under-represented groups lagging in achievement in U.S. schools. For each suggest ways in which schools and/or teachers can respond to reduce (with ultimate goal of eliminating) this gap in achievement.

          There are four main things that Slavin says is the cause for under-represented groups lagging in achievement in U.S. schools.  They are Socioeconomic, families, culture, and inadequate responses in the school. 

          Socioeconomic is prevalent in the schools, even the kids know that socioeconomic status matters.  Some things that teachers can do for students that will help them forget about socioeconomic status is for them to make sure that we as teachers understand the choices students feel and help them deal with decisions and choices.

          Families are important in students’ lives; many parents that are from under represented groups are low in the socioeconomic status and therefore cannot spend as much time with their kids, even though they might want to.  Teachers can be a Role Model for these students.  Also family beliefs can be very different then what the schools expect from these students.   Teachers can help these students by telling all the rules in their classroom even the ones that are assumed by many students 

          The last main cause for this lagging described by Slavin is an inadequate response in schools.   There are many things that schools have done that has moved this gap farther and farther even though now they are trying to close the gap.  Between school segregation and schools being built on middle class Caucasian Americans. 

4.          Explain the meaning of the following terms:

*          Language Minority is any person does not speak the language of the country they are living in.  So in the United States of America it is anyone who lives in the United States and does not speak English.

*          Limited English Proficiency (LEP) means that an individual is inexperienced in the English language.

*          English Language Learners (ELL) means that an individual is not yet a master of English.

*          English as a Second Language (ESL) a program taught in some schools for ELL and LEP individuals.  It could be something taught in English class or as a separate program.

*          Bilingual Education is the teaching of students in English part of the time and in their first language the other part of the time.  

5.          Slavin describes how bilingual education has been politically controversial in the U.S. What are some of the arguments that have been made for and against bilingual education in U.S. schools?

          For Bilingual education

-         Parents don’t want to lose their culture in the schools

-         Until they are proficient in English they shouldn’t be taught other subjects in English

-         Parents of these students don’t want to lose their culture or their pride

-         The other language is what gives them their identity and you can’t take that away

-         It’s easier for a student to succeed when they can understand a language clearly

-         Students will fall farther behind if mainstreamed

          Against Bilingual education

-         Students need to know English to function in the US society

-         Bilingual education will hurt Americas melting pot traditions

-         Believe that full English immersion is more effective

-         Desegregation

-         Goals conflict with other areas in the school

6.                Make a chart comparing the many forms bilingual programs can take.

7.          According to research, which approaches to bilingual education, are effective? Which are least effective?

          Cooperative learning programs have been particularly effective in helping students with reading, self-esteem and integrating them into mainstream classes.  A program called Success for all which is cooperative learning plus one to one learning and family support has been highly successful in reading programs both in English and Spanish

          Bilingualism has been shown to increase achievement in students in other areas as well. Consider the fact that America is one of the only countries where students graduate from high school with only one language. 

          Some problems with bilingual education are that there are not many teachers in our schools that are completely bilingual.  Also some of these programs conflict with desegregation and some of the goals in bilingual education conflict with other goals in the schools.          Lastly in California a bill to reduce and almost eliminate bilingual education in the California schools was passed by 61 percent of the voters.  With 37 percent of them being Latino.

8.          Define multicultural education. List the key dimensions of multicultural education and give an example of each.

9.      You conducted your own observations of teacher interactions with males and females in your apprenticeship classrooms and for at least one class period tallied the number of male & female responses to teacher questions, comparing this with the percentage of males and females in the class. How did your findings compare with Slavin's report of the research on gender bias in the classroom?

          In my observations I found that my teacher called on males more then females even though there were more females then males in both the classes that I observed and tallied.  The results on my finding were interesting though because the teacher seemed to call on every other when she could.  I also found that when students blurted out the answer it was always a boy and always a boy with a learning disability or ADHD.

10.          Compare and contrast the differences among the ways in which Binet, Sternberg and Gardner described intelligence.

          Binet used the intelligence quotient to measure intelligence in young French students.  His work advanced the research on intelligence but it also began to show that either someone was “smart” and could learn in a variety of ways or they were not. This work by Binet started a debate that is still going on.  While Binet only used and assessed one type of intelligence Sternberg and Gardner believed there was more then one.  Sternberg believed in three different intelligences; analytic, practical and creative. Gardner believed in eight different intelligences; logical, linguistic, musical, naturalistic, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal.

11.          Explain the difference between field dependent and field independent learning styles.

          Field dependent learners use a cognitive style in which patterns are perceived as a whole, they have difficulty separating out specific aspects of a situation or a pattern conversely field independent learners can separate parts of a pattern and can analyze these separately, they have a hard time seeing the big picture though.

12.          Describe how you could vary your teaching strategies to address differences in student learning styles and intelligences.

          During a lesson on the xy plane and writing equations, I could have students working in groups to use calculators to solve an equation, they can use the equation to solve the equation, and they can use a table to solve the equation.  I can also have students make up a rhyme or a song about solving an equation or how solving this equation makes them feel.  To help students see the natural side of solving equations I can show them how they could use it in the real world or nature.  I can use students 3-dimensional bodies to show that the xy-plane is a 2-dimensional.

Since there have been so many studies on how everyone learners differently as a teacher I need to know how to reach all of those learning styles so here are some other things that I could do as a teacher. One thing that can be done is using mnemonic devises such as for the decimals of pi 3.141592653589 Yes, I like a drink alcoholic of course after the heavy lectures involving quantum chemistry. Which uses a musical and linguistic intelligence. Another thing I can use in math would be math basketball where students are on team and get to take a basketball shot if they get a question right. Which is a bodily kinesthetic learning style. One of the most important concepts in math is that of the golden ratio. More importantly how the golden ratio is seen in many natural objects such as a sunflower and in how bunnies reproduce. This is an example of naturalistic. Another example of how to use naturalistic in math is to use the environment in word problems.