Dealing with a Diverse Student Body

By Johana Melendez

Dealing with a diverse student body

Would you like to hear more about 4 core principles that all students long for? Regardless of their background, ethnicity, language, gender, religion, age, and all differences you can name, I believe these are core principles that if you embrace them, it can advance your connections with students that could eventually lead to improvement in their academic progress. If you want to hear more about it and some practical strategies to use in your classroom when dealing with a diverse student body click in the link to read more.

Dealing with a diverse student body

We all know very well that our students are different in many ways: physically, ethnically, culturally, socially, economically, emotionally, by age, gender, religion, level of intelligence, etc… So, how can we teach and reach out to all of them? Is it even possible? I personally think it is possible, however, it will be challenging because it all begins with “Me”, the teacher. In reading different publications about this topic and reflecting in my own personal experiences, I have come to the realization that most of the things that we want to change about our students may not be possible to change. But we can always change ourselves, our perceptions and expectations and educate ourselves so we can better deal with those things we cannot change. No matter how diverse your classroom is, there are principles that are common to all human beings and if you understand that, and embrace it, it will help you reach out to all your students and be a more effective teacher, regardless of their background and differences. Here, I list some of those core principles that we all long for with some ideas on how to apply them in your classroom.

1. Students want to be accepted and respected for who they are: Never assume, do not generalize. To better understand their behaviors, try to understand their home culture and family values and beliefs. The first day of class you can ask questions about what they think of education, their expectations of your class and you, as their teacher. Ask them if those ideas come from their family or the society they live in. Clarify your expectations that you have of them from day one, so they know where you stand and what you expect of them. Acknowledge that there may be differences in opinions and explain why you value your methods and philosophy of teaching. Always use a tone that demonstrates respect. After all, they are adults, just like you.
2. Students appreciate being thought of as if they are “smart and capable." We all enjoy being told how smart we are and love being able to achieve challenging things. People like challenge. Nothing feels better than being able to say: “That was hard, but I did it”. Don’t assume they are lazy and want and easy class. They may be anxious and feel lost, but with guidance and respect they are more likely to get inspired and start believing in themselves. Make your class challenging and always keep high standards but be sure to help them by providing them with structure and guidance on how to study the material. Many of them don’t know how to study. And then praise them when they achieve results. Demonstrate high expectations, but make sure you are available to help them achieve. The more practice and challenging discussions happen inside the classroom, the more they master the material and become confident outside the classroom and during the tests. If it’s too difficult, be flexible by offering them different alternatives to the same assignment. For example, if it’s a microbiology project, ask them to pick the diseases they want to research, instead of you making the decision for them. Give them periodic reviews, prompt feedback and frequent tests or practice tests so they have a chance to master material before final test. Give them the opportunity to drop a low grade. If they know that it is realistically possible to achieve a good grade, they will be more motivated to work on your class. If they know their whole grade depends on just a few tests, they will feel insecure and hopeless, and may give up.
3. Students want to know that you care: Everyone needs and wants to be loved. Showing that you care is a sign of love that goes the extra mile. Allow students to share their personal dreams, goals, concerns and hopes. Remember the saying: “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care." Get them involved with community projects. Service learning is a great way to do that while they learn class material because they get to help the community and feel part of something. That will help you connect with the students in the class and outside the class. Attend SGA events to celebrate with students and thank them for their involvement in extracurricular activities.
4. Students love to share their life stories with the class and you: Tap into students' backgrounds to enhance learning. Students' self-esteem and motivation are enhanced when teachers ask them to share their experiences by creating class discussions and validating what they say. Students are more likely to be interested in your class when they can relate the concepts to their own life stories and experiences. So, do your homework and get to know them on first day so you can be prepared with ideas and examples that touch each of them.

In conclusion, I believe that teaching students here at HCC can be challenging because of the diversity of students we have, but if we embrace it, we can also learn from it and enjoy it. Although everything I wrote here comes from my heart and beliefs, I gathered ideas from the reference below to write this article and if you want to learn more, visit the link or read in the book “Educating Everybody's Children: Diverse Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners, Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition Edited by Robert W. Cole; Chapter 2. Diverse Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners written by Marietta Saravia-Shore. http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/107003/chapters/Diverse-Teaching-Strategies-for-Diverse-Learners.aspx