Diversity in the Classroom

I agree with Kali that using the “Where Are You From” poem or something similar is a great way to get to know your students personally. This is a way to get to know your students through their eyes and not just standard questions relating to their home life, their past, etc. Do not get me wrong, I believe that questions that relate to home life and so forth are important, but they only let you get to know your students on a surface level instead of a more personal level. A good template for getting to know your students home life, I believe, is in the Lenski article “Assessing English-language learners in mainstream classrooms”, Table 2: Predictability log questions. These questions are meant to help teachers assess English Language Learners, though I believe that it hits on crucial things that a teacher needs to know about their students’ background in order to teach them better. The types of questions include: what is the student’s family situation?, who are their best friends?, how do they dress?, what are they interested in?, what is their schooling background?, and what do they enjoy doing outside of class?.

As a teacher, I could learn about my students not only by standard questions and where they are from poems, but also by getting to know their community. Being involved in your students’ community is critical to get to know your students because you can get a better feel for their life and surroundings and events going on in their neighborhoods or communities. Especially if you move to a new city or state and they speak a dialect that is different from your own. You will need to become familiar with their dialect and sensitive in order be respectful of their customs, similar to the Wheeler article on codeswitching. This involvement allows a teacher get to know their students from multiple perspectives so they can get a better feel for them as a learner and a person.