DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM

WILFRIDA G. GUEVARRA

Diversity has a lot of meanings. When you are dealing with students who have different sexual preference, different beliefs, different socio-economic status, diversity comes in. Teachers deal with every kind of students every school year. That is why, one of the hardest approaches is how you will reinforce that every student on that classroom will receive equal opportunity? By providing students the opportunities, you can asses and already describe their abilities. You can already describe their strengths and weaknesses. During seminars, differentiated activities are always present. They always point out that our students are always special. They have multiple intelligences. Teachers have the responsibility to structure lessons in a manner that they will receive equal opportunity. In this way, students will be encourage to appreciate and recognize themselves. This will bring the sense of connection and the feeling that they belonged to that group.

Through recognition of individual differences, students are fairly and equally treated. Every student on the four corners of the classroom, will respond to the curriculum differently. It is the responsibility of the teacher on how these students will change their views and accept the fact that the curriculum was designed for everybody. Teachers as facilitators of learning must actively engage students in classroom participation so there will be equal opportunities. The environment should serve as the mirror of learning facts. They should only gain what is moral and what is appropriate and throw away those that could not contribute in doing good, better, and best. We should treat our students as assets not liabilities. We should convert their talents into skills and make sure that nobody will be left behind.

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The author is Teacher I at Malino National High School