Technology, diversity and
the media center
As I read the story listed, I was moved by the determination
of Ashley and smiled about the outcome of the story. I don’t think students and (some) teachers put
enough faith in students who are not in a regular classroom. I’m not sure if it because they do not
participate in the lessons with everyone else or if they are looked over
because of a small disability. This
story reminds me of a student I taught five years ago. Her disability was her eye sight. She was considered legally blind, but was
still able to see. We had to blow up all
of her textbooks and make special accommodations for her regarding her seating
in the classroom, however, she was the most amazing artist! And when I say art, I don’t mean she could
paint circles and squares, but the most detailed and minuscule designs that
would take hours to draw. It was truly
amazing to watch her.
I think diversity is about race, gender, culture,
language, special needs, and background/home life. No one student is alike. I think it is a shame that there are not more
clubs or organizations that students can participate in to excel in other
ways. I think it is the job of the media
specialist AND teachers to serve all the diversities as best we can, as well as
promote it within our school building.
Encouraging and promoting means to support your students when
needed. Encourage them to not forget
their roots and honor being different.
The media specialist should also have a wide range of books on the
shelves that supports diversity so the students feel/know that their taste in
books/culture has not been overlooked.
The shelves, books, and stacks should be organized and set up to
accommodate students with disabilities so they are not overlooked as well. We have a diversity program at my school and
every year (for the past 3) we have had a diversity assembly in the gym
honoring all the different cultures. I
personally love it!
Unfortunately, our media center does not support
diversity as much as I think it should.
Our SLMS is on the diversity committee, but we do not have various
programs going on to support diversity.
I think technology would be an asset to promote diversity in the
schools. If we were to have a morning TV
show, we could have monthly/weekly guests on to speak about their
cultures. We would also have various
tech jobs that would need to be filled with students and that would be a great
way to get them involved, as well as help “discover” our future
actors/designers/directors, etc.
Additionally, technology would be utilized to further educate students
on different cultures. Videos, songs,
games, activities could all be watched/listened to/played to further spread the
“diversity word”.
The more we teach our students to tolerate and
embrace, the better our world will be.
There are so many things that could be done to advance diversity. I really think tolerance has improved, but with still so much farther to go. If we, as educators, can model including everyone and involving all students, it would help to move that tolerance level further along. It is amazing how our perception of a child changes over the course of a school year. When we first see the name on our homeroom list, we get an earful from last year's teachers and we form an opinion before we even meet the child. As we begin the year, we see certain behaviors emerge and we think we know all about this child. Then as the year moves on, we find that one thing that will always excite that child. If we can remember that every child (and grown person, for that matter) has something that excites them and motivates them and makes them excel, we would put an end to judging. All children would be successful.
ReplyDeleteDiversity is defined in the World English Dictionary as the state or quality of being different or varied. It is the relation that holds between two entities when and only when they are not identical; the property of being numerically distinct.
ReplyDeleteSo what is diversity in the school? Is diversity ‘multicultural diversity,’ about people from different parts of the state, country, world, who have a different experiences about what is normal? Or is diversity about the diversity of the physical and mental capability of the people with which we interact?
I haven’t had to deal with diversity to a great extent in my classroom. Our school is only beginning to change. I have traveled to Europe, Central America and around the United States and have some experience with different lifestyles. While I have students who have never lived or visited many places outside of Georgia and South Carolina. These children understand physical and mental diversity, because of the exposure at school. However, they are beginning to learn that religion also holds justification for difference of opinion about what is acceptable practice.
Classrooms have become a meeting place for children of all kinds of diversification to include: (Sexual orientation, nationalities, religions, cultures and income backgrounds). While the classroom is a great place to learn acceptance, teaching them becomes a challenge. As we make decisions, it is important to understand the point of view of the children with whom we interact. This comes from experience. The more varied our experience, the more varied our opinion will be from that of others about a specific topic.
Additionally, every person has unique talents, characteristics, and challenges to deal with as they make their way through life. By accepting other’s differences, and capabilities, we show respect and tolerance. Many times we can respect the actions of those who contribute to life and the world, but we cannot always tolerate their beliefs and behavior. This point of conflict is where teachers walk a fine line. As our world and classrooms change, we must teach our students to become more tolerant of others. We must teach them conflict management so that they can deal with the differences in an acceptable manner. Else, we are going to have to endure conflicts on a scale that we have never before experienced, at a level of violence that technology has made readily available. This may be our most important job as teachers.
Diversity is defined in the World English Dictionary as the state or quality of being different or varied. It is the relation that holds between two entities when and only when they are not identical; the property of being numerically distinct.
ReplyDeleteSo what is diversity in the school? Is diversity ‘multicultural diversity,’ about people from different parts of the state, country, world, who have a different experiences about what is normal? Or is diversity about the diversity of the physical and mental capability of the people with which we interact?
I haven’t had to deal with diversity to a great extent. Our school is only beginning to change. I have traveled to Europe, Central America and around the United States and have some experience with different lifestyles. While I have students who have never lived or visited many places outside of Georgia and South Carolina. These children understand physical and mental diversity, because of the exposure at school. However, they are beginning to learn that religion also holds justification for difference of opinion about what is acceptable practice.
Classrooms have become a meeting place for children of all kinds of diversification to include: (Sexual orientation, nationalities, religions, cultures and income backgrounds). While this is a great way to learn acceptance, teaching them becomes a challenge. As we make decisions, it is important to understand the point of view of the people with whom we interact. This comes from experience. The more varied our experience, the more varied our opinion will be from that of others about a specific topic.
Additionally, every person has unique talents, characteristics, and challenges to deal with as they make their way through life. By accepting other’s differences, and capabilities, we show respect and tolerance. Many times we can respect the actions of those who contribute to life and the world, but we cannot always tolerate their beliefs and behavior. This point of conflict is where teachers walk a fine line. As our world and classrooms change, we must teach our students to become more tolerant of others. We must teach them conflict management so that they can deal with the differences in an acceptable manner. Else, we are going to have to endure conflicts on a scale that we have never before experienced, at a level of violence that technology has made readily available. This may be our most important job as teachers.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent post! Like you, I was moved by Ashley's story. I think that there are thousands of Ashley's out there. Students that have special needs or are identified as different in some way have a purpose and special talent! It is up to the educators to find out just what it is and how to use it! I know that our school news program is made up of SO MANY DIFFERENT kinds of kids, too! They all love it and bond over that.
I agree, too, with one of the comments here that acceptance is growing in schools today. My own school is so very diverse. We have students with different skin colors, religions, and economic backgrounds; yet, we really are a harmonious school with very little problems. Rarely do you see kids that are on free and reduced lunch and who walk to school become friends with those who drive Hummers and live in huge houses, but we truly have that at my school. I think one of the reasons we do have success stories is because of our activities, electives and clubs where all types of people are encouraged to join and take part in. One thing that a library media specialist can do to welcome these students is to create an environment for all students to use the library...not just the AP or brainiac students! Also, the collection of materials is truly important. Currently, I have a Hispanic lesbian in my class. She is considered by some to be an outcast. I was SO happy last week, because she found a character just like herself in a book from the library. She was thrilled, and I heard her sharing it with her friends. Our librarian made that happen! By helping the students find themselves in books, whoever or wherever they are in life, we are helping students become who they want to be and comfortable with who they are.
Jennifer
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if is “normal” to think of schools as not being diverse at this point in time or not. At the same time what defines diversity in schools? Depending on where you are in Cobb County, the idea of diversity seems to shift around a bit. Some schools are diverse because the family incomes are from the high end to neither parent working in the home. Other schools define diversity by the different backgrounds of students from around the world. Others still, define diversity as the type of jobs the parents have. It is hard to put a label on something that is so abstract because, often, we look for diversity on the outside. In a school of mostly African American, where I work, some consider the school to lack diversity, but these kids are vastly different academically, socially, and emotionally. In addition, they aren’t all African American, in fact. Many are African, Columbian, and other nationalities that have made their way to America. Therefore, they are still diverse where they appear to be on the outside or not.
My school is not one that is very diverse. We are in a rural area and I think that the area has a long way to go in understanding and accepting diversity in children. I think that most people think of race when they hear the word diversity but like the other posters mentioned it includes differences in religion, nationality, mental capabilities, and physical capabilities as well. We have had many special education students come into our school recently and it would be nice to see a planned approach school wide to helping those students. The media specialist holds such a unique position in the school and is one of the few that comes into contact with all students. The media center should be a place of acceptance and students should feel welcome and safe regardless of their race, nationality, religion, etc. It should be the media specialist's goal to build a collection of materials that reflect the diversity in their school and hopefully will help all students become more accepting of differences in fellow students.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post about diversity and completely agree with your remark that “The media specialist should also have a wide range of books on the shelves that supports diversity so the students feel/know that their taste in books/culture has not been overlooked.” You also wrote that the media specialist should “Encourage them to not forget their roots and honor being different.”
ReplyDeleteI am in an interesting situation in my county and school because our school, although we have populations of students with different interests, exceptionalities, etc. is nearly culturally homogenous overall. In this situation, I think this should be a motivating factor to expose students to a greater diversity of cultures representative of the world at large. Because of this, I made the number one goal in my policies and procedure handbook “provide students with access to materials that are representative of a wide variety of cultures and that celebrate diversity.”
I love that you have a diversity committee and a diversity program at your school. Even if you feel like it is not as effective as it could be, be glad that you have one! I would love to see that sort of program at my school because there is definitely a need for it. I will have to talk to you about how it works and how I could start one up through the media center at my school.
Thank you Amanda for your post. My school is very diverse and our principal makes sure that we have programs to make the school community aware of this diversity. Through the morning show and various programs put on throughout the school year. One such program is Latino night. This is where we have food tastings and Latino dance and music. the whole community is invited and the students love it!
ReplyDeleteThe next day the Media Specialist has the pictures up on the morning show for all to see. It boosts school unity and pride. More schools should definitely do this. However, it requires someone on staff to head up the program and with faculty loaded down as we are usually only one person has the burden.