"How Can Instruction be Differentiated for Diverse Learners?"

 

 Standardized schooling has provided many challenges to students who are not able to grasp the same set of knowledge given due to not being able to learn the exact way, when the idea that students can grasp the same set of knowledge and having curriculum revolve around a set amount of lessons to teach per said number of weeks can ultimately lead to ignoring a student's cry for aid in order to learn. The truth is many students learn in many different ways, and we have to set a specific boundary that shows that people do not all learn the same way, at the same pace, or even the same things because of the way others can interpret ideas as they are absorbed. 

The biggest example that comes to mind of standardized schooling is the TEKS and how we as future instructors have to follow this specific guideline when teaching our students, it tells us what students in said grade level are supposed to learn, and what skills they will gain due to TEKS, but it never gives alternatives to teaching said materials. If you have a student who has a hard time speaking English, due to it being their second language, and you go on and don't try to adapt your lesson plan so that child can gain as much knowledge as well then they're going to be left behind and it's not their fault but the system of standardized education for not thinking about those diverse learners. 

Provide lesson plans to revolve around your set of students, have multiple examples based on different ways of learning and not prohibit those who are willing to learn from learning simply because they 'lack' a specific trait the standardized lesson plan asks for. As an educator you have to keep in mind all the possible situations or background these students can come from, some of your students could be learning English as a second language, some could have a hearing disability, others could just not have the funds to create or make a project, etc. There are many ways students learn. 

Educators should be able to take liberty in adapting these lessons in order to benefit all students regardless of how they learn. It's important to have each of our lesson plans revolve around diverse learners and always assume there is going to be one student who is going to need more help understanding a lesson and if we start diversifying lessons to include all children then we will see a boost in scores due to how a lesson plan was modified to help children from all backgrounds learn. Any institutional changes can help students productively learn because of the adaptation of lesson plans due to cultural, linguistic, gender, socioeconomic, etc. ; No student should be left behind in education. 

"How Does Gender Affect The Teaching Profession?"

In present time, it is evident through my school experiences and current college classes that the teaching field is dominated by women. However, this wasn't always the case, teaching only used to be a field men could take on due to the constant enforced idea that women should only be housewives and overseers of the family. This used to be the case with many jobs, men dominated most fields and overtime women began to advocate for their right to get jobs, attend higher education institutions and fight for their rights to do many things that men could freely do. Leading to current time how many fields have a large percent of  women studying in or even working in, making a big emphasis on business related jobs along with science or history centralized majors/job occupations. 

However, the common stereotype in the current teaching field is that only women could only be teachers, at least this is what is heavily implied to children and along with having mostly female teachers throughout elementary/middle/high school this stereotype is only reinforced. However, there is much more to gender according to every individual and by making assumptions about a person due to how they dress could lead to negative interactions. Introducing the concept of gender-diverse children or individuals should be something that becomes normalized since many individuals do not feel comfortable with the gender they are labeled as since birth. 

While I feel comfortable in my gender there are many that do not and it is our job to provide safe spaces to those who need them, everyone is welcomed whether it is in the classroom to learn or even to teach future generations of students. We need to continue advocating for diverse interactions in all classrooms because every one has the right to an education regardless of gender, sex , race and religion.

What is the Purpose of Schools?

     A few things that come to mind when talking about schools are mainly children interacting with one another in any social or physical activities, different cultures and identities interacting with each other. Schools are here to educate in many ways, but I mainly would like to focus on the diversity aspect of it. Children are first introduced to ideas in their household from their parent's viewpoints and once they begin attending a school they begin to interact with different identities and experiencing events with them. The purpose of schools are mainly to provide a safe environment for all who attend it regardless of gender, race, religion and etc. It is a safe space for diversity to grow and the starting ground for children to understand that there are differences between them, however, these differences do not make it easy for those with higher privilege to look down on them but to try and understand why they differ and how to interact with other cultures in a respectful way. It promotes more tolerance for others along with patience for others regardless of their background. By having diversity in the classroom it will improve student's skills to conduct conversations with each other, more awareness for others and their situation, and promote more attention to be paid when it comes to educators interacting with their students. It also teaches educators how to deal with students with different backgrounds and create lesson plans that includes everyone and not just a typical group of students. 

     It's important students go through these types of interactions since it will teach them values and how to become more aware of others and their personal situations since once they finish their educational career they will go out and interact with others out in their future jobs. Whether or not their initial views from their childhood change as they grow up, they would have learn how to properly and effectively communicate with others who differ culturally from them, thanks to school.