Chapter+17+-+Diversity+and+Literacy

=Introduction =

When educators think about literacy for our learners, how does diversity fit into the equation? Diversity has so many constructs that it is very complex, and gives teachers much to consider. This chapter discusses how being mindful of the possibilities that exist, honoring diversities, and creating safe spaces in which to learn must be present in order for each individual to further his or her literacy skills.

= = =Diversity and Literacy: Samuels & Farstrup, 2011 =

(Full screen view recommended)

media type="custom" key="19217558" align="left" width="90" height="90"

toc

= **Honoring Diversities ** =

Most (but not all) current teachers in the United States have grown up speaking English and being influenced by the country they have grown up in (the United States) and these teachers are responsible for instructing students from different national backgrounds and traditions. Due to this teachers need to be aware of the diversities that shape the literacy landscape. Teachers also need to be aware of what influences their own beliefs such as misinformation, the political landscape, national mood, personal upbringing, and teacher education programs. Besides the makeup of the counties' classrooms and a teachers own beliefs there are three major issues that affect the literacy landscape that all educators need to be aware of. These are: 1. The demonization of certain students //examples: demonization of students who exercise religious diversity after 9/11 and demonization of immigrant children as disputes take place over immigration policies.// 2. Debates in the legal and political spheres //examples: debates that have been going on in the political realm that involve raising test scores, standards, and standardized testing.// 3. Teachers' beliefs and dispositions //examples: some still believe that students' home or other experiences are irrelevant to learning reading and writing.//

So, the big question is what can teachers due to honor diversities in the reading and writing classroom?

Value Diversity Examine ideologies that inform pedagogical, policy and research Avoid essentializing students Take proactive stances around issues of diversity View classrooms as spaces in which identities are not settled Expand notions of what counts are reading Develop a greater understanding of language complexity and use in academic settings Link schools to the communities they serve Assess curricular decisions Make connections between instruction and children's and youth's experiences Nurture respectful collaboration with families and communitites Diversify texts Link disciplinary and everyday knowledge Understand diagnostic tools to interpret data in order to offer appropriate differentiated instruction Provide intensive fist-language instruction when necessary Provide research-based cognitive strategy instruction Develop content area knowledge, academic proficiency, and English language proficiency simultaneoulsy Create opportunities for student autonomy, and group students strategically = = = = = **Recommendations ** =
 * Research suggests the following:**
 * Teachers**
 * 1) Make connections between instruction and student's experiences
 * 2) Provide research-based cognitive strategy instruction
 * 3) Link disciplinary and everyday knowledge
 * 4) Create student autonomy and group students strategically
 * 5) Diversify texts
 * 6) Understand diagnostic tools to interpret data in order to offer differentiated instruction
 * Teacher Educators**
 * 1) Do not ignore or treat diversity superficially
 * 2) Value diversity and allow educators to step outside their personal experience
 * 3) Elements of diversity should interact in the form of multiple identities
 * 4) Commitment to social justice and prepare learners to value their diversity and engage in active citizenship
 * 5) Assign teacher candidates in field placements that serve diverse populations
 * 6) Provide better quality formal training around teaching in diverse settings
 * 7) Provide opportunities for teacher candidates to tutor struggling readers to learn DI
 * 8) Connect course content to real experiences
 * 9) Diversify faculty
 * Administrators**
 * 1) Link schools to communities they serve
 * 2) Establish a school vision
 * 3) Assess curricular decisions
 * 4) Use data inquiry as a starting point to lead to various kinds of change
 * 5) Nurture respectful collaboration with families and communities
 * 6) Address the moral and educational dilemmas
 * 7) Model transformative and intellectual leadership
 * 8) Diversify faculty
 * 9) Diversify texts
 * Researchers**
 * 1) Examine intersections of diversity in substantive ways
 * 2) Develop improved language assessments
 * 3) Draw heavily on theoretical orientations and methodologies that have deep respect for students' diversity
 * 4) Investigate the dual obligations of teaching English learners
 * 5) Generate a greater understanding of the nature of language complexity and its use in academic settings

= = =**Creating Safe Spaces and Pathways **=

= = Creating a safe “space” can mean a lot of things. Entire schools should be safe spaces, but it is often more manageable for teachers to focus first on making their classroom a safe space. This means setting up the classroom so that it feels like a community, ensuring that everyone feels respected, and that the things that make them unique are embraced.

Genuinely honoring diversity means taking time to be aware of all the constructs that exist (such as race, class, religion. sexuality etc...) and realizing that when these things come together, there are a plethora of possible realities among our learners. Our dispositions as leaders of the classroom must be something we mindfully examine in order to create a safe space. We all have our own beliefs, but we must challenge our prejudices and educate ourselves if we are going to provide a diverse education to our learners.

Tatum (2011) talks about these "multiple identities" in this chapter and cations the reader not to forget any of the possible categories that learners may belong to. Similarly, multiple and intelligences and multiple literacies are important for educators to consider as well. Multiple intelligences are simply what learners' areas of strength are, and what mode they do best in. Multiple literacies speaks to the fact that students may have non-traditional literacy skills that we don't readily see (such as technology communication or magazine reading), but if taken into consideration can help teachers reach students in a more personal way. Simply getting to know the students' interests and passions is so important.

Here are some tips to creating safe spaces for all students:


 * Provide an array of literature that offers both mirrors (giving students the ability to see people like themselves thus helping with identity formation) and windows (offering the chance to see people who are different from themselves in some way).
 * Use the community as a resource.
 * Examine your own attitudes and beliefs, and educate yourself.
 * Create a classroom that is a community, in which it is clear that any type of bullying is not tolerated.
 * Discuss the "sensitive" issues with your learners. Teach them to be critical consumers.
 * Learn from your students by listening to their stories and voices and taking suggestions from them about instruction.
 * Be mindful of multiple identities, literacies, and intelligences.

Finally, this section concludes with some resources for teachers: (many of these sites specifically have lessons about diversity that you can use)

[|http://www.responsiveclassroom.org] (Responsive Classroom is a program that helps teachers turn classrooms into communities) [|http://www.museumoftolerance.com] (The Museum of Tolerance is a project that focuses on diversity and education)

[] (Teaching tolerance is a program that aims to help educators incorporate diversity into their classroom) [] (The International reading Association's list of books for a global society) [] (The Anti-defamation League has put together a page about multicultural and anti-bias books)

=**Personal Experiences **= = =

**Monica Bueno **
The ESL classroom is for many educators the first place where they come in contact with diversity under a wide spectrum of diverse students. These learners are not diverse simply because they come to the country from all over the world but because of the multiple differences in culture, religion, family situations and, most important, previous schooling situations. The student I want to share is a Vietnamese student who had to experience living in a refugees’ camp for several months before coming to the United States. In her village the only teacher she had known was a missionary who had spent a few years with them and whom patiently taught her some English and the few skills they had time to learn because she had to take care of her 2 younger siblings in her spare time. In the refugees’ camp she lived unimaginable horrors before finally immigrating to America. She was my student during her second year in the USA and was very quiet but very willing to learn. I contacted the local church where the girl’s family attended and established a good relationship with one of the women in charge of the pastoral and who helped me twice a week in the classroom. Lilly (not her real name) started to be more receptive to interaction and by the end of the year had made a few friends. This girl always reminds me of the baggage some of our students bring with them and how unaware we may be of all the circumstances surrounding their apparent lack of interest for learning. We want them performing at grade level because they have to test but how can they when so many things have not been yet learned? M. Bueno

**Jan Cotton **
(Full screen view recommended) media type="custom" key="19231702"

**Liza Gonzalez **
It is hard for me to pick just one personal experience as an educator. Although I have only been teaching for 3 years now, I have witness many diversities, from excelled, disabilities, ethnicity, religion, etc. I would like to share my own personal experience as a first generation American from a Cuban family. As I have shared before, my family struggled and worked very hard to get to where they are now and to give me the life that they did. I am so very blessed that they raised me with open eyes to never judge or discriminate and taught me to treat everyone as equals. I grew up in a very small town where I was the only Hispanic student . The school was 99% white Americans. It was hard for some students to understand my culture and there were even some teachers who had their own beliefs and assumptions. But I am glad that my parents exposed me to other cultures, beliefs, etc. They made me understand that no one person is the same. I walk into my classroom, remembering this and I treat my students and others as equals.

**Erin Haemker **
My first foray into the world of diversity and literacy came with my very first teaching job. As a 22 year old young, single, white, (small) female educated at a private Catholic college in Northern Vermont and raised in a middle class setting in Massachusetts I accepted my first teaching job via a phone interview. I was ecstatic! It was in southern Virginia, bible belt-ish and the school was 86% African American and 70% free and reduced lunch. In my first class I was the only white person in the room. I talked too quickly, had loved reading my whole life and had never been in trouble with the police. I quickly realized I was in the minority. In order to survive I quickly had to re-examine my ideas of a teaching in a place that was so different from my upbringing and beliefs. It was a rewarding five-year adventure! Teaching there for 5 years helped me to grow in creating diverse classrooms and safe learning environments. Now I have a classroom that is filled with white, black, asian, and middle eastern students and the lessons I learned about creating safe spaces at my first school have helped me to create a classroom where diversity is celebrated!

**Tracey Love **
An example from my teaching that fits in with this chapter is about a ten year old girl names Tara. Tara is half Vietnamese and half Caucasian, but people always told her that she "just looks Asian." All too often we see teachers expect Asian students to excel. This had been the case with many of Tara's previous teachers. Instead of allowing her to be an individual, and considering her very unique circumstances, people had made assumptions and stereotyped her by treating her as if she should excel because she is part Asian. In fact, Tara had never met her Vietnamese father, had little involvement with her mother, and was being raised by her Caucasian grandmother. Tara also has dyslexia. At first Tara refused to even talk to me about why she just sat there and stared at the paper instead of trying during writing assignments. Eventually she did tell me that she was sick of being expected to be better at writing than she was. I got to know Tara, used her love of science and art to reach her (I had her write about these things), and I made it clear that she was free to be exactly who she was. I by no means feel that if an Asian student was being raised in a "traditional Asian home" that it would be ok for teachers to expect high quality work from her. It is much more than that, teacher were ignoring her individuality, which created an unsafe space for her.

~Tracey Love

**Marcy Roberts **
It was hard for me to choose one single personal experience to share because I’ve had a myriad of diverse students. I’ve had students who have excelled and others who will always struggle because of learning disabilities. Some students, though, want to succeed in spite of adversity and feeling they are “different.” Hassan (pseudonym) is a student from Yemen who tirelessly tried to fit into the middle school environment without much luck. Because of religion and the events of 9/11 many students perceived him as dangerous and chose not to work with him. I admired this young boy who in spite of his peers’ attitudes sought out to show others that he was nothing but another teen with similar issues. The most difficult language domains for him to learn were reading and writing. It did not come as a surprise to me because Arabic and English come from very different alphabet systems and even though he was literate in his language, content area represented a big challenge. The one thing that surprised me was that teachers with years of experience in the classroom found him to be disengaged when it came to reading and writing. They thought that because his level of spoken English was very reasonable he was just being lazy. I had to remind them more than once that English language learners acquire social language before the academic language and that reading and writing are the last domains acquired. This boy was determined to learn and with the many modifications to his work, the assistance of bilingual dictionaries, the use of reading software, and other support provided he became the successful student he once was in his home country. It was a real pleasure to find out that he graduated early. Marcy Roberts

=Conclusion =

<span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: left;">Diversity in teaching comes in many shapes, sizes, colors and opportunities. Teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and researchers have all seen and felt this at some time and will continue to do so for as long as there are people alive in our world. If we can tap into the differences in all of us and make it a part of each of us, our teaching will be richer and more fulfilling not only for us but our students also. Diversity is an opportunity to learn that cannot be ignored. As we look at each individual student let us look for how we are the same and celebrate our differences so our students learn as much as they can while we have them.We hope they become the readers they need to be to survive and flourish going out into our big bad world.