MY FIELD PLACEMENT CLASSROOM:
I have seen a many ways my cooperative teacher honours students’ diversity and differences, as well as being inclusive in her practices. She has a keenness towards each of the students, she is aware of each of their different educational needs and learning methods, as well as an understanding of who they each are as a person. In many of her subjects she gives students the ability to decide how they work best, partner or no partner, other subjects she does centers where the students do various learning tasks in a group of equally skilled peers. She continually uses different approaches and methods in how she delivers learning material and often uses fun engaging ways to test comprehension and knowledge of the material.
IN OTHER CLASSROOMS:
Talking with the grade 2 teacher, I learned that she has one student with higher learning and behavioural needs, as well as life skill needs. Each week this student works with support staff and the teacher to practice a specific life skill in the classroom environment, this student is then paired up with a classmate and given the opportunity to implement the new skill in an associated community environment/setting, depending on the learned skill. For example, last week restaurant etiquette and menu ordering were practiced and then these new skills were put into practice by going to an actual restaurant within the community.
THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL
There is a limited number of students that represent racial differences in this specific school, but from what I have seen there are more differences in learning needs and abilities, as well as socializing skills. This week while we were in the gym to watch the school pep rally it allowed me to see the entire student body in the same place at once. Through this experience I was able to see numerous inclusive ways diversity and difference are honoured as students interacted with both their peers and teachers. There were many students with different coping needs due to the high volume and crowdedness in the gym. I seen a variety of ways teachers were inclusive depending on the individual needs of the student, so they could still take part in festivities. While some wore ear mufflers, some were able to stand behind the glass door so they were able to see without feeling overwhelmed by the crowd, others were aloud to sit in the hall and read or work on assignments, while a few were even able to come and go when they needed a moment to get away.
There is also a gender neutral bathroom available to students to be inclusive of their personal needs.
BONUS EXPERIENCE:
This week I was invited by the grade 4 & 5 students to attend their Heritage Fair on my personal time. What a wonderful display of their hard-earned work, their various learning styles, backgrounds, and interests. The gymnasium was filled with approximately 60 displays highlighting a variety what represented their individual heritage, or interest as a Canadian. There were displays on Vimy Ridge, Slavery in Canada, The War of 1812, Indian Residential Schools, Mining, Farming, Hockey, and even the History of Moose Jaw’s record breaking, Mac the Moose: I am sure if you can think of it, it was covered. Students used various ways to present their work, whether on a computer with a slide show, video, or images; an oral explanation or a question and answer style. Again, if you can think of it, it was done. I realized afterwards how much of my reflection on this weeks topic of diversity and difference, happened in a different environment than within the usual boundaries of my placement classroom and it was even among a greater number of the students, that I normally do not get a chance to observe and interact with. As you can tell I had a fantastic time, I was able to see several examples of diversity and differences through not only the students, themselves, but also through their research, displays, and learning styles and levels. I think it was an amazing opportunity for the students to shine in their own way and it was a great example for their teacher to be inclusive in the same way.