Teaching in a Diverse Classroom

As a teacher teaching in such a diverse school district, I would be sensitive to my students’ cultural, academic and economic differences. In my classroom I strive to create culturally sensitive learning communities and develop a positive teacher-student-parent relationship. Lesson plans are designed to motivate all students to learn, at their own level of learning, and allow me to use differentiated instructional strategies with hope of maximizing student learning. I would hope that after taking my course my students would be able to see the importance of being a productive citizen and how they can use the tools and skills learned to reach that goal. I do believe that with the right tools and skills, they all can be productive citizens whether they choose to take a job right out of high school, attend college or learn a trade at a career technical school.

One of the most challenging situations that I have had to handle with another adult occurred my first year of teaching. Our local DECA chapter was wrapping up a fundraiser and needed to get rid of our leftover stock of suckers. Several of my students asked if they could come back later in the day and sell. I told them that they had to complete their classroom work and get permission from their teacher to come back and sell at the end of the block period. So after a successful day, I was approached during my 4th block planning period by a teacher. She came into my classroom, without knocking, waving the note I had written, and pretty much told me to never request for “her” students to be removed from class again. I was taken by surprise; she didn’t even introduce herself when she came into my classroom. I only knew who she was from the faculty meetings. So in order to save face, I took the high road and I apologized and told her it would never happen again. How could I have handled it differently? I could have been just as rude as she was and pointed out that the note said it was up to her to