Running head: DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMEND BELIEFS 1

Diversity of Informed Beliefs Essay

Jacob Mcleod
Instructor: Dr. Egbert
EDUC 204: Families, Communities & culture
#8













DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 2

Diversity Statement of Informed Beliefs
There are many ways that someone can teach a person how to do something.
When we have to teach him or her to do a lot of things at once it can get complicated, at
some point they need to find a way to teach them. Teachers are the same way there will
be a lot of things going on but the teacher will have to figure out how they will teach their
classes. How they go about the routines, schedules, and beliefs is the teachers
philosophy. The thing that makes teaching neat is that every teacher can have a different
philosophy that is his or her own. It is up to the teacher to provide proper education to
every student to overcome obstacles like, inclusion, different learning styles, and others.
There is not a wrong way to go about teaching, it is all up to how the teacher wants to do
it.
All Students Can Learn
The world today revolves around a strong economy and the workforce that drives
the economy. For the economy and the workforce to stay strong, we need to prepare the
future. This starts with each generation of kids that go to school. Every student that goes
to school has the right to learn and the right to get a good education. How these students
learn and retain information depends on many things such as learning style, which are
the things that they like or do not like, and the things that they are good at or not so good
at. Situations outside the classroom can affect students and their learning process, but at
the same time teachers are faced with an intimidating task of ensuring a proper education
in the middle of all the distractions no matter how big.
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I can ensure that every student will succeed by providing the proper classroom
setting and placing each student in situations where they will be challenged, but will also
still have a great chance to succeed. I will try and have them in a good zone of proximal
development. Each lesson would be delivered in a way each student could comprehend
the material even if they have a different way of learning and have different learning
styles. Lev Vygotsky- Zone of proximal development talks about the range at which
students learn information on their own and with the help of the teacher (Berns , 2013).
I was raised by parents who taught me everything using an authoritative style, so
that helped me develop skills to be a problem solver and to think for myself. I would try
and carry this over into my classroom and lead with the same authoritative style, so that
my kids have the freedom to make choices for themselves and decide their actions. They
would still be listening to me guide them along the way through the learning process.
Based on what a teacher expects of their students this will determine how hard
they work and what they, expect from the teacher. If the teacher allows late work and is
laid back, then so too will the student. If the teacher is very firm about the rules and does
not budge, the students will abide by the rules and the expectations in order to receive a
good grade and make the teacher happy. Developmental appropriateness practice is an
approach to researching how young children develop and learn. It is important to
teachers, because it shows how far along the child is or it can tell how far behind the
students are. This, among other factors, determines the expectations that should be placed
on the student. Perceptions tie into child labeling such as seeing a kid who does not look
smart and just automatically assuming they will be behind their peers is called labeling.
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In order to be successful, students and teachers both need to have goals. The
student goals should not only be just to receive a good grade, but to truly understand the
material and why they are doing the things that they are doing. With guidance from the
teachers, students would be able to set specific goals that can help the student succeed in
school. The other factor is the social factors both inside and outside of school. The
student should get good examples outside of school of how to achieve their goals.
Students Social Ecology Theory
How a student learns depends on his or her socialization, which are the things
outside of the classroom that can affect a students ability to learn. This is divided up into
different systems each system has a different thing that can affect the students in a certain
way. One of the biggest things that can have an impact on a childs life is family. Family
is in the microsystem, family helps determine a number of factors in one persons life,
such as values, attitude, and self-esteem.
The mesosysytem is a link between family, friends, school, and the community,
which also impact a childs learning. The more connections between these systems, the
greater the childs chances are to excel as a student. They will be able to take the things
that they learned in the classroom and will be able to apply them to the outside world.
According to Bronfenbrenners bio ecological theory (Berns, 2013) there are
many different structures within the social ecology that affects the students ability to
learn. The Exosystem doesnt directly affect students. When economical issues come
into play and limit the student from being fully involved in school and participating in
school activities and functions, then it directly affects them. The chronosystem can
impact the childs need for a computer, if they have to do homework on the computer. As
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we see it now a days more and more teachers are becoming more technology based and
the student might need a computer.
Learning can be limited because of each individual system, or even between the
connections of the systems. When all of the systems work together and the connections
between the systems work, then that child will be able to learn without any unwanted
distractions. If the systems dont work well then the child could have harder time
learning.
Cultural assimilation is or the bringing together of different cultures, including
their language to resemble that of another culture can be used to accomplish this. We see
it now in todays society, where countries are now accepting different cultures and
different religions. This is the idea of cultural pluralism in which society accepts the
different cultures and different parts of those cultures. An example of this would be the
concept of bilingual/multicultural education, meaning we accept all the students cultures.
The melting pot theory is the idea that different societies and different cultures can be
mixed in together in one community and blend them all together so they can all live as
one unified unit.
Instructional model includes authoritative teachers, creating cooperative
learning environments that can accommodate for all learning styles, including analytical,
which is when students learn better from very organized statistical information. Global
learners like things to be natural and creative and maintain large chunks of information
better. Independent learning can be used to practice concepts, and set problems.
Equitable Education For All Students
DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 6
Along with the advancement of technology, the mix of various religions and
cultures, and children with disabilities, which is anything that can slow down a childs
learning. Teachers must find a way to make sure that each student is treated equally, and
that every student gets a good education. Most students that have a disability also have an
individualized education program (IEP). These programs are setup for guidelines that
can help the student be successful. Inclusion is when the child with disability is not
removed from the class for special services. For these students, it is not only a good
philosophy but is also required by the IDEA. Divorced families sometimes struggle with
providing for the kid or kids ability to access resources. The student could also be facing
confusion, sadness, and anger, which could mess with that childs ability to learn.
Teachers must be able to assess how much a student is gaining or losing in the
classroom. It is important to know how much information the student remembers. So
Standardized testing is one of the ways to assess a students knowledge. In order to
fully figure out how much the student is gaining, teachers must use authentic
assessments, using a mixture of the available assessment techniques provides the teacher
with and idea of each students performance. When a teacher figures out the information
they can go figure out what methods are working and what methods arent working. The
teacher must be open to adjusting and accommodating the lesson plans for any student,
creating an equal opportunity to learn.
A teachers philosophy is a guide that is written and referred to for future
references, and it is always changing. With the advancements in technology and all the
new learning styles teaching has become very hard. When a teacher can find a method
that works for both them and the students then they will stick with that until it doesnt.
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There will be methods that will work and some that dont work at all that is just how
things work out. The field of education is always changing and that will forever keep
teachers on the lookout for something new that might work better.







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References
Berns R.M (2013). Child, Family, School, Community: socialization and support (9
th
ed.)
Belmont CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning