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Running head: DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS

Diversity Statement of Informed Beliefs

Parker Twiss
Instructor: Lue Linda Egbert
EDUC 204: Families, Communities, and Culture

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Running head: DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS
Abstract
This paper focuses on my personal understanding on the content I was supposed to write about. I
cited the three books that I have been using in my Education 204, 205, and Health 210 classes. I
have developed my own ideas from these books and didn't refer to any of them at any time while
writing this paper. The information in my paper is from my ideas that I formulated while in
class. However I believe that the textbooks should at least get honorable mention.

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Running head: DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS
Diversity Statement of Informed Beliefs
As a future teacher there is a lot of pressure on becoming a valuable resource in my
student's life. I have had good experiences with teachers, and I have had bad experiences with
teachers. I will take away a lot from both forms of teachers. I will use some of the strategies
that my favorite teachers used when I was the student and I will avoid the characteristics of the
teachers who I didn't get along with. I believe a good teacher develops relationships with their
students encouraging them to be more engaged in the learning process. In this statement of
informed beliefs I will talk about how all students have the ability to learn, how a student's
ecology effects their education, how discrimination affects their learning, and how to be
equitable for all students.
How All Students can learn?
There are many things that can affect a student's ability to learn. Some of the factors that
inhibit their ability to learn are hunger, violence, lack of connectedness, as well as others. It is
the teacher's job to pay attention to help combat these factors. We should know that these factors
originate from outside of the classroom but that shouldn't stop us from trying to treat these
effects. The factor that often gets overlooked is hunger but it's also one that is easy to treat and
has immediate effects. Violence is also a factor that can be fought relatively easy. Here we need
only to create a safe environment at school and develop positive relationships between staff,
students, and parents. Lack of connectedness also falls onto the teacher to develop relationships
with the students and parents. Students won't feel comfortable sharing their ideas or opinions in
a classroom where their opinion isn't valued. Children in these circumstances develop learned
helplessness. This is the problem with a teacher directed approach. The children are
encouraged to sit quietly and only talk when called on. In a learner directed classroom the

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Running head: DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS
students are more relaxed and are more comfortable sharing their ideas and experiences allowing
them to learn in a positive way.
It isn't up to the School to determine if their classrooms are teacher directed or student
directed, it's up to the teachers. There are a lot of teachers who have developed a teacher
directed philosophy because that's the type of teaching they were used to when they were in
school. Schools used to be designed to prepare the students for factory jobs and we haven't
moved too far away from that with teacher directed learning. We need to start moving towards a
learner directed model of teaching. Good characteristics teachers should have in a learner
directed classroom include working closely with each child, understanding group dynamics, and
good communication skills. Teachers should also adopt a culture pluralism philosophy and
understand that there are various cultures in their classroom. The teacher that understands this
and that will take the time to embrace other cultures will impact the lives of those students from
other cultures. They will have more attentive students and higher group participation in their
classroom. Our goal as teachers is to make sure that all of our students are engaged in the
learning process.
Students' Social Ecology Theory
How students learn depend on their socialization. We are inherently life-long learners
and we constantly adapt how we think based on our surroundings. One of the biggest influences
in a child's life is their family. Students develop their values, attitudes, temperance, humanity, as
well as other traits from their family and peers. How a child's family feels about school is
reflected in how much the school socializes them. Students are more likely to enjoy and do well
in school if their families tell them that school is important. In Urie Bronfenbrenner's
Socialization theory the family falls under the child's microsystem. Microsystems include

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Running head: DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS
friends, family members, classmates, teachers, and other community members who come in
contact with the child. A child's mesosystem is the interactions between microsystems and links
family, friends, school, and the community together to determine how the child learns and
interacts with those systems. For example, parent teacher conferences fall into the child's
mesosystem because individually the parent and teacher are both parts of their microsystem.
When these two relationships interact they are both influencing the student to do well in school.
As a teacher it is our responsibility to encourage interactions in our student's microsystems.
These interactions provide new learning experiences for the child and are very healthy.
In Brofenbrenner's socioecological model the systems all work together in shaping the
child's learning. In the exosystem what happens here are beyond the control of the child but still
effects them indirectly. A parent's workplace is an example of this. The child may not know
what goes on at the workplace but if their parent's job is stressful there is a good chance they will
take that home with them impacting the child. Mass media is also a constituent within the
exosystem that can shape a child's beliefs and attitude. In the macrosystem a child's ethnic
background, religion, and social class impact them. The interesting thing about the macrosystem
is that a child could be watching a debate on television with a peer and be super happy about
what one of the candidates said while the exact same statement causes their peer to leave in
frustration. The reason for this is because they have different macrosystems. They might not
share the same ideas based on their religion, culture, or ethnic background. These systems for a
child today might look different from their parents. Today's children have to learn to deal with
issues their parents never had to. Sex and violence are shown on television, divorce isn't
uncommon, and it also isn't uncommon for both parents to work. These changes cause children
to become more self-reliant than when their parents were kids. Each of these systems helps to

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Running head: DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS
shape children into whom they are. It is our job as teachers to help shape students in a positive
way.
Discrimination and Learning
Each classroom is different. Just like the classroom, each student within the classroom is
different. Kids can come from different backgrounds. They can come from a wealthy family or
a poor one, a family with higher education or one without; they can also come from a family
with a different ethnic background. Educators don't often realize it but that last point can greatly
influence the flow of their classrooms. Many teachers grew up with a melting pot ideology.
What this means is that everyone goes into a melting pot and whatever the majority is will
surface. In classrooms with culturally diverse learners this means that the class will move at the
pace of the majority of students, usually white. This ideology encourages assimilation and the
American way as its top importance. Children who come from different ethnicities may feel
divided from the other children. This can be changed by creating a positive culture within the
school. This includes incorporating cultural pluralism in the school. What this means is
encouraging students to relate their personal backgrounds to the content. This process allows
students to feel connected to the content on a personal level. In so doing they become more
attached to the school community. Students should feel that their opinion is important but should
also feel comfortable with their teacher and classmates challenging their position in the
classroom. In this kind of setting the students can start to see multiple different views on the
content and choose the one best suited for them. Our classrooms need to start moving towards
cultural pluralism and away from assimilation.
Another form of diversity in the classroom is kids with learning or physical disabilities.
Most of us don't know what it feels like to be "different" or not have the same ability as everyone

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Running head: DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS
else. This makes it hard for us to see life through their eyes and see their difficulties. Something
as simple as not checking to see if a restaurant accommodates wheelchairs at their tables can
have a huge impact on a child's day. This kid now has to bring their wheelchair tray and can sit
close to the other kids but still outside of the group leaving them to feel like they are not a part of
the group. It is the teacher's responsibility to learn about each child's difference and
accommodate accordingly. Teachers who adopt an infusion-based approach are more prepared
for their students and have a better flow in their classroom. In settings where their students are
shared with other teachers, the teachers should collaborate with each other to help one another
out with their student's differences. Each classroom has a diverse set of kids. The teacher who is
able to make the kids in this setting feel like a community is going to have more responsive
students, and in turn better learners.
Equitable Education for all Students
It is easy to fall into the trap of treating all students like they are in the middle class.
What I mean by this is that as we are teaching we might assign some homework that requires
students to look up information on the internet or print off an essay at home when they don't have
access to a computer or can't afford to print their papers. People from the middle class and
people who fall into the poverty category have similar values. However poor people aren't the
same cognitively, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally as the middle class. This means that we
can't teach the same way and expect the same results from every student. To help with cognition
we need to focus on core academic skills. We should first teach them how to organize, take
notes, prioritize, and study. Once they get a handle for that we can begin to teach them how to
problem solve and work on working memory skills. Developing relationships can also be harder
for kids in poverty. Sometimes the children aren't receiving the care they need or aren't meeting

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Maslow's hierarchy of needs. We can show the students that we are there to help them and
show that we generally care how they are doing. We can learn about our student's hobbies,
what's important to them, as well as their families. Instead of telling students to do something
we should teach them how to do it. It all comes back to building relationships. Exceptional
teachers have healthy relationships with their students.
Equality and equity often get paired together when in reality they have different goals.
Equality means giving everyone the same resources to complete a task. Equity on the other hand
refers to giving each student the resources they need to learn and excel. Equity doesn't
necessarily mean equal. In education equity refers to being fair. What this means is that in order
for everyone to succeed different accommodations are given to students at different levels. For
example, there are three children all of whom are taking a test. These three students are at a
different level cognitively. One of the students understands everything on the test. The other
two however are unable to think out story problems because their brains aren't fully developed
yet. One way to help these students is to read the problem to them and explain it to them so they
can understand it without giving them the answer. Sometimes this is all it takes for students to
realize their potential in your classroom. Standardized tests shouldn't be used as a reference to
how smart your students are. A better way to gage where they are at in the learning process is to
include informal and authentic assessments. This can be as simple as asking a student what
they know about the content or having a group discussion. The beauty of authentic assessments
is that students can demonstrate what they are capable of without the anxiety of taking a test.
Good teachers know when to help other students out and that standardized tests won't help them
understand how much their students know the content.

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Running head: DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS
In this essay I have talked about how all students have the skill to be taught, how a
student's ecology effects their education, how prejudice affects their learning, and how to be
unbiased and equitable for all students. I have learned a lot from my experiences in the
classroom as a student and as an observer. I am excited to get the opportunity to someday be that
person who makes a difference in a child's life. My personal goal is to never waiver from any of
the statements I have included in this paper and to become the best teacher I am capable of
being. I believe that I can always improve my teaching and am eager to find out how in the
future.

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References

Bark, L. E. (2016). Infants, children, and adolescents: Books a la carte edition. Place of
publication not identified: Prentice Hall.
Kovar, S. K. (2004). Elementary classroom teachers as movement educators (4th ed.). Boston:
McGraw-Hill.
Tampkins, P., & Berns, R. (1997). Study guide to accompany Child, family, school, community:
Socialization and support, 4th ed., Roberta M. Berns. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace
College.