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Showing posts with label v: diversity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label v: diversity. Show all posts

Friday, September 28, 2007

- Accepting conflict: Double checking student perception

Teacher: What did you learn in these learning strategies classes?

Student 1: I learned about society, what is expected and I learned about myself.

Teacher: But what about tools, like map, flash?

Student 1: I love Flash cards. It works really well for me.

Student 2: I feel that they take a lot of time!

Student 3: I am hyperactive. Cards work really well


- Admitting limits: Getting students’ help

Teacher: Despite being informed and willing to practice a better pedagogy, there is a limitation for the teacher because traditional teachers are usually left brain and verbal, linguistic so they have difficulty to reinvent themselves to fit different sensory modes and even realize the students difficulties. It is good to have students who are willing to help.

- Fostering diversity appreciation: Peer teaching


Peer tutoring were promoted by the teacher, by the student who had strong knowledge about the class subject and by one student who invited classmates to go to her home.


At the beginning, the purpose of tutoring was to help the students to the point reach the point where they become an independent learner and no longer need a tutor. Later, some of us were helping each other as a way to retain the content and having fun together.


The teacher fostered the use of memory cards so we could train each other for the tests. We did group studies, sharing mnemonics, commenting on quotes. One student was the assistant to computer classes. Combining empathy, honest, humor, safe environment and resources like flash cards, we helped each other and better understood the teacher’s challenges of dealing with diversity. We felt that "diversity awareness" and "empathy" was more helpful than "knowledge about the class content". The stories “Boring opening page” and “Excluding the Cree culture” are examples of this.