Blog E

Webster dictionary defines diversity as, “ difference, and variety.” What does that really mean though? My own experience with diversity has never really come up and hit me in the face. Does it mean different people from different places? Or different in general?
I’ve had an African American cousin all my life. Her father lives in Granada and she lives with her mother in Maine. They divorced when she was around six years old. She now has a stepfather and stepbrother.
All through our childhood it never even occurred to me that she was different than my family and friends. We would play together every day either at my house or at her’s. She made my childhood very memorable and was a very big part of it. I was a year older than her. She was my best friend up until middle school when I moved up into a different school, and left her behind. Our bond is still strong today, but not even close to what it used to be. Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen her in a long time, yet I’ve come home every weekend. I didn’t even get to see her during Thanksgiving break because I was so busy. To me, people who have different backgrounds, religions and heritage have a story to tell and an opportunity for me to learn something threw their eyes.
Teaching a diverse subject would be hard because you would have to be careful of how categorize things. Making sure that any of your diverse students wouldn’t get offended by something you said. So teaching a diverse subject with diverse students in it, you would have to teach with caution and plan your lessons accordingly.
As for just teaching for diverse students, I wouldn’t think twice about it. Since I’ve grown up with someone who is different than me, it’s hard for me to even notice. However, if I did notice it would make me curious to see how their life is like outside of school. I would want to develop personal relationships with my students, so that way, if they have a problem at home, they could come to me without feeling uncomfortable.
When I see diverse students, it wouldn’t make me want to treat them any differently than any of my other students, it would actually just make me even more curious to know how much differently they do daily tasks from me.