Cultural Diversity and Group Differences, Essay Example

Chapter 4, “Group Differences “, contained objectives for the reader to use in order to gain insight through the analysis of key theories, ideas and findings to further use in the classroom environment.  The overall objectives of the readings were to obtain an understanding of differences of in between groups and within-groupsvariability’s for different cultural and ethnic groups, origins of gender differences in school-age children and adolescents, challenges that students face who are from low-income families, and the ability to recognize students that are at risk of academic loss or failure. The following paper discusses and analyzes the issues introduced in the chapter and recommends applications of the ideas for personal use in the classroom setting.

The chapter discusses key issues that relate to cultural differences in various ethnics groups.  For instance, there is a huge variation in culture between African American, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American and European American groups. The chapter focuses on topics that can help teachers understand and prevent the formation of stereotypes in their classroom. In addition, the topics help teachers better understand student behavior due to their ethnic or cultural background. The chapter explains topics such as language and dialect, talkativeness and verbal assertiveness, eye contact, personal space, responding to questions, public versus private performance, views about teasing, cooperation versus competition, family relationships and expectations, and conceptions of time. These topics are extremely important for teachers, as each student expresses behavior in a different manner depending on their background. There were a couple issues that I thought were extremely helpful for teaching children with different backgrounds.  For instance, eye contact for Americans is usually an indicator that we are communicating or listening to each other; however, in other cultures, such as Native American, African American, Puerto Rican, and Mexican American, a child who looks at an adult in the eye is showing disrespect.  In addition, personal space can be taught differently in other cultures.  For example, European Americans keep some distance between each other; whereas, African Americans keep a close distance while communicating with each other.  These small types of communication factors can help me as a teacher better communicate or understand how my students respond to my communication skills. I feel that from these readings, I should learn and study different cultures and mannerisms in order to provide communication skills for all children in my classroom.

Chapter 4 also presented information on gender differences that was extremely helpful. In the gender differences section, it was indicated that boys are pre-disposed to be more active than girls and therefore have more trouble sitting still rather than enjoying sedentary activities. In addition, it was indicated that as boys reach adolescence they physically grow more capable for sports due to the increased testosterone levels. Allow there are physical differences between genders it does not justify favoring between genders in regard to physical activity. It is commonly known that boys tend to be more active; however, as a teacher in today’s society, I tend to believe in treating students equal, whether in regard to gender or ethnic background. This article made me realize that although equality is extremely important, students will have differences due to their gender and background and there are methods that can be implemented in order to promote the best experience for your students. The author suggested two different methods for helping to motivate boys and girls in the classroom or in with school sports. The author indicates that teachers should make a special effort to incorporate personal interests of boys into the classroom to help with their attention and make a special effort to help girls understand that taking risks can increase their abilities.

Overall, the lesson of the chapter clearly illustrates that there is variability between and within groups, as well as an overlap between groups. Teachers should be aware of these differences and should implement cultural awareness into their curriculum.

Questions for discussion:

1. It is suggested that sports activities in schools should not be favored between genders. How do you promote equality in sports between genders?
2. Students from lower income families might need more attention in order to help them focus. How do you implement a strategy for these students and at the same time treat other students with attention as well?
3. It is suggested that teachers foster democratic ideals and empower students to bring about meaningful change. How do we as teachers incorporate these types of democratic views into the classroom with a diverse set of cultural backgrounds?

References

Author Last Name, First Initial.  (year).  Name of Book. Chapter.  Pages.