Treasures of Difference

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Treasures of Difference
The Center for Diversity Education
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Exercise

• Read the following scenarios.
• Immediately after reading, record your initial
  personal feelings about the scenario, as if you
  were journaling or talking to a close friend or
  family member.
• Upon further reflection, record what your
  professional response would be if you were
  involved in the scenario.
• Discuss your ideas with your small group.

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Scenario 1

• One of your students becomes ill during the
  course of the school day. Out of concern, you
  call her mother during class to inform her about
  the situation and about the process for
  completing make-up work. The mother speaks very
  little English and you are not able to convey
  your important message.

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Scenario 2

• You assign a project that requires students to
  purchase supplies for a unit. You notice a
  student is very sad. You approach the student
  who shares with you, Im just going to fail
  this, because my mom cant afford all this stuff
  I need to buy.

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Scenario 3

• You send chaperone request letters home with
  your students for the annual class field trip.
  Sally comes to class the next day with a note
  signed by two women stating that they would love
  help out with their daughters big trip. Sally
  seems proud and excited when she hands you the
  note confirming that her mothers will both be
  attending.

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Scenario 4

• A parent from your class shares with you his
  concern that the meaning of Christmas is lost
  when so many other traditions are discussed
  during the holiday season time. He is worried
  that his daughter will be influenced by Godless
  religions that dont follow Christian teachings.

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Scenario 5

• At a parent conference, you are discussing your
  concerns about a students grade in Spanish
  class. The students mother says, If people are
  going to move to this country they had better
  learn to speak the language. There is no reason
  for my son to be speaking Spanish. He doesnt
  need to talk to any Mexicans anyway!

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Scenario 6

• It is September, and your class is having a
  birthday celebration for all the kids who are
  celebrating birthdays during the month. As a
  part of the celebration, the students eat
  cupcakes, play games, and open a small gift from
  you. Chris tells you that although his birth
  date is during this month, he is not allowed to
  take part in any birthday celebrations because of
  his tradition as a Jehovah's Witness.

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Scenario 7

• You hear a student from your class in the
  hallway saying to a peer, You are so gay!
• None of the other teachers standing in the hall
  respond to the student.

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Reflection

• In your initial reactions, did you find yourself
  taking a speedboat to application instead of
  digging deeper to analyze the situations in the
  scenarios?

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Reflection

• Compare your initial, personal reaction with
  your chosen professional reaction to each
  scenario.
• Did you notice much difference in the two
  reactions?
• Why, or why not?

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Bridging the Personal and the Professional

• When we truly dive down and analyze our personal
  responses to controversial situations, we will
  have more empathy for others and better
  understand the need for our professional
  reactions to
• put the needs of the child first
• balance the needs of all students in the
  classroom
• be in good judgment
• be within the law

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• Brainstorm ways that we could improve our
  respectful understanding of specific cultures and
  lifestyles that are different than our own.
• African American
• Anglo or Appalachian
• Biracial
• Latino
• Indigenous
• Asian
• Eastern European
• Faith Traditions
• Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender
• Physical Disability
• Mental Illness
• Socio-economic Class

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Our Ideas...

• Read about current issues in different types of
  literature.
• Visit the neighborhoods or homes of your
  students.
• Go to public cultural festivals and events.
• Make a friend that looks nothing like all of your
  other friends.
• Watch Spanish Television, BET, PBS, etc.
• Shop in stores owned and operated by people from
  another nationality, race, or culture.
• Listen to music from other nations, languages, or
  cultures in your classroom.
• Spend time in the communities where your students
  live.
• Learn another language.
• Visit diverse houses of worship.
• Pick up and read free newspapers targeted to
  populations different than your own.

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A highly embroiled network of streets that I had
avoided for years was disentangled in a single
stroke when, one day, a person dear to me moved
there. It was as if a searchlight set up at this
persons window dissected the area with pencils
of light.-Walter Benjamin One Way Street and
Other Writings
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Lesson Planning
The Critical Eye
Look for opportunities to include diversity as
you follow the NCSCS goals. Before pulling out
the lesson plans youve used for years, read
through them with a critical eye for diversity,
and ask yourself this question How could this
topic include diverse groups and services that
are also a part perhaps less visible of my
students communities?
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Stumbling Blocks for the Critical Eye

• Complex cultures are presented monolithically
  i.e. African Americans portrayed only as athletes
  or musicians
• Contemporary people are only portrayed
  historically i.e. Native Americans killed off
  with exploration and western expansion
• Marginalized communities are not included in
  visual aids, by their voice, or by their
  experience i.e. women, in general,
  underrepresented in historical texts
• Cultures are presented only by their tragedies
  with no acknowledgement of contributions made
  outside of the struggles or of normal life
  experience i.e. Jews seen only as victims.
• Core community is not represented as part of
  diversity i.e. white middle class seen as
  cultureless

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Census DataHouseholds of Same-Sex Partners

• North Carolina
• 1990 1,976
• 2000 16,198 (720 increase)
• Census 2000 URBAN NC 11,512
• Census 2000 RURAL NC 4,686
• Asheville Metro Area, 2000 Census
• 1.37 of households were same-sex partnerships

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• The world is big. Some people are unable to
  comprehend that simple fact. They want the world
  on their own terms, its peoples just like them
  and their friends, its places like the manicured
  little patch on which they live. But this is a
  foolish and blind wish. Diversity is not an
  abnormality but the very reality of our planet.
  The human world manifests the same reality and
  will not seek our permission to celebrate itself
  in the magnificence of its endless varieties.
  Civility is a sensible attribute in the kind of
  world we have narrowness of heart and mind is
  not.
• Chinua Achebe, Bates College Commencement Address
• May 27, 1996