Ways to help students accept diversity around them

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How do you help students accept and work well with people of different beliefs, cultures, languages, socio-economic statuses, education backgrounds, and learning styles?

This months question is a must do exercise for all teachers right from the day a child enters school system. No two people are alike in all respects. We need to learn to accept the diversity around us. We see and hear about battles, fights, restlessness and a lot of discomfort in lives of people. The reason is known to us. It is less power of accepting each other, the way they are.

School education play a crucial role in making a responsible global citizen. Being a teacher It is our moral responsibility to create situations in which students tend to learn about such difference and at the same time learn to accept and respect differences. We need to encourage our students to be more empathetic, show kindness and respect everyone whom they come in contact with. Here are some practical ways to help students accept diversity around them.

Right in the classroom- Accepting different learning styles- In a classroom we find diverse learners. Some learn very fast, some are average and some require consistent hand holding to accomplish the desired objectives. I have divided my class in five groups. Each group has mixed types of learners. Students work as a team. They learn to help each other in all tasks allotted to them. Students learn in different ways using number of strategies.

Listening to each other- This activity is incredible in terms of enhancing communication skills and at the same time building patience and acceptance of thoughts and beliefs of others. We give topics in the class and all students get a chance to speak their views on it. Students get to know about various belief systems in the small class size. This is then scaled up by taking an example of own school, schools around, own country and then the entire world. Students tend to visualise the amount of varied people, beliefs and their existence.

Participation in global programmes through video conference- We plan video conference with schools from various parts of our own country and the world. Students communicate with other students and learn about different cultures, languages, socio economic statuses. The benefit of video conference is limitless. Students connect with students in different parts of the world. They learn about the other country, language, food, clothes, education system and much more. Experts can be invited through video conference. Students prepare their questionnaire which are answered by the expert.

Playing of videos/movies- Movies and videos are a great tool for making students learn about the world around us. Students get to know about different types of people, their educational background, their problems etc. This help them realise and compare different people.

Role Play- Students are given different roles to understand the type of work done by different types of people to make them understand the importance of all types of people and their work in life. Role play is a great way to reshape thinking and understand diversity.

Students exchange visits- We plan student exchange visits under cultural exchange programmes. Such programmes provide opportunities to students to actually witness the locations, people and interact with them.

Visits to villages- A one week stay in a nearby village to actually see how people live and work on daily basis is a good exercise for a student of grade 9 to 12 to understand the different socio- economic status of people. When students live with a farmer and work with them, they feel the pain of wasting a small piece of bread. How hard it is for a farmer to earn a bread for his family?

We as teachers can try our best to bridge the gaps in the society. Every human being deserves a happy life.

from Mathematics Learning http://ift.tt/2brKPdl