The kindergarten classroom that I am placed in this year is much different from the type of school that I went to as a kid. The school that I was in was predominantly filled with white, middle class families. This is in contrast to the highly diverse group of students that I placed in now. There are students from many different ethnic groups and socioeconomic status brackets. The Rosebery article that we read this week opened by saying that classroom populations are becoming more diverse, but the population of new teachers is not changing; it is still predominately white, female, and middle class. I definitely see this in field now, most of the teachers in the school fit this demographic and overall there is a very diverse population of students.
Because of this new more diverse group of learners that is being seen in schools, we as teachers must keep in mind that not all students learn the same way. The Lester reading highlighted this in a very interesting way. Lester points out that as teachers we should from day one have different types of lessons planned for math. This will help us get to know our students as learners and as people. It will help us plan and carry out the rest of our lessons for the year. The Kabiri article from last week talked about how it is important to turn traditional textbook problems into open-ended problems to create higher level thinking. Because classrooms are becoming more diverse, that means that students come into school with different experiences and it is important for us as teachers to help give each and every student an opportunity to learn and grow as a math learner. The best way that we can do this is what Lester and Kabiri suggest.
