Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Annie Carter
Success
There are multiple reasons why diversity affects children, teachers, and the school as a whole.
Along with many factors that diversity affects there are also many definitions of diversity. When thinking of
diversity most people think that it simply about race. Although race is a factor in diversity it is not the only
factor that makes up diversity. The three main factors that I believe impact schools today are religion,
socio-economic status, and level of abilities. These affect children for the better or for the worse in their
“We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own
conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” (The
Pearl of Great Price 1880) As educators in this day and age it is not encourage to speak about religion in
our classrooms. In as much as we are not encouraged to do so, neither are our students, this affects both
us and them, especially in a place like Rexburg, Idaho. As a non-member in Rexburg this can affect one’s
social life the most. It is very important, for us as teachers, to make sure that both members and non-
members realize that just because they don’t believe in the same thing doesn’t mean they have to hate
In my hometown there were many people that were in the lower level of socio-economic status. I
have seen this be the motivation of some people, and the downfall of others. A lot of side of the outcome
they came on was based on the teachers that they had. At the high school there was a mix of teachers
that absolutely loved their job, and teachers who did not love their job nearly as much and you could tell.
The teachers that made the most impact on these students were the teachers who loved their job. The
teachers let them know that their socio-economic status did not define them, and that they didn’t have to
live the life they live now. They encouraged those students and believed in those students.
As we are growing and learning how to be teachers we are taught about making lesson plans for
the whole class, but we aren’t always taught about what to expect when we have different levels of
abilities. As a Special Education major we are taught how to differentiate, accommodate, and modify all to
suit the needs of our students with a variety of levels of abilities. This is one focus that makes a big
difference when it comes to a child’s education. Without these differentiations, accommodations, and
modifications, these children could fall through the cracks. They could go on not living their best life
because teachers were too scared, or decided this was too hard.
Case Study
Introduction
As stated previously there are many factors that have contribute to a child’s educational career. In
my experience I chose to work in a resource room for children in sixth grade math. There were a lot of
children who were Mormon but there was a couple who were not. Jane is one of these students who was
not a member and she tells how this affects her and her social life. Sometimes in a land of opportunity like
America we only think of starving children in Africa, but in reality, we have children who are hungry here
in America.” Uninformed teachers may think that poor children slouch, slump, and show little effort
because they are—or their parents are—lazy. Yet research suggests that parents from poor families work
as much as parents of middle- or upper-class families do.” In the school I worked in there were a handful
of students that are struggling with the basics. My teacher, Mrs. Slade, that I worked with tells how it
affects them in her classroom. Mrs. Slade also is a Special Education teacher and she talks about the
difference between her first year of teaching the curriculum to her now modified curriculum.
To Be or Not to Be Mormon…..
Jane: Although I’m in sixth grade there are a lot of things that go on in school that teachers and
parents don’t know about. There are a lot of Mormon kids in this school and I am not. In elementary
school this never really made a difference to who I wanted to be friends with or not. As we are getting
older and we’re going to go to junior high people are starting to separate into the “cool groups”, the “art
kids” and other things like that. A lot of my old friends in elementary school have started separating into a
group of all Mormons. One day I tried to go and hang out with some of my old friends who are Mormon
and they kind of ignored me. I was so confused because I used to hang out with them all the time and
now they didn’t want to talk to me. As I was talking to other non-member kids they were telling me that the
For a little while this made me feel really bad because I had a lot of different classes with this
Mormon group and no one wanted to be my friend. I would just think to myself why is it so wrong for me
not to be Mormon? What makes me so bad that they won’t even talk to me? After a bad day I went home
and talked to my older sister about this, and after that she then told my mom about the situation. The next
day my mom went and talked to one of my teachers Mrs. Slade about the problem. Mrs. Slade listened to
my mom and let her talk until she was done. My mom told her how bad she felt because I was feeling bad
about these kids not talking to me. Mrs. Slade then told my mom that she would watch for me in her class
and talk with this “Mormon kid group” about the problem. That very day Mrs. Slade did just that and by
last period I slowly had more of my old friends talking to me. It wasn’t like how it used to be in elementary
school where we would talk and talk and not get our work done. It was better than sitting at the table by
myself and not talking to anyone. I’m glad that Mrs. Slade was so kind to my family and me.
Mrs. Slade: As a student teacher and teaching this district I have seen a lot of different levels of
socio-economic status’. My first school that I student taught in it was in Utah and the children were all
from very wealthy families, and so moving here it was a very big change. There were children from all
different levels. The was this one girl that I remember my first-year teaching here, her name was Molly.
Molly was a very quiet girl but did talk to a select few people. As a new teacher I was very energetic about
the idea of teaching so I wanted to make a difference in every child’s life. For the longest time I just could
not get through to her. I would talk with her and try to make her smile but absolutely nothing worked, and
then finally I decided that I would see if one of her other teachers knew what the backstory of this girl was.
I talked to a long-time teacher Mr. Standford. He told me all about how Molly’s father would sit at
home and play video games while her mom would work three jobs to support her family. He also told me
that since her mom is working and her dad is preoccupied that Molly takes cares of her younger siblings.
She feeds them, bathes them, dresses them, gets them ready for school and does all the things a parent
should be doing. Since she hasn’t had much food other than prepackaged food this would often be their
meals.
After this talk with Mr. Standford I racked my brain for a way to help this child without crossing the
line. My greatest idea that I could come up with a simple answer of showing love and support for this girl.
I took one day at time praying every day to ask God what I could do to help this sweet child to grow up
and achieve everything she can. As I started implementing my plan Molly would open up more and more.
At first it was a tiny little smile with no teeth, but by the end of the school year she would not stop talking!
As she came to blossom out of her shell she started to gain more friends and along with this she gained
confidence. I wanted her to live the best life she could and so I started having everyone make short term
and long-term goals for themselves. At the beginning of the year Molly’s short-term goal was to make it
through the day, and her long term goal was to graduate high school. Now, at the end of the year Molly’s
new dream is to graduate college and go on to be a pediatrician. These are the moments that help me
When a Flower Doesn’t Bloom, You Fix the Environment in Which It Grows, Not the Flower
Mrs. Slade: I’m sorry I have so many stories from my first-year teaching, but throughout my years
of teaching I have learned a lot from that point on and I feel they’re all vital. My first year of teaching I
followed my teacher’s manual to the T! There were many times where I would see my students dozing off
in the midst of my lesson, but I had to get through this curriculum. I wasn’t so worried about the state test
but I was more worried about making sure they were ready to move on to seventh grade. I also wasn’t
taught how to differentiate my instruction if the children didn’t understand the curriculum. I was at a loss
because I wanted my students to love my class and be fully engaged. Again, my wheels started turning in
my brain as to how I could stick to the curriculum but keep my students engaged in the lesson. That is
when I found this quote “When a Flower Doesn’t Bloom, You Fix the Environment in Which It Grows, Not
their engagement for a little while but it’s not what I wanted. I decided to ask my students what they didn’t
like about math and they told me it’s not that they don’t like me it’s that they don’t understand it. When
they don’t understand it they do ask questions but some of them are too shy to do so. Since they don’t
ask questions we move on and they never understand it. Finally, I thought back to my own children and
what helped them learn. They learned by me telling them stories, and applying these types of things to
their lives.
As I have gone through the years implementing these methods I have seen my student’s
engagement grow and grow every year as a gain more experience. As these children have gone through
my classroom they go onto their other teachers and tell them what I implemented in my classroom. I
believe that this worked because although science says that there isn’t different learning styles I believe
that students lean towards a certain style. As I have implemented stories, lectures, hands-on activities
Commentary
As Children of God we were all created in our own special way and not one of us is the exact same
as another. Just as God made us differently every single one of us thinks in a different way and has our
own way of doing things. Some people may agree with our way of doing things and others may not.
Although this is good we also need to realize that diversity doesn’t mean that we can’t love each other
especially as teachers. As teachers we need to unify just as we as people do. “Be one; and if ye are not
There are many factors and variables that affect children in school now days. I feel that the most
important ones that affect children and society, where I will be teaching, is religion, socio-economic
status, and ability levels. I feel that these are important because as of late I feel that members of the
church aren’t being as nice as we should. I know that other people in different religions may not be nice
as well, but I know that the best way to start change is with me. Socio-economic status is a big deal
because I don’t want children to feel like they can’t achieve anything just because they happened to born
into a family that wasn’t financially fortunate. As a future Special Education teacher I feel that ability level
is so important because we want all children to learn, and in order to do this we need to learn how to work
I think the best way to help teachers recognize these difficulties is to educate them, and let them
know that just because they can’t see it happening doesn’t mean it isn’t. As the new generation of
teachers, we are being taught about these difficulties, in classes like these. Once teachers learn how to
recognize these problems we then need to figure out how to solve these problems where we teach,
because each of our school districts are going to be different. One strategy that I liked when talking about
socio-economic status is getting the struggling child into classes that will help them in their lives at home.
I think this is a great Segway to what needs to be done, we need to give our students more real-world
opportunities and strategies to implement. “Schools should accommodate all children regardless of their
physical, intellectual, emotional, social, linguistic or other conditions.” (Article 3, UNESCO 1994)
References
Alur, M., & Timmons, V. (2009). Inclusive education across cultures crossing boundaries, sharing ideas.
https://www.alexanderdenheijer.com/single-post/2016/08/05/When-a-flower-doesnt-bloom
Jensen, E. (2013, May). How Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement. Retrieved December 12, 2017,
from https://byui.brightspace.com/content/enforced/293732-
Online.2017.Fall.ED312.03/Course%20Files/2013.Jensen.HowPovertyAffectsClassroomEngage
ment%20(1).pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=qexDxObZ3idV8LPWPJImI6DVV&ou=293732
Smith, J. (1990). The Doctrine and Covenants. Independence, MO: Joseph Smith, Jr.s Rare Reprints.
Pearl of Great Price. (1880). Salt Lake City, UT: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.