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Diversity Within The United States

Decent Essays

Diversity is very visible in the schools within the United States. When you enter most classrooms you see students from different nationalities. As the immigrant population continues to grow in the U.S., teachers need to make sure they take everyone’s culture into consideration when teaching. It is important for teachers to create an atmosphere where all cultures are recognized and respected. Teachers should ensure to use culturally responsive practices in order to be able to engage all the student and their families, despite where they come from. Having the opportunity to have worked with diverse students has opened my eyes to the importance of learning about different cultures, their beliefs and practices. Being aware and learning about the different cultures my students came from helped me from misinterpreting certain behavior displayed by the students. In order to do this the first thing a teacher should learn is that everyone has different ways of culturally adapting to a new country, while some are able to fully assimilate, others undergo the process of selective acculturation or embrace enculturation (Coleman, 2013). It is easy to think that a child that does not look you in the eyes when you speak to him/her is being disrespectful or is socially incompetent because that’s a belief that the American culture has, yet for other cultures, such as for Hispanics or Latinos, looking at an adult in the eyes is a form of disrespect. Teachers should be aware of the

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