DIVERSITY?

Do these photos look diverse? Maybe not to the untrained eye, or maybe yes to the trained eye. Diversity in my classroom goes way beyond the color of one's skin. The diversity that I see in in backgrounds, educational levels and maturity levels. One of these students will never see any grade less than an A in any class and the other has IEP modifications. Fortunately, this year I do not have to deal with language barriers or medical ailments causing major diversity issues such as some of those listed in our Chapter on Diversity, but the diversity in my classroom has a different twist...to teach the different levels of cognitive development in each class, everyday. I do have to take into account everyday the different levels of learning these students have. I have to keep in mind that the advanced student may get bored and the struggling student may not be getting it at all. Different methods I try using is group work with peer teaching and I also make different assignments to make sure each student gets enough or not too much material for their learning experience. This is a tough task, at least for me. I'm learning to balance my time and trying to balance lessons for each student. Trial and error is frustrating but it does pay off when you see the struggling student make an A on the same test you gave the advanced student. Makes it all worth while.