Learning with Diversity
Alexandra Sobral e Costa, Portugal
Alexandra Sobral e Costa has been an English and Portuguese teacher since 1996. She is currently teaching in Loulé’s Secondary school and has experience in teaching students from primary, basic, secondary schools and in the Professional School of Hotel Management in Faro, Portugal. She has been involved in several EU educational projects.
E-mail: alexandrasobralcosta@gmail.com
We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all
the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color”
Maya Angelou
Throughout Humankind’s evolution there has been the idea that some races were superior to others. Due to this notion, much racial genocide has been perpetrated, not only because there were differences but because those differences weren’t allowed to exist.
The twentieth century showed us how Charles Evans Hughes was right when he said When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free. Many people lost their freedom and died because of their identity: the genocide of the Jews carried out by the Nazi regime; the mass murder promoted in Cambodia by the communist government, Red Khmer led by Pol Pot; the Rwanda’s genocide of the Tutsis lead by the Hutus or the ethnic cleansing in Srebrenica by the Serb army.
The discovery of the human genome in 2000 changed human understanding forever. Our ideas about human identity were altered when we discovered that all humans share 99, 99% of their genes. So, we can conclude that the conception of race can no longer be used to argue preposterous ideas of superiority or inferiority.
Students all are different, unique and diverse. Their internal diversity is complex; it’s built through choices, goals and ideas throughout their lives and their identity is continuously changing and schooling has an important role in this transformation.
As a teacher I deal with different students. They are different, not only because of their distinctive characteristics, but due to their upbringings. More and more we receive in our schools students from different countries, cultures, beliefs... More and more we have to accept the differences and embrace them in order to lead our students to success. We must all embrace Malcolm Stevenson Forbes’ idea: “Diversity is the art of thinking independently together” and this not only enriches our schools but improves its essence: to educate and form human beings through knowledge and values.
I agree with Jeff Cobb’s definition of learning: Learning is the lifelong process of transforming information and experience into knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes because it’s done by each individual, it never ends, it’s a social process and it involves activity by conveying a change. (Drummond and others, 1989)
We know more about the process of learning and foremost about what is intelligence. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences challenged all the past educational assumptions and all educators perceive teaching and learning differently now. With his theory, teachers can better comprehend and apprehend the differences of their students in order to help them to achieve success in their learning process.
In the past, pupils were integrated in schools but this process categorized children with special needs. They were in schools but they weren’t really incorporated because they frequently had different curricula and had special means of assessment.
With the Declaration of Salamanca, born a new concept for inclusion:
- Learning should be active;
- Learning should be practical;
- Existence of a continuous assessment should be given by the teacher’s feedback;
- Goals should be negotiated.
As Ainscow (1994) mentioned inclusive education implies a continuous process (…) and school needs to promote all students’ participation and learning. Schools need to be in constant change in order to be committed to receive all children and give an adequate answer to students’ diversity. There is not just an answer, one way; there are many paths that can be taken.
Two years ago I undertook a voyage with my students: European projects. I undertook a Comenius project with my students about the Ecological Footprint in many different countries. They have created two websites where they showed vocabulary games: hangman; crosswords; word puzzles; PowerPoint’s; and a glossary about environmental terminology in the languages from the countries in the project. Afterwards, we went to Italy and they met their colleagues face to face. It was a marvellous experience: human and pedagogical.
Now, I have started another project: Connecting Classrooms with the British Council and until now it has been very positive. The aim is to know more about ourselves and about others, in order to understand diversity and embrace it as a constructive concept and reality. Multiculturalism is a reality, not only in Portugal, but also in developed countries throughout the world. We, as teachers, should draw our students’ attention to a more tolerant posture concerning others because they are going to be the next generation and if they’re now more open-minded, there won’t be space in the future for prejudice and discrimination. Cooperation through teamwork can be the answer! These projects lead us to overcome barriers, which prevent us from becoming better and achieving excellence!
In my opinion, these projects are incredibly important for my students’ improvement, not only as human beings; European citizens, but also as students. They make better use of their skills when they’re devoted to the project’s development. At the same time they are involved in the project’s tasks, they increase and enhance their oral and written skills and ICT is crucial in terms of communicating with the other partners and in terms of showing what the students are creating. Internet has become a vital access that connects this global village that is our planet Earth! Our students, who are incredible techies, master these technological devices, such as Skype, Facebook; Wikkies; Twitter and we can and should learn through them. I do! Our projects become so much better because of their talents and skills!
Other important tool that has helped me to put into practice our ideas was the etwinning platform. E-twinning is a Pandora box, an open door to the unlimited world of partners and clusters. However, it is a tool that must be used wisely!
In conclusion, I have recognized the importance of working Diversity through this European cooperation. By knowing other realities, my students and I have become more understanding, supportive. Now, we accept and embrace others who are different from us better. Diversity shouldn’t be considered a barrier; it must be seen as part of the huge tapestry that is Humankind. This tapestry is full of colours and threads, but all can be connected to build a whole piece. We are all pieces of a colossal puzzle, all different, but all equal in terms of rights and duties!
Please check the Building Positive Group Dynamics course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
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