Embracing Diversity In a grade 4 classroom

Class Demographics

In- person activity to embrace diversity in the classroom

Culture Posters:

• Students have a discussion about : “What is Diversity?”

• Teacher leads the discussion towards things that make us different: gender, color, language, religion, abilities, food habits and others.

• The class then gets together to mark their country on the world map using push pins. They then connect the push pins with colored yard to see that we are all connected.

• The class works in pairs, first, to gather information about each other’s country and then they make a culture poster for each other’s country.

• Students then share information about their partner’s country and mention one thing that fascinates them about their partner's culture.

Grade 4 Culture Posters

• •This is a picture from my classroom from last year.

• •These are the winners of the poster and presentation competition from a school wide project. Students had made these posters specifically for our class discussion on countries and our diversity and submitted the same posters for another competition.

In-person activity two to embrace diversity in the classroom

This is the first time I did this activity in my classroom. I chose this activity because it helps us all

(teachers and students) accept and appreciate that diversity can be in our abilities too.

Step 1:

Students are divided into groups of 3 or 4.

Step 2:

Each group gets a bag with the following items:

1. Half a sheet of blue construction paper.

2. A fourth of a yellow construction paper.

3. A pair of scissors.

4. Glue Stick

5. A set of directions.

Step 3:

One bag is given to each group.

Step 4:

Group 1 has to complete the task with each member using only one hand.

Group 2 has to complete the task with eyes closed.

Group 3 has to complete the task without talking and

Group 4 completes the task as directed with both hands and using all their senses.

The directions are:

1. Fold the blue construction paper in half.

2. Cut a circle with the yellow construction paper and paste it on the blue folded paper.

3. Write “Happy School” in front of the card and

4. Write the names of your group members at the back.

5. Time allowed : 5 minutes

The teacher leads a discussion in the classroom asking questions such as:

1. What came up for you during the activity?

2. How does this activity relate to people who have limitations?

3. Was the winning group the best group? Why or why not?

4. For those who won or who had an advantage, why did you not assist those who did not have the same advantages?

5. For those who did not have an advantage, why did you not ask those who had an advantage for help?

6. How has this activity influenced you going forward?

Observations from my classroom:

1. Many students didn’t know the meaning of “diversity”. They used the dictionary and whule some of them wrote what it meant, there were some really innocent responses such as “ a dangerous place for divers!!”.

2. Some students wrote about being different because of their religious practices or the color of their skin but most of then had responses such as “I am different because I don’t swim every day!”, or “ I don’t like Ronaldo!”

3. An interesting outcome of the activity was that the group that worked with one hand finished the activity in time. This gave me the opportunity to discuss that even with limitations this team did something better than the others to have finished so fast.

4. The team with no vision struggled for some time and then asked for help. This helped them see that it is alright to ask for help. We are one family and we succeed together.

Virtual Activity to embrace diversity in the classroom

For this activity, directions need to be sent to the students at least a week in advance to prepare. For younger students (below 9), the teacher can send a sample video of himself or herself following the directions and performing the task.

Directions:

1. 1.You will wear your national dress for the Zoom call.

2. 2.You will first greet everyone in your mother tongue and then introduce yourself in Englis telling everyone your:

   1. Name

   2. Country you are from

   3. The colors in the your country flag and what each color represents.

   4. The languages spoken in your country.

   5. Finally, you will show us an artifact or a special thing from your country and tell us what it is, what it is used for, and why it is important in your country.

References

Shaw, Stephanie. Getting Smart: Student Activities to promote Diversity, Inclusion and Empathy.

October 8, 2016. https://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/10/student-activities-to-promote-diversity-inclusion-and-empathy/. Retrieved on August 30th, 2021.