Ideas and Goals for Integrating Diversity
Teacher Instructional Goals for Diversity Awareness:
- Throughout the curriculum acknowledge the experiences and contributions
of individuals of diverse backgrounds
- Utilize pedagogical modalities that lead to higher achievement for students
of all diverse backgrounds
- Integrate activities in lessons that reduce prejudice, helping students
to develop positive attitudes about different people groups
- Establish an organized calendar of activities within the subject areas that
focus on diversity
- Utilize community resources people, parents and others, as guest speakers
and presenters to highlight diversity within the curriculum
- Prepare bulletin boards and artifact displays that celebrate diversity within
the subject area
- Create writing projects and utilize case studies that incorporate a focus
on differences within subject area assignments
- Promote a diversity of viewpoints in class discussions and writing assignments
- Model respect for all differences and avoid stereotypical generalizations
- Review textbooks and instructional resources for stereotypical images
- Accommodate learning differences and create support systems for all students
- Teaching strategies should accommodate cultural learning differences.
- Teachers should model respect for all cultures.
- Teachers should promote diversity of viewpoints.
- Teachers should avoid stereotypes and generalizations.
Ideas that Work:
- Content Integration: Expanding the curriculum to acknowledge the experiences
and contributions of diverse groups.
- Pedagogy: Using strategies, such as cooperative learning and graphic organizers
that lead to higher achievement for students of all cultures.
- Prejudice Reduction: Helping students develop more positive attitudes about
people different from themselves.
- Awareness day: Establish a daylong opportunity to “challenge abilities”
in a maze requiring the use of wheelchairs, mittens, or completely dark glasses
to simulate the obstacles faced by the physically challenged.
- Heritage classes: Parents from the community hold classes explaining their
heritage.
- Provide a support system for ESL students.
- Poster contest highlighting unity in diversity.
- Traditional dress contest.
- Contact local AIDS foundations to bring in a speaker to “put a face on”
the disease of AIDS.
- Contact area colleges for speakers on diversity.
- Decorate school buildings by having students or individual classrooms prepare
bulletin boards in celebration of human rights and diversity.
- Sponsor an essay contest in cooperation with the English or Social Studies
departments.
Subject-Specific Ideas and Lesson Plans:
English and Language Arts
Fine Arts
Mathematics
Religion
Science
Social Studies
Other Subjects