University of Puerto Rico in Humcao Department of English Practice Teaching
Diversity Having 22 third graders, and five of them being from special education is not easy. Primarily because each of them has a different characteristic and a different personality. The great majority of the special education students in my classroom had ADHD, and one of them had ADHD plus emotional disturbance. Before promoting diversity in my classroom, I had to embrace it myself. Learning to manage 22 as individuals also and not just a group, was harder than I expected. I couldn’t make them do what I wanted to anytime I wanted to, even if they were still kids and in third grade. Some of these third graders thought they were 15 for all I know. Instilling diversity also had other challenges. Not all, but some of the students in the classroom were blatant about how they felt, and did not know how to express their feelings appropriately. If someone said something about them, they would blow up and start fighting. Once I went outside to receive my group and I caught one my students speaking like a sailor if you know what I mean (If you don’t know what I mean, I mean obscene words). I know where these words may come from, because almost all of my students live in residential apartments. I understand that these could be the vocabulary that they are exposed to in their environment, but letting it pass because of that is not acceptable. In some cases were one of my student blew up and started hitting another, after I separated them, the cooperating teacher would help me calm them down by telling them to take deep breaths, or going to the bathroom to wash their face. Every student I saw that was bullying another, name calling, or speaking mean words, were stopped immediately. Some situations I handled after class and spoke calmly to the student about their conduct and how they can handle it better in the future.
Core Disposition Reflection, Shirlenne Peralta