Diversity: The Gifts in Each

(introduction)

Moule, J. (1999). Diversity: The gifts in each. In B. McEwan (Ed.). Practicing Judicious Discipline (4th Ed.). San Francisco: Caddo Gap Press.

What we know becomes the status quo

It happened again. I went through the salad bar searching for canned peaches, an item my husband would not allow in the house, raised as he was in the San Joaquin Valley of California where fresh peaches were close and plentiful. In my New York City upbringing, the canned variety were more easily available and a welcomed treat.

What is the point of this comparison? I dearly love fresh peaches now, but every once in a while I yearn for a taste and memory from the past. It is part of both my culture and preferences. Similarly, in another culture, those of us reared and put-in-gear in quiet classrooms of students in straight and rigid rows and rules, have a built in nostalgia and unspoken sense that it worked for us and that it should work for our students. Yet, in most classrooms in the systems we have known there was a conformity and a dependence on the teacher which is often diametrically opposed to methods which can lead students into self-directed lifelong learning roles-roles that will be centered around their individual abilities, interests, and needs.

Multicultural diversity includes intellectual variability

Diversity, that which we should welcome in our classrooms to prepare our students for the ever-changing world in which we live, includes recognizing students of varied intellectual ability. As a statewide consultant in Talented and Gifted education, I have taught hundreds of inservice and preservice teachers strategies for working with gifted and talented students in the regular classroom. At the end of each training someone usually says, "I felt you were helping me to teach all my students better."

This inclusive "all" has come to mean multicultural diversity. What does multicultural mean? While most of us think of ethnic diversity, some of us also automatically include gender and socioeconomic diversity. But there are also cultures involving age, lifestyles, language, and environments. Recently I have read news articles including the deaf as part of our cultural diversity, and the use of English on the internet as a tool of "cultural imperialism." Ultimately we each view the world through multi-cultured colored lens.

Color through the eyes of a child: Different ways of knowing

On a child's level, views of the world and multicultural diversity are both personal and unique. My inability to see the world through the eyes of a child was graphically illustrated to me by an almost three-year-old. This African/American child was asked, "What do you want for your birthday?" He answered, "I want a chocolate face." Now I quickly imagined a possible identity problem here, as this child already had a chocolate face; did he want to be darker? Then my mind raced to the possibility he was simply mispronouncing. "Oh," I said, "You mean you want a 'chocolate cake'?" "No," he answered, "I want a chocolate face (pause) that I will get from eating chocolate cake." He looked forward to the feel and taste of the cake crumbs on his face. I chastise myself now for the statement, "You mean," as if I could know without asking what he did mean. It is important to ask the child what he means, how he views the world, and to discover his unique interests and abilities.

That reminds me of another story of a three-year-old and her first glimpse of a "Person of Color." She was standing in line at the bank with her mother. Holding tight to her mother's hand she stretched as far as she could to observe this individual first from one side and then to the other. She moved back close to her mother, pulled vigorously on her arm and said, "Look, a chocolate man." Without the blinders of society's view she saw this man as simply an individual of interesting color with pleasant connections for her.

These two children are now grown, and their early awareness of kinesthetics and visual/spatial stimuli developed into current areas of special talents.

Practical helps for meeting the needs of all students: Passionate pursuits

As a facilitator of facilitators of teaching and learning, I am respectful of people's time and priorities. I wish to (proverb rephrased) release two birds from one cage. As a teacher educator, at the same time I give you tools to work with children of varying gifts, be they cultural, intellectual, or related to other "intelligences" such as those of the two toddlers in the stories, I also want to give you ways to recognize and honor the gifts and strengths in the children you serve.

We begin with children who say to us, "Love me for who I am, not for who you want me to be," and "Take the time to know who I really am." We need to work to encourage the best in each.

Whether you are good at growing house plants or have a thumb that withers plants, as an aid to reaching and teaching each, consider this analogy. Those who are good with plants give them not only sun and water, but food. They know how to care for plants, how much sun, how much water, how much plant food.

For the purpose of this metaphor let sun be care and value, freely given to all. Water represents basic resources-- content, material, skills. It is like rain that falls on the just and the unjust, the behaviorally challenged and the genius. The food is harder to provide, yet without it, the plant will ultimately fail to thrive or will bloom just a little while in the hothouse of the classroom without enough strength to flourish in the larger world and community. The food represents the real, specific connections to the individual child's interest and abilities, the child's passionate pursuits. As we begin to tie children's interests to classroom activities, as we focus on individuals, we will be better able to focus on and meet their needs and help them become rooted, relevant, real.

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