Diversity Article Response

          It is distressing that as Guild says we teachers see that students are all different, but over the 50 year span nothing has changed to help show students that we teachers see them as individuals. We should be progressing forward thinking about students as individuals instead of teaching them “as if all students [are] the same” (Conrad, paragraph 5). Guild’s statement about education having some “absolutes” or aspects that can not be changed, but there are also aspects of the class that we can change to benefit students and keep them engaged in the learning like Guild states. As Guild states in his article, there is an imbalance in teaching that we as teachers need to pay attention to. According to Guild uniformity amongst classrooms makes for competitive classrooms both with students and teachers. Our goal should not be to compete with one another, but it should be to work with one another to make the classroom experience the best for all students. By allowing students to see teachers work together, the students will realize that they should work with one another thus helping them to walk away from the class with a batter understanding. Guild’s article helps one see the realization that we are not progressing in our learning communities like we should be. He helps one see that they should challenge their students but also pay attention to the diversity in the classroom. This will help balance out lessons based on what they discover about students. This is beneficial for all to know so they know what to look for in their different learners, and Guild also shows teachers different strategies to help makes their classes better for diverse learners. This is helpful information to have.   This is in response to Pat Burke Guild's article "Diversity, Learning Style and Culture." http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/