Wendy Recinos & Mikayla Green

ELM 375

Fall 2019

Celebration of Diversity

During our time at Joyner Elementary School we have noticed that there is a lot of

diversity within classrooms but this diversity is not being spoken about in an academic setting. It

is important to highlight the differences that make us all unique and explain why diversity makes

us all better. Students and teachers can learn a lot about each other when diversity is brought to

the forefront of discussions and lessons throughout the school.

Diversity in a school may look like different hair color, eye color, clothes you wear, food

you eat, the language you speak, your culture, and what your family looks like. These are just a

few ways of how you can see diversity in a school and are a good starting point to begin

conversations with students. Being aware of and open to these differences among your school

can increase students’ cultural competence and critical consciousness within their school society.

To prepare students to become a part of a society that does not always celebrate diversity

teachers must equip them with the skills to recognize and appreciate diversity. Classroom and

school diversity promotes individual student growth and reflection which leads to students who

have empathy and are eager to learn about people and things different from themselves.

By incorporating diversity into lessons and highlighting student and teacher differences at

Joyner Elementary the students will be given the opportunity to be involved in a global issue.

Diversity and acceptance of diversity will be an issue that students will face everywhere they go

in life and by introducing this topic to them they will be well equipped with the skills to face
those challenges later on. Challenging students to confront diversity and how to be open minded

of those different than us can show students that they can make a difference just by changing

their mindset.

Below is a pictures that captures the social issue at Joyner (diversity in classrooms not being

discussed or celebrated):

Action Plan

Week 1

1. Discuss diversity with our mentor teacher

During the first step we will need to find out if and how diversity is implemented into

lessons in their classroom or around the school. Some helpful questions to ask are: Do

you incorporate diversity into any lessons in your class? How many lessons review

diversity? Do your lessons involve students thinking critically about diversity? Do you

explain why diversity is a good thing to have and recognize?

2. Teach a lesson fostering critical consciousness about diversity and examples of diversity
 During this step, we will teach a whole class lesson fostering critical consciousness about

diversity which will be the starting point for the following steps. This lesson will focus on

family diversity, we will read “The Family Book” by Todd Parr and each create a quilt

“tile” that depicts our families. After the students have completed their “tiles” they will

be collected and put together to create a family quilt that can be hung up in the hallway.

3. Discuss diversity with students in our classroom using their prior knowledge and the

prior lesson as a basis for the discussion

This step will require student input and whole group class discussion. It will be important

to engage students in the issue of diversity and evaluate what they already know and what

needs to be addressed.

4. Engage students in various fiction and non-fiction texts and additional media related to

diversity

During this step, diversity can be incorporated into lessons within the curriculum. Use a

variety of texts and media to further students' understanding of what diversity is and the

global issues surrounding diversity.

5. Have a classroom diversity day

During this step, as a class celebrate the diversity within the classroom. Have students

bring in objects from home, explain a family tradition or give an interesting unique fact

about themselves to show how we are all different but still belong to the same classroom

family.

Week 2

6. Implement daily diversity discussions or activities that highlight diversity

 These discussions and activities can be simple and completed as mini lessons. These may

involve highlighting one student each day to tell about what makes them unique, have

show and tell days, inviting guest speakers into the classroom, or having read alouds.

7. Discuss actions we can take as a class

After implementing diversity discussions daily students will be asked to create our next

steps. These next steps will bring our discussions of diversity to the entire school and our

class will need to promote celebration of diversity throughout our school.

8. Discuss diversity with school administration

We must have permission from the administration to take our celebration of diversity

school wide. Teachers will prepare to meet with the principal, vice principal, colleagues

(other teachers) or parents.

Week 3

9. Contact parents and other various members of the community

Students will be involved in helping teachers create letters that will be sent out to parents

and to members of the community about our school’s celebration of diversity. These

letters will encourage parents and other members of our community to think about things

that make them unique and showcase diversity, they can send in cultural items or stories

or schedule a time to be a guest speaker.

Week 4

10. Student choice of action:

 a. Present our celebration of diversity to other classes: Students will introduce “The

Family Book” by Todd Parr and explain how to make a family quilt and explain

how the quilt showcases diversity.

b. Speak with the librarian at our school to ensure there are a few copies that can be

checked out to be read to each class.

c. Make a school wide announcement: A group of students from our class will make

an announcement on the morning news to kickstart our celebration of diversity

school-wide.

d. Create flyers: Students will help create flyers that will promote the idea of

celebrating diversity, they will include directions for how to participate and why it

is important.

e. Pass out flyers throughout the school and post them up on bulletin boards.

Weeks 5-10

11. Continue our celebration for diversity

Each class will be encouraged to make a family quilt to showcase their classroom’s

diversity. Once each class has posted their quilt in the hallway students will have the

opportunity to visit each grade level hall to see the quilts and the various diverse families

around the school.

12. Student Reflection

Students will make a journal entry reflecting on the diversity they see being celebrated

around our school. This can include drawings, stories or observations and should provide
 evidence that the student has learned about diversity and how to be open minded and

accepting of others that are different than them.

Community Collaboration Embedded in Our Plan

In order to carry out our action plan we will need immense support. This support will

stem from collaboration with students, teachers, administrators, parents and those interested in

making a change at Joyner Elementary. This change, specifically will address the importance of

recognizing diversity as well as implementing inclusivity in the school. All those who will

collaborate will be informed on this. The constituents that are key in collaborating include

teachers, administrators and students. Keeping those who are collaborating engaged is crucial as

it will allow us to successfully execute the plan. In order to engage such individuals, it is our

responsibility to inform them on our motives for the plan, how it will benefit everyone included,

and the outcome we strive for. It is also important that we allow them to have an input. This not

only brings more ideas to the table but can also create a healthy relationship with all. Some ideas

for involvement include making flyers, websites, and informative resources to spread our plan.

Discussion and meetings should also be held between the teachers, administrators and parents to

gain full support.

While we may expect a lot of support, we might also have individuals who may choose to

resist our change and action plan. Examples include, individuals who wish not to bring the topic

of diversity to light and those who find no value in the discussion of diversity. Teachers and

administrators might also resist as the plan might be lengthy and time-consuming for them. This

is understandable as a teacher’s and administrator’s plate is always full with lesson planning,
student management, etc. We believe that to avoid individuals having resistance we will inform

and provide many opportunities for them.

Resources 

There are various resources that exist in our school/community that we will need. As

mentioned before, we plan to include materials such as books, media, stationery items (writing

utensils, paper, notebooks, sticky notes, etc.), electronic devices (to make copies of materials,

print out flyers, etc). Everything noted is available for use within the school.  

Outcomes

By implementing more inclusivity and diversity at Joyner Elementary we strive to inform

students on the importance of celebrating it. Our wish is that students become proactive,

well-informed, and respectful citizens in this world to have a positive effect on others. Their

concrete understanding of diversity and its importance will allow them to become such models.

This is also applicable for those involved in the plan’s process.

Implementation for School-Wide/Community Celebration of Diversity 

 Although we wished to implement the entirety of our social action plan, we were given

the opportunity to work alongside our mentor teachers and students to implement portions of it.

We began with having a discussion with our mentor teachers to find out what the school lacked

in terms of social impact. We found that even with the school being diverse there was no

discussion or implementation of diversity itself throughout the school. With this in mind, we

began planning and focused our action plan on finding ways to include the celebration of

diversity within the school community. We began with the students and based our culturally

relevant lesson on the book “The Family Book” by Todd Parr. Throughout the lesson, we

discussed essential terms relevant to diversity for students to gain a better understanding of what

it is and what it means. The book discussed terms relevant to differences found within families

(different parents, different home life, different pets) which captured what diversity looks like.

Along with this, we provided an activity that allowed students to create their own “family tile”

for a class quilt that would display the diversity found within the classroom.

Results

The outcome in the implementation of our plan resulted in lots of engagement,

discussion, and enthusiasm. Students were eager to learn more and had questions about diversity

and its importance and were full of excitement when they were given the activity. We believe the

activity allowed them to create and take a memorable piece that would remind them of diversity.

(Done so with the family quilt tiles they got to keep). Afterwards, when asked about the activity,

students expressed that they enjoyed learning and found it engaging.

Next Steps

Moving forward with the class our plan of action is to continue the discussion of diversity

through texts, media, and other informative material that will deepen their understanding. To

have students engaged even more it is crucial that we work with the school community to create

and have those celebratory days as mentioned previously, specifically for diversity. It would be

important to also include student involvement as they brainstorm ideas to implement in our

action plan relevant to diversity. They can also be involved in spreading and informing others of

our plan. Ultimately, through support, we would like the celebration of diversity to become a

school-wide/community event where everyone can come together. Additional spreading of our

plan outside of the school is preferred as our outcome as well.