Albert Einstein once said, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” New? As a classroom teacher, I have met and taught students of various cultures and background. It has been a great experience and I often used the opportunities to learn from them (the students) and I have actually identified with them. Throughout the years of teaching, the students have shared emotional stories that indeed changed my life. Somehow I realized there was a purpose in my teaching and being associated with students, especially English Language Learners (ELL) validated that notion. As an immigrant from a small Caribbean island, I understand what it means to be in a country with a different culture. I know how it feels to be scowled upon because my accent isn’t the same as the typical or my skin or hair color is not like most. I know what it feels like to be away from “home” and start over and begin a “new home.” New home, new school, new food, new culture – phew! It all sounds so exhausting and now to learn in a classroom with new classmates and new teacher!

As a teacher, I have to adjust how I teach and how I respond to ALL students. I have to wear several hats – teacher, counselor, mother, wrestler, referee, coach, psychologist etc. etc. How would I wear so many hats? I have to get to know the students, their culture and how the role their cultures play in their learning. Over the years as a teacher, I have learned several things from my students. I remember a lesson we had about migration and immigration, I was explaining to the students the meaning of the words “migration and immigration” and I explained how I migrated to the United States and where I lived before. I asked the students to tell if they knew anyone who migrated to a country and so on. Some of the students said that they had migrated etc. Things were going great until I noticed that one of the students sitting in the back was sobbing I took him to the side as my collaborating teaching continued with the lesson. After a little probing I that the student had walked from Mexico to come to the United States and had left his grandma behind whom he loved very much. He had walked for days and only ate apples on the journey!!! I realized that even though the lesson was suppose to be an “easy fun loving” one, it affected this particular student differently. He later volunteered to share his story to the others in the class and it became a very emotional lesson for all. The students were very sympathetic to him and they understood his sadness.

One of the highlights of the 21^st century is the concept of diversity, which entails inclusion of students in the classroom. If diversity in the classroom is managed, it will help students to prepare for the globalization, which is being encouraged on the international scene. Learning to respect diversity in the classroom would carry over to their adult lives and greatly lessen much of the divisiveness a community, an organization or a country might face. This in turn would help students prepare for the globalization.

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