The website eHow offers an article on ways to meet the diverse needs of your students in your classroom and to introduce diversity to students from areas that are fairly racially homogenous. Ideas like incorporating journaling into the classroom struck me as especially helpful. I have actually tried this before in my Sociology class, and I am now thinking of also doing this in other courses. Students keep a journal daily or weekly and respond to prompts such as “Growing up a girl” or “The world as I see it.” Then students are offered time to present their journal responses in class. The idea is to foster openness and understanding of diversity and cultures within the classroom.
Clearly, another means of promoting global awareness and communication is through blogging. Although I post on my school blog every day, and I post on this blog approximately once a week, I do not believe I have reached the communicating globally stage of blogging at this time. However, there are numerous websites that offer advice on how to increase your interest to others on a larger scale. An article from About.com offers excellent information on how to do this. What I have noticed from blogging for school for the last two years is that I get excellent feedback from parents at conferences on the information they obtain from my blog. What I would like to aim for though is that I am receiving feedback through the blog on a more immediate basis.