Teaching to Difference? The Challenges and Opportunities of Diversity in the Classroom offers a comparative perspective on the pedagogical and cultural issues in managing differences and diversity in the classroom. Using reflections and experiential analysis, the volume presents perspectives on the experiences of teaching and learning through differences of race/ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation and gender, language, special needs and geography, from contexts such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Israel. The reflections are presented from the viewpoint of minority teaching professionals and white educators teaching diverse student populations ranging from K-12 to college students and pre-service teachers.This volume provides a lens into the questions, reflections, and experiences of teachers and practitioners when they encounter difference in the classroom. The essays highlight the trepidation and frustration educators feel when they perceive themselves to be ill-prepared for diversity in their classrooms. However, there are also essays of triumph and success when teachers feel they have reached their students in a meaningful way. Additionally, through the experiences depicted, teachers describe their processes of connecting to students, how they determined what worked and did not work in their journey, and what they learned from the experience that continues to impact them.
About the Author: Nicole E. Johnson is a School Director at a charter school in Washington, DC. She holds a PhD in Political Science (American Politics and Political Behaviour) and an MA in Education and Human Development. She is a former special education teacher and consultant, and is the co-author of Experiencing Racism, with Rick Seltzer (Rowan and Littlefield, 2009).Stacey-Ann Wilson is Lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, and Research Fellow at the Centre for Leadership and Governance at the University of the West Indies. She holds a PhD in Political Science (Comparative Politics and International Relations), an MA in Political Science (Comparative Politics) and an Honours BA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Political Science. Her research focuses broadly on issues relating to identity, culture and international political economy. She is the author of Politics of Identity in Small Plural Societies: Guyana, the Fiji Islands, and Trinidad and Tobago (Palgrave MacMillan, 2012).