Professional Development for Diverse Learners

Today’s classrooms are full of more diverse learners than ever before. Yet, we know that the more we can personalize learning, the easier it is for students to learn.

If you plan to invest time and money for professional development, focusing on diverse learners can have an immediate impact on your effectiveness as a teacher and your enjoyment of teaching.

“Diverse learners” is a broad term. Let’s look at the different types of diversity that are found in most classrooms today.

Diversity of Backgrounds And Cultures

in many classrooms, students from different backgrounds, cultures, and even countries are sitting side by side. The more you can learn about, understand, and incorporate these differences, the better for all students. Customized lesson plans that address these disparities and encourage other students to learn from each others’ differences can be extremely effective and rewarding.

Diversity of Learning Styles

Every student learns differently, which can make it challenging if you’re trying to get 20-30 students to master a concept. Most students have dominant styles of learning (which can be visual, aural, verbal, or physical), while some work better alone than in groups. Fortunately, almost all students can learn using combinations of the above. By considering different styles of learning and incorporating them into your curriculum and lesson plans, you’ll make learning easier for everyone.

Diversity of Ages and Abilities

Teaching students of different ages – or the same age, but different abilities – can be tricky. You don’t want students to disengage because the lesson plan is too easy or too hard for them. Incorporating activities tailored to different ages and levels can help solve this problem, as can empowering students to teach each other. in this scenario, you have “teaching assistants” at hand, who can help customize your lesson plans to precisely meet the needs of the other student(s) that they’re teaching.

As a teacher, when you try to customize your teaching to accommodate every student, which category of diversity do you find the most challenging? Choose a professional development class, course, workshop, or conference that focuses on this category of diversity, and watch your effectiveness as a teacher soar.

Education 4 Equity Online Professional Development Courses

At Education 4 Equity, we offer a wide range of online professional development courses for teachers, including 3-credit courses on Personalizing Learning and Closing Gaps in Education And Achievement.

All of our 1-credit, 2-credit, and 3-credit online courses for teachers qualify for graduate credit and have been approved for LAUSD salary points through the Los Angeles Unified School District.