Deck 2: Teaching a Diversity of Learners

Question 1

Conceptually, student diversity comprises many socially constructed variables such as ethnicity, race, gender, culture, sexuality and sexual orientation, and ability and disability status.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Social construction is a theoretical framework that rejects society's historical context and present-day social dynamics in regards to interpretations about an individual's or a group's reality.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Race refers to the cultural heritage of a particular group of people.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Education identify five racial categories: American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander, Black (not Hispanic), Hispanic (not White), and White (not Hispanic).

Question 5

Ethnicity is used to identify and categorize individuals based mostly on visible biological features, and such features as skin color and facial features are always supported by genetic indicators.

Question 6

Traditional gender logic is the belief that girls and women are naturally inferior to boys and men in sport and physical activities requiring physical skills and cognitive strategies.

Question 7

Culture represents beliefs, behaviors, linguistic semantics, practices, and traditions; it cuts across race and ethnicity and is largely associated with socioeconomic status, social positioning, and family histories.

Question 8

Cultural dissonance represents a bonding between students and their teacher and occurs most often when the teacher and students are from the same cultural, ethnic, linguistic, or socioeconomic backgrounds.

Question 9

Teachers should embrace and openly express phobias or biases they have toward gay, lesbian or bisexual students. This ensures a psychologically safe and equitable learning environment for all students regardless of sexual orientation.

Question 10

Which of the following is likely not to promote gender equity in physical education?

A) Monitoring feedback and attention to be sure it is spread equitably among boys and girls and among high-, medium-, and low-ability groups.
B) Making assumptions about students' abilities or interests based on their gender (e.g., all boys like football and all girls like softball).
C) Avoiding dividing or highlighting groups based on gender (e.g., boys vs. girls; boys on this line, girls on that line).
D) In games that require a high-profile position (e.g., quarterback in football), making sure that all students are given opportunities to learn and play all positions.

Question 11

What are risk ratios?

A) Risk ratios are mathematical calculations that show that, for every 100 individuals tested, about 68% fall in the middle of the normal curve designated as +1 to û1 standard deviations from 0, the mean (average score) for the group.
B) Risk ratios are used to compare the proportion of a particular racial/ethnic group served under IDEA to the proportion served among the other racial/ethnic groups combined.
C) Risk ratios are values that indicate the percentage of a particular racial/ethnic group's distribution that is equal to or below a particular score.
D) Risk ratios are estimates indicating how a child's scores on a standardized test relate to her or his ethnic/racial group's scores.

Question 12

A teacher should do which of the following in striving to close cultural gaps and reduce cultural dissonance?

A) Make assumptions about students' and their parents' intelligence, values, and other attributes based on their socioeconomic status.
B) Learn about the history and experiences of diverse groups, visit students' families and communities, and learn about successful teachers in diverse settings.
C) Identify and take a stance on political and religious issues that may be controversial.
D) Ignore students who make homophobic remarks, tease their peers, or tell inappropriate jokes.

Question 13

Which statement does not reflect an essential component of social justice teaching?

A) It comprises those curricula, pedagogies, and teachers' expectations and interactional styles that will improve the learning opportunities of each individual student.
B) It includes the transformation of any educational structures or policies that diminish students' learning opportunities.
C) It promotes structural inequities in schools and supports hegemonic policies that adversely affect student learning.
D) It challenges students to envision themselves as active citizens with the power to transform unjust structures.

Question 14

Which statement best describes culturally responsive pedagogy?

A) It is an approach to teaching that allows teachers to use each student's prior knowledge and lived experiences to educate and positively affect all students in a holistic manner.
B) It is a curriculum model that lends itself well to teaching students self- and social responsibility through cooperative learning in the context of sport.
C) It is a curriculum model that emphasizes teacher-centered educational experiences.
D) It is a psychodynamic behavior management approach that facilitates conflict resolution.

Question 15

Which statement contradicts socially just teaching?

A) Learn to embrace any ethnocentric views one may have stemming from a dominant social hegemony.
B) Become culturally literate (e.g., learn cultural traditions) and regularly include various cultural practices in relevant activities.
C) Have a no tolerance policy concerning disability-related stereotypical phrases or demeaning remarks such as "you are a retard."
D) Have a no tolerance policy for bullying, negative stereotypes, and racist, homophobic, or sexist comments.

Question 16

Culturally responsive teaching has which of the following components?

A) It acknowledges the legitimacy of the cultural heritages of different ethnic groups, both as legacies that affect students' dispositions, attitudes, and approaches to learning and as worthy content to be taught in the formal curriculum.
B) It builds bridges of meaningfulness between home and school experiences as well as between academic abstractions and lived socio-cultural realities.
C) It teaches students to know and praise their own and each others' cultural heritages.
D) All of the above are components of culturally responsive teaching.

Question 17

Research shows which of the following regarding culturally responsive teachers?

A) They communicate low expectations toward ethnic minority students, particularly those who are at risk of educational failure.
B) They avoid linking classroom content to students' lived experiences.
C) They organize learning as a social event, rather than as a competitive or individual experience.
D) They avoid incorporating aspects of students' home and cultural communication patterns in their teaching.

Question 18

Which statement is false about cultural awareness?

A) Cultural awareness means a teacher is alert to, acknowledges, and shows an appreciation for various cultures.
B) The three progressive stages of cultural awareness move from culturally unaware to a transitional stage and then onto cultural resistance.
C) Teachers who are culturally aware are responsive to the distinctions between the cultural capital of the students and the school.
D) Teachers who are culturally aware are able to integrate students' languages and cultures in the teaching and learning process by using a variety of teaching strategies appropriate for their diverse classes.

Question 19

In order to create culturally responsive physical education programs, teachers must do which of the following?

A) Recognize their ethnocentric assumptions and biases and strive to acquire cultural content knowledge in terms of student diversity.
B) Understand the broader social, economic, and political context of schools.
C) Acquire competence and a will to implement culturally appropriate management strategies and commit to building caring and interactive classes.
D) All of the above are components necessary in creating a culturally responsive physical education program.