High School The Best Of Times - 1340 Words

â€Å"High school: the best of times, the worst of times!† Schools today are vastly different from the schools that our parents attended or in some cases even the ones we attended. In fact, racism, violence, and abuse are just some of the barriers that students and teachers face throughout their day at most high schools across America. However, we have to understand that most of those issues are caused by the lack of understanding about the diverse group of young adults we see on a daily basis. My understanding of diversity is different groups of people with varied backgrounds and beliefs. With this in mind, teachers need to model for students and peers what positive learning communities look like. One thing that needs to be addressed early†¦show more content†¦These students are victims of their environment and yet they seem to be judged as if they have a choice in their situation. According to Milne and Plourde (2006), these are the students who have consistent attendance issues and their lifestyles affect how long it will take them to complete their education. Factors that affect their ability to learn include: little access to educational materials, low parent involvement, marital conflicts within the home, lack of discipline, lack of parental involvement, and absent parents. Any one of these issues can cause a child to fail and some kids deal with more than one of these issues on a daily basis. Another group that is affected by circumstances out of their control is the English Language Learners. These students not only face the issues that every high school student faces, but they also have to adjust to the language barrier, which at times can be insurmountable. These students are placed in general education classes with the same expectations as their monolingual peers. They are learning the same content and taking the same standardized tests as every other student. Teachers have to wonder how they can reach these students who bar ely understand what they are saying. Perez and Holmes (2010) introduce us to the several strategies to help our â€Å"culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)† students. Some suggestions include: building on prior knowledge to help them make connections, teaching them to take ownership