Rear Wall Views

This is the view of the back wall of my classroom right now.  Posted across the top of the wall are some of the flags from the native countries for some of the students in my classes.  The number of flags that are posted are increasing substantially each school year.  This trend has been a reality for classrooms throughout the country and our region for a number of years, but, since my current school, a relatively small consolidated school supporting suburban and rural students and families in a relatively small community, this trend has only recently impacted my classroom.

What are these impacts?  This is a question I ask myself quite often as the dynamics of my classroom has certainly changed due to  the increased wealth of diversity that is now a reality within each class.  Shifting dynamics, otherwise known as “CHANGE”, is often unsettling, especially for a teacher with 26 years under his belt and the potential “finish line” of retirement now in sight.  Is this new, diverse classroom dynamic a crisis or an opportunity? 

In my experience, the influx of students immigrating into the school community has been a tremendous asset to my classroom.  For the past three years, in which I have seen a significant increase in families moving into the community, my classroom has been enriched, for the most part, by these students.  Students new to the community tend to embody many of the core values that are now embedded into contemporary school curriculum and school values such as respect, understanding, perseverance, and determination.  How can this be a bad thing?  Of course, there are always challenges associated with change and supporting students making their way into new communities and schools are certainly not immune to this.  However, nothing significant can be established without effort and issues such as class size, class composition, and language proficiency are definitely part of the myriad of challenges facing educators today.  However, from my perspective, the various levels of government,especially provincially, are taking successful steps to support these needs.

The new, diverse and dynamic classroom provides tremendous opportunities to capitalize on the enriched realities that students new to the community provide. In my current classroom, students new to the community, quite often, are providing strong leadership in many areas both inside and outside the classroom.  I look forward to adding even more flags to the rear wall of the class in the next few years!