Kathryn Moore

Diversity Workshop

Celebrating Diversity

Participating in the Celebrating Diversity workshop has given me a new appreciation for diversity. I learned that people should celebrate their uniqueness. Several concepts and activities from this day will be useful not only in everyday life, but also in the classroom.

When a person thinks about diversity it is normally referred to and solely race and ethnicity. Diversity normally is referred to with a negative connotation as well. People are thought to be looked down upon who have a diverse race or ethnicity. In all actuality diversity is about more than just race and ethnicity. It is about every unique quality of a person. Every person has their own exclusive genre of diversity.

There are a couple activities from the workshop that I would like to integrate into my future classroom. The first activity is that of actually celebrating the diversity of each individual. By doing this you would have each child tell a part of what they are. An example of this would be my saying, “I am a woman, I am a farmer, and I am a friend.” I would also instate a rule that when ever someone uses offensive language you should correct their speech. We were taught that when someone says something that offends you, you should in a welcoming manner ask the speaker why they used that phrase and explain that some people feel that that is offensive. Then you could help them come up with another phrase that is less offensive.

The Celebrating Diversity workshop helped me gain a greater appreciation for others. I discovered that one should truly know and understand a person before you are to judge them. You should also watch what you say, because you never know when you might offend someone. After this workshop I have more closely watched what I say around people and have refrained from judging someone by their appearance.

I feel that as a future educator this workshop was very insightful. I now have a better understanding of the importance of diversity. I no longer judge without getting to know someone first, and I try to divert harmful and offensive language from being spread.