Learning about the diversity within a classroom is essential for quality learning. To do this the teacher within the classroom must decide how to best find out the background of their students. There are many ways a teacher can find out information about their children’s background. In the preschool I work at, the head teacher goes on home visits to her new students home. One can find out a lot of information about a child by looking at the environment they are growing up in. Another option would be to meet with parents and discuss the importance of diversity in the classroom and ask if they have any background to disclose with the teacher. Besides taking out of class time to learn about diversity in the classroom, the teacher could do “get to know you” activities. One such example of this is what we did during class last week, by making poems. The about me poems help show the class as well as the teacher what aspects of the writer’s life is important to them. The different important factors within a child’s life are what makes the classroom diverse.

In terms of English language learners, Lenski came up with different categories to place her students. The four categories are as follows, Newly arrived students with adequate formal schooling, newly arrived students with limited formal schooling, students exposed to two languages simultaneously, and long-term English-language learner. By categorizing ELL students into these groups it helps the teacher begin to understand the types of literacy the children have been exposed to. Although a teacher is subdividing ELL students into these groups for assessment does not mean that they all have the same skills. Lenski makes it known that each student even if they speak the same language have different skills in terms of literacy. With that in mind it is important to know each student individually to best know their strengths and weaknesses.