ABSTRACT
In one way or another, every classroom is heterogeneous. Students may come from wealthy families, middle-class families, or poor families (one in five children in America live in poverty). Family makeup differs. We have students who are only children, students with brothers and sisters, students with stepsiblings, students who have cousins and non-relatives living in their homes. Some children live in mansions, some live in high-rise apartment buildings, some live on farms, some live in the back seat of an abandoned car. Sometimes the diversity is obvious, sometimes superficial. Our students are males and females, tall and short, thin and chunky. Even when a group looks pretty much the same, every student has strengths and weaknesses, ideas and emotions, troubles and joys that make up a unique personality. Every teacher works with a wide range of students, and the mix changes every year. What is it that enables some teachers to connect and work effectively with every student, while others struggle with a handful or more in every group? The difference lies in their ability to put themselves in someone else’s shoes.
