Eliminating the “Poverty of the Teaching Spirit” to Educate Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners with Exceptionalities
Festus E. Obiakor
Abstract
Teaching is a laudable profession that continues to make a difference in the lives of students and societies in which they live. This spiritual motif is especially useful to learners with exceptionalities who come from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) and vulnerable backgrounds who have been consistently misidentified, misassessed, miscategorized, misplaced, and misinstructed. Despite the magnanimous roles of teachers, the teaching profession has continued to be downplayed. As a response, the profession has tried to build its reputation by focusing on stringent measures that masquerade as “quality control” measures. Teaching is rooted in underlying spiritual contexts that involve the manipulation of the learning environment through humane and fun activities. While stringent measures are not altogether useless, they do not fully maximize the potential of CLD and vulnerable learners with exceptionalities. In this article, I argue that these learners need caring teachers who are willing to eliminate the poverty of the teaching spirit and uplift their humanity.