Promoting Equity

18 ways for faculty to promote equity in the Classroom.

Equity among students

How do schools promote equity among students?

My Thoughts on Equity in the Classroom

I teach eager, happy, energetic and amazing five year old boys and girls!  It is a joy to see the excitement they get from being a part of a learning community or "family".  Unfortunetely we do not live in a community that offers much diversity in cultural backgrounds.  I feel that it is so important to expose my students to diversity through picture books, music, and thematic units in an effort to generate discussion and appreciation of different groups of people.  There are 17 children in my class, and although we are all caucasian and of similar socio-economic status we are very diverse in personality, strengths and weaknesses.  I strive each day to celebrate the unique make-up of each child, to celebrate the very strengths that make them the individuals they were created to be.  I encourage classmates to find the good in their friends and to compliment each-other often.  We have teachable moments each day, moments when one student for whatever reason, feels "entitled" to.. (have the first spot in line, to take the toy from another,  to be the only one talking).  It is in those moments the opportunity arises to remind my students that each one of us is precious and not one of us is more important than the other.  In my opinion, and in my small corner of the world, that is equity in the classroom.  

Lesson I Use

The main tool I use to help facilitate equity in my classroom is creating an environment where every student can feel safe and respected so that they are comfortable sharing ideas about their own culture and beliefs. I facilitate this by doing a lot of teambuilding and sharing activities at the beginning of the year. One of the most powerful lessons I teach all year is an art lesson that has students exploring the differences and similarities in skin color. For this lesson, we create watercolor portraits using blended colors. Students work to match their own skin color for their portrait. They have to mix and experiment with colors in order to achieve the color they need. After completing the portraits, the class shares the color mix that they used to get their skin color correct for their portrait. What is revealed from this lesson is that even if you have a very different skin color from another, you probably have some shades of the same color used to make your own skin color. The ultimate lesson the students learn is that even though we look very different, we still have some things that are the same.

National Equity Project Blog

Here is a Equity blog that I found today that has a lot of good resources.

Check it out!!

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The goal of this blog is to use the vast knowledge of educators and collaborate different ideas towards an Equity Pedagogy.  I encourage you to comment about your thoughts about equity in the classroom.  What are some tools you use in the classroom that others might benefit?  I am currently in a MAT program at Willamette University and hope to be teaching at the elementary level next year.  Any thoughts would certainly be appreciated.  I will also post different useful articles and resources that I find in the future.  Thank you for your input, I truly believe that with everyone's help this can be a useful tool for teachers.

Equity pedagogy:  when teachers modify their teachings in ways that will facilitate the academic achievements of students from diverse racial cultural and social class groups.

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