Topic: Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
Date: October 12th, 2021
3 big takeaways:
- “If there are no out transgender students at your school, it doesn’t mean they are not there. Rather, it means that they cannot come out and live who they are at school” (Airton, 2019, p.3). Just because we don’t see something or someone doesn’t mean they don’t exist; therefore, it is crucial that schools and classrooms are ensuring that the environment, resources, curriculum, and pedagogy are always gender-friendly regardless of students being out or not. A gender-friendly education also fosters a deeper understanding, acceptance, and respect in students whether they identify as their gender from birth or not.
- When we approach education with the understanding that all students come to school with funds of knowledge that are unique to them, we can then implement instructional strategies and inclusive resources that enhance and build on their knowledge which makes learning relatable and enjoyable while allowing all students to feel respected and welcomed which in turn results in greater achievement for everyone. The best way education can be culturally responsive is when educators incorporating multimodal literacies, using a gradual release approach, giving students time to process, and frequent brain breaks (Samuels, 2021), this is good for all students but especially ESL learners.
In the article, Introduction: Creating Classrooms for Equity and Social Justice, the editors talk about “schools and classrooms being laboratories for a more just society”, they also offer various ways to make this happen, for instance, education should be “rooted” in children’s needs and experiences that allow for critical thinking “linked to real world problems” and teaching them to be activist. Resources should be inclusive of all while learning should be experienced both mentally and physically. Classroom environments should make all students “feel significant and cared about” while being “culturally sensitive” and a place where teachers and students learn together.
2 Connections:
- I recognizing that my white privilege and the fact that I speak the same language that my education was taught in, English, I never had to struggle like ESL leaners, nor did I have to worry about being bullied or accepted for my gender, or discriminated for my culture, so it is hard for me to imagine what it is like for students that do, however, I do realize the im
- portance of ensuring I provide an equitable, diverse, and inclusive classroom, so that all students have the opportunity to experience education the way I did, welcome, safe, and accepted.
If my education would have been more diverse and inclusive of other ways of knowing I wonder how much better it could have been because from what I have discovered about Aboriginal ways of knowing is that a lot of their ways coincide or compliment my learning styles better than the traditional western ways of knowing do. For instance, assessments that go beyond tests and worksheets and pedagogy that incorporates children holistically as they learn.
1 question: In the article, Introduction: Creating Classrooms for Equity and Social Justice, the editors mention “many reasons to be discouraged about the future” but they also end with an expression from Zulu that says “’If the future doesn’t come toward you, you have to fetch it”’- so as a group, what are some ways we can think of to “fetch it” and not become discouraged?