Equity and Inclusion

 

I will admit that when I first began my journey towards becoming a teacher, I struggle with recognizing the difference between equality and equity. I was confused how providing additional supports and different education to certain students was unfair...but it was through working with students with special needs in my placements that I truly came to understand what equality meant and the importance of it.

Growing up in a large family I was always taught that fairness meant things were equal and that everyone in life deserves an equal opportunity to be successful in whatever journey they have chosen for themselves. It is through the implementation of equitable solutions to education practices that everyone will provided with that equal opportunity for success.

Just because someone needs a ramp rather then stairs to get into a building, or an assistive talking device in order to tell us what they are thinking doesn't diminish their capabilities as people, it is allowing them the opportunity to reach their fullest potential as they become contributing members of society!

When considering who is in your class and where they are coming from regrading their background so that we can ensure we are providing equitable teachings in our online classes, the Wheel of Power/Privilege is such a powerful graphic. It says so much in such a small picture. 

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We can take one look at it and know exactly who in our class we are going to need to be a little more patient and understanding with, and who we can rely on to be our sort of teaching assistants. Now with that being said, we do need to be careful with making biases and assumptions based off of where someone falls on the wheel. Someone who would fall under a marginalized space could possibly be in more of a privileged position then someone who is in a typical power position. We don't know and won't know until we get to know our students. It is not fair to them to make assumptions based off of the little information we know about their backgrounds because that is actually stereotyping those students and the farthest thing from being equitable. 

We can help to break this wheel and ensure that we are being equitable to all of our students by asking questions, finding out where their limitations lie and how we can help accommodate them. We need to ensure that we are prepared with the resources and knowledge to help. And we also need to remember that the wheel is a pictorial image of where people get placed in society based on history...but that is in the past, and we cannot create a more equitable world if we don't start it within ourselves.

This infographic says so much that we cannot look at it and not find fault in ourselves. It is a really good tool to even print off and have on hand so that we can look at it frequently to check in and self-reflect on how well we are doing to break our biases and personal stereotypical beliefs. 

Another great resource to help break personal biases is the Twitter hashtag #4BigQuestions. While reading through several of the Tweets that have been shared the one that stood out most to me was tweeted by Sarah Taylor . She says that her biggest takeaways are to: 

1. Leave yourself open to the teachings you need
2. Sit in not knowing for awhile
3. Enter into a space with humility
4. Mentorship doesn't have to be hierarchical 

I really connected with this post, especially to sit in not knowing for awhile. As a society there has become a negative stigma around not knowing something and we have lost the ability to recognize how to learn from being uncomfortable. But being uncomfortable is how we learn and grow! Growth does not happen when we are comfortable, acceptance, denial and complacencies arise out of comfort. The more we can be uncomfortable by teaching against the grain and welcoming concepts like the Black lives movement, FNMI teachings, and LGBTQ+ ideals, the more we will grow and the more we will learn.