Equity and Inclusion

5/21/2013

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The image posted above comes from the Ontario Ministry of Education’s “Equity and Inclusive Education in Ontario School Guidelines for Policy Development and Implementation” document.

Inclusivity is, as far as I'm concerned, a non-negotiable issue in the education system.  I don't think there is any reasonable argument that would indicate that certain people should not be included in school systems, schools, boards, classes, etc.

Equity, however, is a challenging term.  In order to make any headway on the equity issue, we must agree on the meaning.  Dictionary.com defines equity as "the quality of being fair or impartial."

As I see it, there are two main challenges with equity.

The first challenge with equity is that fairness does not mean equality or sameness.  Many people will object that certain actions or decisions are not equitable because they are different.  Difference can be equitable.  Consider the following: You are given the opportunity to go on an overseas mission trip for 2 weeks in the summer.  It will cost $2500.  Your older sibling is planning a camping trip with his/her friends for 2 weeks in the summer.  It will cost $200.  Is it equitable for your parents to send both you and your sibling on your respective trips?  Of course.  At this moment in time you have a need for $2500 and your sibling has a need for $200.  In providing both you and your sibling with the funds for your trips, your parents are behaving in an equitable manner.

The second challenge with equity is that we work in a highly subjective and relational profession where, I would argue, it is impossible to be impartial.  This is a challenge that I'm not sure how to get around.  We can - as much as possible - attempt to make decisions for our students in an objective and impartial way . . . however, we are human.  Our students are human.  We have relationships with our students.  The connections we have differ.  I think the best way to attempt to be equitable is to at least acknowledge that we are not impartial.  Admiting the problem  is the first step, right?
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Getting Pinterested!

5/15/2013

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I didn't set out to get myself hooked on Pinterest.  In fact, all I wanted to do really was see if someone had a neat idea or activity to use for teaching demonstrative adjectives in French.

A quick Google search brought me to a number of different Pinterest sites.  Before I knew it, I had spent over an hour scrolling through a number of Pinterest sites, reading some of the inspirational quotes and jotting down a few of the activity ideas.  Then I realized my jot notes on scrap paper were silly.  How much easier would it be just to click "Pin It"?!

Pinterest, like Twitter, is all about sharing information.  In fact, when you first join, the program asks you to choose 5 people to follow - just to get you started.  I can see how this program - once again, like Twitter, - could easily become addictive.  There is a wealth of knowledge presented in an interesting way, and I don't even have to go searching for it.  Someone with similar interests to mine has probably already pinned a whole bunch of ideas, websites, and images that I would likely want to look for.

The next step is bringing it to the classroom.  I can see the possibility of having students use Pinterest to collect and submit an annotated bibliography of sorts on a given topic.  Students could gather a number of pictures and links that all help to support their thinking about a topic and then provide comments on each image.  The challenge and the reward of a site like Pinterest is its public nature.  It's great for sharing ideas and resources.  It's challenging for maintaining privacy of students.  Perhaps we could have a class Pinterest where students can all log in to the same site and make modifications to a board there.  That way no names, e-mails, etc. would have to be shared.

I'm excited about the possibilities.
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Edcamp Craziness!

5/5/2013

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Yesterday I attended my very first edcamp.

Whoa.

Who knew that there were so many eager teachers willing to give up a Saturday to meet with people they don't even know and have challenging and invigorating conversations about education?!

I can't even describe the energy at Ancaster Senior Public School yesterday morning.  It was frenetic.  And I was a part of it.

I was excited about going - mostly just to see what it was like.  But I would be lying if I didn't say I was a bit skeptical at how the day would actually run.  No set topics.  No speakers.  Pretty much a free for all.

I surprised myself at how much I actually participated in the conversations that were going on.  I often felt like I had something to add to the conversation, and I was engaged in the discussions happening.

Digital Citizenship - I loved hearing what @acampbell99 had to say.  His comments mirror my own thinking exactly.  He was adamant that we shouldn't be talking so much about digital citizenship.  Instead, we should just be worrying about citizenship.  Online or offline - it's the same thing.

Gamification - There were some really interesting ideas shared here about teachers being game-makers.  I enjoyed @gisforgonzalo 's idea that all you need for a game to happen is a couple of rules.  Any time we implement an activity in the classroom that has a goal and some parameters, we have a game.  My question then is, how do we ensure that our game is going to capitalize on student success?

Inquiry-based Learning - Thanks to @peterskillen for sharing some of his knowledge and expertise surrounding inquiry-based, problem-based, project-based, and tinkering-based learning.  We had some rich discussions in this session about what inquiry-based learning may look like in the classroom (particularly outside of Science).  I enjoyed hearing my colleagues thoughts about scaffolding learning as well.  Are we truly sc

The most exciting part of edcamp: I have 3 new Twitter followers!  :)
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