Who picked
up this allusion to the 1996 film Matilda?
For my example, I have altered the quote somewhat, but the meaning remains the
same. With both Matilda’s struggles with her father and students’ struggles
with the school system, sometimes there really is nothing that can be done. Granted,
in the idealist world of children’s movies, Matilda does in fact end up
breaking free from her abusive parents. But for students who are trapped in a
school system that is not conducive to their needs, the abuse just keeps on
coming. It’s not a happy ending. The underdog doesn’t succeed. And the ‘A’
students stay smart while the ‘D’ students stay dumb.
In my other
Education courses, the idea of “equity” over “equality” has come up a lot in
both direct and indirect ways. The indirect ways have proven to be of most interest
to me, especially in the case of Chapter 1 of Susan Drake, Joanne L. Reid and
Wendy Kolohon’s (2014) Interweaving
Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st-Century Learner.
While the concept of equity is never formally discussed, the section about the
relevance of personalizing education in order to allow different learners to
thrive really stood out to me. How often in your educational experiences can
you say that you have seen an instructor alter their teaching methods for
different students? Have you ever seen a teacher administer different means of
evaluation (for example, a test for some and a project for others) to assess
his or her students’ knowledge on the same topic? I know I haven’t. And it
makes me wonder: would doing something like that be considered fair?
What
exactly is fairness? Is it choosing one mean of instruction and evaluation for
everyone in order to stay in-line with the idea of equality? Or is it allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge
in whichever ways personally suit them in order to be equitable? According to the text, “Fairness does not always mean
standardization – the same assessment tasks or the same assessment criteria for
everyone” (p. 21). When I think about equity being used to combat the struggle
between the perpetual ‘A’ and ‘D’ students, it seems like a wonderful idea in
theory. But then I consider how this idea would actually work in practice, and
all I can imagine is frequent complaints that one student has it easier than
another or that some students are being challenged more than others, etc. How
would a teacher answer to these complaints? How could this method be justified,
if it’s even justifiable at all? Is it possible to be equal and equitable simultaneously?
Lucky for
me, I was able to adapt easily to our current education system. From as early
as junior kindergarten, I approached school with this innate thirst for
knowledge and determination to succeed. With these attitudes, along with continual
positive reinforcement from instructors and peers throughout the years, I have
made it to my fourth year of post-secondary education unscathed. Sure, there
have been challenges along the way, but I’ve always been able to pull through.
With this in mind, I’ve been starting to ask myself how I’m going to be able to
respond to those students who did not take to schooling as naturally as I did.
If I can’t relate to them, how will I be able to approach their learning with
sensitivity and understanding? How will I be able to teach them when what has
always worked for me, doesn’t work for them?
There’s
nothing that my students can do about the educational methods I choose to
employ, but I know there’s something I can
do about it.
I just have
to figure out what that is.
 |
| Since this is a journey of self-discovery through my experiences in 4P19, I thought it would be fun to add personal photos of my educational journey thus far. So for my first blog, I have none other than the first day of school. In case you're wondering, I'm the dorky-looking one on the left who looks like she has no idea what she's in for. |
No comments:
Post a Comment