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Creating Equity in the Classroom

By: Jessi Buffkin

INTRODUCTION
Equity in schools is a necessity and this should be a main focus. Classrooms need to have a secure environment. This is the role of the teachers and schools to make sure the students have environment that is easily able to learn in. Teachers need to be well prepared when entering the classroom when it comes to different race, ethnicity, sexual preference and disability. There are different actions that the school and teacher can take to accomplish creating equity. This is a matter of social justice.

What is racisms effect on creating equity in the classroom?
Racism spreads through schools all the time. Today in school there are many teachers who teach foreign languages and other classes where students can learn culture. The teachers teach the students about culture by cooking the foods of that ethnicity and having festivals. Racism is still occurring, and these foreign language classes are not helping this factor. Many respectable results can come from a student learning in a multicultural school. One is being able to adjust to different environments when not in school. While the students are in school they get to meet all different kinds of people so that when they go out in the real world the students will have open mind to the world. This results in not being stereotypical. It also prepares the child to deal with situations that might occur due to racism. The student also gets to learn about many different cultures. These are all many rewards that come out of having a child in a multicultural environment. All these things can lead to equity in schools, because maybe then there would not be such a large extent of racism in schools (Shehata). There are different minorities in schools; of them African Americans are the majorities. According to Wright, “The dilemmatic issue regarding the lack of achievement by African-American children may conceivably be changed if equal and quality educational opportunities are provided through instruction in the classroom.” Some teachers refuse to change the way they teach, regardless if there teaching technique is effective or not for all a students. Anderson says, “Those who dare to teach must never cease to learn.” To create equity in the classroom the teacher has to learn the techniques of all the students. (Young)

Should teachers have an open minds about sexual preference?
Students with different sexual preferences are very common in schools today. It is the teacher’s responsibility to make the child feel secure in the school environment. Teachers can do this by not allowing name calling whether the teacher agrees or disagrees. The teacher can also allow no assault or violence to these students (Stereotypes, Silence, and Speaking Out).This all has to do with “preventing youth crime.” Hate crime is defined as an attack on an individual or his or her property. Since this is a learned behavior teachers can try there best to prevent this. There are some steps that a school can take to try to prevent this kind of behavior. One is to give the teachers and the people who work at the school some type of preparation for how to handle certain situations. The teachers need to learn how to report a problem if one occurs like this. The school needs to make sure the students receive the same type of advising. This teaches students why being hateful towards certain types of people is wrong (Preventing Youth Hate Crime).

Is stereotyping a good idea for teachers in schools?
Stereotyping is not a good thing when you are a teacher. You need to come into a classroom with an open mind and someone might surprise you. For example Asian Americans, are typically stereotyped as submissive and hardworking. When stereotyping, usually you separate those children into another category which is not creating equity among the students (Preventing Youth Hate Crime). There was a study on, “effects of gender of teacher, gender of student, and classroom subject on teacher-student interactions.” There were 597 students being used for this experiment, almost equally distributed between girls and boys. There were 28 teachers involved in this experiment. The result in this experiment were most of the teachers interacted with the males more. Today in society males and females are treated differently. When it comes to the classroom it has been shown that male teachers have higher expectations for boys in math, and girls in English. According to this journal, (classroom interactions: gender of teacher, gender of student) “One way to study classroom interactions is through the use of the interactions for sex equity in classroom teaching (INTERSECT) observational instrument developed by Sadker et al (1984).” The final outcome demonstrated that male students were applauded, corrected, managed, and disapproved interactions. The boys got more teacher responses than the girl students. This was in junior high and in high school. This research shows that teachers seem to pay more attention to the males than the females which does not create equity in the classroom. These are some things that you try to avoid when in the classroom. (Duffy) There was a club that was brought together in Ontario schools. This club was brought together to discuss history of racism, and racism now in society. It states that in the curriculum for Ontario there are no courses that teach about equity. Only teachers who want to learn about this will. George Dei, chair of-sociology and equity studies in education at the Ontario Institute For Studies in Education, says there are a number of teachers who should be recognized for their anti-racism work. "But there are also many who have closed their minds," he adds. "We cannot wish racism away. We must acknowledge and respond to it." Which they did, stating that some of the practice in there schools are racist. Now there has to be fact about discrimination in text books today. Ontario is institute for studies in education (Black).

How should teachers create equity in classrooms?
There are many things that you can do to create equity in the classroom. Women can feel discouraged at times because they can feel as though they are being undermined. When a teacher will focus on a certain type of group of people this is not creating equity. Maybe the teacher would focus on the men because he or she thinks the men can succeed more. Focusing on any type of minority or race excludes the other classmates to respond. There are many things that someone can do to create equity. The first thing to do is state your expectations and stating that it is possible for anyone to do well in your class, even if they need some additional help. Make sure you give a proper wait-time when you are asking a question. Students need a proper amount of time to answer the question and this gives all students an equal opportunity to answer the question (Sandler). Also learn you’re Students' Names, and try to create a Safe Environment and lastly Be Aware of your Audience. Equity is defined as, “the state, quality, or ideal of being just, impartial, and fair.” (Houghton)

Conclusion
All this can lead to creating equity in the classroom. The teacher mostly has to make sure this occurs. The teacher has to have an open mind when entering the classroom, trying to avoid all types of stereotyping toward racism sexual preference and any minority group.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the teacher responsible for creating when in the classroom? A.Making sure all students receive an A B.Creating a safe environment for students C.Making sure students copy down there homework D.Creating friendship among the students

2. What is one step a teacher can make to create equity in the classroom? A.Researching all the students different backgrounds B.Asking the children what ethnicity they are C.Making sure the teacher states all expectations D.Condemning the child for bad grades

3. When a teacher stereotypes what is she doing? A.Having an open mind to all students B.Having a closed mind and making prejudgments C.Telling the children to separate D.Creating fairness

4. When does the teacher need to state his or her expectations of the class? A.At the end of the semester B.In the middle of the semester C.When report cards come out D.On the first day of school

Answers to the multiple choice questions B. C. B. D.

Essay Question: What does a school do when allowing discrimination, racism, and stereotyping into the school? The school is not doing its job. The schools job is to create a safe environment for all the students. It is not the schools job to allow this kind behavior to continue. The school needs to take proper actions when these situations occur. When this is not allowed the school is then creating equity in the classroom.