“There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.” This quote, attributed to Thomas Jefferson, is often used in gifted education to justify the attention, resources, and opportunities provided to those who ...
“Language influences thought and action. The words we use to describe things—to ourselves and others—affect how we and they think and act.” (Weimer, 2015). Learners can be empowered or suppressed by the language(s) used in our ...
Racially-charged issues are all around us — controversy over the killing of unarmed black men by white police officers; the slaughter of nine black people during a Charleston, S.C. church service by a young white ...
It has never been more evident that we live in a global society. Upon graduation or even sooner, our students will be working with people from other countries and cultures, which means they must learn ...
Creating global learning environments has become an important goal for many institutions. Faculty are being encouraged to create environments conducive to learning for both native speakers and non-native speakers. They can cultivate those environments by ...
In the article referenced below, biologist Kimberly Tanner proposes a set of strategies to ensure that “all students have opportunities to verbally participate, all students can see their personal connections to biology, all students have ...
The multicultural classroom is found in nearly every online course. It blends students from a variety of cultures, resulting in a rich and diverse learning environment. Some students may use English as a second language ...
Maintaining standards and responding to individual students requires that our mindset be intentional and our assumptions well grounded. Yes, it may be less convenient to create instructional materials that meet the needs of a student from a minority culture. Yes, it takes time to adapt a teaching strategy to meet the needs of a student with a lower level of academic preparation. And yes, it may be troublesome to provide individualized outlines so that a student with an undiagnosed learning disability can excel. However, structuring our teaching so that we can anticipate and respond to student needs enriches our role as educators.
I believe we are poised to engage in a new and largely unfamiliar conversation. And although some may call me a hopeless romantic (or foolishly impractical), I believe it is time to reconcile the asymmetry between what is “equal” and what is “fair.” Being a teaching professor is a formidable responsibility, and there are times we must stretch our conventional views of the instructional experience. It will be a different journey for each of us, but with a watchful eye and a few small steps, we can reshape the subtext of teaching so that these two perspectives are compatible. Only by understanding where each of our students is coming from can we create the conditions that get them where they need to go. Deborah Bracke is from Augustana College, Ill and can be reached at deborahbracke@augustana.edu.