Equity 2

This elaboration activity might not be equitable for all students of his classroom.  Students of diverse cultural backgrounds might not have any experiences to write about in order to connect to the words professor and silo.  Students whose parents didn’t attend college, and don’t know anything about college have no experiences with a professor that they could write about.  A silo refers to a tower on a farm; students who have no connection to a farm might also not have experiences to write about this vocabulary word.  The students who don’t have connected experiences with these vocabulary words will not do well on the assignment making it inequitable. 

Geoff is blaming the teacher for receiving poor grades based on his racial background.  The teacher probably isn’t giving him bad grades because he is African American, but because he is doing poorly.  Geoff’s way to cope with doing poorly is blaming his failure on external causes. 

Alice’s learning may be challenged, because when students don’t learn language skills during the sensitive period of their learning, it is much more difficult for them.  They have already developed habits about the way they speak, and it’s difficult for them to change their way of thinking.  Since she didn’t learn formal English from her parents, the processes of speaking formal English aren’t stored in her long-term memory.  She has nowhere to draw from in her mind on how to speak in formal English.  She will find tasks of writing and reading more challenging than students who fluently speak formal English because these students have already learned these skills and they have become automatic.  These students don’t have to think of focusing on how to speak in formal language, but they can focus on the task at hand.  Alice doesn’t only have to focus on the task at hand, but she also has to translate her thoughts into formal English.