As I read and study more about “equity” as it relates to education, I’m getting a sense of its multiple meanings.  First, societies (I hate to single out teachers here, because all citizens are part of this) should be educated on the specific equity issues that exist for children, at the very least as it relates to equal access to acceptable facilities, supplies, and quality teachers.  All schools should be entitled to equal amounts of capital and operational funding.  This definition of equity always made me feel disempowered as a classroom teacher.

Second, lost in a fog of my own ignorance, I was heretofore unable to see equity beyond the lens of my first point.  Over time, I am beginning to realize that equity splinters into many creative ways of thinking about what it means to produce quality education for each individual student.  This realization mirrors my transformation of thinking about “connected learning.”  Being connected isn’t just about access to technology, just as equity is not just about equal facilities.  The only thing I can truly control today is what happens in my classroom.  I can create an equitable situation if I can motivate, engage, inspire, and facilitate learning for each student, no matter their present level of development.  If that can be defined as equity, sign me up!

The following quote from Shane Safir’s blogpost “Equity v. Equality:  6 Steps Toward Equity,” provided one of many jolts to my thinking: “If equality means giving everyone the same resources, equity means giving each student access to the resources they need to learn and thrive.”  By resources, she means anything used to help a student learn, from construction paper to competent teaching.  Her thoughts bring the idea of equity down to a level I feel I have some control over because it relates to what I can do each day in my classroom to help kids learn.  Additionally, The Glossary of Educational Reform’s definition of equity contains other layers to the idea of creating an equitable classroom, no matter the community in which we find ourselves teaching.  These definitions of equity empower me.  They also simply remind me of the characteristics of good, effective teaching.

Similarly, being connected can mean firing up the Internet or motivating, engaging, inspiring, and facilitating learning for a student.  If I’ve done my job and found a way to “connect” with a student, I will be more likely to “connect” the right tools or learning experiences to move that student forward.  This can be facilitated with any level of technology, from a pencil to an iPad.

And that’s no joke…