Showing posts with label Alberta Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alberta Education. Show all posts

Monday, July 4, 2016

Fair Isn't Equal; Equal Isn't Fair

fair
adjective \ˈfer\
  • agreeing with what is thought to be right or acceptable
  • treating people in a way that does not favor some over others
  • not too harsh or critical
"Fair." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

equal
adjective \ˈē-kwəl\
  • the same in number, amount, degree, rank, or quality
  • having the same mathematical value
  • not changing: the same for each person
"Equal." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

If something is to be fair according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary it has to be 'right' and 'acceptable,' and it has to avoid favoritism and overtly directed criticism.

If something is to be equal according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary it has to be measured in 'sameness' and cannot change.

Seems pretty simple. What I'm thinking about a lot lately though, is the lack of simplicity in these definitions as they move from Merriam-Webster to practice in the world. In many cases, it appears that something can be perceived as very fair, but perhaps not very equal. It also appears that some things can be perceived as very equal, but not very fair.

Another word that inevitably enters the debate around fair vs. equal to make matters even more confusing is 'equity.'

equity
noun eq·ui·ty \ˈe-kwə-tē\
  • fairness or justice in the way people are treated
"Equity." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Equity reflects what we do. It's a noun. Equity is what results when we're able as individuals or groups to treat people fairly and in just ways. Because fair is not necessarily equal, I think that we can say that equity may contain elements of being equal, but being equal is not required to create equity.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Synthesizing energy...

flickr CC image via NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Some years ago I had the fortunate opportunity to participate in a three day (over three months,) leadership series with Dr. Leroy Sloan. During one of those days Leroy shared a venn diagram with three circles. In the middle of the circle on the left was the word job. In the circle on the opposite end was the word career. In the middle circle was the word life. Dr. Sloan used the diagram to make the following point...
In the measured contexts of our everyday lives, we know a lot about what people do in their daily jobs (the things they have to do), perhaps a little about their career aspirations (the things they want to do), and not very much at all about their lives away from work- the elements that make them who they are... their families, histories, passions, hobbies, fears, joys etc. There is something inherently defeating about this if we intend to work collaboratively and cooperatively from informed and synergistic perspectives.

Monday, July 25, 2011

EduKare: Choice is the rule of engagement...

Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean, relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. Aristotle 

flickr photo by Benimoto

Recently the folks over at #ecosys were discussing the issue of student engagement in schools. This issue is prominent in education circles everywhere. Few would debate the necessity to engage students in their learning, so the dialog is centering around how best to actually do it. As I was reviewing the #ecosys Twitter stream from the latest chat, something I've been mulling lately popped back into my head. Engagement is about choice.

Self-determination is key if kids are to find relevance in what they learn; nobody appreciates being dictated to without the opportunity to have input... which makes it difficult to understand why we don't begin offering any learning content choice to students until secondary school.

It has always struck me that much of what is done in elementary school would benefit secondary school kids, and much of what is done in high school would benefit elementary school kids. Interestingly enough, so many of the exemplary teachers I have met and worked with from both elementary and secondary school are the same ones I'd be inclined to complement by telling them they'd be awesome teaching in the opposite school setting. There's something about secondary school teachers that haven't lost their inner child... their ability to be totally in the moment and uninhibited with their students; the ones that haven't forgotten that school is always more engaging when it's fun.

Conversely, there's also something about elementary teachers who understand that choice is a vital element of engaged learning, and who strive to establish a teaching and learning environment that encourages kids to steer their own learning ship as kids in secondary school should be expected to. This element of self-determination is fundamental to Edukare school philosophy.

Good teachers can be engaging just because of who they are. Because of their personality, perspective and ability to connect emotionally with kids, they stand out as those who have that extra bit of with-it-ness. Good teachers also scour the horizon routinely for the latest teaching tools to engage learners, but I'm not yet convinced that all good teachers understand the efficacy of choice as a tool to engage students. Tom Whitby recently tweeted...


Tom Whitby
A good teacher can be effective with a dirt floor & a stick. Add tech knowledge & Tools and things, more often than not, get better. 
As one who values the inclusion of contemporary technology advantages in education, I agree with Tom, but I have to ask whether any tool, including technology in education as a generalized tool, can be considered ubiquitously good if no choice is provided to students who would be potentially benefiting from using it? Under dare I say "normal" classroom circumstances, the only truly engaging tool in education is the provision of choice to students. We understand this in secondary school, but not so well in elementary school. If we're going to help kids write their own learning stories, we need to consider seriously how choice can factor prominently into teaching and learning in the kindergarten to fifth grade set.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

"EduKare"- A new paradigm for struggling urban schools...

Education reform is a hot topic. The media is all over it. So many stories, editorials, features, columns and documentaries revolve around the "drop-out factories," as some urban schools are infamously referred to, and what kinds of educational leadership tactics can be put in place to reform these institutions and their practice. I've been wondering when all this talk is going to turn into something tangible that will actually reform the way we teach and learn.

Michael Josefowicz (@ToughLoveforX), one of the key idea-tappers at #ecosys (Twitter chat every Wednesday at 9:00 EST) and I have been discussing some radical improvement possibilities for the so-called drop out factories of large, urban centers in North America. Michael is from Brooklyn and knows a thing or two about urban issues, and I have a lot of respect for his point of view. We're using the term EduKare to describe a very new and different perspective toward teaching and learning in our most challenging urban environments.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Perspectives on Change in Contemporary Teaching...


Recently the "tone" of my blog was called into question. Before this I can say with absolute honesty that I had given precisely zero thought to the tone I wanted to project from this thinking and writing project of mine. It's not complicated... I have always kept a journal, but the value of sharing my thoughts within the realm of education and the social sciences with people around the world was too enticing not to experiment with. This guy's blog is an action research project designed to idea-tap with anyone who's interested in engaging the conversation... and the conversation never stops in my world- it's ever-changing. That's it.

I don't have an agenda, nor do I intend for this blog to take on a tone. It's an organic project going in a bunch of directions because that's where the conversation leads me. There is no intentional tone. It's a free-flowing place stemming from my belief that change is a constant, not a variable. Trying to manipulate change is a slippery slope in my opinion. Accepting change as a natural process that will happen despite our efforts to control it is the more interesting path. It just keeps leading us around the next bend, and that's exciting to me. I like change; I thrive on it, and I think this perspective benefits me as a teacher and learner.

In today's teaching and learning environments things move so fast; it's hard for teachers to keep up with the social, emotional, political and pedagogical issues. Contemporary (aka 21st Century teaching- a term I'm not fond of,) teaching and learning is not about technology; it's about change. Change is the most pressing challenge in teaching and learning, and also our most brilliant opportunity. I am growing increasingly wary, however, about how some of those invested in education (and virtually everyone seems to have something to say,) perceive change.

There is such a dichotomous aura surrounding the principle of change. We have the old way of doing things, and then there is the new, "better" way that we should aspire to, (according to those who believe strongly that their better way is the only better way.) These change realities as perceived by the opinion and lobby behind them originate from any number of angles, and may or not be properly informed, researched or field-tested. We view change as something that needs to happen before our desired state is achieved. The question begs; what is our desired state?

Let's assume that any given change resulted in an improved educational reality. Does this mean that new reality as framed by a change can be crossed off the list so we can move on to changing the next undesired reality? In my mind this is a grossly unproductive way to view change. Wayne Gretzky is the best hockey player that ever played the game. Interestingly enough he was also the first guy on the ice at every practise, and the last guy to leave. In athletics we understand that change is best framed as perpetual improvement, not as changing realities as we seem to contextualize and understand change in education.

We've created such a frenzy around changing desired educational realities. We've even begun to stratify the process and the people within it. Terms like "edupreneur" and "change agent" are floating around out there to describe those who "get-it" more than the rest of us, as if they are change Jedi's... brave and wise warriors fighting on our behalf to make education somehow better. This is not good. Any true change, positive or negative, has to permeate a culture to be sustained. Creating change  hierarchies among educators is exactly the opposite of widespread cultural change. The kind of change we should be talking about in education is cultural change, not changes of state. We need to contextualize change as the perpetual process of doing things better, differently and with more creativity. Once the teacher culture gets this simple principle we will begin to see the organic, creative and fluid environment that is all-of-a-sudden able to reflect the broader global society of the 21st Century.

So let me define the tone of my blog. Wait a minute... I can't. I can't because on any given day I hope it reflects the best thoughts I have in a variety of change (improvement) contexts, and even more importantly those that are shared with me by my network of colleagues that couldn't care less about forcing absolute realities. I can't predict the future, but by accepting change as a constant and quantum element of my role as a teacher and learner, I will be ready to accept it and do my best to flow with it.

There are no perfect realities, but I can fit perfectly in any reality I'm willing to perceive openly and with a constant eye toward improving it.
Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

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