Equity in education is a foundational part of my teaching philosophy. From my early experience as a tutor and academic coach for Victoria College, on through my time as a small group teacher in Southeast Austin and a teaching assistant at UT-Austin, I have been fortunate enough to have worked with students of a wide range of backgrounds and educational levels. For instance, during my time at Idea Montopolis, approximately 80% of my students were English Language learners, and 90% qualified as students from low-income families.Through these experiences I have learned that equity in the classroom is not merely a matter of diversity in the classroom: rather, equity is a philosophical priority that should guide the other priorities of the class. With equity in mind, my colleagues and I were able to assist 80% of our high-school students to pass the STAAR exam for two years in a row. Still, I had much to learn about ways to create equity in the classroom.

 

Another opportunity to learn came as a developmental instructor. I noticed that one class of my students was made disproportionately of adults returning to school, while another was almost entirely students in  their late teens. Despite these courses being nominally the same, the methods to facilitate learning differed between the groups: on the one hand, the older learners came prepared for a traditional lecture, and greatly preferred quantitative assessments, but on the other, the younger students thrived in an atmosphere of class discussion and showed more success when given the opportunity to create in an untimed, more subjective form of assessment (like in-class projects). 

 

While working as a teaching assistant at UT-Austin, I had the good fortune to be mentored by an instructor with a particular knack for creating spaces for equity in the classroom. From their examples, I saw the importance of developing an inclusive curriculum, where voices from marginalized communities are not exceptions, but are worked into the fabric of the material to provide students with evidence of the complicated history of media and its ideas. This sort of curricula may depart from the comfortable rails of “the canon,” but it provides a chance to give students a better understanding of historiographic frameworks that can aid them in their future studies. 

 

Lastly, it’s important to not undervalue the importance intentionally nurturing an atmosphere of safety and collaboration in the classroom. Too often students are alienated from the classroom by procedures that undermine them, or rules that are applied arbitrarily or poorly explained. One of my strongest principles is that education is best served in a place where teachers and students can exchange ideas, where teachers can tailor their material to the needs of the students within the course, and where students can bring questions and feel comfortable taking the risk of being wrong. 

 

In short, my commitment to educational equity can be summarized in three key areas. The first is making sure my pedagogical and teaching strategies reflect the needs of the community of students I’m serving. Secondly, the conscious choice to create a diverse curriculum, where voices can be heard, and a sense of critical historiography can help students re-consider their assumptions about the history of media. Lastly, I strive to create an class culture where students to feel safe and encouraged to share their ideas.