This week is the start of my second full week of my program. This means that it is equal parts introduction and ramping up of expectations. It has been a really eye opening experience for me to reflect on my own biases and views on pedagogy and equity and diversity in the classroom. I like to think that I know a lot about equity and diversity and how to apply it in the real world, but as we bring 30 different people into the classroom all at different levels and with different backgrounds I am quickly being confronted by my own privilege and biases. It has been a great chance to put my philosophies into practice and “walk the talk”.
I think a great example of this is the movie that we watched in class: “Most Likely to Succeed“. I watched it and was quite moved by a lot of the concepts and excited to bring those into the classroom. I was sure that everyone was going to feel the same way and that the discussion was going to be pretty short. I was totally wrong! Our discussion was varied and engaging, I saw the movie through so many different lenses than from which I originally viewed. When I first watched I just saw the positive outcomes that the movie wants to show you. I appreciated the flexibility the teachers and students had, and the ability to hone soft skills taken for granted by a lot of society (especially in women-but I digress). Some of my classmates saw the film through completely different eyes and it made me think about why I didn’t see those things when I watched. They saw the economic equality of charter schools, the privilege of not having to rely on test scores for scholarships, and they saw that particular education system as creating a work force not human beings. I am really grateful that I was able to hear all of their perspectives, I think that being a privileged white woman in Canada coloured my viewing of the movie. I didn’t see those inequities. I am happy that I see them now and I think that I will be able to take these lessons into the next piece of content I consume. I still enjoyed the movie and was really inspired by the student’s successes but I think I was able to ignore the negatives because I had the privilege to do so.
I am excited for more discussions like this. I think especially in a tech class where there can be a huge disparity in access to availability to technology and different levels of ability, these learnings can be especially useful moving forward.
