It can be difficult for students in any class to understand the importance of equity in their classroom. “It’s not fair!” is a common reaction from students who observe other students getting benefits that they did not receive. For example, some students with specific learning disabilities may receive additional time to complete assignments. Wardle (2013) points out a clear distinction between equality and equity noting that “Equal education is providing equal resources and opportunities for all students to succeed in education” (p. 51). On the other hand, according to Banks (2013), equitable education “goes beyond equal, and to some extent contradicts it, in that it requires tailoring the educational approach… to each student, based on the student’s individual and cultural characteristics, so the student can achieve to his or her full potential,” (as cited in Wardle, 2013, p. 51). Initial Post: This discussion asks you to reflect on the importance of valuing equity over equality in the classroom and in life outside the classroom. You will identify at least two examples of equity versus equality in popular culture that you might be able to use in a class to help your students understand the value of equity. This might include advertisements (i.e., pictures), song lyrics, or commercials (e.g., linked from YouTube.com). Try to locate examples that could be used in a class you might teach now or in the future. Next, briefly reflect on the role equity plays in the classroom by explaining how you would use your selected examples to help students understand the differences between equity and equality and by explaining why equity is more important in the classroom. Feel free to refer back to the rubric you created (and those of your colleagues) in the Creating an Evaluation Instrument for Cultural Relevance in the Classroom discussion to help decide how these might inform your students about equality and equity. Instructor Guidance Week 3 Week Overview “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” U.S. Declaration of Independence  Have you ever thought for a moment about the level of truth in this famous line from the U.S. Declaration of Independence?  Granted, the authors did not consider gender or race as equal in 1776, but in reality all people enter this world unequal to everybody else, identical twins notwithstanding.  Gender, race, ethnicity, social status, wealth, height, weight, intelligence, predisposition to health-related issues, geography, and any number of personality characteristics collectively consign each one of us to a unique, singular, unequal life. But so what?  From an educational perspective, the fact that every learner is unique can be seen as a real problem.  Classes would be much easier to teach if everybody possessed the exact same previous experiences, intellectual qualities and dispositions, and family structures.  But this will never be the case, and in fact the diversity of learner ...

1. It can be difficult for students in any class to understand the
importance of equity in their classroom. “It’s not fair!” is a
common reaction from students who observe other students
getting benefits that they did not receive. For example, some
students with specific learning disabilities may receive
additional time to complete assignments. Wardle (2013) points
out a clear distinction between equality and equity noting that
“Equal education is providing equal resources and opportunities
for all students to succeed in education” (p. 51). On the other
hand, according to Banks (2013), equitable education “goes
beyond equal, and to some extent contradicts it, in that it
requires tailoring the educational approach… to each student,
based on the student’s individual and cultural characteristics, so
the student can achieve to his or her full potential,” (as cited in
Wardle, 2013, p. 51).
Initial Post:
This discussion asks you to reflect on the importance of valuing
equity over equality in the classroom and in life outside the
classroom. You will identify at least two examples of equity
versus equality in popular culture that you might be able to use
in a class to help your students understand the value of equity.
This might include advertisements (i.e., pictures), song lyrics,
or commercials (e.g., linked from YouTube.com). Try to locate
examples that could be used in a class you might teach now or
in the future. Next, briefly reflect on the role equity plays in the
classroom by explaining how you would use your selected
examples to help students understand the differences between
equity and equality and by explaining why equity is more
important in the classroom. Feel free to refer back to the rubric
you created (and those of your colleagues) in the Creating an
Evaluation Instrument for Cultural Relevance in the Classroom
discussion to help decide how these might inform your students

2. about equality and equity.
Instructor Guidance
Week 3
Week Overview
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal…”
U.S. Declaration of Independence
Have you ever thought for a moment about the level of truth in
this famous line from the U.S. Declaration of Independence?
Granted, the authors did not consider gender or race as equal in
1776, but in reality all people enter this world unequal to
everybody else, identical twins notwithstanding. Gender, race,
ethnicity, social status, wealth, height, weight, intelligence,
predisposition to health-related issues, geography, and any
number of personality characteristics collectively consign each
one of us to a unique, singular, unequal life.
But so what? From an educational perspective, the fact that
every learner is unique can be seen as a real problem. Classes
would be much easier to teach if everybody possessed the exact
same previous experiences, intellectual qualities and
dispositions, and family structures. But this will never be the
case, and in fact the diversity of learners in a classroom
provides many more opportunities for dynamic interactions and
multiple perspectives. And because no two students are alike, it
is most appropriate to NOT treat them equally when it comes to
their instruction. It is best to treat students equitably, not
equally. This is an important component of culturally relevant
pedagogy and something you will learn more about this week as

3. you identify examples of equity versus equality in pop culture.
Last week you began considering how culturally relevant
pedagogy is realized in diverse classrooms. This week, you will
be learning more specific skills associated with the design of
culturally relevant instruction. You will describe the
characteristics of culturally relevant pedagogy in detail, and you
will analyze common elements among culturally relevant
instruction place-based educational approaches. Examining
specific examples of place-based instruction will help you see
how culturally relevant pedagogy can be applied in a variety of
settings, with impressive results. And you will finish the week
suggesting how culturally relevant instructional strategies might
have improve the quality of instruction for a very specific, very
public case of bad instruction captured on cell phone video.
Finally, similar to last week, the skills facilitated this week
support your ability to successfully address two key components
of the final project.
Intellectual Elaboration
Culturally relevant teachers recognize that they do not instruct
culturally homogenized, generic students in generic school
settings. Teachers armed with a repertoire of generic teaching
skills often find themselves ineffective and ill‑ prepared when
faced with a classroom of culturally diverse students…
A culturally relevant pedagogy builds on the premise that
learning may differ across cultures and teachers can enhance
students’ success by acquiring knowledge of their cultural
backgrounds and translating this knowledge into instructional
practice”
(Irvine, 2009)

4. This quote by Irvine (2009) does an excellent job of
summarizing the nature of culturally relevant teachers and the
pedagogy that defines them.
Last week, you spent some time identifying strategies
represented in culturally relevant instruction. This week you
are going to put this knowledge together with some of the
concepts presented in the first week regarding culture to help
you learn the following important skills:
Explain how the underlying principles of culturally relevant
instruction contribute to equity in the classroom.
Recommend strategies for supporting students’ cultural
identity through equitable learning opportunities.
Equity v. Equality
One important characteristic of culturally relevant instruction is
that is contributes to an equity in the classroom, as opposed to
equality. This is in keeping with the personalized nature of the
instruction. To help you understand the difference between
efficacy and equality, you are asked to identify examples from
popular culture and media. A couple of good examples are
shown here:
Equity might be described as having enough, whether or not we
have as much as someone else. It can also be described as
thinking about how to provide enough to others.
In addition to equity in the classroom, you will be evaluating a
learning experience this week using a rubric to measure how

5. well the instructional program seems to adhere to culturally
relevant guidelines. This activity supports two important skill
areas. First, it helps you better understanding culturally
relevant instruction in action, which is something you will need
to apply in the final project. And second, it allows you to
identify and examine specific examples of learning experience
that pursue active connections between what goes on in the
classroom to issues grounded in the local community. Such
environments naturally support culturally relevant strategies
similar to the project-based and problem-based approaches
discussed later in the course. In fact, the “place-based”
instructional programs are a form of project-based or problem-
based learning. The distinction is simply that they use problems
that really exist in the community as the context for learning
important academic and 21st century skills.
And to help you better understand the foundation of culturally
relevant instruction that will be evaluated by the instrument you
develop this week, read the following article by Irvine (2009)
published in
Tolerance.org's Teaching Tolerance magazineLinks to an
external site.
.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Consider the quotes below from Irvine (2009) and Wardl e
(2013) about culturally relevant pedagogy:
Culturally relevant teachers recognize that they do not instruct
culturally homogenized, generic students in generic school
settings. Teachers armed with a repertoire of generic teaching
skills often find themselves ineffective and ill-prepared when

6. faced with a classroom of culturally diverse students.
(Irvine, 2009)
Culturally responsive [relevant] pedagogy focuses on the
learning strengths of students, including students from a variety
of backgrounds, and provides various means by which diverse
students’ cultures and learning styles can be connected to the
school’s understanding of teaching, learning, academics, and
accepted behaviors.
(Wardle, 2013, Chapter 4)
Further, consider the above descriptions of culturally relevant
pedagogy in relation to the work of Gloria Ladson-Billings
(1995), who noted that...
Culturally relevant pedagogy rests on three criteria or
propositions: (a) Students must experience academic success;
(b) students must develop and/or maintain cultural competence;
and (c) students must develop a critical consciousness through
which they challenge the status quo of the current social order.
(Ladson-Billing, 1995, p. 160).
Put more succinctly, “A culturally relevant pedagogy builds on
the premise that learning may differ across cultures and teachers
can enhance students’ success by acquiring knowledge of their
cultural backgrounds and translating this knowledge into
instructional practice” (Irvine, 2009).
In addition, read Developing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
(Chapter 4.3) and Approaches to Educational Equality that
Acknowledge Student Differences (Chapter 4.4) in the Wardle
(2013) course text, as well as the Equity Pedagogy section of
Chapter 10.1. Pay special attention to the
Analyzing Curriculum and Pedagogy for Cultural
Responsiveness

7. suggestions presented near the end of the chapter.
Some of the key terms introduced and applied this week
include:
Efficacy
Equity
Equality
Place-based instruction/education
Discussion Response Expectations
Discussion 1:
The first discussion this week;
Creating an Evaluation Instrument for Cultural Relevance in the
Classroom
involves developing an instrument that you will use to evaluate
the quality of culturally relevant approaches observed within
place-based educational programs.
Reflect on the readings for this week, including Wardle (2013)
Chapter 4, and the Ladson-Billings (1995) article, the
video overview of culturally relevant pedagogyLinks to an
external site.
(Tolerance.Org, 2010), and the Irvine (2009)
Relevant: Beyond the Basics
article from this week’s required resources list. In Wardle

8. (2013), pay particular attention to the
Analyzing Curriculum and Pedagogy for Cultural
Responsiveness
suggestions included near the end of the chapter prior to the
chapter summary. Next, recall that an effective example of
culturally relevant approaches to instructional experiences can
be found in place-based education, which is grounded in
structuring learning experiences designed to actually help
communities by using students and school staff to identify
solutions to community problems. Place-based education
recognizes that local communities are one of the primary
resources for learning. If needed, review Promise of Place’s
(n.d.)
overview of place-based education.Links to an external site.
Links to an external site.
For example, one evaluation question might address equity:
“How well does the lesson implement strategies to promote
equitable experiences for a diverse population of students?”
Three criteria that might be used as possible answers to this
question might include the following:
Advanced
:
The approach supports multiple learning styles, a
combination of cooperative group and individual activities,
and multiple means of expressing learning within the
assessments.
Proficient
:
The approach does allow for some individual choices and/or
means of assessment, but more could be done to support
individual learning styles.

9. Basic
:
The approach is homogenous, expecting all students to
experience the same instructional material without personal
input in the experience from start to finish (including
assessment).
Discussion Two:
The
Equal versus Equitable
post asks you to locate and identify examples of equity versus
equality in pop culture. Such distinctions help develop
classroom strategies designed to meet the individual needs of
diverse members of a student population. As you will see
exemplified in the elaboration section of this Instructor
Guidance, examples of equality include any depiction of an
attitude that it is only “fair” if everybody gets the same. The
same style, type, amount, opportunity etc. Advertisements, song
lyrics, and political messages are some excellent sources of the
concept of equality. Equity is very different, and you may have
to really hunt for examples of this concept. Basically, equity
refers to “fairness” measured not by how equal the portions, but
by how equal needs are met. Since everybody has different
needs, the amount and type of resources (money, food, housing,
love, support, help etc.) available to people will differ…which
is another way to look at “fairness.” Again, examples of these
ideas can be found in popular culture.
Assignment:
This week’s assignment focuses on your analysis and evaluation
of an actual problem observed in a Texas high school social
studies classroom. Video footage was captured from a cell
phone that depicts a very brief, heated interchange between a
student and his teacher. Closer examination of the classroom

10. environment and the student’s complaints reveal quite a bit
about the nature of the instructional experiences designed. You
will analyze the situation and submit a brief evaluation for other
students in the class to review.
This
two-minute video Links to an external site.
was recorded by a student in a Texas high school social studies
class. It depicts a student, Jeff Bliss, being asked to leave the
class because he was apparently disruptive in some way. Watch
the video several times and carefully observe what the student
is saying, how the teacher responds, and what the other students
seem to be doing within the class. A transcript of the short
video is provided below.
Jeff Bliss:
[I’m tired of] hearing this freakin’ lady go off on kids because
they don’t get this crap. If you can just get up and teach them
instead of handing them a freakin’ packet, yo. There are kids in
here who don’t learn like that, they need to learn face-to-face.
You’re just getting mad because I’m pointing out the obvious.
[Teacher says "Bye" throughout...]
Teacher Julie Phung:
(mumbling) No. 'Cause you’re wasting my time.
Jeff Bliss:
I’m not wasting your time. I’m telling you what you need to do.
You want kids to come in your class, you want them to get
excited for this? You gotta' come in here and you gotta' make
'em excited. You want a kid to change and start doing better?
You gotta' touch his freakin’ heart! Can’t expect a kid to change
if all you do is just tell him. You gotta' take this job serious.

11. This is the future of this nation. And when you come in here
like you did last time and make a statement about "This is my
paycheck..." indeed it is, but this is my country’s future and my
education.
Teacher Julie Phung:
I respect that. Could you go outside please?
Jeff Bliss
: But there’s a limit. When I’m not bitching, but simply making
an observation. And now I will leave.
Teacher Julie Phung:
(mumbling) OK.
Jeff Bliss:
You’re welcome. And if you would like, I’ll teach you a little
more so you can learn how to teach a freakin’ class. Because
since I’ve got here I’ve done nothing but read packets. So don’t
try and take credibility for teaching me jack! [Teacher: "Go, go,
go, just go."]
It is difficult to generalize about Ms. Phung’s professional
practice based on one very short peek into her classroom. But
there is no arguing that the experience could have been used as
a teachable moment, and if Jeff Bliss’s claims about
“completing packets” and the lack of interaction are believable,
then much can be inferred about the general nature of the class
and how it is structured and facilitated. In fact, such inferences
can also be made by examining how the room is set up and how
the other students react to the conflict.

12. The video made national news because the student being
recorded is very articulate about his feelings regarding the
inadequacy of the instruction, and the teacher does not do a
very good job of using the experience as a teachable moment. It
is impossible to generalize about a teacher’s practice from such
a short video, but you will make some inferences based on what
is presented and analyze the manner in which you feel the
teacher addresses the issues raised by the student. You will
imagine how the situation might have been different if the
teacher incorporated more equitable, culturally relevant
practices, and you will recommend specific strategies for
improving her practice in this area. It might be useful to use
the evaluation instrument you designed this week to help
evaluate the teacher and offer suggestions for improvement.
References
Bliss, J. (2013, May 8).
Student "Jeff Bliss" mad at teacher at Duncanville High
Links to an external site.
[Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jsUj4DqWfU
C.K.. L. (Writer), and C.K., L. (Director). (2011, June 30).
Bummer/Blueberry
[Television series episode]. In L. C.K. (Producer), Louis. New
York, NY: FX.
Irvine, J. (2009).
Relevant: Beyond the basics

13. .
Teaching Tolerance Magazine
. Retrieved from http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-36-
fall-2009/feature/relevant-beyond-basics.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). But that's just good teaching! The
case for culturally relevant pedagogy.
Theory into Practice, 34
(3), 159-195.
Promise of Place (n.d.).
Principles of place-based educationLinks to an external site.
. Retrieved from: https://www.promiseofplace.org/what-is-
pbe/principles-of-place-based-education
Tolerance.org (2010). Introduction to culturally relevant
pedagogy. Retrieved from
http://www.tolerance.orgblogintroduction-culturally-relevant-
pedagogy
Wardle, F. (2013).
Human relationships and learning in the multicultural
environment
. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.