Hi all, below is my DEI statement. It is just a statement and more of a summary of what DEI means to me.
So,
What does diversity, equity and inclusion mean to me?
Diversity is when we have students from all walks of life in a school, but that is the starting point and not yet inclusion. Inclusion is when these students are in a class together where the diversity is recognised and celebrated. With that recognition we are conscious of the language we use and how it affects others, how our actions affect others and how we teach affects our students. Inclusion means equality in outcome, rather than inputs, by thinking of equity in our teaching. Equity means providing the accommodations, adaptations and tools that students need succeed and achieve equality in outcome. In my few years teaching I have transformed my thinking on these topics and not because of university classes, although these classes have given me more tools and helped define what I was doing, but because of what I experienced in the classroom while teaching. I have been lucky enough to teach in diverse classrooms, getting to see first-hand how children from all parts of the world, when put together, celebrate each other’s differences and naturally (or organically) get along. Having taught in such diverse classrooms, with students of varying abilities, I was forced to adapt my teaching to reflect this diversity. With that diversity of culture and ability, my language and teaching style has adapted to reflect that by using multiple means of representation including PPT’s with written text, audio, videos and pictures to support the diversity. Through student choice, students are able to draw on their strengths and interests as well as by using examples from their cultural backgrounds, rather than my own, to draw in their interest. Choice in expression of ideas levels the playing field as not all students are academically strong in the traditional academic sense, yet all have areas of interests and strengths in which choice allows them the opportunity to demonstrate their learning. I used to think that all students should get the same tools in the name of fairness creating equality, as I
was taught, but it is through equity that we achieve fairness and allow students to shine. We all have our own strengths and challenges; I believe through equity we can prop up those strengths and break down the walls. This can be done be giving students access to the accommodations, adaptations, and tools needed to overcome and or break down barriers to achievement. To me this does not mean treating everyone the same but instead giving to students what they need to achieve so we can all move forward together. I am early in my own life-long educational journey in teaching as well as I am continuing to learn what diversity, equity and inclusion mean in my teaching but what I can say is that what I have seen and observed has fueled my desire to continue that journey as far as I can take it.