What I am Learning about Differentiating for Equity

I do not have a lot of diversity in my college classrooms.  This semester, I have 88 students total, and 6 are students of color.  I have never been challenged to differentiate instruction for equity by my division or even by the administration.  I am a novice in the area of differentiating, especially in relation to diversity or equity.  I have been learning a lot this past week by reading through recommendations made by school districts, entire states, and individual teachers.  Most of what I have read is written to the K-12 world, but could extend into the college classroom.

Mark Ellis argues in Chapter 1 of the book Mathematics for Every Student: Responding to Diversity, Grades 6-8 that "differentiation is to vary one's actions as a teacher to meet the needs to students."  (p.10).  He argues that the focus is on changing instructional practices, "moving beyond the standard, or normative, habits that characterize mathematics teaching (e.g., teacher-led lecture and demonstration followed by individual student's work on rote procedures)." (p.10)  He argues that the alternative understanding of differentiation in which the curriculum is changed in response to students' abilities should be avoided, especially in "school mathematics, with its history of providing inequitable access to content on the basis of perceived ability." (p.10)

I read another succinct way of describing differentiated instruction in a document by the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education called Culturally Responsive Differentiated Instructional Strategies: "Through differentiated instruction, students will get to the same place, but take different paths." (p. 2)  So culturally responsive differentiation is not watering down the curriculum for some students, or even individualized instruction.  "Differentiated instruction suggests teachers look at “zones” in which students cluster so they can offer three or four routes to a goal on a given day." (Culturally Responsive Differentiated Instructional Strategies, p. 3)

I also came across a Research Brief titled "Increasing the Achievement of African American Males" which was a report from the Department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment in Virginia Beach City Public Schools.  The report detailed factors that contribute to the achievement gap of African American male students, and suggested strategies aimed at improving their achievement.  The report stated on pages 5 and 6:

Culturally responsive instruction pertains to classroom practices that draw meaningfully on the culture, languages, and experiences that students bring to the classrooms in order to increase engagement and academic achievement for students of color (Au, 2006; Ladson-Billings, 1995).  A few of the most common tenets of a culturally responsive pedagogy included (1) acknowledging that valuable knowledge resides in students’ home languages and cultures and that this home knowledge is not always valued in the schools; (2) pursing academic success for students of color; (3) creating valuable connections between students’ home and school experiences; and (4) fostering social justice (Dutro, Kazemi, Balf, & Lin, 2008).

One way in which I can implement these tenets is to spend the time getting to know my students' native language and culture.  I each lunch on campus everyday and I value that time to connect with other professors and staff members on campus.  However, I can also take the time to connect with students of diverse backgrounds.  I recently had lunch with an international student who was born in China but grew up in Italy due to her parents' jobs.  She explained some of the differences between Eastern and Western culture that she has encountered in her education.  She helped me understand some of the challenges that international students face.  In order to provide effective culturally responsive instruction, I need to become more familiar with the experiences and backgrounds of my students, and this will require spending time with them outside of the classroom.

The report also listed characteristics of effective African American teachers on page 10:

In his work, (Howard, 2001) assessed three major culturally responsive strategies used by highly qualified African American teachers who taught mainly African American students. Holistic, culturally communicative, and skill-building were the three strategies discussed in his study. In essence, the report emphasized that culturally relevant teachers are personally warm toward and respectful of, as well as academically demanding of, all students.

Holistic strategies recognize that not only the intellectual, but also the social and moral capabilities of students need to be developed.  This involves teaching students "character building, honesty, responsibility, respect, cooperation, sympathy to others, and behaving in ways that are consistent with the social norms of the classroom and society." (p.10)  At a Christian institution, these holistic strategies fit into the goal of developing the whole person, not just the mind.  I usually only have students for one semester in my classes, but once I am finished with my master's degree and have more time to connect with students, there are mentoring opportunities available.  In fact, there are mentoring opportunities available at my son's middle school (grades 7 & 8) and also with an organization called Urban Transformation Ministries that my church is connected to in which I can help to encourage students of color.

Culturally communicative strategies take into account the language patterns of students.  The report gave an example of this on page 10:

According to one teacher, students “talk all day in class and don’t get focused, but if you give them leadership roles of leading a group or leading a class discussion, they are very successful” (Howard, 2001, pg. 190).  

The report mentioned that teachers took into account that many African American students prefer oral rather than written expression, and gave an example of having students listen to a story before writing about the story.  I need to provide opportunities for students to express their mathematical knowledge orally, both in class and on assessments.

Skill-building strategies recognize that all students have the ability to think, or are "smart", but that some students have developed more skill.  This aligns with the ideas from the Mindset book we talked about earlier in the semester.  These ideas can help counter the cultural myths that some students just can't do math.  I can talk about these ideas at the beginning of the semester, and refer to them whenever I encounter the fixed mindset in students.  

Another related quote from Mark Ellis in Mathematics for Every Student: Responding to Diversity, Grades 6-8 about working with a 7th grade student named Alonso:

Although I realized that he lacked proficiency with many mathematical concepts and skills, I did not equate this lack with Alonso’s having a low ability to do mathematics.

I think that sometimes it is difficult to see students who have lower math skills when entering our class as equally capable of doing math, but I believe that it is critical in addressing the inequities that are present in our culture.

I am still at the beginning steps of differentiating in culturally responsive way.  I can make progress toward better understanding the students in my classes who have a cultural background different than my own, affirming their ability to learn mathematics, and providing alternate paths to achieve success.