The second webinar I watched was produced by Education Week and APEX Learning and its topic was Equity of Opportunity: Closing the Achievement Gap.
Many of the points the speaker, Lisa Williams, had were similar to what was discussed in Ali Michael's workshop that I attended here at UNL last month. She was very adamant that diversity matters, especially when most teachers are white women.
Williams also discussed how teachers and school staff who have been a part of the education system for 30+ years are finding it hard to change their viewpoints. The changing groups and learning styles of students are subtle, and older generations of school staff are more susceptible to staying with the system.
The lens of equity is a tricky one to see through, especially when the teachers' races, gender, sexual orientation, etc. are different than their students'. Williams, similar to Michael, says that the first step is to look within yourself and reflect on your problems and your privilege. Then, learning about the cultures of your students is key as well. Cultural competency is a large part of becoming a great teacher who values equity.
This webinar was very enlightening to me. It highlighted a lot of the same things that the workshop speaker did a few weeks ago, and that has made me realize just how important this topic is in schools. As someone who is bouncing around the idea of teaching in an urban school setting, I think this webinar aided me in a lot of ways.
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