Welcome to Our Seminar!
• Please help yourself to some
refreshments!
• Don’t be shy!
• Take a moment to familiarize yourself
with the packet
• Please Answer Questions 1 and 2 on the
half sheet in the left side of your packet
Fairness and Equality
Seminar Team: Jesse Allen, Sarah
Anne Baxter, Nina Di Pietro, and
Teresa Funes
What are we aiming for in the
differentiated classroom?
Equality
Fairness
Alexis de Tocqueville
– “an abstract word is like a
box with a false bottom; you
can put in it what ideas you
please and take them out
again unobserved”
– “This abundance of abstract
terms in the language of
democracy without
reference to any particular
facts, both widens the scope
of thought and clouds it.
They make expression
quicker but conceptions less
clear."
St. Thomas Aquinas
“Since man by nature is a
social animal he needs
assistance from other
men in order to obtain
his own end. Now this is
most suitably done if
men love one another
mutually.”
American
Declaration of
Independence
(1776)
“We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all
men are created equal,
that they are endowed
by their Creator with
certain unalienable
Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.”
John Locke in his Second Treatise
(1689)
• “…there being nothing
more evident, than that
creatures of the same
species and rank,
promiscuously born to
all the same advantages
of nature, and the use
of the same faculties,
should also be equal
one amongst another
without subordination
or subjection…”
Aristotle
“…if they are not equal,
they will not have
what is equal, but this
is the origin of
quarrels and
complaints--when
either equals have and
are awarded unequal
shares, or unequals
equal shares.”
Key Concepts from the Texts
• Teaching in a fair and
developmentally
appropriate manner
• Differentiated instruction
does not mean we make
learning easier for students
but provides an appropriate
challenge
• Requires us to do things
differently for different
students when the general
classroom does not meet
the student’s needs
Key Concepts from the Texts (Cont.)
• “Fair is not always equal, and our goal as
teachers is to be fair and
developmentally appropriate, not onesize fits-all equal”
Is there a common understanding of
equality?
Modern
Thought
Ancient
Thought
• “One-size fitsall equality”
• The
differentiated
classroom
• Aquinas,
• John Locke
• Thomas
Jefferson
• Aristotle
What is the relationship
between fairness and equality?
Education and Instruction in The
Heterogeneous Class
• “One potential lesson that can be learned
in school is that each person is a unique
individual with merits and deficiencies
who deserves to be treated in a
respectful and equitable manner”
– Yisrael Rich
• Dignify each learner with
learning that is meaningful
• Continuously assess student
readiness and interest
• Extend student exploration
when indications are that a
student or group of students is
ready to move ahead.
Content/ Process/ Product
Content:
• Should address the same concepts with all students but be adjusted by
degree of complexity for the diversity of learners in the classroom.
Process:
• Based on the content, project, and on-going evaluations, grouping and
regrouping must be a dynamic process
Product:
• Incorporating pre and on-going assessment informs teachers to better
provide a menu of approaches, choices, and scaffolds for the varying
needs, interests and abilities that exist in classrooms of diverse students.
• “In education today there’s a widespread
notion of “fairness” in some cosmic sense—
not in the sense of treating everyone the
same, but in the sense of trying to redress
pre-existing inequalities.”
- Thomas Sowell
Scenarios
Underachiever


Do you allow him to
remain at this level of
performance or is there
something you, as the
instructor, can do?
How can you do this
while keeping an
atmosphere of equality
amongst the other
performing students?
Under Achiever Movie Clip
OverAcheiver


What do you think
would be the best way
to discipline each of
the students?
Should teachers have
consistent methods of
discipline?
Child with Learning Disablities




Is it the teacher’s
responsibility to
accommodate Keith’s
learning disability?
Why or why not?
How would you
accommodate a child
with a learning disability
without lowering the
educational standards of
the whole class?
Would you lower your
expectations for that one
child?
Average Student




Was the group
participation part of the
criteria for a grade?
Were students aware of
this?
How often did the teacher
observe and document?
Do you think this is the
most effective way to get
Nick to do more in class?
How to Nurture Success in All
Children!
• Does
differentiated
instruction help
to ensure
fairness and
equality in the
classroom?
• How?