Math Principles; Equity

Equity is crucial to mathematics. When I think about the word equity, I think of the word as referring to treating all people with equal importance. In a mathematical sense, I would assume this to mean that all instruction to students should be equal and therefore the same. However, after reading the principle of equity, I realize that equity can mean many different ideas through a mathematical sense. Equity does not just refer to treating all students equally, but it refers to giving each child an equal opportunity to both learn and study the subject of mathematics. This could mean that each child could be learning through different mediums in order to understand math ideas and concepts. Accommodations for students can be made in order to benefit their learning of the subject. With the growing population of diversity in the United States, teachers could find this principle of equity to be difficult to apply to their classroom. This is why it is crucial that we have well-trained educators facilitating the learning of every student. Each individual child, regardless of their background, should be able to learn mathematics and be successful. This means that as teachers we need to find different methods to teach mathematics as well as raise our expectations for our student achievement. By having high expectations for our students as well as being able to facilitate to the needs of individual students, each child will prosper. Technology is a recourse that could benefit a number of different types of learners. Other resources such as hands-on material could aid in the process of teaching students to understand mathematics. It is very important that we as teachers do not just give the answers to our students, but that we aid them in their research and creativity to find out how the process of math works. This way the students will be able to individualize their learning experience and change their previous ways of thinking into a learning process while gaining quality mathematical knowledge. I also believe that it is important as math teachers that we make the students' math learning experience applicable to real-life situations. By doing this, we are then able to show students at a young age that math is important to their life and also their future. Students may enter the classroom with different levels of mathematical understanding, which could be due to numerous factors. Students who do not speak English as their first language, students who have learning disabilities, students who have grown up in poverty, etc., may need special accommodations or additional resources in order to aid their understanding of mathematics. From the reading on the principle of equity, it was proven that all students, when given the proper instruction and aid, can learn mathematics. It is crucial, as teachers that we use the principle of equity in our classrooms so that our students are faced with high expectations and different mediums for learning. By doing this, all students will be able to learn mathematics.