EQUITY

I really thought that I was "Equity" minded. 

As soon as I started to teach at Saddleback College in January 2019, I became a member of Saddleback's Equity Committee. I learned a lot about the challenges and obstacles of many of our students. 

I did not realize though how much unconscious biases could infiltrate into our communication, our course design.   

Beverly Daniel Tatum, ninth president of Spelman College, a black liberal arts college for women in Atlanta, answers to the question "Who Am I?":  "The answer depends in large part on who the world around me says I am. Who do my parents say I am? Who do my peers say I am? What message is reflected back to me in the faces and voices of my teachers, my neighbors, store clerks. What do I learn from the media about myself? How am I represented in the cultural images around me? Or am I missing from the picture altogether?" (A personal Lens: What's your story. @One: Culturally Responsive Online Teaching)  

While taking the @One online courses I realized the extent to which I had to improve in so many ways my own communication; the positivity of my language, the access to my courses for students with disabilities, keeping my eyes open for students falling behind in the course...So, I work hard with Saddleback's Faculty Center to meet the requirements set forth in the accessibility checklist and universal design grid provided by Special Services. My syllabus, my videos, are accessible to students with disabilities.

Of the over 2.1 million students in the California Community College system

• over 67% are from non-white backgrounds

• roughly 53% are female

• 3 out of 5 are low-income

• 1 out of 5 are English language learners

• 3 out of 5 students are Latinx or Black

(A personal Lens: What's your story. @One: Culturally Responsive Online Teaching)  

In my work, I give my numerous students individual support and individual feedback. I make sure that all my students, no matter their age, race, gender, ethnicity, (dis)abilities, sexual preference, economic class... feel accepted and receive the attention and encouragement they deserve . I help them in acquiring a positive sense of self. 

My own experience at a Junior College was eye-opening and helpful, and I relate more and more that experience (storytelling) as a non-native English or even non-native Spanish speaker, to my students. I believe we all can learn and be inspired by each other’s differences and each other's experiences. (My storytelling: In 2003, I came to the United States for personal reasons. To improve my English, I registered at Saddleback College. I immediately loved it: the environment made me feel very much at ease. I was particularly attracted by the diversity of the students and faculty; even though I was older than most of the students and had a poor English language level, I was never regarded as, or felt, a misfit. The students, as well as the teachers, accepted and even welcomed my different background. The non-prejudicial exchanges I had with them developed further in me the love for education. As a result of their encouragement, I never stopped studying; I eventually transferred to the University of California, Irvine, where I obtained a Ph.D. in Spanish, and today I teach at Saddleback College.)

At @One, I learned about the "Growth Mindset"; I show my students how much putting in effort, pays back. I "praise students' efforts rather than abilities because it sends a message they are being praised for the work they have put in, rather than their intelligence and talents." (Growth Mindset) 

Learning more about the Equity Framework of Saddleback College and increasing my active participation in the Equity Committee. Treating my students through the Equity lens; making them feel nurtured, engaged and connected and hopefully in the near future see barriers and achievement gaps disappear.  

To do that, I will use for my students and myself the growth Mindset. The Growth Mindset for educators is:

• Being color-conscious (as opposed to color-blind) in an affirmative sense.  

• Being aware that beliefs, expectations, and practices assumed to be neutral can have outcomes that are racially disadvantageous.  

• Being willing to assume responsibility for the elimination of inequality.

• Being aware that while racism is not always overt, racialized patterns nevertheless permeate policies and practices in higher education institutions and maintain racial hierarchies despite increasing diversity 

(The Two Mindsets: Fixed vs Growth. @one: Culturally Responsive Online Teaching) 

Once again, becoming more tech-savvy is my short term goal so I can improve my modes of communication: 

• I immensely enjoyed watching Chelsea's Equitable Icebreaker using Google Maps. It values the diversity of the students by showing every student's hometown through a picture or video which creates curiosity and student interconnection. I make it one of many projects to create a similar Meet & Greet assignment :) 

•  Another project is to create an Equity-Minded Liquid Syllabus since students access mostly everything on their phones. Some students don't have their own computer or tablet.

I plan to increase my Individual Communication through planned Individual Zoom Conference Meetings with each of my students at the start of the semester. There is no better way to get to know them and their individual needs or difficulties than to schedule short individual 10-minute zoom meetings. To incentivize them to join my Zoom Meetings, I intend to create them as graded assignments being part of the Orientation Module at the start of the semester.  This will also enable the students to learn how to join a Zoom Conference Meeting, a skill they might need later in the semester to join my online office hours.