Over the course of my career, I have observed the wide variety of background experiences that students bring to school and how those experiences impact learning. The more confident and savvy learners tend to get the lions’ share of the time, resources, and attention; these same students tend to be from stable homes rarely impacted by poverty and trauma. In my class, every student has a voice, but how do I ensure that they are equally heard and heeded?
Teachers all over the United States are struggling to create and implement working definitions for concepts such as equity, equality, motivation, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Participating in Fund For Teachers’ Innovation Circle on equity and collaborating with my “fellow” Fellows to elevate every students’ voice brought these definitions sharply into focus for me.
I used my Innovation Circle grant to attend the International Baccalaureate workshop on Social Emotional Learning, which incorporated global perspectives, international mindedness, and equity mindsets. During the two virtual summer seminars, I had an aha moment – the more reticent students didn’t lack the materials or time they needed to successfully complete a 5th Grade Exhibition project, but the confidence that they COULD.
After this fellowship, I now understand that one of the greatest factors in helping students achieve equity is helping them develop self-efficacy.
Students from poverty, trauma, and troubled backgrounds often lack the self-efficacy (the belief that they can do a task) to be successful in school, and, by extension, in life. Parent contacts confirmed this and student surveys bore it out. Therefore, I am now focusing more on the development of student self-efficacy in the process of teaching. I have a new perspective on the balance of process and product, and intensive efforts devoted to building student self-efficacy is transforming a once-difficult class into a one filled with successful, positive, motivated students. (see their work below)
A few takeaways from my seminars and group work with Fellows:
The good news is that self-efficacy can be nurtured in four ways:
More good news: 94% of my fifth graders are participating in Exhibition, compared with 75% in past years. The IB Fifth Grade Exhibition is scheduled for May 19. We started work on September 2, and we will continue to move forward with Exhibition projects with the 32 kids who are participating. Self-efficacy work is woven into the process, and also with the two students who chose not to participate in Exhibition. The equity portion is having them BELIEVE that they can do it, so that they WILL do it.
Caroline Belden, author and social justice advocate, explains it this way, “Equality is leaving the door open for anyone who has the means to approach it. Equity is ensuring there is a pathway to the door for those who need it.”
As teachers, we have the power to create that pathway for our students. Teachers want all of our students to succeed, to become productive citizens, and to become lifelong learners. Equity in the classroom, developed through self-efficacy, will help all students to succeed.
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Janet Key is a three-time FFT Fellow: In 2011, she attended the Clarice Smith National Teacher Institute at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC; in 2014, she returned to Washington to participate in the Smithsonian Science Education Academy for Physical Sciences (pictured); and in 2021, she received an Innovation Circle Grant to virtually attend the three-day International Baccalaureate conference titled “Your Exhibition” to develop fifth graders research and presentation strategies on a transdisciplinary theme, a required component of the IB Primary Years Programme. Janet is a proud Milwaukee Public Schools teacher since 1985, and retirement is on a distant horizon. She currently teaches at Lowell International Elementary School, in kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms.
What are Innovation Circles?
Innovation Circles is a new grant program at Fund for Teachers (FFT) designed to stimulate and enrich teacher innovation. Through self-designed learning experiences and virtual Circle meetings, Fellows have the funds and collaborative peer support to design outside of the box.
What do Lead Fellows Do?
As a Lead Fellow for an Innovation Circle, you will guide Circle participants (also Fellows) along a path to design unique classroom-based innovations. These innovations should be grounded in students’ needs and will demand a certain amount of testing and risk taking. This means you will need to create time and space for participants to build community, share, refine and problem solve. While you may have deep expertise in the Circle topic, your role is that of facilitator, not instructor.
Why Lead Fellows?
Fellows with experience in the Circle topic and who have worked to implement changes in their own classroom are uniquely qualified to support others. In addition, Lead Fellowship opportunities give Fellows access to teacher leadership experiences that they may not have in their schools.
The Details:
How Might Your Time be Divided?
The Ideal Candidate:
Interested in applying? Complete the application, here.
Have questions about the position? Reach out to Liza Eaton, Director of Programs, The Ramsden Project.