Treating All Students Equitably In Terms Of Teacher Attention

 t stands to reason that treating all students equitably in terms of teacher attention and behavior would increase the academic achievement of the students in general and improve classroom climate; this reasoning is supported by a plethora of research. The research also confirms a commonly held view that male students get more attention than female students, regardless of the teacher's gender. Racial/ethnic attributes in students are also linked to differentiated teacher expectations. To summarize this research in broad strokes, the Pygmalion effect is widespread and, ironically, is communicated to students in ways that would otherwise be effective teaching practices, if only carried out equity.

The following descriptions of teaching practices will be couched in a traditional lecture-discussion model of teaching. This does not mean that I present this practice as being the most effective, but I do believe it is a commonly used mode of instruction. Secondly, these practices are not limited to lecture-discussion; they are widely used in more inquiry and experientially based instruction.

Equal Distribution of Response Opportunities. Simply put, this is directing questions toward all students, not just the ones who volunteer or those who the professor feels most comfortable in querying. It is my observation that teachers at all levels have a knee-jerk reaction to call on a student who raises his or her hand. This is a habit that can be un-learned, and it is a habit one is wise to address with the students. I generally use the initial meeting of a course with a comment that goes something like this: "I want to interact with everyone in this class, not just those who are the most eager. This means that I will be calling on everyone, not just those of you who raise your hands or volunteer comments. I promise not to attempt to embarrass you or put you down if I call on you and you are reluctant to respond. However, I reserve the right to help you respond by following up on my initial question with some leading comments. You'll find my behavior a little unusual, but you'll get used to it.

Delving, Probing, and Correcting. Certainlywe all hope to be adroit enough to follow up a question that confounds our students with one that is simpler to respond to, or, if a student has responded and we want them to expand upon their idea, we hope to use Socratic questioning or something closely akin. Sometimes a student response is just off the mark, and we need to gently let the student know that she or he is going down a fruitless direction. However, as the research cited earlier has established, we are not equitable in these practices. It has been my observation in working with other teachers and analyzing my own teaching that this is particularly true when a teacher is working with a student perceived as less able. For a number of reasons, we feel that we do not want to embarrass the student in question, but if it is a more able student, we are more prone to pursue our questioning or correct a response. To be equitable, a teacher needs to be conscious of this tendency and monitor his or her behavior. This does not mean that all initial questions and therefore their subsequent follow-ups are equally suited for all our students. One would be wise to address simpler questions to less able students, although the issue of gender should have nothing to do with the difficulty of the question. And this does not mean that higher-level questions should be reserved for the students we perceive as the brightest.