• To adopt and/or adapt a growing num-
ber of elements that reflect both the science
and art of equity in education.
• To access and assess the equity inspired
approaches that you’re using, as well as im-
prove upon them if need be.
This is a very big job, this thing we are
calling educational equity. And it goes
without saying that all the requirements to
be successful add up to much greater re-
sponsibility for you. This level of engage-
ment warrants every support at your dis-
posal, period.
Therefore you will, of course, be in-
terested in untapped resources – and just
plain camaraderie. That is what an “equity
mastermind” group will do; provide you
with the resource of partners, people you
can think with regarding new possibilities
and who supply you with as many new eq-
uity tools as you’ll have the time and inter-
est to explore.
The mastermind model makes sense,
considering that educators focused on eq-
uity are being asked to get better and better
at delivering it. If you are intent on trans-
forming classrooms and improving your
school, then you will easily embrace the
idea of an equity group to help you master
the challenges you are facing, and generate
new ideas and possibilities using collective
intelligence.
Thinking together with other educators
has always been critical to your success.
There are many things that you can bring
to an equity mastermind session to dis-
cuss and receive feedback on; the subject
matter is almost limitless. Following are
four of the essential tools you could em-
brace to be at the top of your professional
game – golden keys to work on with your
equity partners:
1) Explore the concept of differentiation
as a fundamental tool. Differentiation is
about tailoring your lessons to individual
students in terms of their unique proclivi-
ties, requirements for learning and levels of
understanding.
2) Shift the mindset about who students
are and what they can do. You may have
to let go of the values, beliefs and assump-
tions that you have held, so you can realize
students are capable of excellence.
Equity demands that you recognize that some students are at a
larger disadvantage than others, which means you have been invited
to become an educational specialist – someone who has much
more to do to stay on top of your game.
3) Become a skilled “warm demander”
and mentor. Be an educator who knows
how to convey expectations to your stu-
dents about their performance, while also
being an important source of motivation
and encouragement.
4) Discover new and better ways to use
“storientation” as a tool. Embrace that it is
very important