{"id":558,"date":"2017-11-19T21:39:12","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T02:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/edt431-531\/?p=558"},"modified":"2017-11-19T21:39:34","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T02:39:34","slug":"lets-think-about-empowerment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2017\/11\/lets-think-about-empowerment\/","title":{"rendered":"Let&#8217;s Think About Empowerment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Empowering individuals is good.\u00a0 Straight and simple.\u00a0 We want everyone to feel like they can make it through anything and feel strong, and well, empowered.\u00a0 As educators, making sure everyone is feeling welcomed and that they can succeed at anything they put their minds to, is one of the big parts of our jobs.\u00a0 This is why empowerment and, by extension, equity is so important.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Equity?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think the best way to sum up equity is with a picture:<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/assets.wired.com\/photos\/w_1024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/edit_meme19.jpg?resize=1024%2C501&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"1024\" height=\"501\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We often think of equality is the most important thing, but we must make sure the equity comes first.\u00a0 Everyone must be given a fair chance to participate and take opportunities as any other student may.\u00a0 Once we have equity, then we can all benefit from equality.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who Benefits from Equity?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In short terms, everyone.\u00a0 Those that benefit the most are those that are already treated unfairly or the treatment is inequitable.\u00a0 Everyone needs to be on a fair playing field, not one that is the same across the board.\u00a0 If we keep it fair, then everyone has a chance, if not that we are limiting the options of certain people greatly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Okay, What Can We Do?!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first step as an educator is to start thinking differently.\u00a0 We should start noticing the inequalities in our classroom that are negatively impacting our students.\u00a0 Some examples that we may not recognize:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Not responding to girls as quickly as boys\n<ul>\n<li>Or they have to repeat themselves for your attention<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Avoiding that student in the back that acts a flamboyant male<\/li>\n<li>Interrupting people when speaking, primarily girls<\/li>\n<li>Using pet names for students, and then using more endearing and &#8220;sweet&#8221; names for girls\n<ul>\n<li>Honey and sweetie are just some examples<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are plenty more that we may not recognize, but these are ones that we can catch ourselves more easily.\u00a0 Recognizing the inequalities is the first step towards creating more opportunities for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>The next step is empowerment:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;Teach young girls that they can be just as good at STEM subjects as boys&#8230;&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/geekygirls?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#geekygirls<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/geekygirlreality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#geekygirlreality<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/STEM?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#STEM<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7AwG7hVNzd\">pic.twitter.com\/7AwG7hVNzd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; GeekyGirlReality (@geekyreality) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/geekyreality\/status\/847048405172043778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 29, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>We need to get more diversity in STEM, we need to push for girls, boys, gender-neutral students, and everyone from every background to try and get into STEM.\u00a0 We want them to succeed and do what they enjoy in life, not what society has deemed they should be doing.\u00a0 There are so many ways to empower people, but here are just a few ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Call on everyone equally, even if that means calling on the one girl that raised her hand over the five boys, because she may not get a chance to talk often<\/li>\n<li>Keep the curriculum fair, as in show people in STEM from all kinds of diverse backgrounds<\/li>\n<li>Encourage students to take upper level classes, no matter what background they are from\n<ul>\n<li>Don&#8217;t let their wishes be drowned out by the masses, be an advocate, even if your administrators don&#8217;t want to be.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Speaking of administrators\n<ul>\n<li>Get them on your side! Have them help you encourage diversity!<\/li>\n<li>Work with them to make the school entirely equitable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Get the parents involved!\u00a0 Maybe their mom pushes them to do whatever they want, but they don&#8217;t think anyone else cares.\u00a0 Show their mom you care and work together!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are plenty of other ways to promote equity!\u00a0 I think Heidi Olinger gives a wonderful TEDTalk on getting girls to like STEM, and even realize that it&#8217;s attainable to them.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to get girls to like STEM: Heidi Olinger at TEDxBocaRaton\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o0qBPjneLV4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Heidi Olinger is the founder of Pretty Brainy, a group that work to empower girls to get involved in STEM.\u00a0 They provide an amazing website that helps educators learn and find more beneficial ways to empower girls to love STEM (<a href=\"https:\/\/prettybrainy.com\/educators\/\">https:\/\/prettybrainy.com\/educators\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Empowering individuals is good.\u00a0 Straight and simple.\u00a0 We want everyone to feel like they can make it through anything and feel strong, and well, empowered.\u00a0 <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2017\/11\/lets-think-about-empowerment\/\" title=\"Let&#8217;s Think About Empowerment\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-equity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":559,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions\/559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}