Reflecting back on the workshop I completed on Tuesday I have many thoughts on how inequalities in a classroom can not only go unnoticed but can also completely change the way someone feels about learning.
Upon arrival on Tuesday I was looking forward to the workshop ahead of me. From the introduction I felt very positively towards Brenda and was excited for the rest of the class. It wasn’t until we got our resources that I felt slightly disheartened.
In my envelope there was a post it note, 3 paper clips, a pencil and a small amount of blue tac. After seeing our resources my group started to think that the task at hand could possibly be a lot more difficult than we had previously anticipated, however we tried to look past it. It wasn’t until we found that we were struggling with the task, and looked to see if other groups were in a similar position that we noticed that a few of the other groups seemed to have far more resources – including paper, scissors and pens. Of course we immediately pointed it out to each other and said how unfair it was.
Before this we hadn’t had any feedback from Brenda and had heard her being very positive towards other groups. So when she came over we naturally felt comfortable to ask questions. Our first question to Brenda was if we could use the envelope as part of our resources, this was met with an almost exasperated reaction of a nod and an ‘if you want’. After this was when we, as a group, knew that we were definitely being treated worse than the other groups. We were confused to why this would be but felt extremely disheartened and unmotivated to work as we knew it was going to be met with a negative reaction. Obviously as the rest of the workshop played out we understood why we were being treated differently, but those first 30/40 minutes were really eye opening for me as a student.
One of the main things that shocked me about the workshop was how blissfully unware the groups with more resources were of how uneven the resources had been distributed. I found this interesting as for my group it was one of the first things we noticed. I think this was an extremely effective way to show how people can be blinded by what they have and not even stop to think that there could be inequality around them. It also shows that being at more of a disadvantage can be very difficult to ignore.
Another point that surprised me was how unmotivated I felt to work. The knowledge that whatever we presented was going to most likely be received negatively made it difficult to put 100% effort into the task. Our group felt completely isolated, when in fact there was another group beside us that had just as little resources yet no one in either of our groups noticed this. I think this is a great metaphor for how on the reversed side of things that sometimes you can get so caught up in you being at a disadvantage that you don’t even realise that there’s other people in the exact same position as you. This shows how easy it is for children to feel isolated within a classroom.
I feel that through seeing the exasperation and shock of the other groups in my class as they witnessed the inequality, it has become apparent to me just how easy it is to be blinded from inequality even from a teachers perspective. The task in the workshop mirrored both classrooms and society as a whole and I found it very beneficial to my understanding of both equality and equity.
