"Brilliance is distributed equally. Opportunity is not."

“Brilliance is distributed equally. Opportunity is not.”

This is a quote that was said by Colin Seale during a professional development presentation this week and it stuck with me. Of course, Colin had a lot of insightful thoughts and helpful suggestions, but I still can’t get this phrase out of my head. Equity and representation are always in the back of my mind when it comes to planning. It can feel overwhelming at times to do everything I need to help every learner. Time constraints, work-life balance, and other commitments make it hard to feel like I’m doing all that I can. Colin’s words gave me some perspective, though.

It’s not about completely revamping what we are doing in the classroom. It’s about taking what we already have and pushing it to be better, pushing our students to think deeper and make connections. As Colin spoke, I was able to make connections to my classroom and see how I could push my students even further. In choir, we had been speaking about the meaning of our songs, but I stopped there. No need to push deeper if my students know what they’re singing about. My students in music theater struggled to understand the deeper metaphorical meaning of song lyrics. I thought I needed to go back to basics with them before they can make these deeper connections. But that was all wrong. In choir today, we dug deeper into cyclical poverty, corporate greed, and how we still see and feel it today. In music theater, I encourage my students to think deeply about characters and their text, subtext, and inner monologue, using their textbook and myself as a resource for the vocabulary they didn’t understand.

Higher-level questioning ensures that my students have to know the baselines to think deeply. If we don’t present opportunities for our students to exercise their critical thinking skills, we’re not giving equal opportunity to all of the different brilliant minds we see. Every student has potential, and it’s the teacher’s challenge to find and cultivate it. It’s also more fun for me as a teacher. My least favorite thing to do is lecture students. It doesn’t make me a better teacher, and students don’t benefit from it. I need to tailor what I’m doing in the classroom to create the opportunity for my students to showcase their brilliance. If I give equal opportunity to my students, I can help close the gap. I can’t fix the entirety of the problem, but I can do my part.

The system isn’t broken. It was built this way. The thought of fixing the whole education system is overwhelming. But each teacher can find ways to give their students opportunities within current instruction. Colin’s words were refreshing, as they took some of the pressure off of creating an equitable classroom. I can already see myself pushing my students to think deeper and more critically, which in turn gives them more opportunities. I am excited to see where my teaching goes moving forward and continue implementing these strategies into my instruction.