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Fairness

Today I assigned my students a quick write and asked them to tell me what it means for
a teacher to be fair. Their responses were very concrete and mostly considered the right
and wrong of discipline. They identified situations when they felt a teacher gave a
consequence without considering the situation, or they were blamed for something while
another student was not. Their responses did not surprise me.

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In the study Middle School Students Talk About Social Forces in the Classroom,
students identified six areas that they felt were valuable in a classroom setting. One of
those was being given the opportunity to develop ideas about what is fair (Cushman &
Rogers, 2008). I think students want fairness, but at this age struggle with the concept
of what true fairness involves.

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I believe that adults in the classroom need to model and explain fairness. Being fair on
the surface may mean being treated equally. Yet, when posed the question, Should I
give a student homework over a concept that they have demonstrated they understand
because I gave everyone else homework? Is this fair? They were able to then
recognize that fairness does not always mean equal treatment.

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Having discussions with students about fairness and the spectrum of fairness in
different situations gives them the opportunity to look beyond the concrete. I think
fairness to students at my level means giving them a voice, an opportunity to reflect and
develop ideas, and to be seen as a valuable member of the school community.

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Reference
Cushman, K., & Rogers, L. (2008). Middle School Students Talk about Social Forces in
the Classroom. Middle School Journal, (Article 36). Retrieved from http://
~tbolsta/web/texbook/37_Middle_School_Students.pdf