There were two main things that I took away from the article How Complex Instruction Led to High and Equitable Achievement: The Case of Railside School and the video from Jo Boaler. The first takeaway for me from the article and video is that “all children were ‘smart’ and had strengths in different areas and that everyone had something important to offer” (Boaler, n.d, p. 5). This was reiterated from an educational standpoint because “no-one is good at all of these ways of working, but everyone is good at some of them” (Boaler, n.d, p. 8). I feel all students can offer something in the classroom they just need to find their niche. By boosting children’s confidence levels in something that they are successful at in the classroom, makes …show more content…
It is not the “teacher raising the status of the students that may be of a lower status in a group” (Boahler, n.d., p. 9) that I felt was significant; rather the outcome that this part of complex instruction practice achieved. In many schools there is a division among ability level and ethnic groups; thus causing social circles to be divided. However, by integrating complex instruction, the idea of relational equity was not only taught in the classroom but prospered throughout the school. This is very important and I try to emphasize with my students in my classroom that they need to learn to get along with many different individuals because that is the situation in the real world workforce. The example that was used in the video as well as the article was that if one person couldn’t answer the question, then the teacher walked away while the group consulted before s/he came back. This is a practical skill when completing a group task that everyone is familiar with the material and is able to explain it. Relational equity is a lesson that these student will value for the rest of their lives, just because the teachers changed their teaching methods to make sure that “contributions of different students, from many different cultural groups, and with many different characteristics and perspectives” are valued while working together in the classroom (Boaler, n.d., p.