An equal educational opportunity

An equal educational opportunity, to me, means that each child is receiving the same, well-rounded education and each child, upon graduation, will be equipped and able to decide if they want to go to work or on to higher education.  I believe it is each child's right to have an equal education.  My goal is to give each of my students a well rounded education where they can think critically.  By well rounded I mean well versed in all topics such as, math, science, social sciences, art, music, language arts and anything else that can be offered to them.  I want my students to be able to think for themselves.  I don't want them to learn by rote or to learn because I gave them the correct answers.  I'm going to encourage them to participate in small class discussions, I will teach to their needs.  I may have a group of kids who are tactile learners and set up a project that will teach to their style, whereas another group may need more of a legislative approach to a project, thought or idea.  There are many types of styles of learning and I know I will not be able to meet each child's style every minute of every day, but through reflective practice I will be able to coordinate different projects, goals or activities that touch on the different styles over the course of a term or a school year. I don't yet know the details of these activities, but I'm leaning in the direction of making learning fun and interesting.   My goal is to get my students excited about learning. 
      I was an EA for a self contained ED class at a middle school this past year.  I worked with a teacher who is 5 yrs away from retirement and is completely burned out.  Without going off of the topic I will say this: I learned more of what not to do then what to do to become an effective teacher.  The children did not want to think or learn, they wanted the answers and it was a direct reflection on how they had been taught by this teacher.  Realize, for some of these children it was their second and third year with this particular teacher.  The classroom community had a very real 'working school' approach.  Nothing was ever put on the board or explained.  They were never given the opportunity to think critically.Every day, every lesson was read to them and they were told to do the work at the end of the chapters.  If they needed help, nothing was EVER explained to them and the answer would be provided.  I mention my experience because it taught me a lot of what doesn't line up with my approach and philosophy of teaching.  It was sad because there were times I would be left to teach the class and I would ask them questions to get them thinking and I actually had a student say "Miss, Mister doesn't ask us these questions and we don't want to think about them.  Just read the chapter and give us the answers."  The children who had been in that class for 2 and 3 years refused to learn.  So I can justify my goals and methods by seeing another approach that I feel, doesn't work.  What I always appreciated and found fun about learning was when my teachers encouraged classroom participation.        
       In teaching children from different socieconomical, multicultural backgrounds I believe that every child is capable of learning.  I will never give up on a child.  As I've stated already, I believe every child has the right to an equal education within the public school system(of course private schools are a different matter.)  I have a couple of ideas of what style to approach if I have children who are at different academic levels.   I may divide the coursework until I have them all at the same level.  I may give the advanced kids more difficult material while I am working with the less advanced children.  That would keep everyone engaged while I bring the less advanced children  to a higher academic level.  Another approach I may take is to have class projects split into different groups where the advanced and less advanced are working with each other.  I often find this helps the less advanced children learn the material since it's peer based and it gives the more advanced children a sense of confidence that they are helping their classmates.  Those are just some ideas and I hope to learn more through the ATL program.